Ask A Nurse
Pregnancy Photos
Pregnancy Calendar
Birth Plans
Birth Stories
Bookstore
Boy or Girl
Cesareans
Chat Room
Complications
Doulas
Educators
Episiotomy
FAQs
Feeding Baby
Fertility
Finding a Class
Health
Interactive
Labor
Message Board
Monitoring
Newborns
Postcards
Postpartum
Pregnancy
Reviews/Awards
Search
VBAC
Week by Week

Bonner's Birth

I have two boys. This is the story of how the second one came to be! The pregnancy was normal until 3 days before my due date. I went in for a checkup and had dilated to 2 cm. My OB wanted to do a sonogram to check for presentation. We found out that what we had been rubbing and pushing on, and telling everyone was his butt was actually his head! He was in a frank breech-pike position! I was scheduled for an external version that evening because there was not a lot of amniotic fluid left. She said I had a good chance of getting him turned because I was thin. She said she hadn't been able to tell that he was breech until that day because my uterus was so tight and hard. I went in at 4:00 to be prepped. They gave me brethine which is supposed to relax the uterus, but has the opposite effect on you. It felt like drinking about 10 cups of coffee. I could even feel it as it entered my vein and traveled up my arm. It felt very cold and actually made my arm hurt. They pressed and pushed and squeezed and finally after about 30-45 minutes were able to make him do a forward sommersault. What a relief! A little while later my OB asked if we wanted to have my water broken and have the baby. We discussed it and decided to go ahead. I had dilated another cm. to 3 and could now feel the contractions, though they were mild. There was also some concern about the baby turning back around. At 6:30 pm they broke my water and I settled into the LDR with my husband, our 3 year old, my brother, and my friend. I walked and walked all night, between monitoring sessions. My labor seemed to stall. I would only have contractions if I were walking around. So I walked fast, took showers, walked some more, did nipple stim over and over, walked very fast, etc. The contractions were coming about 30 seconds apart and very hard but were very unproductive! At 9:30 the next morning, after 15 hours, I had dilated only one more cm. to 4 and only effaced 30%. Though I had not wanted to be induced, I finally consented to Pitocin. That started at 9:30. The contractions came harder and faster but I was still able to walk some and take a shower. I already had an IV in to give me antibiotics for Beta strep. We were using the Bradley method and knew what to expect but I didn't know just how hard the contractions would get! They were coming so close together that it seemed like one big long one. I began double and triple peaking and the contractions weren't even registering on the tape. They were lasting 8-10 minutes or more and with no noticeable let up in between. This lasted for at least an hour or more. I had my husband get the nurse and I told her I wanted the Pit turned off. We had dicussed this with my OB before. I asked her to check me and that was around 12:00. I was fully dilated and effaced and I told her I wanted to push. The pushing part was the best because I got a second wind and didn't feel the pain at all. It felt wonderful. I kept my hand on my stomach to help me focus my pushing and it was very effective. My husband abrought the mirror up so I could see his head and helped me reach down to touch it. What a wonderful feeling!!! I gave a couple more pushes and my beautiful little Valentine boy was born at 1:32. 19 hours after having my water broken I was nursing my beautiful little boy. In retrospect I would have gone home after the version and just let labor go on its own, but I don't regret a thing. Labor is such a great challenge and I always look forward to it. I actually like giving birth and hope to be pregnant again soon! Bonner is now a beautiful 7 month old trying to walk and getting into big brothers stuff!

Bonner's Mommy