My husband and I welcomed our 3rd child to world on September 21, 2010. Chase Michael Finogle was born at 7:02pm weighing 7lbs, 1oz and 19 in long. It was a pretty fast birth I must say and pretty painful one. This was the longest pregnancy so far for me. I made it 39 plus 5, almost term. I had been sitting at 4 cm's dilated for a week and 50% efaced w/ braxton hicks contractions coming off and on for the last couple of weeks. We talked w/ my MIL and she decided to come down that wknd in hopes of being there for the birth and we did make a trip to the hospital that Saturday night she was there. I had walked around Mt. Trashmore (local park) earlier in the day w/ my MIL and husband and had even taken some Castor Oil to get some contractions started. Finally around 9pm the contractions were coming every 2-3 mins. After being ck'd I was told that I was 4cm and 80% efaced they told me to go walk for 2 hrs. So my husband and i walked the grounds of the hospital. The contractions were now at the point where i had to actually stop in my tracks and focus on getting through them. Finally we returned @ 1am after 2 hours of walking, they ck'd me again and said there was no progress and to go home. I was so frustrated and was at the point of crying. They prescribed me a sleeping pill, which i took and it stopped the contractions. My husband was suppose to go underway w/ his ship that monday but informed them that this baby was coming and soon and needed to stay behind. Thankfully he made that call, had he not, i would have had this baby by myself. Monday came and my MIL had to head back for a doctor appt, but she took our 3 yo w/ her. Tuesday morning i awoke to more contractions and a little blood on my tissue after using the bathroom. So we sent my 13yo off to school and we decided to head to the hospital once again. I was praying that i had progressed so they would keep me but fearfully thought that i was still at 4cm and they would once again turn me away. I was ck'd in triage and disappointingly was still at 4cm but she said she was able to stretch me to 5cm. That nurse said that most likely i will be admitted and sure enough i was. Around noon is when they started my first round of antibiotics for the GBS and she also started a small pitocin drip. Contractions were coming but nothing i couldn't breath through. Then came the second dose of antibiotics. That ended around 4pm. The nurse said once that was done they would go and break my water and have this baby. In between this time, the anesthesiologist had come in twice offering the epidural and said that i could have it any time that they were there waiting for me. I said that the contractions were manageable for now but wanted to see how they progressed after my water broke. So 5pm rolled around and in came the nurse w/ the sewing needle to break my water. That's when all hell broke loose!!!!! Literally the min she broke my water my contractions went from a 4 out of 10 to a 100 out of 10!!!! I felt the baby slide down into my birth canal and i felt like i was dying!!! I screamed and she asked what was wrong and i tried to catch my breath from the contraction to tell her but was having a hard time because the contractions were right on top of each other giving me no time to breath or even function. My husband was trying to tell me to breath but i couldn't the pain was soooo intense! She helped me sit up which made the baby slide even more into my va-jj and pushing the river Nile out of me and down my leg! I swear i had to have the equivalent of an Olympic size swimming pool inside me! I couldn't imagine if my water had broken out in public... how embarrassing would that be! So I was able to finally get the word epidural out and in rushed the doctor. It felt like an eternity had passed until he finally got the epidural in. The nurse ck'd me and i had gone from 4cm to 9cm in a matter of sec's. Finally feeling some relief from the pain, i could still feel the pressure and felt the need to push even though i wasn't 10cm. So she let me. I think i pushed for 10-15 mins when the nurse said that i needed to stop and take a break because the baby's heart rate keeps dropping when i do push. So we took a break for a few mins. Then there are about 5 other doc's rushing in and looking at the monitor and asking me to push some more. So i did. I briefly glanced at the monitor when i did push and i remember seeing his HR down in the 60's. Some of the doc's were telling me that if his HR keeps dropping that i would have to have a C-section and then one of the doc's mentioned getting the vacuum out to help. I was so afraid of the "C" word that i went balls to the walls pushing. Finally Chase was delivered @ 7:02pm. I did not immediately hear him cry so i thought something was wrong w/ him. When i saw my husband's face he had a look of worry on it and was crying. I asked what was wrong and he said nothing that he was just scared from what all had just happened. I asked about the baby and he went over to ck on him and finally i heard him cry for the first time. So then it was time to deliver the placenta. Well... that never happened cause they turned the pitocin off and i had stopped contracting. So i had a nurse pushing on my belly and the doc pulling on the cord and then all of a sudden it snapped off. I hear her telling the time and telling another doc to come in and it was this huge rush to get this placenta out of me. Next thing i know i hear her tell me that she has to go in and pull it out. And she literally did that... she reached inside me, full fisted and was pulling out chunks of the placenta all the while saying: "yes momma its gonna hurt". That was just as painful as the contractions i had before the epidural because at this point the epidural had worn off. No one happened to mention that i had a button i could have pushed to get another dose of the epidural before she started ripping my insides out!!! Luckily she got all of it out otherwise it could have caused some serious issues w/ infection and stuff. So after being in delivery for a few hours till 10pm, my husband left w/ our 13yo (she had school the next day) and i was wheeled to my room. We roll up to the door and i see a curtain pulled on half the room and soon discover that.... I AM SHARING A ROOM W/ SOMEONE!! OMG!! You are kidding me right. I not only will get no sleep from my own crying infant but now i have to hear someone else and her crying infant. So i sucked it up and slowly climbed in bed and tried to settle in for the night. That didn't last long as i quickly discovered that for the next 6 hours every 2 hours i would be awoken w/ a nurse and an intern... MILITARY MALE INTERNS!!!! OMG AGAIN!!! You are kidding right?? And we aren't just talking the intern standing there and taking notes, they are having to ck my bleeding and push on my belly, etc!! The whole nine yards!!! I again quickly sucked it up because what else was i suppose to do... protest... yeah right. Needless to say night #1 was rough. Day #2 was much more exciting because i found out my neighbors were being released that afternoon... YEAH!!!!!! I also found out that before we could be released we had to take a mandatory class on shaken baby and swaddling. Not sure why its mandatory but we were not allowed to leave until we took it. Night #2 was the straw that broke you know what though.... after my visitors left and it was just me and the baby... it was time to settle in for the night and i went to change the baby's diaper and you know how boys are when their little thingy hits cold air.... a stream of pee went flying into the air!!! I of course had nothing to catch it w/ and it seemed like he had held his pee all day just for this moment because it flooded my sheets and himself for that matter. So i buzzed the nurse and asked if they could come change the sheets because they were soaked. She said she would send in sheets w/ the nurse. Well in walks the male intern and places the sheets on the table and says: "here is a fitted and flat sheet and a blanket". And proceeds to walk out. I HAD TO CHANGE MY OWN BED SHEETS!!!!!!!!!!! OMG AGAIN!!!!!!! Here i am w/ a crying newborn who is hungry and i have to change my own bed sheets.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! Needless to say that when day #3 came I couldn't get out of the hospital fast enough!! I guess i had gotten a little pampered in the civilian hospitals the 2 times i delivered before this. I actually had nurses help me in the civilian hospitals. My experience w/ the military hospital was quite different. No help!! It was cold (and not temperature cold either) and awkward w/ the male interns and never have i had to share a room w/ another patient! Looking back, i really feel sorry for these first time mom's who come in there w/ nothing else to compare it too. They must really be in shock after they leave. Military hospitals could really be used as a form of birth control! My husband and i are not planning on having any more, but if the good Lord decides to bless us w/ another one.... we will be checking out civilian hospitals!!
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