My Rainbow is here!! Callie's birth story (esmith10)

esmith10 · August 2014

Sorry I am so delayed in finally getting this birth story out! It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

Short version: Caroline (Callie) Marie was born on 8/20 at 3:25am via c-section. 8lbs 11oz and 21 inches long. We're all doing very well.

Long Version: I'll start by saying that the only thing from my birth plan that actually went according to plan was the only thing that mattered: we had a healthy, happy baby at the end of it:

Monday: 8/18--Checked into the hospital at 7am and was induced using cytotec around 8:30am. Started contracting regularly, but after being monitored for the majority of the day there was no progress and I was still only 1cm/50% effaced/-2 position. So I went home around 4pm. At home we ordered dinner, and once it arrived I felt nauseous, got the chills and started shaking like crazy. Called the Doc, she said it wasn't a big deal and to take tylenol and try to get some sleep before going in the next morning again to continue the induction. Woke up the next morning and contractions had completely stopped.

Tuesday 8/19--Same routine: arrived at 7am, cytotec placed somewhere around 8:30am. Contracted regularly, a little stronger this time, but when the doc checked after 2 hours I was only 1.5cm but the doctor felt that my cervix was soft enough to break my water, so she did. Contractions before my water breaking were 4-5 minutes apart, once it was broken, they were coming fast at 2-3 minutes apart and started to become intense. Still, I was very slow to dialate: maybe 1cm ever 2-3 hours. Around 5pm I finally asked for an epi, and it was placed and kicked in quickly. I felt pretty good for a while, and around 9pm decided I would try to get some sleep. The nurses had their shift change, I was in and out of consciousness, and things began to go downhill.

They started a low dose of pitocin, which I was hoping to avoid, but told the doc I was okay with a low dose. I also started to develop a fever, and was given tylenol to help with it. Slept for a while, and while I slept my pitocin was upped (i'm not sure how quickly) to a 6. My catheter started hurting like crazy, they repositioned it, and then I realized the reason it was bothering me was because I was still feeling contractions--just very low and milder than before but still uncomfortable. To make matters worse, my temp was unaffected by the tylenol and was still high so I was put on an antibiotic. Baby's heartrate up until this point was having beautiful accels/decels the entire time, but now was starting to remain flat and the baseline was getting faster and faster (at one point was in the 170's). I was checked and went from 4cm-7cm and the doctor, while concerned about the baby's heartrate, didn't want to do a c-section just as I was starting to really progress. So they turned off the pitocin and baby's condition improved as did my comfort level.

I fell back asleep, and the next thing I knew pitocin was back on and we were encountering the same problems (baby's high heart rate with no accels/decels). My fever was still high and I was feeling strong contractions and was finally starting to feel pressure near my tailbone and was feeling the urge to poop. I was checked, and was only 8cm/100% effaced but still only at -1 position. At this point, the doc made the call to get the baby out via c-section and she began getting her team together.

It felt like forever waiting to go to the OR, and when they finally rolled me in I started shaking like crazy. They got me prepped, my husband came in and held my hand. It felt like they were working forever while I was waiting to hear her cry. Then, finally, the anesthesiologist who was sitting next to MH said "Dad, if you aren't queasy, stand up and watch you daughter be born." and then a few seconds later I heard some strong, loud cries. I've never felt such a massive sense of relief in my life! MH went over and was with her while the doctor checked her out. She peed right away and grabbed the doctor's stethoscope, and then my husband's finger. After she was out, the shaking got worse and I suddenly felt cold and super tired. Turns out my blood pressure dropped significantly, which resulted in me being in "recovery" for about 2 hours before I was able to see my daughter. She was sent to the nursery for blood tests, a culture, and to get an IV with antibiotics due to my fever in labor. They thought I might have developed a uterine infection during labor, which was causing the fever, and they feared I may have passed the infection on to her. Her culture came back negative, thank God. I still have no idea what caused my fever, and it finally broke my second night in the hospital.

When they finally brought her into my room, she was crying until she heard my voice and then stopped right away. I was so taken with how beautiful and perfect she was! We're all home now, happy and healthy. She scored a 9 on the apgar, even with all the drama in her delivery! We are so in love with our little girl.

Ladies, thanks for all the support you've offered during these 10 months. Being PgAL was so hard, and even though I thought my worries would go away once I reached the second tri, had the a/s, felt her move, etc. I never stopped worrying until I heard her first cries. It was so great to have a community like this to reach out to when I was having my bad days. Also, big thank you to my labor buddy, @Lingchow8655! Best of luck with all of your pregnancies!