Birth Story

I went into labor on Wednesday early morning and by 8am felt my
contractions were strong enough and close together enough to head to
the hospital.  I was only 2 cm dilated so I continued to labor with
out being officially admitted into the hospital.  After 6 hours I was
still at 2 cm so I had to either (1) go home - this was the day of the
big storm (2) start pitocin or (3) do a morphine nap in which they
hoped the relaxation would help with dilation or at least conserve
energy for real labor.  I chose door #3 and after a 3 hour nap, I was
still 2 cm.  At that time I was left with option #1 and #2 and chose
to start pitocin (and epidural).  At about 9pm I was drugged up and
did a low dose of pitocin and basically slept for about 4 hours only
to awake at 1:30am to my midwife and nurses rushing in saying the
baby's heart rate had dropped.  I was still 2 cm (ugh) and they
stopped pitocin because baby Taylor seemed to not be able to handle
it.  They broke my water and immediately progressed with dilation.
They they tried an saline amnio...I think.  Basically flush fluids to
see if they can "float" the cord (the guess to why baby's heart rate
dropped) away from baby's neck.  Another creative alternative, I
thought, but unfortunately did not work.  After a few more dips in her
heart rate, an extremely low dosage of pitocin that wasn't enough to
progress, and a seemingly distressed baby, they thought c section was
the best route.  Having my best friend lose her baby at birth, I just
wanted to do what was best for her and am surprised, yet happy with
how everything turned out since Taylor is happy and healthy.