Had my baby:) and bizarre labour situation

[SIsForSarah]

My beautiful baby boy was born a couple of weeks ago (a couple of weeks early!). He is doing really well and we are completely in love with him.

Here's my bizarre labour story. I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar experience: My water broke and we went to the hospital to see if they wanted me to stay. They discovered the baby had passed meconium, so I was immediately put on pitocin to get my contractions to speed up. I'd been told I couldn't have an epidural and wanted to avoid the IV narcotics for the baby's sake, so stuck it our for 12 hours in labour with no pain meds. All this time, the pain was in my pelvis area - no back pain. Finally, after 12 hours and still only 3 cm dilated, I accepted some IV pain meds. 10 more hours of labour, still no back pain, all pelvis pain, and I was finally fully dilated. I pushed for two hours and the baby just wasn't making it through. I ended up with a c-section.

After the c-section, they told me the problem (the reason labour took so long to progress and the baby failed to descend), was that he was facing my stomach. This is a situation that usually leads to severe back labour which helps you know to do things to "flip" the baby (side lunges with one leg on a chair apparently and pelvic rocking - I was prepared to do all this). But I had no back pain so we never thought to do any of this. It makes no sense to me, me who's had a lot of back pain in my life, both recovering from my 1990 fusion and my more recent herniated disc. Could it be that the nerves are all just dead now and don't feel any pain?

I'm really grateful that both the baby and I are healthy, but am still really confused as to what happened.

[Lorz]

First, congratulations on the birth of your baby boy! Secondly, I wanted to assure you, what you experienced is not unusual. I have been a labor and delivery nurse for years, and have seen this often. Your baby was what we call OP(occiput posterior), which makes it difficult for you to push him out. Instead of the smaller, back of his head, coming first, he was face up. Getting in different positions does not help in turning the baby, and most people don't know ahead of time. So, just enjoy your healthy baby boy, and don't worry that anything went "wrong". It is just a deviation of the normal. The main thing is you had a healthy baby, and you are fine too. Also, it does not mean, if you have more children, that it will happen again. Hope this helps!

[JenniferG]

Hi SisforSarah and congratulations on the safe arrival of your little boy. My first baby was OP and it was a long final stage of labour. She was finally delivered by forceps. We used to say it was a predictor of how she would go through life, looking up, never looking down, never wanting to miss anything.

As for the absence of backpain which is normal in these types of birth, I too am curious if it has to do with your fusion surgery.

[rainbow2010]

My first daughter was turned around and I had back labor. I didn't feel a thing!! She ended up a c-section because she got stuck. I think because of being fused to L5, the baby couldn't press into my spine and move it to cause the normal back labor pain. My second daughter was turned the right way and boy did that labor hurt!

[SIsForSarah]

Lorz - thank you for the information you have from experience. In my pre-natal class, they made it sound so easy to flip the baby around using lunges or walking upstairs sideways, that part of me felt like I failed in some way for not recognizing the problem and doing that. Thank you for helping me let myself off the hook

Jennifer and rainbow - thank you for sharing your experiences. The more I hear about similar labours, the less alone I feel.

Rainbow - your theory about the baby not being able to push into the spine makes a lot of sense! I think that may be what happened to me too, since I have a lot of scar tissue from a herniated disc at L5/S1 on top of the fusion to L2. After your c-section for your first, were you able to deliver naturally with your second? I'd really like to avoid another c-section recovery if I have another baby.

[rainbow2010]

My second child was also a c-section. My pelvic bone is tilted forward and down to the right making it hard for the baby to get through. I did try for natural with the second, but progress was real slow - thought she was getting stuck - and when my water broke, there were feces in it. So after 12 hours of labor, they did a c-section.