On vacation with the family
I had decided after Winsor’s birth that I would never be induced into labor with pitocin again, and I really did not want another c-section. To make sure I didn’t have the same problems, I lost 35 pounds between pregnancies. My blood pressure was lower to start, and stayed low for most of the pregnancy. At about 36 weeks I started dreading the doctor visits because I didn't want them to find anything wrong. My doctor offered to do a repeat c-section or to induce me at 38 weeks. I had a tough decision to make. I talked to lots of mothers who had both delivered naturally and who had had c-sections. Some told me to schedule the repeat c-section. They said its easier, you can plan on it, and it is much less traumatic when you don't go through 30 hours of labor first. I heard one story of a uterine rupture that left the baby disabled for life. I also talked to people who couldn't believe the doctor would even offer a repeat c-section when a VBAC is so safe. I finally decided I wanted to attempt a VBAC. I told the doctors that I wanted to go into spontaneous labor.
At 38 weeks the blood pressure started sneaking up. At 39 weeks (on a Thursday) the blood pressure was up again, and they sent me for blood work. I returned the next day and they said I was negative for Toxemia, but they wanted to see me again on Monday. Friday night I went to bed thinking "I know I am going to end up with another c-section". At 5:00 am Winsor woke up screaming, so I brought him in our bed. He was just settling down when I felt some pain in my abdomen. I started to notice a pattern, and got up to time them. The contractions were 4 1/2 minutes apart. I told my husband, and ran a bath thinking that I could labor in the comfort of my own home for a while (like they show in Lamaze). That didn't last long. The contractions were getting stronger, and the bath wasn't helping. My husband called the doctor and my mother to come stay with our son. We got to the hospital at 7:00 am and they checked me. I was 5cm dilated already. I got an epidural and the pain went away. It was great! I watched the Olympics while my body kept working on delivering the baby. The doctor got there at 11:00 and checked me - I was 10 cm dilated, but the head was still at -2 station.
The Doctor decided to put me on my left side and not to break the water - thinking this would bring the head down. It worked pretty well, but the head was still too high to push. A little while later he decided to break the water and see if that helped. When he was out of the room, our very experienced nurse talked the resident into letting me push. She was convinced it would help. By the time the doctor came back at 1:00 - the head was much further down. However, my coccyx bone was in the way, and he didn't think I could push the baby out. At this point, I still didn't know if I would end up with a c-section. They took me to the OR and gave me more anesthesia. The doctor used suction and forceps. They weren't saying much to me, but I heard "this baby has huge shoulders". When I heard that, I knew that the head must be out. I few minutes later I saw the baby being pulled out, and taken to the pediatricians waiting. They didn't want him to breath because of all the fluid in his lungs. They finally told me I had a healthy 9 pound 5 ounce baby boy.
