Click here for some great mommmy and baby freebies from BabiesOnline.com

Main Page Site Index Getting Pregnant Pregnancy Parenting Pregnancy and Parenting Journals Fertility Nutrition Pregnant Moms Morning Sickness Women's Health Child Health	Birth Story By CKoo       I was (as most first pregnancies are) past my due date by 1 1/2 weeks and was scheduled to go in to be induced on Monday morning at 7 a.m. Wouldn't you know my water broke at 3 a.m. We called the doctor and because I really wasn't having very strong regular contractions, they told me to wait and go in at 7 when I was scheduled. After getting to the hospital the contractions really slowed down so I started doing many laps around the halls to get it going. Of course I believed I would have my baby by late afternoon - an average of 13 hours labor they had told us in class - Hah!       Well, it was a slow comfortable labor for most of the morning and the contractions didn't begin to get intense until after noon. By 1-2 p.m. I received some medication to manage the pain. At about 3 p.m. I asked the nurse if she thought the pain would get much worse and how much longer I had. I felt I could manage the pain as it was but if it got much worse I would want an epidural. She thought it wouldn't get much worse - again - Hah! The next four hours were very hard and tiring. My husband was great support. I clung to his neck so hard during each contraction he had a sore neck for weeks!       It wasn't until 7 p.m. that I got the go ahead to push. Now, I am very small framed, but my doctor had checked the opening of my pelvis during one of my first appointments after I became pregnant and felt I shouldn't have any difficulties delivering. What played into my complication was that my son's head was pretty large (90 percentile to average). So pushing was very difficult. I pushed and pushed and pushed with not much progress. We tried switching positions to the side but that was not comfortable. Then they had me switch to getting on all fours - well that was so painful I collapsed (and screamed so loud I later found out that I completely freaked out the woman next door who was in the early stages of labor). So we went back to my original position and put my feet up on the bar. I soon began to tire and cry and insist I couldn't go on. My doctor felt I was real close, that a couple more of real good pushes was all I needed. So I summoned up every once of strength I had left and pushed when CRACK , I heard a cracking sound. I asked "what was that?" The resident also had heard it but my doctor had not. But she sprang into action and did an episiotomy and with a few more pushes the baby's head was out. But then, when I finally was able to push something out, she told me to STOP pushing! The baby's cord was around his neck! She immediately cut it and handed me my beautiful baby boy.       The next hour was wonderful, holding my baby and sharing the joy with my husband. It wasn't until they had sown me up and I could lay back that I realized it was extremely painful to put my legs together. I was only comfortable with them spread wide apart - practicly falling off the bed on each side. My doctor had left, so the resident prodded and probed a bit and then left. He soon came back and told me he suspected I separated my pubic bone, part of the pelvis. He also believed that was the cracking sound we had heard. Apparently where the pelvis comes together in the center is joined by mostly cartilage, so he wasn't sure what would have caused the cracking. They then had me try to stand up. Standing wasn't bad, but moving a foot forward to take a step was extremely painful. I could move my legs apart sideways, but not forward or back.       The next day my doctor confirmed that she believed I had separated my pelvis and there was no known treatment other than to stay off my feet and wait for it to go back together. Well, obviously, staying off my feet for the last 24 hours had been bad enough, having to have someone bring me my baby all the time. And now it was not known how long this would be! I was horrified at the thought! I am very independent and now we had to find people to come stay with us to help me care for my own baby. I was devastated.       Luckily, my doctor also referred me to a physical therapist in the hospital who happened to be studying my situation. She had had two other patients in the last couple of years with the same thing. She and my doctor believe it often goes undiagnosed because it is of a lesser degree - the woman can walk, but has a lot of pain. My physical therapist gave me a belt to where around my hips that kept the pelvis tight together. She also got me a walker, a tub chair for showers, and a special pad for on top of my bed mattress that made me more comfortable. My husband ran out and bought a bassinet so I could wheel the baby around. And after only one extra day in the hospital, we went home. My husband stayed home the rest of that first week, then my mother came to stay for a week and my sister-in-law for a week. We were trully blessed in having that help.       I set up camp in our get bedroom to make room for the special mattress pad. We put the bassinet in there and I kept a diaper bag on the bed for midnight feedings and changings. We used a baby intercom at night - not for the baby - but for me to ask my husband or mother to come help me get the baby out of the bassinet! Unfortunately, they often didn't hear me and I had to try to do it on my own, which was often painful and frustrating. It was certainly not how I had envisioned my maternity leave! I was able to use the walker to get from the bed to the couch, but didn't walk much more than that. I went to physical therapy a couple times a week where we would work on strengthening and she would re-align my hips. After 2-3 weeks I discovered that I could take small steps backwards with relatively no pain. So I started walking backwards alot. It was more painful when I lifted the baby but I became extremely intent on doing things myself anyway. I then began to take small steps forward and after about 4 weeks was walking - slowly - but walking. At about 6 - 8 weeks I was walking normal and able to drive and finally got my independence back.       It still felt pain over the next year when doing physical things like running or aerobics. I still haven't tried to do any real challenging things like water-skiing! My doctor says there are preventive things we can do during labor if I decide to have another baby - like laboring on my side, but I am still not ready to even think about going through it again. It wasn't so much the pain - but the mental aspect of not being able to take care of my child like I had expected. I guess when it comes to giving birth - it is best not to expect anything!       I hope my story helps you. But I mainly hope it helps anyone else who may have the same thing happen to them during their delivery. If you hear of anyone who does, let me know. Thank you. Search the Birth Stories Match All Terms Any Term and show results in Standard Form in Compact Form Hint! Enclose phrases in quotes. For example "home birth" [ Return to Section Seven Birth Stories Index ]