I have a son! Here's his story:
My water broke at home early Sunday morning, June 19. I woke up at 5am to a small trickle of fluid followed by menstrual-type cramps. Once I got up, I had several gushes of fluid come out and I decided to wake my husband to tell him my water broke. His response was, "You're kidding." I said, "Nope. You'd better go pack."
We got to the hospital at about 8am and they monitored my contractions for about a half hour, then checked and I was 1cm and 50% effaced. Pitocin started (gradually) at 10:45, then a trigger-happy nurse was increasing my Pit every 1/2 hour!
At 3:30 I was told I could get the epi now or wait an hour until the anesthesiologist was free again. Even though the pain was manageable, I decided to get it then...thank goodness. 5 minutes later I was in excruciating pain with contractions every 1-2 minutes. Damn that nurse! The epi worked great though.
At 4:15 they checked and I was still only 1cm but 100% effaced. Nurse increased the Pit again. About 15 min. later I was at 4cm. 5 min. after that, we heard a faint alarm sounding and DH went to get a nurse since baby's HR had dropped. She checked and I was 6-7 cm! Suddenly I had 5 nurses around me giving me oxygen and I started shaking uncontrollably. They called the doctor in and she checked me and said I was at 9cm! Baby's HR was down to the 60s and they shut off the Pit. The contractions slowed his HR improved and I was able to rest for a bit.
A little later, I tried 2 practice pushes since baby's head was already past the section of cervix that was left. But his HR dropped again and we opted for an emergency c-section. Nicholas was born at 7:08 pm. 7 lbs, 7 oz., 19 1/2 inches. We found out that he was "sunny side up" (head down, but face up) and had the cord wrapped around his neck, which caused the distress.
The surgery went well and I was calm throughout, but I don't remember much from recovery except that I was shaking terribly again and falling asleep every other minute. They had given me a lot of anti-anxiety meds and I was really out of it. I didn't nurse until about midnight.
The next morning a blood test showed his bilirubin was increasing so he spent 2 days in the nursery receiving light therapy to control/prevent jaundice. He was given a lot of formula to help flush out his system, and I was really sad that he had to be introduced to bottles so soon.
I pumped so my husband could feed Nicholas breastmilk from a bottle, and once my catheter was taken out I went up to the nursery to breastfeed several times. He was brought to our hospital room on Wednesday and I was thrilled beyond words.
Breastfeeding on my own was really tough, and I had to call the nurse in at 3am to help me because he wouldn't stop screaming. She was amazingly patient, and she held my breast and the baby's head while I cradled his body and manually expressed milk into his mouth to encourage him to suck. Without her, though, I felt like I didn't have enough hands to do it all and I was so emotionally drained.
We are home now, and I am currently exclusively pumping. I know the most important thing is that he gets breastmilk, but I feel like a failure. I think he got spoiled with the bottle feedings in the hospital, and he gets so frustrated when he has to work for his food that he just starts screaming. It makes me feel awful. I plan to call a lactation consultant this week, but I don't know if the damage can be reversed...
