I got pregnant right after I turned 18 with my daughter Keagan. This is my labor and delivery story with her from 2018. So, keep reading if you’re looking for eye-opening labor and delivery stories!
I’ve always been interested in being as holistic as possible while staying healthy. Therefore, I was interested in an unmedicated birth in the hospital, and I was doing all the research I could to prepare and decide if I felt like I could do it!
Next time, I certainly want to have a home birth with a midwife so long as I am healthy and low-risk.
But for my first baby at 18, I had an OB-GYN and a hospital birth because I didn’t even know there were other options!
6 Months Pregnant…
When I had my baby shower, I was 6 months pregnant. My belly was pretty small and I remember that many of my family and friends were really surprised, but I knew it could have just been the way I was carrying my daughter.
I think my belly size at that time was just fine, but my OB/GYN became a bit concerned weeks later when my belly started measuring behind according to fundal height measurements.
Fetal Growth Restriction
Disclaimer: This is intended to share my personal story and bring awareness to traumatic birth experiences.
Fetal growth restriction (or intrauterine growth restriction) is when the baby doesn’t grow to a normal weight during pregnancy. Any fetus measuring less than the 10th percentile for gestational age or the mama’s abdomen (fundal height) is less than the 10th percentile.
We knew that my belly was measuring behind when my OB started to measure my fundal height.
The fundal height is a measurement in centimeters from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus. Your OB or midwife will usually start to measure your fundal height at 24 weeks, as the centimeters measured should match the number of weeks you are! (Plus or minus 2 cm)
Once I fell behind a few centimeters when I was 7-8 months pregnant, my OB believed my daughter might have stopped growing too early, possibly from placental insufficiency.
Placental insufficiency is when the placenta stops working properly, and the baby isn’t receiving all of the nutrients and oxygen they need, which can lead to the baby not growing well or complications during labor.
Tests to determine placental insufficiency:
- An ultrasound to measure the size of the placenta
- Check alpha-fetoprotein levels in the mother’s blood (a protein made in the baby’s liver)
- A non-fetal stress test to measure how the baby responds to contractions
All of these were done, but not thoroughly explained to me. My OB-GYN only said that “everything looked good on the tests, but we can’t know for sure until your baby is born.“
The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Ultrasound Clinic
My OB started sending me to the MFM ultrasound clinic to get the umbilical cord, placenta and my daughter’s weight checked.
Maternal-fetal medicine: a subspecialty of obstetrics that focuses on diagnosing and treating abnormalities during pregnancy.
MFM ultrasound technicians take the images that the MFM physician will examine to see if there is a present abnormality or not.
Luckily they couldn’t find anything wrong with the umbilical cord or the placenta. Plus, my daughter seemed to weigh completely healthy from the ultrasound.
In addition, i had a NST (non-stress test) which determined that my baby was still vigorous and healthy.
My Labor and Delivery Story: Deciding to Be Induced
Although things seemed to be working optimally, and my daughter looked like she was at a healthy weight (although fetal ultrasounds are notoriously inaccurate for predicting babies’ weight), My OB/GYN said we still weren’t 100% sure that everything was going okay. So my doctor and I agreed that I should have an induction if there were still something wrong that we were unaware of using only the ultrasound. (I don’t recall having my blood drawn and tested to measure the alpha-fetoprotein levels).
So, I agreed with my doctor to get a medical induction at 39 weeks pregnant because I was informed that my baby wouldn’t develop any further in my uterus once I reached 39 weeks (this was misinformation my OB gave me when I asked the cons of inducing labor for baby).
The truth is that the lungs and further brain development are the last things that finish developing in-utero before labor begins. Both of these things are crucial for a healthy baby and inducing labor early can have lifelong negative consequences for babies based on these facts.
My Labor and Delivery Story: Going into the Hospital…
Admission to the hospital took an extra day longer than my scheduled induction date because the hospital was so busy and full, but I didn’t mind. I felt patient and excited! But this scenario really highlights how unnecessary the induction truly was.
One early morning, I came in and was admitted. They immediately started monitoring my contractions because they were going to immediately give me Pitocin to begin contractions. But before they administered the Pitocin, I was already contracting, and I didn’t even know!
They still, of course, administered the Pitocin and began my induction.
Pitocin is synthetic oxytocin used to induce uterine contractions to start labor, increase labor speed, or help stop bleeding following birth.
My Labor and Delivery Story: My Induction
My labor in the hospital is the hardest for me to explain with exact times and in precise order, so please bear with me. I have many feelings that come up with this birth experience…
Along with the Pitocin I was administered, I also was administered a foley bulb, which helps dilate your cervix.
Things were going steady and slow, resulting in my 37-hour labor by the time my daughter was born.
As I mentioned above, before my OB recommended that I get an induction, I hoped to have an unmedicated birth. But, since my induction was causing me not to have anything close to that, I decided to get the epidural.
Although I was doing very well with the contractions, which Pitocin makes faster and stronger than it would normally be, I still wanted the epidural. (However, I am proud of myself for putting off the epidural until around 7cm and coping using Nitrous Oxide since I didn’t take a birth class or read any books to prepare. This helps increase my confidence that I will do great with my next unmedicated labor and births!)
It’s important to know that Pitocin increases the chances of fetal distress because of these contractions are extra strong compared to natural oxytocin-induced contractions. Also, having an epidural on top of that leads to you not feeling the contractions or moving around much, but your baby will still feel the intense contractions, and not moving around as much can cause more distress.
If you’d like an epidural and you’re receiving Pitocin, I highly recommend changing positions at least once per hour and using a peanut ball. Thankfully my daughter did not experience fetal distress, however, this is one of the common causes for inductions leading to cesareans for many women.
My Labor and Delivery Story: Before Receiving My Epidural…
The foley bulb was supposed to easily be able to pull out or fall out on its own once I was 3-4 cm, but it didn’t, and I couldn’t get it out.
My contractions ended up getting pretty intense, and I wasn’t able to sleep due to them. But I guess since the foley bulb didn’t fall out yet, no one believed me. I kept telling them I was in more pain every time they came into my room, but no one did anything.
One nurse even came into my room, asking me what I was doing awake in the middle of the night because “normal people would be sleeping right now.” I just told her again, that I’m in pain and having contractions.
Finally, when I got checked, the OB couldn’t even get the foley bulb out without deflating it! But once he did, I was 7 cm! (Even though it was supposed to come out by itself when I reached 3-4). Then this OB proceeded to break my water without saying a word to me.
My Labor and Delivery Story: Obstetric Abuse
He didn’t disclose the benefits vs. risks or ask for my consent, and I burst into tears because I felt so overwhelmed by him not even saying something to me before doing that. This wasn’t how I thought I would be treated when I had my baby in the hospital and this was my immediate response to birth trauma due to obstetric violence.
As I mentioned in this post about why you should make a birth plan, if you ask a woman whether she had a positive or negative birth experience, you will notice that it has mostly to do with if she felt heard during her labor, if she had decision making power and whether she felt supported during her labor and delivery.
But my birth experience by this point was already traumatizing.
I also remember that at two different points in my labor, the nurses brought up the possibility of a c-section because my daughter’s heart rate started decelerating a couple of times, but thankfully, both times, her heart rate stabilized pretty quickly.
Epidural Gone Wrong…
I don’t remember the epidural feeling painful, possibly because when the anesthesiologist started my epidural, I instantly got a shooting pain on the right side of my head. I told her and the nurse, but there didn’t seem to be anything they could do.
It was terrifying not knowing what happened or how long it would last. This may have been an accidental dural puncture (ADP), which caused a post-dural puncture headache (PDPH). Still, I can’t be 100% certain.
My Delivery…
After the epidural and laboring sitting straight up due to my headache, everything went pretty smoothly, and I was so excited to have my baby girl in my arms!
Once it was time to deliver, I felt good and so ready. I started pushing already by the time the OB came into my room. But of course, right after she arrived, so did a room full of students without anybody asking me if it was ok.
This is another crucial reason I highly recommend you sign up for my free birth plan (fill out the pop-up on my website), which includes who is allowed in your room, pain management you prefer, what you’d like if you need a cesarean or medical induction, and so much more for you and your family!
It’s so important to get educated and prepared to go into your birth so that you will feel empowered with every decision you make!
Luckily after only about 5 minutes of pushing, my baby was here in this world with me, and they set her right on my chest. We then did skin-to-skin, and I also breastfed her before they started the routine newborn procedures.
Human Rights in Childbirth
This was an intense birth experience; unfortunately, how I was treated was traumatizing and eye-opening.
I wasn’t heard, my feelings weren’t considered, and I didn’t feel supported by any medical staff. but it’s crucial to notice that the mistreatment started with the misinformation and fear-mongering language my OB gave me during my prenatal care. She was one of the nicest and warmest obstetricians, but this does not make her care, misinformation, and view of pregnancy and birth align with my own. Her care and language did not lead me to an empowering and safe birth experience as a low-risk pregnant woman (Remember, we did determine how healthy my baby was during pregnancy through the tests).
My experience led me to find so many other devastating stories about how women are being treated in hospitals in the U.S. today. I now feel a responsibility to open women’s eyes to serious issues in the birth industry.
Now I’m an activist for human rights in childbirth, which I’m thankful for because the U.S. (along with some other developed countries) has a lot of room for improvement.
(If you’re interested in more information about human rights in childbirth, I will have links below for you!)
Conclusion on My Labor and Delivery Story
I am so incredibly grateful that my baby was born healthy, I was healthy (especially given the increased risks with an induction that was not medically needed), and that I had a vaginal birth.
There’s no doubt I will do everything in my power to make my next labor and delivery experience much different. Even if I do become high risk during my next pregnancy, I’ve learned so much about how I can still lower my chances of unnecessary medical interventions and ensure better communication during my birth, and I’m excited to continue sharing this information with you!
Read more on the truth about Relying on the U.S. Maternity Care System with research cited on this topic.
Thank you for reading my labor and delivery story! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. And tell me about your labor and delivery if you’d like!
Recommended Resources about Human Rights in Childbirth
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DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info
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