Yay for another birth story on the blog this week! It’s time to welcome Julie on the blog this week. Her story has a lot of ups and downs and ends perfectly. It’s crazy how birth can have the scariest moments and then once baby arrives, none of it matters anymore. Her story is posted below and make sure to leave her a comment.
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My three birthing experiences were completely different. With my first son labor was natural with a midwife who performed hypnosis on me (which worked to reduce my pain for a good portion of the labor), and a bit of Pitocin to finish dilation. My third son’s birth was a planned C-section and interestingly the quickest and easiest recovery. My middle son’s birth had all possible labor scenarios: overdue induction, natural labor with a midwife, dysfunctional labor progression with Pitocin added, epidural pain relief, and physician performed C-section.
I was overdue with my middle son and the midwife would let me go two weeks overdue which I did not like. I wanted to get him out of me so I pushed for induction at nine days past my due date. We arrived at the hospital and were admitted at 9 pm. The induction began but had to be stopped immediately because my contractions became too strong. The medication was pulled but the induction had started contractions so the labor had begun.
Labor continued without induction meds throughout the night. I developed a fever and my son’s heartrate indicated some distress so the midwife strongly urged us to continue with natural labor because she said he would likely end up in the NICU if I was given an epidural. I was confident in natural labor because I had achieved natural childbirth with my first son’s birth. However, the labor would not progress and his heartrate continued to concern the midwife. I labored in different positons to try and improve his heartrate, but this did not help. She put me in the tub, but that just slowed down my dilation so I headed back to the bed.
I had the strange labor reaction of incessant burping which was awful to me. My son now finds this hilarious as burps are super funny to him. (A bizarre side effect with my first son’s labor I was plagued by hiccups.) I continued to burp and endure contractions all night long but every time my dilation would progress, it would immediately go backwards again. The midwife was mystified by how I would dilate to an 8 or 9 but shrink back to a 7 over and over again after each contraction. She gave me Pitocin but that did not work to progress my labor either. My son’s heartrate eventually improved so she wanted to try an epidural to see if I could sleep. She thought sleep would progress labor to full dilation. I hunched over for epidural placement at 7:30 am.
I could not sleep even though I could no longer feel the contractions. I was relieved his heartrate was better but I feared progression would not come on its own. By 10:30 am the midwife announced we were moving to C-section because of failure to progress in a dysfunctional labor. They used my epidural to administer more medication for the C-section surgery.
Being wheeled into the surgical suite scared me. I had never had surgery before but I knew I just wanted him out of me because it would be safer for him to be out rather than in me with his poor heartrate issues. The staff pulled up a blue sheet so I didn’t have to watch them cut me open. I felt only tugging and pulling. In surgery I became very cold and my blood pressure plummeted so they gave me oxygen and talked to me to keep me awake. My husband did watch the birth and he took pictures of the doctor pulling my son out of me. After the surgery I was able to look at the photos and I was thankful he took them.
I cried when I heard him cry because I knew he was out of me and he was safe. They said he
was a big baby as he weighed in at 9 lbs. 4.4 oz. Afterwards the physician told me he was so big she didn’t think I could have pushed him out because he never moved down into my pelvic canal. He would not have fit through my pelvic bones. I was relieved to have given birth in an age when C-sections are successful and safe because if it had been years ago my son and I probably would have died in childbirth or at the very least experienced severe complications. A very scary sobering thought.
We made it through a childbirth that had so many scares, twists, and turns. I am so thankful he is now a healthy 10-year-old boy who makes us laugh with his animated noises and amazes us with his inventions. He is a smart, athletic, and social by. We are so lucky to have him.
BIO: A mother of three boys, a 
wife, and a mama also to furry babies: two rescue dogs and two guinea pigs. Julie writes on her blog about antics and life with all males in the house, motherhood, kids, family, faith, vegetarian/meat hybrid recipes, and parenting. Her essays/posts can be found on Her View From Home, Sammiches and Psych Meds, The Mighty, Scary Mommy, her own blog juliehoagwriter, and soon appearing on Manifest Station and Parent.co. Julie has survived working as SAHM, a pediatric nurse, a scientist, and a veterinary assistant.
Julie can be followed at the following links:
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Julie, thank you so much for sharing your story. I am so thankful everything turned out perfectly and you have a beautiful family. Many blessings to you! Make sure to stop by her blog and also leave her a comment below.
Also check out last week’s post from Amber.
Happy weekend mamas!
Fit-Foodie-Mommy-Life 
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