Breaking: The Dutchess Kate is in labor!!!

[woodsprite]

206. My c-sect started with my water breaking 3 wks early

My regular dr was on vacation, so I had the drs who were on call that night. They tried to get my contractions into a regular pattern by hooking me a pitocin drip. After 17 hours, they said they'd only let me labor another 3 before doing a c-sect. They had my IV running at the highest dose of pit and I still hadn't progressed past 4 cm, so we went for the c-sect before there was any sign of increased distress from our daughter.

When my dr. came back from vacation and checked in on me, he had it out with the team of docs on call. He said if they had laid off the pit and let me rest over night, he said that's usually all it takes to give active labor a chance to set in, then they could have started the pit again, if needed. He was not happy.

The VBAC with our son was easy, but I didn't realize how serious the my bleeding issue (retained placenta) had been or that our son had stopped breathing until I got out of surgery. I had been on heparin the whole pregnancy. They usually stop it a few weeks before your due date, but he was 5 wks early and we didn't get that chance. A tumble on some uneven driveway started the ball rolling. My doc was apologizing profusely to me because I had to be checked for drugs due to my "precipitous labor". Apparently it's the law in DE.

I had chosen the repeat c-sect option for our son, but ended up with a forced unmedicated VBAC. It would never had been my choice since I had a friend who died during a VBAC attempt (but her docs had used pitocin during the VBAC -- which is a huge no-no according to my doc).