V's Birth Story

Vivien was born 3/19/12 at 8:37pm weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz

Vivien had been officially declared breech at my 35 week appointment. An ultrasound confirmed her position, and we decided to wait and see if she’d turn. At my 36 week appointment, there was no change, and an external cephalic version was scheduled (ECV). At 37 weeks, my ECV was a failure. We couldn’t get her to head to move beyond the top of my uterus. I visited a chiropractor twice after that but felt no change. We scheduled my c-section for 3/19 at 12:30pm. My in-laws booked flights to come out and watch our 15 month-old son during the first few days I would be in the hospital, and my brother was informed of his duties to watch our son for the last few days.

Since I didn’t like the 3/19 date, I decided to attempt an earlier c-section. I was told that breech pregnancies should immediately go to l&d if there were any signs of labor. I took castor oil all night long and called l&d at 4:30am on 3/14 to try and get admitted. My brother came to our house to wait for our son to wake up, and we left for the hospital. They put me on a monitor for over an hour to make sure my contractions were real. I passed the test. My contractions were good and strong. I was only dilated to 1-2cm though. They decided to begin prepping me for a c-section considering the contractions weren’t slowing down. In the final minute of my l&d stay before getting prepped, the on-call doctor decided to do another ultrasound. And wouldn’t you know it, Vivien was head down! There were cheers around the room and relief for me. I was sad to know she wouldn’t be delivered on 3/14, but I was ecstatic to reclaim my right to a vaginal delivery. L&D sent us home after my contractions started spacing out, and we were exhausted all day. I truly believe my castor oil-induced contractions caused her to flip for birth and am glad I did it. Had I known she was head down, I would not have attempted the false labor. I knew my body wasn’t ready yet.

After a talk with my OB, a 3/19 induction was permitted on the basis that my in-laws had already booked their vacation dates and flights to come out. There was no medical reason for that date. My in-laws were officially told the news and happy to know they’d be here for her birth and would be here until we got released from the hospital given the shorter hospital stay with a vaginal delivery.

My husband and I checked in at 6:30am on Monday, March 19. I was set up in my bed and they began the IV process and GBS+ penicillin antiobiotics. I was happy to have it put into my left wrist because I’m right handed. With my last birth, they placed the IV in my right hand, which actually physically hurt me for several days. I was also told hospital policy changed and that I would be given skin to skin contact and time to hold my daughter before her vitals were checked. This made a world of difference for me. With my son, he was delivered at 11pm. He was cleaned off and handed back to me at 11:30pm. I handed him to family at 11:35pm. Family left at 12am, and I passed out from the pain killers/drugs. I held my son for only 5 minutes. I didn’t try breast feeding until the next day, and at that point, I couldn’t get a latch. I feel I sabotaged my own breast feeding experience with him. This time, I was doing things differently.

Two days before V’s scheduled induction, I lost my mucous plug and had my bloody show. I was hoping she’d come on her own, but the contractions never happened. Luckily, it dilated me to a 3cm, which I’m sure helped with the induction process. Finally by 9am, I was started on pitocin. They started it at 2 mL/hr. I was anxious to get the show on the road and kept asking when I’d get more. At 10:30am, I was awakened from a nap. They upped my pit to 6 mL/hr and asked me to sign epidural consent forms. After that, another nurse came in to set up the delivery table with tools. I found this quite odd since I hadn’t been checked recently and was still not feeling anything painful with the contractions.

By 11am, my OB came to break my water. The fluid was nice and clear, which debunked the myth that castor oil causes premature meconium leakage. They decided not to give me more pit because they wanted my body to take over. Guess what? It didn’t. My in-laws brought my son over for a visit which was so nice. I was glad to see him, and he was happy trying to pull out my IV.

At 2pm, I pretended like my pain was increasing and asked for the epidural. While that was going in, I was regretting my decision to ask for it so soon. Honestly, I just wanted more pitocin, but they didn’t want to increase it if I wasn’t in much pain. With my first labor, I waited until 8cm to get my epidural. The epidural relief outweighed the contraction pain. With this labor, I wasn’t in pain, so the epidural was scary for me. After the epidural, they gave me another ultrasound to make sure she was absolutely head down. They did a cervical check and found I was only at a 4cm, and her head wasn’t right up against my cervix. So, my contractions weren’t pushing her down. I needed to lie on my sides and rotate the rest of the day in order to corkscrew her lower.

I was checked at 5pm, and was only a 4-5cm dilation. Her head was still not up against my cervix but my cervix was apparently easier to reach this time. By this point, pit was at 16 mL/hr. At 6pm, I was dilated 5-6cm and feeling gassy. I called my best friend to come to the hospital since she would be taking all my labor/delivery photos. I also decided to sneak some sugar into my system. All I had eaten for the day was ice water and a grape popsicle. So, I asked for some green jello and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it helped wake Vivien up.  At 6:30pm, my pit was at 22 mL/hr, and I was getting some painful contractions. The anesthesiologist was called back in to help with the pain. He gave me another injection, which I immediately felt in my back. Unfortunately, it did nothing to help the contraction pains. By 7pm, her head was finally up against my cervix, and at 8pm, I was at 8cm dilated.

From there, my OB came back into the room and things were slowly getting set up for delivery. They had placed an internal monitor on V’s head to measure contractions because the external monitor couldn’t get an accurate measurement anymore. By this point, I think I was feeling real contractions without the aid of drugs. They were painful, but I breathed through them. I welcomed the pain because it meant progress. I was gassy and burping. I felt pressure, and my OB did another cervical check. She said I was almost complete and asked me to do a test push. When I did, the lip disappeared. Everyone set up while I sat there with painful contractions. My best friend set up a secret video camera and had her Canon available for the delivery photos. I reminded the nurses that I wanted a mirror, so my doctor was yelling down the hall, “mirror in room 4!” I also reminded my doctor that I absolutely didn’t want an episiotomy and that she was not permitted to grab any scissors. Everyone laughed, but I was half-serious.

With one push, Vivien’s head came out. I was shocked. I got to see her head in the mirror, and I got to see my OB pull the cord off and around her neck. They told me not to push again and suctioned her. After a minute, I was told to start pushing for her body. With one half-push, Vivien came flying out. Seeing it in the mirror was scary because it looked like my OB barely caught her. She was placed on my chest, and I was in pure bliss. I couldn’t stop the tears. She looked just like her big brother only on a smaller scale and with more hair. My OB waited for the cord to stop pulsing before my husband was allowed to cut it. After my placenta delivery, they maxed out my pitocin to get my uterus to contract back down. I’m glad it did. I was able to get Vivien to latch with no difficulty. After a while, I initiated her vital checking. I was curious to know how big she was and noticed her left eye was fused shut by vernix and felt she’d be more comfortable with both eyes open.

Her bath took longer than I wanted, but she was finally given back to me. We had called my in-laws after her delivery, so they brought my son up to meet her. His first moments with her were also caught on video for us to cherish forever. This entire experience was like night and day with my son’s delivery. I wasn’t extremely tired when she arrived, I was given bonding time, and I was able to start breast feeding. I did have some tearing, so my doctor did those stitches while I bonded. No scissors were used, my recovery has been amazing, and I’m not taking any pain meds at home. I took some OTC Motrin for the first two days but have stopped it altogether.

(Vivien Grace was born on 3/19/12 at 8:37pm weight 7 lbs. 9 oz and 20.5” long with a 36 cm head.)