Hi
Jessica, I had to stop going to your class because it was too hot those Saturdays before I delivered and my fluids were dropping to low levels. The good thing was, with rest I was able to increase my fluids significantly. Spencer Winfield Caton was born on his due date, Oct. 9...very efficient. He was 7 pounds exactly and 19.5 inches long. He's healthy, adorable and the best baby. He hardly cries and is very patient. My husband Matt and I feel truly blessed. My labor didn't go at all like I had planned, but I was flexible which was key. I think we might frame our birth plan as it's funny to see all that didn't happen. I was sitting on my yoga brick Thursday night to try and get him to drop down lower. At 10pm I lost my mucus plug...5 minutes later my water broke. I hadn't had contractions previous to my water breaking, so I thought maybe I didn't notice my early labor and was going straight to active labor. I figured it would be a long road ahead and we should get some rest so we immediately went to bed. I had contractions throughout the night. They were random, 5 minutes apart, half an hour, 15 minutes, etc. At 7am I hadn't felt a contraction in over an hour, so I thought that I better get things going by walking since my water had broke the night before and the clock was ticking. At 8:30 am, I still hadn't had a contraction so I called my doctor and they told me to go to the hospital for a fetal monitor. What I didn't know is that i'd be staying once I checked in. They don't let you leave once your waters have broken. I was only 1 cm dilated and at noon with no contractions my doctor wanted me to start pitocin to get things going. I thought "here we go...cesarean on the way", so I asked to walk around some more to get the contractions going naturally. After an hour with still no contractions I gave in to the pitocin. 3pm the pitocin began. The nurse would come in and crank it up every half hour or so until my contractions were in a pattern of 5 minutes apart. At around 6pm I was still at 1cm and they continued to up the pitocin. After 10 hours of contrations 2-3 minutes apart, I was less than 3 cm dilated and my cervix was still very thick and long. They would have to continue cranking the pitocin and estimated another 10 hours of labor. I started to think...2 nights of no sleep and 10 more hours of this and I didn't think I could stay strong til the end. I opted for a walking epidural at 3:30 am Saturday. I was able to rest for the next 6 hours and just as the epidural was wearing off, I had 25 minutes of pushing and delivered Spencer at 9:53 am. I could feel my contractions and him emerging. The actual pushing stage was great. I had a wonderful nurse (all the nurses at Cedars were terrific), my doctor was superb and my husband was so supportive. I had my yoga music playing and everyone remarked at how peaceful and calm the room was. It was lovely. I think the mood was reflective of the soul that was about to arrive. Spencer was completely alert and breastfed within a half hour after birth. The epidural didn't affect him at all. We were all doing so well that my doctor discharge us the next day. Birth is an amazing,
mystical experience that can't be predicted. I believe my mental and physical
preparation enabled me to have a successful birth despite not going the way I
had planned. My advice, trust your instinct and go with the flow. Thank you for
your wonderful class and genuine caring heart.
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