Thomas Matthew born at 9:19am on November 10, 2012, weighed in at 9 lbs, 9 oz and 21 inches long. Head circumference 14 inches! No pain medication for me at all and surprisingly needed no stitches!
This is my story and it's long!
On November 7, 2012, I went to my doctor appointment. I had a couple days of decreased fetal movement and mentioned it to my doctor. He had me do a non-stress test and then did an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed the amniotic fluid level was low and he had a couple heart decelerations on the non-stress test. I was dilated to 2cm. He began talking about having to induce me if things weren’t better in a couple days and had me come back on Friday, November 9th, 2012 at 3pm to follow up with another non-stress test and ultrasound to check to see how the fluid levels look. The levels looked better, but the non-stress test showed some more decelerations during a couple contractions I had. He sent me over to labor and delivery for an Oxytocin challenge test to see if the baby would be able to tolerate stronger contractions. I was dilated to 2-3cm.
In labor and delivery, around 4pm, they started an IV of Pitocin on 1 milliunits and eventually upped it to 3 milliunits to get 3 contractions per 10 minutes. The OCT was negative, meaning he would be able to tolerate labor contractions and they stopped the Pitocin. I was still contracting every 2 minutes for a few hours after they had stopped the contractions, so they decided to keep me. Contractions weren’t painful at all, just felt like strong Braxton hicks contractions. They began to space out and pretty much stopped around midnight. They decided to go ahead and start the Pitocin up again to get the contractions going again.
At 6am, they checked my cervix and I was still only 3cm dilated. They upped the Pitocin to 2 milliunits. At 7am, they checked me again and I was 4cm dilated and they upped the Pitocin one last time. At 8am, the contractions were really strong and my back felt like it was on fire during the contractions! I felt really strong pressure and had them check my cervix again. I was 7cm dilated!
The back pain was unbearable. The doctor determined that he was in a posterior position. I decided to get on my hands and knees to see if that would help turn him. The midwife had me trying several positions, but he was being stubborn and didn’t want to turn.
8:50, my water broke.
At 9am, I felt the urge to push. My OB had me start pushing. That was painful, but not nearly as painful for what was to come! I started to push and his head was out in 3 pushes. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice. I pushed some more, but his shoulders were stuck! (shoulder dystocia) The other OB on call had to assist the OB and everything at that point was chaotic! I just remember that I was pushing really hard and in so much pain! My fiancé was telling me afterward that my OB had both hands inside me trying to get his shoulders loose. The other OB was pushing down on my stomach. In 2 HUGE pushes, we got his shoulders unstuck and he came out.
He was limp and his face was blue. I was scared to death. I was just laying in the bed waiting to hear him cry. It felt like forever. They got him to cry and put him on oxygen. He was struggling to breathe a little bit. They let me see him for a quick minute and then took him to the NICU. They did an x-ray to make sure his shoulder wasn’t broken.
When they delivered the placenta, it was in 2 pieces, causing me to bleed so much more than they wanted to see. I almost passed out twice. After pushing on my stomach, they got it out and the bleeding went down. They kept the Pitocin drip on, but I can’t remember why.
Thomas stayed in the NICU for 4 hours and then I was able to have him in the room with me. He is perfectly healthy.
We are now at home and he’s just amazing. His brothers are just as happy to have him home!
16 posts