Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March 24, 2015

Welcome to the world Brandon Paul!





Our little guy came barreling into the world on Monday, March 16 at 6:06pm. He was 7lb 3oz and 21". Here's a link to the birth story on my other blog, I want to share my hip story on this page.

As I have mentioned previously, my hips had held up great through my pregnancy. My last update was around my 30 week mark so I still had a lot of growing to do between then and Baby's birth. I know a lot of women have hip pain towards the end of pregnancy even if they have never had hip issues prior. The added weight and the maneuvering your pelvis does to prepare for birth are enough to encourage some hip pain. I know by the time 40 weeks arrives, most women are at maximum capacity and just want baby OUT. Luckily, I have had a VERY easy pregnancy and even at my biggest I wasn't uncomfortable.


Baby Boy decided to make his arrival at 40 weeks and 2 days - the day before St. Patrick's Day -  HOORAY!

The day seemed to literally fly by and before we knew it, we were at the hospital preparing for (at the time) his or her arrival. We arrived when I was about 6cm and minutes later (literally, minutes) I was 10cm and preparing to push. We were rushed (wheeled) down to Labor and Delivery where I shifted to a new bed which was broken down and stirrups were added. My legs were thrown into stirrups and I was told to push on the next contraction - I had NO idea what I was doing and clearly that first set of pushes were not great. Kevin held my left leg while a nurse held my right. I was having a mini freakout because she pulled my leg out to the side instead of back towards me and I was more or less fighting against her and not focusing on pushing. During the break in contractions they were all telling me I was doing it wrong and I had to focus, hold my legs and push. All I could manage to get out of my mouth was "hips". My husband (in the middle of all this frantic labor) said "oh yeah, she's had hip surgery" the nurse asked which hip to which his reply was "BOTH". On the next set of pushes she pulled my leg back towards my body which felt much better and allowed me to focus on getting the baby out. 

To sum up the day, I would say it was quick, painful and crazy! Everything happened so quickly we were more in shock so no emotions hit us until later. One of my biggest fears was how my hips were going to deal with labor and the birth but I am happy to say they were perfect, I was barely aware of them and once the nurse was on point we were good to go. If I had a long labor and pushed for hours I could see how it would be much more difficult on my body. I was up and out of bed minutes later with no pain in my hips and the days following there was no lingering hip pain.

That's a quick rundown of my birth story as related to my hips. I am now 8 days postpartum and they are perfectly fine. Brandon's Pediatrician has also checked his hips at every appointment and says they seem to be perfect. We go see Dr. Millis in May and hope he gives the same thumbs up. 

I hope this has helped anyone currently pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant after a PAO. I most definitely could not have endured the last 9+ months if I had not had this surgery to make my hips function properly. 

Good luck to all.