09/10/2025
Birth story time;
This story came to me after we chatted about having doulas in the OR.
I’m thankful to this family for sharing their story.
Birth with my second child - I was told that she was measuring quite large - 97th percentile I believe. So, I was going into an induction prepared to be pushing out a big baby. I had given birth once, I could do it again. I was induced with my first so I knew what the drill would be. This time, I was given oxytocin to get contractions going. Everything felt as it should at the beginning - it wasn’t too bad. I had my husband there making me laugh and supporting me, the nursing staff were incredible.
Towards the evening that day, things started to ramp up. I was doing my best to breathe through, but I opted for an epidural.
This is where things kind of went sideways. I could still feel a ton of pain overnight, even with the epidural...
And every time I had a check, baby girl wasn’t engaging into my pelvis. At some point over night, every time I laid on one side, she would decel and the pain was unreal. I absolutely knew something wasn’t right. I told my husband that I think I’m going To need a c section. But the doctors were pretty positive she would come, so I waited. It didn’t get better.
I think I knew way before any of this that she wasn’t coming vaginally. But, I still listened to the doctors and let them try forceps. At that point, I was in an incredible amount of pain so the anaesthesiologist gave me extra good drugs and numbed me pretty good. After trying three times with the forceps, I began to bleed and it was an emergency C-section.
My husband couldn’t come as I was rushed off. I was very out of it, had pain in my shoulders and was shaking so they gave me a sedative. I woke up to my husband and baby not there - rushed to NICU. More transpired after that, and she’s now a healthy almost 5 month old.
All this is to say - trust your gut. You know your body. I also desperately wish I could have had someone else there to advocate for me who wasn’t so scared like my husband and I were.”