We checked into the hospital at 5:45 and everything was set up quickly, we had the IV going with
the pitocin by 6:15, they broke my water at 7:30, and we thought it was going to be quick. In
fact, my OB came in around 8:30 and suggested I go ahead with the epidural since she was sure
this was going to be such a quick birth and I was at 5 cm. The contractions were tolerable then
but I didn't want to suddenly be 10 cm and they say it was too late for one. So the epidural
man comes in, everybody is happy and chatty. He did the shot in my back to numb me and that
went fine. It was when he tried to start the actual epidural that things went to !+!+. He stabbed
me again and again and couldn't get in. Finally he said he was going to try to go higher.
Every time he stabbed I shrieked in pain, it was unbelievable how much it hurt, I've had an
epidural before and things were fine. Finally he got it placed. I started feeling light headed
and was seeing spots in front of my eyes. I started dry heaving. My nurse grabbed a trash can
for me and the epidural man said something about my blood pressure being 78 over something, I
don't remember. I know my forehead was suddenly covered with sweat and then I fell back on the
bed and puked and they were frantically putting things in my IV to get my blood pressure back up
to normal. It would stabilize and then fall off into the eighties again. All this time the baby
was doing fine.
Finally things calmed down, they had my neck and face covered with wet cloths and an oxygen
mask on. Scary stuff.
The epidural worked great for a couple hours, contractions were huge but I wasn't feeling
any pain. Slowly I started noticing each contraction, I could feel the pressure building and
building. I was fine with it at first but it got worse and worse. My nurse called epidural man
again and they gave me something called a bolus (an extra dose of epidural medicine) and that
seemed to take care of things. For about two hours anyway. I had to have a second dose and that
one wore off after only an hour and a half. By then I was at 9 cm and the contractions were
so awful I couldn't believe it. My nurse said she's never seen anybody need a second bolus and
here I had to have a third. Every time they gave me another one I started shaking uncontrollably,
it was so bad they wanted to give me some kind of narcotic for it if it didn't stop soon but
they were trying to avoid it at all costs so it didn't depress the baby.
I was so afraid the third bolus would wear off before the baby arrived, he was still really high and wouldn't come down
finally they checked me again and I was complete! It was almost 6:00 pm by then and my doctor was down the hall
delivering another baby so I started pushing with just the nurse. He would come down some but
his heart rate was dropping into the 80's during each contraction. My doctor came in and said
immediately that she wanted the vacuum. I asked about side effects and she said if they didn't
get him out in the next couple of minutes we were going straight to a c-section. I gave it all
I could and all the nurses were yelling how this was it and suddenly there was a huge snap. I
didn't ask what it was but they reattached the vacuum and started going at me again. Suddenly
he was there, completely covered in blood and his poor head....there were two different sections
that looked like horns, huge circular parts of his head standing out from the vacuum. They got
him into the warmer right away after Jason cut the cord and that's when I first heard about
the possible broken clavicle and that his color wasn't so great. They announced his weight at
nine pounds fourteen ounces and everybody gasped, nobody was expecting a moose. My doctor was
tugging at me, saying the placenta wouldn't come out when another doctor appeared and introduced
herself as a nurce practioner at children's mercy hospital (a major hospital in Kansas City) and that they were taking the baby to the
NICU upstairs because of his color, his Apgar was just a 7. I didn't know the baby's name yet so
his bracelets read infant male Codding. I was able to quickly nurse him and then
Off he went to the NICU with me crying the whole time.
They finally got my placenta out and after an hour moved me to a recovery room. Well acutally
we dropped off my personal things and they zipped my wheelchair down to the NICU. Baby Austin
was lying under a warmer wearing nothing but a diaper. His head was covered in blood and
bruises and bulged in different directions. I asked how soon he could come to my room and
they told me then he would be staying because they had concerns of a brain bleed from the
vacuum. They tried explaining to me what the different numbers on the monitors meant but I just
sat there and cried, I was so upset. I thought it was all my fault for not pushing him out sooner. They put him in my arms and I nursed him again from the
wheelchair, all the time thinking his poor little head was all my fault.
He was born at 7:05 and I finally left the NICU around 11pm. My new nurse was wanting to check
me over and do vital signs. They wanted me to sleep but all I could think about was my baby wondeirng where I was. Through the night I would go
down to the NICU and check on him and nurse him again. They kept measuring his head to check the swelling. I remember one time it had gone up
1/8 of an inch and I started freaking out all over again. It was such a long day and I was a complete mess.
I'll never forget my door opening the next day and the nurses wheeling him in. They had cleaned him all up and finally put an undershirt on him. He was
swaddled up in a blanket and gnawing on a binky. I just felt so happy and blessed that he was all right.
He was checked over several times after that and everything is great. He had his one week check up today and was 10 pounds 4 ounces. I'm so thankful to God
for making my little boy all right!
the pitocin by 6:15, they broke my water at 7:30, and we thought it was going to be quick. In
fact, my OB came in around 8:30 and suggested I go ahead with the epidural since she was sure
this was going to be such a quick birth and I was at 5 cm. The contractions were tolerable then
but I didn't want to suddenly be 10 cm and they say it was too late for one. So the epidural
man comes in, everybody is happy and chatty. He did the shot in my back to numb me and that
went fine. It was when he tried to start the actual epidural that things went to !+!+. He stabbed
me again and again and couldn't get in. Finally he said he was going to try to go higher.
Every time he stabbed I shrieked in pain, it was unbelievable how much it hurt, I've had an
epidural before and things were fine. Finally he got it placed. I started feeling light headed
and was seeing spots in front of my eyes. I started dry heaving. My nurse grabbed a trash can
for me and the epidural man said something about my blood pressure being 78 over something, I
don't remember. I know my forehead was suddenly covered with sweat and then I fell back on the
bed and puked and they were frantically putting things in my IV to get my blood pressure back up
to normal. It would stabilize and then fall off into the eighties again. All this time the baby
was doing fine.
Finally things calmed down, they had my neck and face covered with wet cloths and an oxygen
mask on. Scary stuff.
The epidural worked great for a couple hours, contractions were huge but I wasn't feeling
any pain. Slowly I started noticing each contraction, I could feel the pressure building and
building. I was fine with it at first but it got worse and worse. My nurse called epidural man
again and they gave me something called a bolus (an extra dose of epidural medicine) and that
seemed to take care of things. For about two hours anyway. I had to have a second dose and that
one wore off after only an hour and a half. By then I was at 9 cm and the contractions were
so awful I couldn't believe it. My nurse said she's never seen anybody need a second bolus and
here I had to have a third. Every time they gave me another one I started shaking uncontrollably,
it was so bad they wanted to give me some kind of narcotic for it if it didn't stop soon but
they were trying to avoid it at all costs so it didn't depress the baby.
I was so afraid the third bolus would wear off before the baby arrived, he was still really high and wouldn't come down
finally they checked me again and I was complete! It was almost 6:00 pm by then and my doctor was down the hall
delivering another baby so I started pushing with just the nurse. He would come down some but
his heart rate was dropping into the 80's during each contraction. My doctor came in and said
immediately that she wanted the vacuum. I asked about side effects and she said if they didn't
get him out in the next couple of minutes we were going straight to a c-section. I gave it all
I could and all the nurses were yelling how this was it and suddenly there was a huge snap. I
didn't ask what it was but they reattached the vacuum and started going at me again. Suddenly
he was there, completely covered in blood and his poor head....there were two different sections
that looked like horns, huge circular parts of his head standing out from the vacuum. They got
him into the warmer right away after Jason cut the cord and that's when I first heard about
the possible broken clavicle and that his color wasn't so great. They announced his weight at
nine pounds fourteen ounces and everybody gasped, nobody was expecting a moose. My doctor was
tugging at me, saying the placenta wouldn't come out when another doctor appeared and introduced
herself as a nurce practioner at children's mercy hospital (a major hospital in Kansas City) and that they were taking the baby to the
NICU upstairs because of his color, his Apgar was just a 7. I didn't know the baby's name yet so
his bracelets read infant male Codding. I was able to quickly nurse him and then
Off he went to the NICU with me crying the whole time.
They finally got my placenta out and after an hour moved me to a recovery room. Well acutally
we dropped off my personal things and they zipped my wheelchair down to the NICU. Baby Austin
was lying under a warmer wearing nothing but a diaper. His head was covered in blood and
bruises and bulged in different directions. I asked how soon he could come to my room and
they told me then he would be staying because they had concerns of a brain bleed from the
vacuum. They tried explaining to me what the different numbers on the monitors meant but I just
sat there and cried, I was so upset. I thought it was all my fault for not pushing him out sooner. They put him in my arms and I nursed him again from the
wheelchair, all the time thinking his poor little head was all my fault.
He was born at 7:05 and I finally left the NICU around 11pm. My new nurse was wanting to check
me over and do vital signs. They wanted me to sleep but all I could think about was my baby wondeirng where I was. Through the night I would go
down to the NICU and check on him and nurse him again. They kept measuring his head to check the swelling. I remember one time it had gone up
1/8 of an inch and I started freaking out all over again. It was such a long day and I was a complete mess.
I'll never forget my door opening the next day and the nurses wheeling him in. They had cleaned him all up and finally put an undershirt on him. He was
swaddled up in a blanket and gnawing on a binky. I just felt so happy and blessed that he was all right.
He was checked over several times after that and everything is great. He had his one week check up today and was 10 pounds 4 ounces. I'm so thankful to God
for making my little boy all right!
