Oliver Scott Hampton
Born: April 12, 2009 at 5:39pm
Stats: 7lbs 3oz 19" long, Apgar 8/9
The fun started Saturday morning April 11, 2009 at 7:11am when I got up to use the bathroom only to have a gush of amniotic fluid. I was exactly 35 weeks pregnant. I called my doula Oana and my dr. We packed up a bunch of stuff for myself, the kids and Allan, got in the car and arrived at the hospital around 11:30am. I hadn't been tested for group B strep yet, so I received antibiotics every 4hrs. The 2nd dose was administered too fast and my body did not handle it too well. I passed out and my blood pressure dropped. They stopped the flow and then slowed it down and all was well. That was very scary considering I've never passed out in my life.
I wasn't really having many contractions. They slowly started but weren't very consistent and didn't do much in the way of my cervix. We tried multiple things such as walking around, squatting on the ball, different positions to help bring the baby down and put pressure on the cervix. My doula was wonderful and helped me so much with pain management.
At 3am the next day Easter morning, I was checked.....only 1cm at 50% effaced and -2 station. We decided the best course of action would be to start pitocin since it was coming around to 24hrs that my water had broke. I started at 2mU/min and was upped 1mU/min every 15-20min until my contractions were 2-3min apart . After about 5-6hrs, I was checked again and didn't have a whole lot of progress.... 4cm at 75% effaced and -1 station. We got a little more aggressive with the pitocin and upped it 2mU/min every 15min.
It was about 3pm when I was checked again and there was a lot more progress to report! 7-8cm at 90% effaced and 0 station. So, we continued with the pitocin.
Somewhere around 4pm, I felt so completely exhausted and the contractions had been 2min apart at 50secs long and extremely intense...... I decided to get an epidural. I knew that once I got to the pushing stage, whenever that would be, I wouldn't have the energy to do it. So I decided resting before the pushing would be best.
I felt every contraction after that (which later helped tremendously with pushing), but the epidural definitely helped to take the edge off. An hour later, I was checked and was complete!! I found out quickly how difficult it can be to push with no feeling down below. I could still feel him descending though and that was amazing. It was so encouraging. The whole time I couldn't believe I'd even come to that point. I'm sure my adrenaline was racing giving me the energy I needed. After only 20 minutes of pushing, Oliver Scott Hampton was born on April 12, 2009 at 5:39pm via vaginal birth after 2 c-sections! He was an awesome 7lbs 3oz 19” long with an apgar score of 8/9. Shockingly for being born at 35 weeks, he was in perfect health with no problems! I had a 2nd degree tear on the inside of the labia (thankfully not on the perenium) and got stitches. Anastasia was there for the whole labor and delivery. She thought it was the coolest thing. I cried when she came over to me immediately after the birth and said "Mom, I'm so proud of you!". What a grown up thing to say!! She was just as exhausted as I was after all that!
The experience of it was surreal! I've had 2 prior c-sections so this was something I've never had before. It was miraculous in every sense of the word. My dr never gave up on me and for that I am eternally grateful. All other drs would have cut me open again. I think it's a shame that more drs aren't as confident in a woman's ability to birth as my dr is. Thank you Dr. Tate for the wonderful prenatal care and beautiful delivery. You are one of a kind and we love you and your staff dearly! :hearts Thank you also to Oana Hogrefe for being my doula! She helped so much to make my experience enjoyable.
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