[blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming

Sat Apr 3 21:24:59 UTC 2010

These experiences are neat to read about. I really can recall anything
as adventurus as these during my children's deliveries. but please
keep them coming.

On 4/3/10, Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at pcdesk.net> wrote:
> I agree that having a birth plan written in advance is a good idea because
> it makes you think about what your ideal scenario will be, and lets your
> care providers know what's important to you.  But I do have to stress
> flexibility, which others have mentioned.
>
> I WENT Into the hospital at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, hoping for a
> birth close to the one Dena described.  I labored all day Saturday, and I
> didn't really find the pain too bad.  I wouldn't call it fun, but I'd been
> through much worse with migraines and some procedures on my eyes, and Gerald
> and I worked well together with relaxation and breathing techniques.  After
> my membranes were ruptured, the contractions were stronger than before, but
> I could still walk around the labor deck, which the nurses said didn't
> usually happen when a woman was seven or eight centimeters dialated.  For
> me, walking around or sitting in a chair and rocking back and forth with the
> contractions worked well--much better than lying on the bed.  At about seven
> in the evening, I received Fentinol in my IV to take the edge off the pain,
> mostly because I was tired enough that I knew I wouldn't have the energy for
> pushing if I didn't get a bit of a break first, having at that point been up
> since Friday morning.  It wasn't long after that when I started pushing.
>
> And then things stopped going according to plan.  I pushed and pushed and
> pushed, for over two hours, and the baby wasn't moving at all.  Not even a
> little.  When the monitor started showing stress in her heartbeat, the
> doctor called for a C-section.  I was given an injection to stop the
> contractions.  Let me tell you, once there was no longer a purpose behind
> those contractions, a reason to be having them, the pain hit me like an atom
> bomb.  Plus, the medication to stop the contractions had me shaking
> violently.  I was scared and disappointed.
>
> The C-section turned out to be okay.  I had an epidural, so I didn't feel
> anything at all, but I was awake, and Gerald was with me.  It turned out
> that Sarah had her head cocked sideways in the birth canal, as if she'd been
> looking backwards to where she'd come from.  The doctor said I could have
> pushed till the end of time and she never would have made it out.  He said
> that people complain about modern medical interventions and how they get
> overused, but at one time in human history, one in three women died during
> childbirth.  He said a hundred years ago, Gerald would probably have been
> asked to choose which one he wanted saved, me or Sarah, because there would
> have been no way for both of us to make it.
>
> I got to have Sarah on my chest for a few wonderful moments after she was
> delivered, but then she was whisked away, and I was sewn up.  I had to stay
> in the recovery room for a little over an hour, till the terrible nausea
> from the anesthetic passed and I could wiggle my toes.  That was one of the
> longest hours of my life.  I kept trying and trying to wiggle my toes, which
> I couldn't even feel, and I wanted to sob and scream because I wasn't with
> my baby on account of my stupid toes, which I couldn't have cared less
> about.  Gerald had to keep going back and forth from me to the baby, since
> the staff wouldn't let her in the recovery room with me having so much
> nausea.  I was lucky because I had a really good anesthesiologist, who was a
> fairly new daddy himself, and he stayed with me and described what was going
> on when Gerald wasn't there.  I don't know how I would have made it through
> without him, and I always wished I could let the hospital know somehow, but
> I don't remember anything except that his name was Matt, and he was an angel
> from God.
>
> By the time we got into a hospital room on the maternity ward, I was just
> plain too exhausted to try and nurse.  I suspect that part of the reason I
> never got a good milk supply was that nursing was delayed nearly eighteen
> hours.
>
> Still, the birht of my daughter is something I'll never forget.  It didn't
> go the way I would have wished it to, but the most important thing is, I had
> a healthy baby who has grown into a healthy, active toddler.  Remember that
> the birth is only the beginning of the story.  It may come off perfectly, or
> it may take turns you wouldn't have asked for, but no matter what, you still
> get to write the whole rest of the wonderful, beautiful adventure with your
> child.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Dena Wainwright" <dena at envogueaccess.com>
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 1:25 PM
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming
>
>> this is very true. having a birth plan written up when you go to the
>> hospital is a very good thing. obviously, things happen, and you sometimes
>>
>> have to deviate from your ideal scenario, but it's good to let your
>> practitioners know what you want. e.g., we included things like one of us
>> had to be with our daughter at all times if any sort of medical procedure
>> was to be done, and that epidurals were not an option for me due to a
>> spinal injury. we also included that Jason wanted to cut the cord, and
>> that we did not want extraction devices to be used during delivery.
>>
>> I ended up needing Pitocen (which was definitely not a part of my plan),
>> but otherwise, I really did have the perfect birth. I agree with Carla
>> about non-medicated births. in many ways, they are really amazing and
>> extremely empowering. I really do feel, after living through a 41.5 hour,
>> medication-free (aside from a tiny bit of Nubane which took the edge off
>> the pain, but by no means eliminated it) that my body is capable of
>> enduring almost anything. I joked with my midwives the day after my
>> daughter was born that I was ready to run a marathon now. it was amazing
>> to be able to walk around within 90 minutes of giving birth. I ate, had a
>> shower, and rocked my baby in a rocking chair all before she was 2 hours
>> old. I was able to immediately begin nursing her, and she was with me at
>> all times from the moment she emerged, except for the times when her daddy
>>
>> held her. our hospital staff didn't even clean or weigh her until she was
>> about 2 hours old. the only "medical" things they did to her within the
>> first 24 hours were to take her vitals and suction out her mouth and nose
>> (and this is while we were holding or touching her).
>>
>> Dena
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Karla Hudson" <HudsonKC at msu.edu>
>> To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 12:47 PM
>> Subject: [blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming
>>
>>
>>> Hi >> >> vanessa Hernandez,
>>>
>>> Many have given great information on this list. I also did not have my
>>> water
>>> break until my daughter pushed it down the birth cannel. What a pop! The
>>> look on my face must have been priceless. This was after a 28 hour labor
>>> and
>>> she was born after two more hours of pushing. Everyone is different that
>>> is
>>> for sure. I never really did feel my water break with my son. This big
>>> boy
>>> at 9 pounds 14 ounces came with two pushes in about five minutes after a
>>> 28
>>> hour labor. Both my children were born with out medication. A great book
>>> to
>>> read is the Birth book my William Sears. I love his books and he inspired
>>>
>>> me
>>> to have a nonmedicated birth.
>>>
>>> I hope this helps. You really have to educate yourself about the kind of
>>> birth you want to have and then pray that it all works.
>>>
>>> Karla
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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