Mind set to have vaginal delivery but enden up having C-section

by Amabell
(Vancouver, BC, Canada)

I started having irregular contractions at 3am. Went to the hospital at 5am & admitted at 5:30am. I was already at 5cm by that time.

From the beginning of my pregnancy, my mind was already set of having a vaginal delivery and will try any kind of pain relief except epidural because my sister has been telling me that she's been experiencing some back pain until now since she had hers 16 years ago.

While I was in labor, my husband was there with me & giving support. By 12nn, I was already 7cm dilated. They gave me Demerol - laughing gas - I was walking, did some exercises to help me progress with the labor.

7pm and I'm still at 7cm. I was really exhausted already from labor to think that I never had any sleep the night before and was so hungry.

7:30pm, the nurse told me that my OB is suggesting an epidural. I said no. She came back again after 15 mins and asked me why I don't want any epidural. I said, I'm afraid of the side effects of this.

She told me that it is a safe procedure and this will help me a lot. Since, I was so exhausted already and my labor is not progressing, I finally said yes.

At 8:30pm, I was given an epidural, still labor wasn't progressing from 7cm. I was already vomitting a lot of fluid since I haven't eaten anything and shivering. I felt really, really cold and terrible. That was the worst feeling I ever had.

10:45pm and labor progressing still, my OB told me that they need to do an emergency C-section.

11:30pm, I gave birth to a wonderful baby girl.

All my dreams of having a wonderful birth with her was gone because I was shivering and vomitting the whole time they were doing the surgery. My husband wasn't allowed to cut her umbilical cord, I wasn't able to have a skin to skin contact & worst of all, she got distressed during labor that she had meconium staining (she pooed inside and inhaled some of it), so she was brought to the NICU right away so they could suction it out and monitor her breathing at the same time.

I was able to hold her again the following day. She stayed there for 2 nights. I wasn't able to breastfeed her right away. They gave her some formula which in the first place I wouldn't want to happen. She had formula for about 5 days.

We were lucky to be discharged the same day. My husband was so supportive all the way that he cooked a lot of vegetables to help me produce more milk so I could breastfeed our baby. Luckily, I have an abundant supply of breastmilk for my daughter. Everything is going well with our baby. She is a happy and active baby. But inspite of that, just yesterday, I felt a very severe back pain that it is very hard for me to walk & move. I was really crying from the pain I felt that night. I wonder if this one of the long term side effects of epidural that people are saying.