Sorry this is so late, but I was in hospital for a week, then we moved and we had to buy a new computer so I could finally post my story:

At my 38 week appointment (15 April), my OB told me that he was planning to induce the following week (23 April) if my baby wasn't born by then. He still thought that my baby was IUGR (intra-uterine growth retarded) even though neither of the two ultrasounds or any of the three CTG scans detected anything abnormal.

As I was not too thrilled about being induced, I asked dh to help induce me naturally. We hadn't had sex since before 1 April, when I went into pre-term labor, because I was put on bed rest for 5 days and then told to stop working and limit my activity. It didn't take much to convince him, so we did the deed on Saturday, 18 April, and then spent the day lying at the beach.

At 12 midnight on the evening of 19 April, I started having contractions. They were only 5 - 12 minutes apart and not painful, but I couldn't sleep through them. I decided to let dh sleep, as I needed him to be my birthing partner and I didn't want him to be too tired if it were to be a long labor.

The contractions continued until noon, but then slowed down to 15 - 20 minutes apart. I then asked dh to try massaging the accupressure point between the bones of the two big toes. Wham!, within a minute I was hit with much stronger contractions which were now 4 - 8 minutes apart. By 1 pm they were coming 3 - 5 minutes apart, so we called the hospital and they said to come in.

We arrived at the hospital at 2:30 pm. At 3 pm I was 2 cm dilated. We decided to use the birthing tub to ease the pain. By 7 pm I was disappointed to find that I was only 3 cm dilated! I felt that I wasn't progressing quickly enough because I wasn't able to relax, so I asked for pethidine (demerol). The shot was given at 8 pm, at which time I was still only 4 cm dilated.

After that it all happened so quickly! By 9:30 pm my waters had broken, by 10 pm I was 8 cm dilated, and by 10:30 pm I was 10 cm dilated and was told to push. Pushing lasted all of 25 minutes and little Calvin James was born at 10:55 pm on 20 April 1998!

He was very small when he was born, 53 cm (21 in), and only 2.59 kg (5 lb, 11 oz). His APGARS were 7 and 8, which is pretty good for a little guy. Dh cut the cord and my Obstetrician noted how stringy and weak the cord was in certain places.

Complications began with the afterbirth (removal of the placenta). When my OB tried to remove it the cord just broke. As my cervix was closing quickly I had to have a spinal block (similar to an epidural, but quicker and more potent) so the placenta could be removed manually. I was a little disappointed after having such an uneventful birth, but I was so happy to have my baby, that I didn't really care much about anything else at that point. I trusted my OB's judgement that manual removal was the only option.

I was awake during the removal, but couldn't feel a thing. My OB noted that the placenta showed signs of aging (calcification) like a smoker's placenta would. The cord had broken off near the placenta. This was the reason that Calvin was so small - he had experienced IUGR in the last few weeks. My OB ensured me that nothing I did caused this to happen.

Since I was motionless from the waist down and Calvins blood sugars were so low (only 1/3 of minimum recommended), Calvin was taken away from me. I didn't get to see him again until the next day. When I did he had a feeder in his nose and an IV drip in his foot to get his blood sugar levels up. Apparently he used up all of his fat stores in my 10 hours of labor. He had to stay in the nursery for four days, after which his blood sugar levels finally stabilized.

I got to take him to my room on the fifth day and stayed in the hospital a total of seven days. He took to the breast right away and is still eating like a champ! He was already up to 2.75 kg (6 lbs) by the time we left the hospital and was 3.5 kg (7 lb, 8 oz) at 3 weeks old!

As for me, I couldn't be better! I did not have a single stitch (from a tear or episiotomy) and not a single stretch mark, and was 1 kg (2 lbs) below my pre-pregnancy weight after just one week! I even started wearing my jeans after just 10 days.

Dh was fantastic throughout the labor, as was my OB and the midwife. Nobody ever encouraged or discouraged me to have any pain relief, so it was all my decision. However, I know my OB was glad I had the pethidine because it seemed to speed up the labor and Calvin may not have been able to withstand a very long labor.

Right now I am on a complete high! Even though I had a complication, everything went according to my birth plan and I now look at my baby as a true miracle! What a little trooper to be able to endure 10 hours of labor (23 hours if you include the pre-labor) with minimal fat stores! Though he was closely monitored, he never showed the slightest distress.

Well, that is my story. Though it was a bumpy road, it certainly had a happy ending.

Jeanne