ParentTalk Forums / ParentTalk / Giving Birth & Birth Stories

Giving Birth

thlove — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:32:32 GMT

After reading some of the other postings, I cannot believe how lucky we were considering everything we went through. Two weeks before my due date I went for my check-up to find I was already 4 cms dialated and my son was breach. My doctor told me my options of a c-section or an inversion (turn the baby), or possibly a breach delivery. There was only one doctor at the hospital who did inversions and also breach devliveries, but she was only on-call 3 days away - so we had to hope nothing happened in between. Nothing did, and we went for the inversion which worked perfectly and was surprisingly pain-free. When I left the hospital that night I was at 6cm and already feeling crampy. We went for dinner in one of the worst snow storms of the season and joked about my water breaking in the restaurant (which luckily did not happen). By 1 am that night I was having mild contractions 5 minutes apart, but there was hardly any pain. It turned out a good thing to have called the doctor. We went to the hospital and I was 8cm so they decided to break my water. I was still in very little pain so had no epidural, expecting everything to go quickly. After they broke my water, the umbilical cord feel out. Doctors rush in and tell us I need an emergency c-section. The doctor is at the end of the bed trying to hold the cord away from my son so not to cut off his blood supply. They wheel me down the hall with the doctor still seated at the end of the bed with her hands up inside me (not the most comfortable thing in the world). As they are setting me up to put me to sleep the doctor is trying to fit the vacuum over my son's head to get him out because all of the umbilical cord has fallen out by now and his heartbeat has dropped. The doctor finally shows up to put me to sleep and 12 mins. later my son is delivered amazing healthy and fine. When the doctor comes later to tell me what happened she is still upset and shaken. She tells me all the happened and that they did not expect my son to have made it at all. All I can say is hope happy and lucky we are that we had that staff. Even more amazing, I was delivered under almost the same circumstances 30 years before. Crazy, but true!

How far along were you when you felt baby move?

acrowter — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:52:29 GMT

Hi, I am 14 weeks along. Just curious as to when you first felt the baby move?

Choosing a Birth Location

truckingbride — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:02:03 GMT

I am looking for input from those who have delivered, vaginally at either Grand River in Kitchener or London Health Sciences. I am labour and delivery nurse myself, due In November, not wishing to deliver where I work and I am looking for some feedback about your expriecnes in terms of services avalible, staff's knowledge base and your impression of your birth experience? It is my choice for either of these location, I have been there to both hospitals on ambulance transfers etc many time, but never there in labour. !!!

Any info would be appreciated, thank you in advance

Water Births?

kellygirl — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:10:16 GMT

I had my first child through natural child birth, no meds and I am looking to do the same this time around. I am actually planning on having a water birth. I have heard and read lots of good things regarding water births and thought, why not. My midwife is also a huge advocate of them and highly recommends them.

When I told my mom that I was going to have a water birth, she completely freaked out because she thinks that the baby is going to drown. I have tried to explain it to my mom but she just doesn't get it. LOL Good thing she doesn't live close to me.

Anyone else planning on having a water birth or using other alternative birthing methods?

OBGYN Referral in Winnipeg

acrowter — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:50:41 GMT

I am currently 14 weeks along. My Doctor is not an OB but has delivered babies. She is very busy and it seems as though the past 2 visits have been rushed. I am not sure if I should stick with her and have her delivery my baby or go with an OB. She might not be able to attend my delivery if she has Patients at that time.

Any VBAC women out there?

Tippie — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:56:37 GMT

Hi everyone. I am now 18 weeks along with baby #3. I am in a situation where I get to chose an elective c-section or have a VBAC. My first was natural, but my second turned and went breech during labour!! Crazy eh? Man I would just as soon not relive that again!

Anyway, has anyone out there had a VBAC? Would you reccomend it?

Labor and no meds, is it possilbe?

chantal12 — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 10:25:57 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I am new on this board! I am 33 weeks pregnant and getting really anxious and scared about labor. My plan is to use no meds but I am not sure if that is possible. When I tell people that is my plan, they think I am wacked! Everyone these days seems to be all for the meds which there is nothing wrong with that either. It's just for me, I want to try it all natural and if worst comes worst, the first drug I would try is the laughing gas. Is there anyone on here that went through labor with no meds or almost no meds? Do you recommend it?

My Birth Story

TimandAmber — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:16:49 GMT

It's hard to believe that is has almost been 3 weeks!! So Tuesday November 28th 2006 my husband, mother in law, and myself head to the hospital to be induced. We arrive there at 7:30 am and they show us to the labour room and the nurse handed me a gown to put on and then left us to sit and wait. We waited until 8:15when my doctor came in and was suprised that I was sat there waiting with no hospital bracelet on or hooked up so they could monitor the baby, so at 8:25 she hooked me to baby monitor and told me that we will have to wait because they had to go and do a c-section before anyone could take care of me. 9:00 am nurse Karen came in and turned off the monitor. At 9:25 I was finally given my hospital bracelet and signed some papers. Then at 9:45 Dr. Docrat came in and explained that it has been a very busy morning with them just delivering a baby and then having to do a c-section right after...so anyway she checked me and I was dilated to 3 cm and the babies head was well engaged but my cervix was hard.....I had been 2cm when she checked me 2 weeks before being induced with a soft cervis and babies head was well engeged at that time as well so she then decided to break my water and see if contractions would progress on their own without having to put me on the IV drip and I was told they will give it 2 hrs and if nothing then they would start the IV. I did not like having my water break at all...made me feel that each time I got up to walk around that I was peeing my pants!!! 11:00 my mother in law and I walked the halls to try and bring on the contractions, and I began to feel some pressure. And with time they kept getting more intense but no one believed me when I told them what I was feeling, because what I was feeling was not bad period cramps at all!!! I can't really describe what it was, but they hurt really bad and they were starting to make me feel sick when they came. 1310 nurse Karen came in and made an attempt to put the IV in my hand but failed and made me bleed pretty bad, so she told me that she was going to go get someone else to put my IV in so we could still be friends. I continued to have "sharp pains" that made sick....not fun at all since I didn't have anything to really come up besides sprite, so each time I would heave I would also have huge gushes leak out from having my water broke......again not a good feeling at all! They then hooked me up to monitor the baby and I once again and kept checking back in on us and seen that I was not a happy camper and in alot of pain...1355 they reminded me that there was pain medication there, but I had told them when I first arrived that morning that I had wanted to try and have a natural child birth.....and the nurse told me that she didnt know what I meant when I said natural, she told me that I was having a natural birth since I was having a vaginal birth and that there was no reward given for going drug free. So before I made any decisions I wanted to be checked....so at 1410 Karen checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm. I was soooo happy that I was 6 cm, but then I also remember people telling me that the last few cm could take forever before you got to 10, so I caved in and got the epidural!!! I just could not pull myself together and focus on my breathing ....but awwwww what relief once the epidural kicked in!!!!!! 1445 I then had a catheter inserted. 1630 the nurse came back in to check on how we were doing and noticed that babies heart rate began to dip a little so she decided that they would soon check me again. So at 1655 I was once again checked and had dilated to 10 cm but the baby was face up so at 1720 they had me roll to my side to see if that would get her to turn. 1805 I was then turned to my other side and since I didnt have any urge to push they went and delivered another baby. They started getting everything ready for me and 1915 I began to push. I remember stopping and telling them I couldnt do it and I didnt think I was pushing right......but at 1925 my beautiful baby girl was born, her name is Tayla Elizabeth Sinclair she weighed 9 lbs 9 1/2 ozs, length was 23", head circumference was 13 3/4" and scored a 9 out of 9 on her apgars test. I tore pretty good I guess, but I feel great and Tayla is doing just wonderful. We had a rough few days of breast feeding and I had to supplement while we were in the hospital because she is so big that my colostrum was not enough for her, but now I think we are pros at it. She went down to 9 lbs 3 ozs when we were discharged and within a week she was almost back to her birth weight. She now is as of friday 10 lbs 1 ozs.

My c-section complications

jennitheunissen — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:07:04 GMT

I just wanted to share my c-section nightmare with everyone. I was due on Sept 2, 2006 but was scheduled to be induced on August 22, because of previous health issues and I was huge! and I mean huge, I'm only 4 foot 9 inches and I already had gained 45 pounds! Yuck!!

My water broke on August 19th @ my brother inlaws wedding reception, nice huh? I was so embarressed. But even when we arrived at the hospital I wasn't having any contractions. The doctors waited for about an hour before giving me any meds to induced my contractions. After they did for some reason they could not control my contractions and I had the joy of having back to back contractions with no breaks in between and to make it worse my son was facing the wrong way. Which they explained was going to make things even more painful. I finally gave in at 3 am and asked for the epidural. Just as the doctor was going to insert the needle into my back, he was called away to an emergency!! An hour later I had my epidural. All was fine after that but because I had a cold going in the epidural numbed me so much I didn't feel the need to cough, so I had fluid builing in my lungs. ( I figure maybe the doctors or nurses should have realized this)

I'm not sure why but my epidural had worn off three times on my left side by the time I was ready to push @ 5pm on the 20th. And they said once I was pushing I could have anymore medication. Unfortunately my son was stuck in my pelvis and the more I pushed the more pain I was in. At this point most of it becomes a blur because I was actually passing out from the pain. As my husband tells it I was screaming for them to cut my leg off and stop the pain!!! So finally they wheeled me into the operationg room to use forceps but again no go. So finally the decided to do a c-section. Thank God I remember thinking, but as the started to cut into me I had to tell them to stop because I was no longer frozen. I was terrified! So they put me to sleep. There wasn't any complications with the actual procedure but I ended up with pneumonia because of the fluid on my lungs then my left lung collapsed, my blood pressure went through the roof, and they thought that I had a blood clot in lung. That turned out to be fluid in my chest cavitity as well.

Multiple tests and medications later I finally was sent home a week and a half later. Still with pneumonia and high blood pressure.

Thankfully my son was healthy and had no complications but I have a huge amount of guilt because I don't remember the first time I seen him or held him, and I didn't get to share that first moment with my husband.

I am now terrified to think about having a second child for fear of not knowing how things will turn out and the dream we all see for our child 's birth is tainted for me. I didn't turn out the way I wanted and I feel really guilty about that.

Jenni

Birth of my second daughter

muneera — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:39:13 GMT

Hi everyone!

I just joined up and have a 19month old girl and just gave birth to my second girl 2 weeks ago.

I was determined to only go to the hospital when I was sure I was in active labor - having learned from the first time going to the hospital and being sent home a bunch of times. Now that I knew what real contractions felt like and only waiting until they were consistent did we go.

I was almost a week late so I was desperate and took a tbsp. of castor oil on Saturday night and I woke up at 8am the next morning to the wonderful pain of labor! The contractions were about 5 min apart until noon and then they started slowing down so I took another tbsp of castor oil and took a small nap and after a small bowel movement, the contractions started up and now were only 2-3 min apart so we packed up and left for the hospital.

Just a note on the use of castor oil - I did a lot of research before making the decision to use it. The horror stories I'd read about it was a result of taking a much higher dose than I did and from what I'd gathered, it only works when your body is ready to go into labor anyway, it just seems to speed things up which is good. Also you empty out your bowels before the real labor of pushing which spares you the embarrassment of pooing on the table in front of everyone!

So when we got to the hospital I was already 5 cm dilated! So they gave me a few minutes to decide whether I wanted the epidural or not. I took it although I really wanted to see if I could do it without - I had it for my first but I was in labor for 16hrs with her! They gave me a low dose this time and by the time I had to start pushing it had worn off! This scared me because I thought that would be the most painful part but it wasn't! It was so much easier to push when you can feel it! So I only had to push for 20 min and my girl was born! She was 9lbs 4oz! Its so much more rewarding when you can feel the labor even when the baby is that big!

Everything was great and we went home the next day and my adventures with 2 children has now begun!!

LIFE CHANGED AFTER C-SECTION

mamirocio — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:35:00 GMT

MY BABY ISABELLE IS NOW 21 MONTHS, SHE IS A HEALTHY BABY; BUT MY LIFE HAS CHANGED AFTER THE C-SECTION, THE PAIN IN THE PELVIC AREA DOESN'T GO AWAY COMPLETLY. THIS WEEK I AM FEELING GREAT AND THE NEXT I AM IN PAIN, I ASKED MY GYNO ABOUT IT AND HE SENT ME FOR AN ULTRASOUND AND NOTHING, HE SAID YOU ARE OK...HAVE ANOTHER BABY AND YOUR PAIN WILL FINISH! HOW ABOUT THAT? I AM STILL MAD ABOUT HIS STUPID ANSWER. I'VE BEEN SEEING A CHIROPRACTOR AND SHE IS GIVING ME MASSAGES INCLUDING LOW LASER TREATMENT, I AM OK SOME WEEK BUT NOW THE PAIN IS BACK AND MORE INTENSE AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE PAIN-FREE ? I WANT TO FEEL HAPPY...IWAS BECAUSE I STARTED TO LOOSE WEIGHT BUT WHO CAN BE HAPPY LIVING WITH PAIN?

LAST WEEK WHEN TO SEE ANOTHER DOCTOR AND SAID I AM OK, IT'S LIKE THEY ARE TELLING ME THAT I AM A BIG LIAR! THAT'S HOW I FEEL, I NEED TO FIND A NEW GYNOCOLOGIST..ITS SO HARD , YOU NEED REFERRAL!

AT LEAST I CAN SHARE THIS WITH SOMEONE...YOU. THANKS

IF ANYONE HAVE A SUGGESTION PLEASE WRITE ME

What to bring in my Hospital Bag

katkomi — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:58:22 GMT

Even thouhg I am only 33 weeks I am packing my hospital bag and wondering if anyone has suggestions for things to bring.

thanks for your help

39 weeks and still pregnant!?!

KaylanAyden — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:59:20 GMT

The last weeks seem so long. i need somehow to pass the time. ive tried everything. if anyone has any ideas on how to do that then let me know thanx

Kayla 'n' Ayden

'n' my hubby Timmy

Young and very scared

KaylanAyden — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:37:04 GMT

hi, i'm kayla and i'm almost 16. i found put that i was pregnant in august. i'm scared to have to rause a child, luckily i'm still with the father and he's a great guy. when i told my mom i though i was pregnant she was very scared. she had me young so she knows exactly what i am going through. when we found out i moved to waterloo from wimdsor to go to a program for crisis pregnancies, sadly i couldn't make it through i was too far away from all of my supports. now i am at home and everyone agrees that i am doing better than ever. everyone else is more confident with my abalities as a parent but i still have my doubts. i'm still scared about weather or not i'll be a good parent. i'm also scared about labour but i think that is justified.if any one has any tips for right after i have my baby then i'm all ears. thanks buh bie -kayla 'n' ayden(my baby's name)-

Ready to have this baby!

Gnat — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:24:50 GMT

I'm 37 weeks pregnant, and my doctor said I could have this baby anytime now, because i'm already dilating and getting ready. I almost wish she had never said anything cause now im impatiently awaiting the birth of our son, and forced me to think of how great it will be to have this baby here instead of this belly lol. Now im wondering how i will know I'm in labour, and what it feels like, my mom said she never really felt any pain, and im also wondering what i can do safely to help move this baby into position, i'm now eager to see him lol. any advice would be greatly appreciated im already dilated a bit and my cervix is soft

Did anyone have a Doula?

icegirl — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:16:50 GMT

HI Ladies! I hope I am putting this in the right section to get a response....I have been reading up lately while I have time (I'm 16weeks) about Doulas. The birthing coach service is offered in our area and just curious your thoughts on having someone else besides DH or family in the delivery room with you? Would you have wanted this service or not?

Thanks for any input, ERika

Contractions for weeks now!!

brendanann — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:01:38 GMT

Hi there

I have been having "braxton hicks" contractions for 3 weeks now. They come and go sometimes three in a row (every 20 mins) and then they disappear.

I am now 38 and 1/2 weeks pregnant. The baby is sitting very low, but no water breakage, just back pain.

My doctor just keeps saying wait it out, but how long can this go on for?

Anyone have any thoughts? When is this baby coming?

What a nightmare I am living!!!

mcoombs — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 20:20:21 GMT

Well I had me third baby on December 1, and she was a healthy 8 1/2 lbs. The labor in total was the easiest this time around and she was my biggest baby by 2 lbs. I was in labour in total 40 minutes. My nightmare started three days later when my husband left me and asked for a divorce. I'm still in shock. He says that he doesn't love me and hasn't for awhile. I am so played out emotionally and pysically, I fell like I am falling apart. He has moved all of his belonings out and we told our children, which was really hard. My eight year old son was devastated, and our 2 year old daughter is still too young to understand. I wish that I could understand any of this. How can a husband, just get up and do this to his wife after she has had their child, espically without any warning? I have been with my husband since I have been 16 and I have no idea how to move on without him.

Birth of my baby girl!

tashdehart — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:32:50 GMT

I just wanted to announce I had my beautiful baby girl on the 22nd and she arrived one day early from her EDD she wieghed 7lbs 3 oz and I can honestly say going through labour without an epideral is not only possible but it is practical. My doctor told me from day one I won't get a epideral if he was delivering my baby and I stuck it out and went through with it still...some days thinking i might be going crazy but I can honestly say all went well.. better then I had thought...I had worries of tearing or having to have an episitomy but didnt have either of those which made it even a better experience...

I'm not saying it didn't hurt .. it did

But damn is it worth it once she was out you forget everything that happened moments before hand..

It's a great feeling.

39 weeks 1 day....

TimandAmber — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:39:10 GMT

So yes, I am 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant, last week(wednesday) at my drs appointment she checked me and I was 2 cm dilated, baby's head very very much engaged and and very soft cervix. So I was like YES!!! thats sounds good to me and maybe I will be in labor over the weekend......well no such luck!!! I had some bloody show Thursday and Friday....so that made me keep my hopes up that I would soon go into labor. I am getting so tired of pregnancy, and so uncomfortable.....I am yet to experience a contraction?? I spent the whole weekend walking the malls and taking warm baths to try and bring them on but yet I still got nothing. Anyone have any ideas on things I can to to help move things along?

My triplets are born!

mom2four — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:35:12 GMT

Okay i'll make this short:

On January 12th 2005 i went to the hospital in early labour( i was only 29weeks 6days gestation),once there the nurses hooked me to montiors to confirmed i was in active early labour,so after 1/2hour of montoring i was told today was the "BIG DAY"i was having my c-section and my then 3yr old daughter would have her triplet siblings.

After labouring all day and into the early evening my doctor decided to stop my labour with some meds that they stick up your butt(not fun bye the way)and to see if i could keep them in 3-4weeks longer.I was sent to the high risk ward where i was to stay until they were born...the nurses contuied to montior my contractions until they finally stopped...they didn't come back so after 48hours of NO contractions i was sent home on light bedrest.

Not even 24hours later i ended up back in Labour&Delivery in early active labour again but this time i couldn't breath,and agian they told me today was the "BIG DAY",i was hooked back up to the montiors and oxygen to help me breath.I was told that they weren't going to stop my labour this time but i wouldn't make it pass 1-2cm mark so i was sent back to the high risk ward(still labouring)where i wasn't going home until they were born...in the meantime i was sent down to X-rays to hvae one of one chest to see why i couldn't breath and a rountine u/s of the babies...they were doing great and growing.

A few hours later i got the results back from the x-ray and it showed that the nurses from my first visit flooded my lungs with to much IV fluids and i had Pulmanory Edema and needed to go back on a IV to flush the old IV fluids away.

I woke up on January 17th 2005 with wet panties and thought my waters broke,so i got up to clean myself when something made me turn aorund and there it was blood everywhere so i called my nurses and they rushed me upstairs where i had to be put to sleep with a breathing tube because of the pulmanory edema and was told that me and the babies wouldn't make it unless.

So at 4:30am i was put to sleep and at 4:40am a screaming baby girl weighing 3lb 8ozs was born,then at 4:42am a baby boy weighing 3lb 10ozs was born and finally at 4:43 another baby boy was born weighing 3lb 7ozs all breathing on there own.They were sent to NICU to get accessed and i was sent to ICU to recover where i spent the next 3days.

There now happy healthy 18month olds with no delays in any way and weigh (A) 29lbs(B)30lbs and (C)28lbs.

Carpotunnel

sdumoulin — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 11:57:09 GMT

Hi!

I'm new to the forum and thought I'd ask if anyone has/has had carpotunnel syndrome during pregnancy and if you know what can make it better?

I am at 34 weeks now (first baby) and it's gotten progressively worst - although mostly in my right hand. Yesterday, I could barely hold my fork to eat my dinner!

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Complications with my sons birth

tonilynne05 — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:53:50 GMT

I was in labor for 36 long hours and no help from any drugs. When I was 8 cm dilated my doctor told me that my baby was breach. My biggest fear was having a c-sec. I was immediately rushed to the O.R. for an emergency c-sec. By the time I got there I was all the was dilated and my son's bottom was coming out. The nurse was holding him in and then I was put to sleep. When I woke up I was told that my son did not have a pulse and that they had to revive him. 1 day after my c-sec I was sent 2 hours away from my hospital to bring my son for tests. I ended up with a severe infection that went up past my bellybutton and down into my lower area. I had a blood clot under my incision and they ended up taking a staple out to drain it. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. My son ended up with numerous of tests for the first two years of his life. He had a stroke when he was born and the doctors say that he will be about 6 months behind kids his age. He's going to be three now and he's just starting to talk some sort of 3-4 word sentences. He was almost 2 when he started to walk. I'm pregnant again and I'm scared for the outcome.

Toni Lynne

Scared???

Ashley01 — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 07:09:26 GMT

When I was 15 my dad decided that his way of birth control would be for me to watch my step brother be born. It was beautiful and I will always remember that day. The more and more I think about it the more it freaks me out. How do I get rid of this anxiety?? I can't wait to be a mom but the birth can I skip that??

After c-section problems

richardson3 — Wed, 24 May 2006 13:08:16 GMT

Well, my story is a little bit different from all of you. I was induced to give birth to my son on February 28, 2006. I was one week late with a baby that was estimated to weigh 9.6lbs at the end of January. At 9am on March 1st, they brooke my water and then I waited. At about 1pm, the nurse asked me if I wanted an epideral. I said yes because at this point I had not dialted at all and was on my way to being scheduled for a c-section that night. When the doctor came it took 8 tries before they actually got the epideral in. Boy was that painful. At about 5pm the doctor said that she was going to get an OR ready for me, but had to deliver one other baby first. After the birth of that baby, the ER got really busy and the anestiesologist got to busy to come up for my surgery. Finally at about 10, it was time. My husband, watched the whole thing, infact the doctor kept telling hime to sit down. At 10:48pm my son weighing 10lbs12oz was born. I taken to recovery and everything was fine.

On the Sunday when I was able to leave, I had a bit of redness around my incesion. The doctor sent me home with some antibotics and a home care nurse that would come to my house everyday to saline soak it. (The baby was fine and perfect) On monday, it looked the same. On Tuesday, there was a black circle on the side of the incesion, the nurse said that it looked like a bruise. I thought ok, I guess they were pulling at me pretty hard. On Wednesday, there was 2 of them, different nurse, said the same thing. That night I had a bit of a fever but nothing special. On Thursday, I went to see the doctor, he took one look at my "bruises" and said SURGERY. He took a q-tip and put it right down through the middle of the black mark. He said to my mom that it was nacrotic tissue and that I had to go to the hospital right away for surgery. That was at 12pm, at 1pm I was admitted at the hosptial waiting to see a plastic surgen. At about 4pm I had a cat scan to see if the infection had spread to any of my intestines, bowels, etc. At 7 I was on the table.

The surgery went well, they basically cut about 2cm thick of skin off my stomach. About 15cm x 5cm. The nurses changed the dressings twice a day. Everytime my husband was there to hold my hand and watch because each time it was a different nurse. On Saturday, the doctor looked at itin the morning and noticed a small red spot that they were going to "watch". That night when they were doing the dressing change, my husband saw that the red spot had spread and that the nurse had to get the doctor. Within 30mins I was again on the table, this time it was a little bit more serious surgery.

I woke up on Monday morning. My husband told me that the doctor had come out at one point and told him and my parents that this kind of thing has a high mortality rate, and that they had to use medicines to keep my heart going. They kept me in a medical induces come for 32 hours. When I did wake up the first thing I asked my husband was "What did I miss on Desperate Housewives?" I was in I.C.U. for 6 days. When my family came to visit me they had to wear gowns, gloves and masks because they were still not sure exactly what I had or where I had got it from. On the Thursday (1 week after my first surgery) I got to see my son for the first time. It was even more emotional for me then when he was born. After that I got moved up to the surgical floor where I stayed there until Mar 27. My parents and husband brought the baby to visit me everyday for a little while. When I finally got out of the hospital,I stayed at my parents with the baby because I could not carry him. But now, I am home and doing well, a nurse come 3 times a week to change the bandages but other than that I am a healthy new mom.

The reason I write this story is to warn you, the only place I think that I could have gotten this virus is at the hospital when I gave birth. I stayed in a ward room, with 2 other new moms. They had tones of company who used the patient bathroom (when they were not suppossed to) all the time. I don't know if this is were I got it from or not, but please be careful and not take any chances. If you see someone other than a patient use the bathroom in your room, tell the nurse.

Good Luck

Jenn

36 weeks pregnant..ahh!!!

laurafriesen — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:13:33 GMT

Hey Ladies!!

Im new to this chat hehe. My name is Laura, im 19 and am expecting my first baby boy, Landon My hubby and I are very excited!! Nervous obviously too, we just bought a house too so we're moving this weekend. So much going on, but can't wait for Landon to come out! I had a 3d ultrasound done! Most amazing thing ever! If you want to look at the pictures just go here, and look under pictures.

http://rugbeekickz.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c01_blogpart=myspace&_c02_owner=1&_c=blogpart

Anyways, thought I would introduce myself!!!!

-Laura

Induction, C-section, Complications

shawnapetz — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:23:44 GMT

I was 12 days overdue on April 6th when I went to the hospital to be induced. I was given pitocin at 1pm and by 5pm we were at the max rate. I was having fairly strong contractions at this point but they weren't painful and I was 2 cm dilated (the same as I was 2 weeks before). At 8 pm my doctor broke my water to see if we couldn't get things moving. Almost immediately my contractions became very painful and they had to slow the rate of flow of pitocin. My labour stopped.

Usually when you're induced the medication kind of kick starts your labour and then your body takes over...mine never did. They had to increase the flow again so that I would have contractions but when they did I started having 3 contractions on top of one another with only 30-45 seconds in between.

I had my heart set on a natural labour but at 2am after a contraction that lasted 6 minutes I gave up. I was given Demerol...which I would not recommend. It just made my head feel fuzzy and I wasn't able to concentrate on my breathing. After that I had an epidural and got to rest.

At 4am I was still only 2cm dilated. (That's 14 hours of labour that did nothing:w00t. The nurse called my doctor and he came in at 6am. I thought for sure that I would probably go in for a c-section then but when my doctor checked me I was 5 cm. So I continued to labour until 2pm (25 hours in) at which point I was finally 10 cm. I pushed for an hour and my son's heart rate started to drop. At 3:30 my doctor told me we'd have to do a c-section and at 4 my son was born.

Immediately after my doctor and surgeon left the OR I started to hemmorage. My husband said he'd never seen so much blood...it was flowing onto the floor. It took a few frenzied minutes for them to get it under control. For some reason my blood wasn't clotting so they wanted to give me a platelet transfusion. Luckily the bleeding slowed and I didn't have to have the transfusion.

I wasn't able to hold my beautiful baby boy for a couple hours which at the time honestly seemed the worst part of the whole labour and delivery. If anyone reading this has not yet had a baby...don't worry. Although I had a tough labour and it wasn't anything like I wanted it to be I would gladly do it over and over again. Labour is very empowering.

It's A Boy!

SAHM04 — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 22:03:31 GMT

I was induced Dec 31,03 at 41 weeks. I was given prostaglandin gal in the morning at the hospital and they monitored me and the baby for about one hour. After that they sent me home. l had a 3 hour sleep. So when l wake up l told my hushand it was time to go back to the hospital because my contractions were getting stronger. We ended for the hospital around 4:30pm. I was given some oxytocin for the pain. The doctor came in to try to broke my water which he had no luck. My contractions were getting more tense and painful. The doctor came in again to try and broke my water which it did not work. I had to spend the night in the hospital. At 6:00am l was 3 centimeters dilated and given more oxytocin. 6:15am the Doc came and broke my water which worked this time. At 8:15am the nurse checked me and l was 10 centimeters dilated. And she called the doctor in. On January 1st,2004 at 9:08am l gave birth to a 7lb 1 1/2 oz 19 inches long baby boy! My hushand and l named him Matthew Robert McCaughey.

Kathy and Matthew

Audrey's arrival

nicky11 — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:33:44 GMT

I was due on Nov.3 2005. On November 10th my doctor induced me. We went in at 8:00am. They put an iv in me and started the drip. Every 20 minutes they would increase the drip for the contractions. At first I felt nothing. Then by 2:00pm I started feeling something. At 4:00pm. I started feeling more pain. At one point the nurses wanted to send me home because things weren't moving fast enough. I told them that I wasn't moving. I wasn't going to pack up and then come back in a few hours. I wasn't leaving!!! I had gained about 45-50 lbs. I was huge and very swollen. I was determined on having this baby today!!! Anyways by 6:00pm I was in a lot of pain but they couldn't give me the epidural because I wasn't opened enough. (I was going to try to do with no drugs, but it was impossible). I tried to go in the bath to help the pain, it felt good at first but then I was in pain again. I did exercises on a ball. FINALLY at 9:00pm I got the epidural (scarred a bit). After that I felt soooo much better. Then they broke my water. I began pushing at about 1:15am and at 3:15am Audrey was born. She was 21 inches and 9.5lbs healthy baby. I almost immediately forgot all the pain. It is the best moment that I have ever experienced in my life. Her Daddy also got quite emotional. Everyone says there isn't anything like it and it's sooo true.

Nicky

Anson Brock ~ April 14, 2002!

RobynG — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:45:12 GMT

Anson Brock ~ 04/14/02

On Saturday, April 13, 2002, we lived in Hinton, AB. We spent the day driving around with our real estate agent, looking at houses. I was due in aobut 8 days, so I was very large & uncomfortable sitting in the backseat of a car! After we looked at houses, we went to hubby's brother's house to visit. I noticed that I was peeing myself every so often, not a lot, just a tiny wet spot. I figure, oh, this is normal, the dr said I might do that if I laugh, cough or sneeze towards the end of my pregnancy. So I figure whatever, no big deal. Then the spot got bigger, I was like hmmm, so we phoned the hospital at about 7:30 pm. The nurses at that hospital are USELESS! She told me that my water will break all at once or not at all. So we go about our business that night. Around 10pm, my MIL called us at my BIL's to see what's going on. Garth said ask her, she'd know! So I asked her if your water can break slowly & she said it could. She asked if I was having contractions & I said not that I had noticed. So we paid attention to that for a few minutes & sure enough, I had a little bit of tightness every 14 minutes or so. So of course, hubby is panicking, BIL's roommate said that I had better not do anything gross in front of him!! So I tell hubby, let's go home & get my bags, then we'll head 'er to the hospital. So we go home & I decide to clean our apartment (I figure, if I'm going to the hospital, it had better be to stay, none of this come back in the morning stuff). So we finally make it to the hospital at about 1:20 am. They check me & yep, I'm 3 - 4 cm!! Yay! So we phone our families (they lived about 10 hours away, so we wanted to give them a head start), & I'm sure e gave them all heart attacks, phoning at 2 am!!! So we try to sleep, Garth curled around me on my hospital bed (NOT comfortable when you are 39 weeks pregnant on that tiny bed!!). Around 5:30 am, my contractions finally fot bad enough that I was crying, so I got an epidural, but the anesthesologist (sp?) didn't get there until like 6:15!!! But then all was well!! It was great, I was laughing, could care less what was going on!
At 8 am they checked me & I was still about 4 cm, no change. Garth's aunt & cousin showed up, since the INLs couldn't get there until that night (her stupid boss made her work a 3 hour shift!!). Garth's aunt took him home ot shower, change & eat, & his cousin stayed with me. It was funny, cuz I had to pee SOOO bad, so I tried walking to the bathroom & fell (walking epidural my ***!!). Thank goodness Garth or a nurse didn't see it! It was a very frustrating day, with nothing happening. I was like Jeez, just put me to sleep & when I wake up, let the baby be here!
Around 4 pm, I was checked again & only 5 cm. The dr checked me & said that the baby was coming out with a hand on it's hand!! Then she checked me again & said, oh, maybe that's it's nose! The reason why I had chosen my dr was cuz it was GIRL doc, I didn't really want any guys poking around, down there, I wouldn't even let Garth look down there! So she said she was calling in another dr! At that point I didn't care WHO was in the room, I already had Garth, his aunt, his cousin, 4 nurses, the drug dr (my buddy) & my dr. I was like, what's one more (iIwas the only patient there when this happened, it wasn't a very busy hospital)! So they get this other dr & he checks me & says yep, that's a nose! So they do an x-ray & sure enough, there's it's little head looking up instead of down!
On to the operating room! They upped my epidural, laid me down & let Garth in. It took about 20 minutes & then we heard our baby cry!! Anson Brock Gagne was born at 5:18 pm, weighing 8 pounds, 2.5 ounces, 21 inches long! They cleaned him up & then let Garth hold him while they fixed me up (I asked for a tummy tuck, no go). Then they told Garth to follow them with the baby, they were going to clean him up & dress him.
I was put in the recovery room, just outside the OR I was in. I could see the nurses go in & out, but they paid absolutley NO attention to me!! I had no idea where my baby was, what they were doing to him, nothing!!! I heard Garth's aunt being paged to go to the nursery & that was about I all I knew! Finally, about 2 hours later, they took me to my room & there was my baby & husband!!
He was chunky & red, with dark reddish brown hair, just sooo cute!! He was a pro at breastfeeding, he definatley had no issues there!! My BIL & his gf made to the hospital at about 6 pm, so Garth's aunt & cousin left. Now we were just waiting for the new grandparents, who wouldn't be there until around 9. I talked to my day nurse & she said it would be fine for BIL & gf to stay until INLs got there. Then at about 8:30, a mena nurse came in & siad what are those people doing here!! Visiting hours were over an hour ago! I was no way, my family is driving 10 hours to see this baby, they are staying!! So I got my way (hehe). My INLs showed up & they were soo excited!! And now my cute, chubby little baby is 4, with shocking red hair & has the temper to match!!!

Ryden York ~ April 13, 2004! Sorry, this is a long one!

RobynG — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:46:42 GMT

Ryden York ~ 04/13/04

My baby was born April 13, 2004, the day before his big brother's 2nd birthday. This was by far the worst thing I have ever experienced. I woke up that Tuesday morning feeling contractions & went pee. Hmmm, I thought. This is wierd. I was supposed to be having a c-section the following Tuesday (apparently I can't have babies over 6 pounds & they told me this was going to be about 10!!!). So I wake Garth up & tell him I was having contractions, since I never told him about leaking fluids with Anson & he was like, make sure you tell me right away with this one!! So I tell him & he's like no you aren't, go back to sleep. MEN!!! I lay there trying to sleep for a while, then get up to pee again (oi, that's a pain in the butt, peeing every 15 minutes!!). This time there's blood. So I go tell Garth & we phone the hospital. They tell me to wait until the clinic opens at 9 then go see my regualr doctor (this was about 7:30). I said ok, then, I'll wait, even though there's bllod & there shouldn't be!! So at 9 I go to the clinic & see my doctor who then sends me to the hospital!! I'm like HELLO PEOPLE!! we could have done this like 2 hours ago!!! So off I go to the hospital! They hook me up to the monitor, & I'm there for like an hour and a half. The baby wasn't kicking, so they gave me food & juice. Still nothing. The nurse phones the doctor at the clinic & tells her what's going on. She says ok, tell her to go home & come back this afternoon around 2. Apparently this dummies still don't know that I'm bleeding & having contractions!! So I go home & tell Garth (he stayed home with Anson), & he was like, RETARDS!! Don't they know you're bleeding?!?! So since I was having a c-section the next week, I had a doctor in the city (Tisdale is too small to do that). Garth says phone him & see what he says. So phone the office & talk to his nurse. I tell her everything, bleeding, contractions, the baby not kicking in an hour and a half, etc. She's like, um, how fast can you get to the city?? I was like oh, well, we'll leave right now I guess. So I tell Garth & throw some things into a suitcase, debating whether or not to bring the baby stuff. Then we put everything, including Anson, into car & take off.

Doulas?

TimandAmber — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:40:46 GMT

My husband and I are looking into maybe having a doula with us during the rest of my pregnancy and labor, well I am more into having one lol he does not see the need to have anyone there for the birth. So I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with a doula and if so would they recommend it?

He's arrived, healthy and happy.

sandydunning — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:09:51 GMT

Hi everyone,

Just sharing my joyous news that my little angel arrived after 48 hrs of labor and 2 epidurals. He arrived via C-section on Saturday July 8/2006 at 14:22 hrs

Gage came into the world weighing 8lbs 6oz and being 19"long.

He's absolutely lovely of course. He'll be 3 weeks old this Saturday.

He's eating like crazy and sleeping well. He's such a joy.

Just wanted to share the wonderful news.

Thanks,

Sandy

My Birth Stories

jpalm — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 13:02:03 GMT

I have two kids...my daughter, Hailey is three and a half (March 7th, 2003) and my son, Kaleb is 11 months old. (Sept 8th, 2005).
My pregnancy with Hailey was pretty easy, except I had what the doctor called "Pica" which is basically the body's way of trying to get a mineral or nutrient in the wrong way. (I craved laundry soap!!..only powdered.) It was weird..caused by anemia (Lack of iron).
The birth was a different story. Hailey decided to wait an extra week after her due date, so I was induced. Twice..no fun.
I was in active labour for 46 hours straight..I decided on an epidural so that I could sleep, and she made her appearance at 4:54 AM, weighing 7LB, 6OZ.
My pregnancy with Kaleb was also, very easy..no strange dirt/laundry soap cravings this time, only for tomatos and gravy. LOL.
He, on the other hand, decided to come almost 2 months early. (Due: Oct 22nd). I was helping Hailey use her potty when I bent over and my water broke. I was so scared because I didn't know if I was sure it had broken or not ( because of being induced with Hailey, it was broken manually in the hospital). We went to the hosital where they did a test with a stick, to make sure that it was amniotic fluid. They then sent us home, and told us we would be contacted in th morning if labour hadn't started. After going back into the hospital, I was induced again, and only in active labour for 7 hours. *phew*. Kaleb came along at 2:42AM, weighing 6LB, 4OZ. (Pretty good for a preemie.) He was incubated for a week, and had to be fed througha tube because he was losing weight rapidly.
Eventually, when we were able to bring him home, he weighed 5LB, 11OZ.
They are both doing wonderfully now. We joke about it all the time because Kaleb now weighs 3 pounds more than Hailey, and they wear the same sizes in clothes. (18m) LOL.

soon to have my second son

RPerry — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 01:24:17 GMT

I'm so scared that my son Cameron ( 2 1/2) wont like his baby brother, he seems so indifferent and i don't know what to do. I know he's really young and that he doesn't get it completely but I just can't help feeling like there should be more that i should do. I'm do in about 3 weeks and I'm going nuts just thinking about my little boy hating his little brother

Another boy for me

petulantfem — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 20:27:06 GMT

I'm relatively new to the boards for posting, but thought I'd be the second to post a birth. We had our second boy (Ben is 3 yrs) on Feb 16. I went into active labour on February 15th around 10 pm. I wasn't even sure I was in labour before that. Called my midwife who told me to rest and call back if the contractions got closer. I called her back just before midnight and we were at the hospital just after midnight. Things progressed very quickly from there, thank god, because in my town you can't get an epidural after 11 pm. I didn't want one originally, but since this was a VBAC and my first experience with labour, I wasn't sure if I would change my mind. Well, turns out I would have, if I had the option lol. But I'm glad the option wasn't there actually, because then there was no temptation to take the pain medication. So I laboured in the hospital for 3 and a half hours. I went from 3 cm when I got the hospital around midnight to fully dilated by 3:15 am, which is when my water broke and I began pushing. Jacob was born 9 minutes later at 3:24 am and we were all back home by 5:30 that evening.

It was an incredible experience, especially after having had a c-section. We are all doing well now and Jacob will be 2 months old next week ALREADY! Where does the time go??

Me and Jacob - 5 1/2 hours old

Jacob at 1 month

She's here.....

Danicasmum — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 08:49:04 GMT

I guess I'll be the first to post here. Katelyn Grace make her arrival yesterday at 5:22. I realized I was in labour at lunch time so we headed home (we were at Pizza Pizza :w00t and called the midwife. She showed up around 2:30 and we headed to the hospital around 4. They broke my water at 4:15, I started pushing at 5:10 and she was born 12 mins later. Everything happened very quickly (although it felt like hours while the pain was happening). Katelyn was 8 lbs and we're soooo happy she's here. And the best part with a midwife is that we're back home already. Got back here last night around 8:30. There's nothing like sleeping in your own bed when you're in pain. Anyway, I guess that's all for now. I'm sure I won't be on the boards as much in the next little while, just wanted to let you all know....

My C-Section (3 years ago lol)

petulantfem — Mon, 08 May 2006 00:17:40 GMT

I saw that one of the girls just posted her C-Section birth story in Family Planning on CB and I thought maybe I'd jot down what I remember of my C-Section when I had my oldest son 3 years ago, since someone might be interested in C-Section stories. It's certainly not as fresh in my mind as Jacob's birth, but I'll give it a try.

I definately did not give much thought to C-Sections during my pregnancy. I spent the entire time imagining that I would have a natural birth with my midwife. But as we got closer and closer to my due date, my midwife started to become more concerned that Ben was in a breech position (bum down - he was actually folded in half like a sandwich, which probably contributed to his difficulty manuvering. If his feet had been down, he could have probably pushed himself around into a head down position). Anyway, I was due February 2nd 2003. My midwife scheduled an appointment to consult with an OB, just in case, on January 13th. He took a look at me and said - "I have an opening January 23rd, we can schedule your section then". I was stunned. I thought we were just meeting to acknowledge that we might come into contact at the hospital if a section became necessary. And then I thought "That's in 10 days!" I was not ready for that sort of turn of events.

I spent every other day at the chiropractor trying to encourage Ben to move. No luck. January 22nd, an ultrasound revealed he was still stubbornly breech. So we packed our hospital bag that night. We were to be at the hospital for 6 am, which meant I had to be up by 5 am. No problem, since I couldn't fall asleep anyway. I was a ball of nerves that morning, getting dressed. We called my dad to drive us to the hospital, since my mom was already there working the night shift and wouldn't be off until 7 am.

The IV was the worst part of the whole C-Section. My nurse couldn't get it in properly. It took 4 tries, and I am terrified of needles. Time absolutely flew by and my stomach was in knots. I had never had surgery before, that was my first time ever even getting an IV. When it was time to walk to the OR, I had fantasies of just marching out of the hospital. What could they do? But at the same time, I knew this had to be done and this baby had to come out. I felt like I was walking the last mile. It was extremely unnerving. The spinal anesthetic was a cakewalk next to the IV. It felt like a long bee sting in my back. Finally, my FH was allowed in the room in his scrubs.

The actual operation took less than 30 minutes. Ben was born at 8:36 am - 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. He was absolutely beautiful. But I didn't get to hold him right away, they just showed him to me and then whisked him away while I got stitched back up. I don't know what medication they gave me exactly either, but I was pretty floaty.

I had a hard time coming to terms with my c-section for a long time. The recovery took forever and I felt like I had missed out on some incredible experience. My closure came from a VBAC this year. And I've learned that in the end, the most important thing is that I have two healthy, beautiful boys.

Since this was 3 years ago and we have reformatted the computer since, I don't have a lot of pictures handy of Ben's birth. But I did find one still on the computer here - this photo was actually taken off the video we have of his birth and he was less than a minute old here. They are still toweling him down.

And here he is now:

OBGYN Referal

Miya26 — Tue, 16 May 2006 09:50:23 GMT

I need to find a OBGYN in Guelph, Ontario and I'm having a hard time, can anyone recommend someone or provide any information?

MELLYB

TBear — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:20:39 GMT

MellyB - I was just creating the EDD list and noticed you are having your scheduled c-section today!!! Welcome baby girl - cannot wait to hear how things went!!