Vegan Birth Stories

Please read our collection of birth stories. If you'd like to submit your own, please submit your story here. Vegan or vegetarian birth stories are welcome.

Dustin's Birth Story

On Wednesday morning (December 22), I woke up, went to the bathroom and noticed some blood. Yippee - I thought, my bloody show. I tried not to get too excited because I had had some bloody show two weeks earlier and nothing had happened.

I went to work and then to my doctor's appointment with great anticipation - nothing. Still only a fingertip dilated and barely effaced at all. I went home very bummed.

That night, around 12:30 a.m., I got up to pee (again) and couldn't get back to sleep (again). I sat around, played on the computer, read, generally tried to pass the time. I noticed, however, that I was having some cramping -- much like menstrual cramps -- and that they were coming in waves and were timeable. I didn't start timing them because I figured they didn't hurt enough. Around 5:45 a.m., I went to sleep and woke up again an hour later. I started to get ready for my day - shower, clothes - the whole nine yards. Only now, my cramps were somewhat more intense -- i.e., I actually had to pay attention to them. I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to pay attention to my class -- so I called and postponed that. I spent the day sitting around the house timing contractions. For the most part, they were 5 minutes apart.

Around lunch time, I called the doctor and he advised me to stay home and labor as I was barely dilated at all the previous day. No problem -- packed the hospital bag, did my nails, watched Oprah.

When Jason came home, he started timing my contractions -- still 5 minutes apart but some were 3-4 minutes apart and they were lasting up to 90 seconds. They were very manageable though. Painful but not excruciating.

By 9:00 p.m., I told Jason that they were more intense so we called the doctor (who had been checking in with us all day) and he met us at the hospital. We went to the Family Birth Center, I changed into a gown and they hooked me up to monitors to monitor my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Everything looked fine and I still wasn't dilated at all! He did think, however, that we were definitely going to have the baby by the following day - Christmas Eve.

So...back home we went to labor in comfort some more. We went to bed and tried to get some sleep -- at this point -- I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours. Well...suffice it to say that we got no sleep. Every contraction got more and more painful. I got up and walked around to see if that would help - I laid in bed - I got on my hands and knees - you name it - I did it.

Finally, at 2:00 a.m., I told Jason that we could call the doctor. We called the doctor and headed back to the hospital. Again, off to the Family Birth Center, off with the clothes, hooked up to monitors and the nurse did an internal -- 3 cm dilated!!! Yeah! They checked me into a room and by 4:00 a.m., we called our parents to let them know that we were well and truly in labor.

By 6:00 a.m., the contractions had gotten pretty bad. The doctor came in and broke my waters. Anyway -- as I lay there in the Mississippi River, the contractions came on with a bang!!! So I stood in the shower having conractions for about 1/2 an hour -- the shower felt great and really helped with the pain. By 7:00 or 8:00, I was asking for something to help with the pain. My doctor, however, was downtown at the other hospital delivering some babies and I couldn't have an epidural until a doctor could see me -- WHAT!!!!!!! At that point, I would have walked across the bridge and through the tunnel to drag his ass back to my hospital bed. They gave me some Nubain which was supposed to take the edge off....I don't know if it did...I just felt like I was high and in pain as opposed to just in pain.

Anyway -- the doctor finally showed up and I got my epidural. What a relief. However, the next thing I knew I was completely dilated and effaced and ready to push! What are you kidding me! How can I push when I can't feel anything? The nurse kept telling me to push like I was having a bowel movement and I kept wanting to tell her that I got it but it's hard to push a poop out when you can't feel your rectum!

So...I pushed for 3 hours. The nurse refused to let me try squatting to help with the pushing! At the end of 3 hours, we could just see his head and the doctor told me that, while he thought that I could 'fit' the baby through the birth canal - I hadn't slept in 36 hours and I was too exhausted to push for the 2+ additional hours that it might take! So...he recommended forceps. I was so exhausted and knew the doctor was right ... so we agreed.

We got suited up and wheeled down to the OR and within minutes Dustin James was born. He showed up at 12:40 p.m. on Friday, December 24, 1999 weighing 8 pounds 14 ounces and measuring 20-1/2 inches long. His Apgar scores were 7 and 9.

I couldn't stop crying for about 1/2 an hour. After they got done stitching me up, I was wheeled back into my room where my mom and sister were waiting and Jason and Dustin were. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try breastfeeding him until much later. To make matters worse, they were concerned about his blood sugar which kept dropping so he had to have a bottle of formula and blood work every hour -- he was not a happy camper.

So...now we're home. Unfortunately, the type of episiotomy they have to do for a forceps delivery takes much longer to heal than a regular episiotomy. It's ten days later and it feels worse than it did at the hospital. Dustin absolutely resisted breastfeeding -- after numerous consultations with lactation consultants, nipple shields, and breast pumps -- we've given up breastfeeding and have switched to feeding him expressed breastmilk.

But...it's all definitely worth it. He is an angel!

Sponsors:

Got Recipes? We Want Them!
Submit yours today to win a prize!