Regina's Story

It is said that every pregnancy is different and every baby is different. Nothing could have been more true with mine. During my first pregnancy I lost 14lbs in the first trimester. I regained that weight and 10 additional pounds during the next 2 trimesters. At 37 weeks I was told that the baby was in a breech position. Since I had such high expectations for my baby's birth I was terrified instantly because I knew a breech baby meant a C-section. On Friday the 13th I gave birth to a 9 pound baby girl via C-Section.

When I got pregnant the second time I was determined that this one would be a vaginal delivery. I couldn't possibly have 2 breech babies. At 37 weeks, I went into a slightly premature labor. My water broke at 1am on a Thursday morning. My poor husband was an over-the-road truck driver at the time and was in Maine when I went into labor. My sister had agreed to be my labor coach in my husband's absence. My husband had planned his vacation for 3 weeks later. I was nervous and excited because I had never been in labor before. As of 7am, I still wasn't contracting. Pitocin was started to get the contractions going. By lunch time I was ready for my epidural. Friday morning I was ready for some real relief. After 28 hours of labor the baby's head had started swelling and his heart rate was racing and I was running a fever. I ended up with another C-Section. My son was 7lbs and 3 oz even though he was 3 weeks early.

My third pregnancy was an unexpected surprise. I determined right away to try again for a vaginal birth. After much reflection my sister and I decided it was the use of Pitocin which led to the epidural which slowed my progress and caused an inability to push adequately when the time came. My sister had again agreed to be my primary labor coach. My husband was now working locally so he was definitely going to be there this time too. At 38 weeks I was dilated 4cm and 75% effaced. The Doctor mentioned inducing because of my history of good sized babies. At first I wanted no part of it. After the weekend passed with nothing happening, I started thinking about what if the baby got to be too big. I didn't want a repeat of the first delivery or the second. By Monday, I was a bundle of nerves. I met my husband for lunch on the spur of the moment and asked him what I should do. I'm not very good at making decisions and there were so many factors to consider that I was completely overwhelmed. We had talked back and forth with the doctor's office so we knew what our options were. We decided to go ahead with an inducement Tuesday morning. The doctor had agreed to simply break my water given my last examination, and let labor try to progress on it's own. At 9:30 am my water was broken and 1 hour later they let me go for a walk. After walking for about an hour the contractions started progressing rather significantly. By mid afternoon I was quite ready for an epidural but I had already decided that I didn't want much medication because I definitely didn't want it to interfere with my delivery. They gave me enough to make the pain just bearable. It took an hour to get the epidural started. By that time I could have been pushing but I didn't feel the urge so I wasn't sure it was time. The baby was turned slightly so they had me lay on my side which totally numbed one leg. When they actually had me start pushing I learned an amazing thing. The pain eases greatly when you push so I probably didn't need the epidural at all if I had only known. The whole time I was still afraid something would go wrong and I'd still end up with a c-section. In the delivery room the nurse very pointedly assured me that the baby was definitely coming vaginally. I pushed like I never knew I could. There were tiny blood vessels bursting in my face. The nurse kept challenging me to push the baby out and make the Doctor run to get there in time. I pushed a few more times and the baby came. She was a beautiful baby girl, 8lbs and 1 oz. My husband and my sister were very proud of me and the baby. The recovery was very different this time too. I was able to eat while still in recovery and I never actually threw up during labor or delivery. I also went home in 48 hours which was my shortest hospital stay. At 24 months she is still the prissiest little thing you ever did see. Things have to be in perfect order when she is around.