Tristan's Story

Short Story: Tristan Colbie was born on Monday, January 14th at 3:57 am weighing 8 lbs, 15 oz. with a length of 21 inches. And no, I didn't get the unmedicated birth that I wanted.

Long Story: I started having contractions at around 4pm on Saturday (the 12th). I went to Labor & Delivery but was only at 2cm with no progress, so they sent me home. We got home at 1 am and I got a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5am on Sunday (the 13th) with strong contractions that were about 7-8 minutes apart. I tried to rest, but couldn't, and finally got up at around 7 am. I took a bath, got dressed, and started timing the contractions. After they had been 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours, I told Brandon I thought it was time to go to the hospital. I wasn't in horrible pain, but at that point I could no longer easily walk through the contractions.
We go to the hospital at around 12:30 pm and I went to L&D triage... I was 90% effaced, and dilated to 4 cm, but barely, so my OB suggested that I walk around for an hour and get checked again. She didn't want me getting admitted prematurely. So Brandon and I walked the hospital grounds... up and down the stairs of the parking garage and all around inside. When they checked me again, I was almost to 5 cm, 100% effaced, and my bag of waters was bulging, so they decided to admit me.

We got to our room and the contractions were about 3 minutes apart, and mostly in my back, but still bearable. I tried doing my relaxation breathing, tried different positions, used my birthing ball, etc. When my OB came in to check on me, she said I looked amazing and that if I wanted to go unmed, that was fine with her. But... she decided to break my water since it was still bulging.

After that, the contractions immediately got more intense and much closer together. I was having a hard back labo and I started finding it hard to relax, but I did the best I could, because I was so intent on having an unmedicated birth. The next three or four hours are kind of a blur for me. I remember being checked and being at 6 cm. I was frustrated, but continued to breathe through the contractions. Then I started feeling a lot of pressure but was only at 7 cm. Almost two hours later, I was still at 7. My labor had stalled.

They wanted to use pitocin, but I hesitated, and kept trying to breathe through the now VERY intense contractions. I agreed to a small dosage of IV Stadol so that I could try to focus more. The Stadol only made me drowsy, and I was pretty out of it, but all of a sudden, the nurses started rushing around and I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, one of them told me that they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat and that they were going to attach the internal fetal monitor. When they did so, they checked me again and my cervix had started to swell b/c I was unable to control my strong urge to push. They now said that they pitocin was necessary in order to keep my cervix from swelling closed.

At that point, I gave in and said I would get the epidural. My labor had stopped, the baby was in danger, my body was in danger, and I was getting closer to a C-section by the minute. So at around 8pm, I got the epidural.

Admittedly, things got much better. I was finally able to be free of the horrible back pains that came with each contraction, and could relax and tell jokes with Brandon. I was also able to get a little bit of rest. By midnight, my cervix had recovered and I was fully dilated.

At 1:30am, my nurse told me to start pushing. The baby's head was still very high, and he was posterior (which was causing my back labor), plus as we had been told, he was a very large baby. At one point, I overheard a nurse say that I might need a C-Section b/c of the size of his head, but another said that I had worked too hard for too long. Thank goodness for her!! She's my angel! :) I ended up pushing for 2 1/2 hours. I got very nauseous and vomited several times. By 3:30am, my OB had came in for good and we got down to business.

At the last minute, Tristan rotated so that he was anterior and his head could fit more easily through the pelvis. He ended up being born without forceps or any other intervention. Once his head was in place, the rest was smooth sailing. Finally, at 3:57 am, almost 36 hours exactly since my first contraction, my beautiful baby boy entered the world. He had a small sore on the top of his head from my pelvis, and I got a 2nd degree tear, but otherwise we both came through just fine.

He was perfect and healthy and scored 9's on both of his Apgars. He was incredibly alert and has been ever since. And of course, he's the center of our world. :0)

All through labor, I felt like quite a failure that I was unable to get my unmed birth. But, he was posterior, and almost 9 pounds, and under the circumstances, there was just no way to go through with it. Everyone told me that I did wonderfully and had an incredibly hard job and eventually, I let myself believe it. I know I did what was best for my son, and that is truly all that matters. :)

Today was my follow-up ultrasound. The baby's head was measuring 3 weeks ahead last time, so they wanted an update. It's still measuring ahead, but so is the rest of him, so it looks like he'll be a normal - but big - baby. :0) The ultrasound estimated that he weighs 9 lbs., 4 oz. at this point - but it can be off by as much as 2 pounds. By the look of things, the tech thinks that he should be arriving pretty soon.

After the ultrasound, I had my usual appointment with Dr. Carl. I've officially gained 40 pounds this pregnancy. :( But I'm trying to stay confident that I'll be able to lose it. Blood pressure was fine. I was also negative for Group B Strep, which is a relief. Now I don't have to worry about getting antibiotics during labor.

I'm up to 2cm now - not sure about the effacement, since she didn't mention it. She seems to think that the baby is closer to weighing eight pounds than nine, and she thinks I shouldn't have a problem delivering him the natural way. I'm scheduled for an appointment with her next Monday, but she said that there's a chance I won't make it that far (yay!). So feel free to send labor vibes my way! ;)

Wow! As of today, I am 38 weeks pregnant. I can't believe it! It seems like just a few weeks ago, Brandon and I were back in Killeen and found out that we were going to have a baby. So much has happened since then, but it's all gone by so fast! I'm really, really ready to meet my beautiful baby boy, but things have gone just as planned thus far, so I think we might have a few more weeks to wait. I just want him to be healthy and happy, but I do wish he would hurry just a little. ;)

Today was my 36 week OB appointment.

I hadn't gained any weight, which is great news. :) Blood pressure was normal. I had my Group B Strep test today, and should have the results next week. Hopefully it comes back negative, it would be nice to not have to worry about getting antibiotics during labor. She also did the first cervical check - I'm 1cm dilated and 50% effaced - yay!! That doesn't really mean anything, she still expects me to go to my due date, but at least it's progress. :) The baby's head is also engaged, so we shouldn't have to worry about him flipping back over into a breech position. Next appointment is at 38 weeks, and I'll have a sonogram to check his size.

We also went to the hospital today to meet with the patient care planner and get my birth plan put in my chart. That went really well, I thought. The hospital already does pretty much everything I was concerned about. After initial monitoring, I'm free to move about as I want. They won't separate Brandon from me after that time, either. It's no big deal if I don't want an epidural, but it's available if I change my mind. Once the baby is born, they encourage skin-to-skin contact and immediate breastfeeding. They'll footprint him and put his prints on anything we want. Then, his first bath takes place in the room with me, and Brandon can participate. They'll put a sign on the door from the very beginning saying that we don't want visitors, which leaves it up to us to ask for people if we want them to come in. Brandon can go to the nursery with the baby anytime he goes after that, but he'll really only go for his hearing test and circumcision. A lactation consultant will be on hand to help me out anytime I need the help, and they have a great security system in place. Overall, I was really happy with their policies and feel much better about the whole process. :)

I'm 34 weeks, 5 days as of today. And it was time for my bi-monthly OB appointment.

Blood pressure was good, as usual. I gained 4 pounds, which isn't great, but Dr. Carl didn't say that she was concerned about it, so that's good. Tristan's heartbeat was a strong 150,.. he was a little more active this afternoon than he usually is when I have appointments. :) He's also still head-down, which is great. I'm still measuring right-on for my dates, so it looks like we just have a little over 5 weeks to go now.

My next appointment is in 2 weeks, and then they're weekly after that. So we're in the final countdown now! :)

I didn't take pictures this week, things keep coming up. But I'll try to add one this weekend. :)