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Birth Stories
Noor Ahmad C.
Noor Ahmad C., a beautiful and healthy baby girl, was born Tuesday September 18th at 1:13am. She weighed in at 6lbs, 12oz. and was 20 inches long.
Noor means 'spiritual light' in Arabic and she really is the light of my life...
At 39 weeks, I was disappointed to learn that my baby had turned to the breach position when she had been head down all along. I decided to schedule an external cephalic version (a procedure to flip the baby by applying pressure on my belly) which is successful about 65% of the time. Monday morning Sept. 17th (4 days after my Sept 13 due date), my husband and I arrived at St. Mary's. At 7am, the perinatologist (not all OBs are skilled in doing versions) spent about 10 minutes squeezing down on my belly and turning my baby clockwise. This was a painful procedure to say the least but at the time it was well worth it because on his 3rd and last try, it worked and baby went head-down! Since I was 4 days past my due date, my OB and I had already discussed that if the procedure were to work, they would induce me and if it wouldn't work, then I'd have a cesarean right away. I wasn't too happy about either of these options given that I had planned for an un-medicated, natural birth - but, I was scared that if the version were successful and they let me go, what if baby decides to flip back to breach on her own? We decided that an induction would be a good compromise.
My OB broke my water immediately and determined that I was almost 3cm dilated. They started me on pitocin at 9am. The contractions were not bad at all and they continued at a slow progression. I don't recall the exact times that my cervix was checked but I do know that when my OB checked me around 5pm, I had barely progressed and was only at 5cm even though my pitocin drip was approaching its maximum allowance. By 9pm, I was enduring the most pain of my life! And I decided that I would wait to get checked before asking for pain medication. I could've sworn that with the last 4 hours of strong contractions at 2 minutes apart, I would've been at 8cm but was again discouraged when I was told I was only at 6cm. At that point, I asked for the epidural thinking that maybe if I were less tense, my body would be able to open up naturally. The on-call OB said we would give it a try but he didn't sound so confident. As soon as I received the epidural, I felt immediate relief and was in heaven. However, I began shaking uncontrollably and my baby's heartrate decreased to the point where they turned me to my side and threw on an oxygen mask! Luckily, she became stable and I was able to relax until about 11pm when they checked me again and I was only at 7cm. I was told that my cervix was swollen and it didn't look like I would be dilating any quicker anytime soon at least. I was advised that we do a c-section given my slow progression for the past 5 hours. They checked me again at midnight and unfortunately I was still barely 7cm. Needless to say, this news was really difficult for me to fathom. Breached for a week gave me some preparation for the possibility of a c-section but with the successful version 17 hours earlier, I was sure that I'd be able to have a vaginal birth. Laboring for 12 hours with no medication and then to turn around and be told that I'd need major surgery, there was just not enough time for me to cope. However, I accepted mine and my baby's destiny and was prepped for surgery. At 1:13am, my healthy baby girl was born and my OB reiterated to me that there was no way her head was coming out of me vaginally ('key doesn't fit the hole' analogy - apparently even though she was head-down, the position was off?) Anyway it didn't really matter once I saw my baby. She's healthy and happy and that's all that really matters.
The only advice I can give is be prepared for anything. What you might've expected to be bad news, could really turn out to be the best possible option so don't dwell on what could've been. I recovered so quickly that they let me leave the hospital a day early, so I can only be thankful. I cringe every time people pitty me when I tell them I had a c-section, as if it makes my birth any less meaningful or that I am suffering or that my body has some defect not allowing me to give birth vaginally. Thanks to Leslie and the Tues. night yoga class for all your support. Good luck everyone!