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Claire's birth story (Loooooong)

missnacholovermissnacholover member
edited November 2014 in November 2014 Moms

Claire Elizabeth’s Birth Story


We were told on Friday, October 17 that we’d be having a scheduled C-section the following Wednesday due to the baby’s size.  At that time the doctor was thinking she was weighing between 8.5 and 9 pounds.  We rushed to get some last minute things together, run some errands, tidy up the house, and try to enjoy a final date or two.


We went in Wednesday at 9 am.  They took me to the prep room immediately where it was a barrage of nurses asking medical history questions, taking vitals, listening to Claire’s HB, etc.  I was a ball of nerves, but DH would just look at me and smile or hold my hand.  My blood pressure was a bit high for every reading and they suspected I may have developed/was developing Pre-E.  Good timing, I suppose.


There was a lot of discussion about how to manage my diabetes in surgery and after talking with me and seeing that I know my stuff, they decided to let me remain on my pump and continuous glucose monitor.  I was super relieved because I did not want to be on an insulin drip.  We decided to let my sugar run around 140 for the surgery and it did great!


The OB resident came in to say hi and he was the same doc I had for when I was getting my Pre-E workup a couple weeks before.  He was super nice and I was glad it wasn’t some random doc I never met.  His assistant (intern?) was awesome too.


We decided that we wanted to do the public cord blood banking so they informed me that they would need some of my blood.  Little did I know they would need NINE vials!!!  Of course I hadn’t drank much more than a few sips of water since the night before due to the C-section rules so they had tons of trouble finding a vein.  They tried both elbows, both hands, forearms, and finally settled on my right wrist.  It was so painful being poked and prodded and it was the resident anesthesiologist who was doing the poking, so I think he wasn’t exactly the best person to do this.  Finally the head anesthesiologist said “enough”, and they decided that we would try again the next day - after getting 7 vials.  DH said if they can’t get my blood on the first stick tomorrow, we aren’t doing it as they would have to get all 9 vials again because they need them all to be from the same draw.  Luckily the person who was drawing my blood the next day had better luck.


After this fiasco, I was super nervous and just ready to get things going.  Around 11:50 they told me it was go time and they were going to wheel me into the OR.  DH and I said goodbye to eachother and exchanged our I love yous and kisses.  


They wheeled me into the OR and I said how it felt nice because it was so hot in my intake room and it was nice and cool in there.  They had me sit on the table and hug a pillow and an OB resident was chatting with me, just shooting the shit.  I barely noticed the spinal.  They had me lay down and tested my numbness.  I didn’t feel a thing.  They continued to prep and finally when they were done, went around the room and did a roll call.  “Kristen, nurse, Mike, anesthesiologist, Nancy, Pediatrics, etc.”  At the end I said, “MissNachoLover, patient” and they all laughed.  Lightened the mood a bit.  


DH came in and sat by my head.  I felt a little dizzy/off balance because my head was a little lower than my body and they had the table kind of slanted to the left.  I really didn’t feel much, not even the pressure or pulling that people say they feel.  Just a lot of movement and the table shaking and stuff.  Finally, we heard the most precious cry and they said “She’s here and she’s BIG!”  I started tearing up and so did DH.  They took her over to weigh her and we heard “10 pounds” and I was all, “Did they say TEN POUNDS?  Holy shit.”  They brought her over to us and we instantly fell in love with our sweet girl.  DH was able to hold her up to me so I could see her for a few minutes.  Then  DH went over to the area where they were checking her out.  They checked her blood sugar and it was 16 (they want it at like 45 at birth) so they decided to take her to the special care nursery.  DH went with her and I was wheeled into recovery.   They gave her over 2 ounces of formula trying to get her blood sugar up and it only elevated to 33 over the course of an hour.


In recovery I felt really nauseous and ended up throwing up a bit.  Finally they brought DH and Claire in so I was able to hold my pumpkin for a few minutes.  They said her blood sugar was a little low so they were taking her to the NICU, which we had expected to happen all along due to my diabetes.  Little did we know it’d be a 5 day stay...we were expecting more like 5 hours.


The took me to my room after about an hour or two in recovery.  There I felt like I was being checked every 12 seconds - Blood pressure, temp, blood sugar, checking my urine output, bleeding, etc.  


Later that night my sister came to visit and DH took her down to the NICU to meet Claire.  I couldn’t go because I wasn’t really mobile yet and still had my catheter in.  :(  My sister fell in love and came back to my room and was gushing at the cuteness.  And her hair.   Everyone loves all her hair!

The first night sucked with all the interruptions for them checking my vitals, bleeding, etc.  Ahhh, the lack of sense of time at the hospital.  I also was pumping every 3 hours and not getting anything but wanted to be consistent.  They finally took my catheter out (didn’t hurt) around 3 am and encouraged me to pee within the next 6 hours.  At this point I hadn’t been out of bed at all.  Finally I felt like I had to go and DH and the nurse helped me stand up.  When I got to the bathroom (like 4 steps away), a bunch of blood gushed out onto the floor.  Freaked me out a bit but the nurse said it’s normal, as is some small clots.  Phew.


Decided it was time to go down and see my girl that morning.  I couldn’t walk all the way to the NICU so DH pushed me in a wheelchair.  I felt so pathetic but was so happy to see her.


My parents arrived later that afternoon and after visiting with me, DH took them to the NICU to meet her since I was still pretty immobile.  Of course, they fell in love immediately.  :)


Thursday night, DH’s parents and sister arrived, right around the time they decided were going to change my room up two floors.  So it was chaotic for a bit, but we had a nice visit.  They brought me a sub from Cappriottis which was awesome.  :o)  DH took them down to meet Claire and they came back and were gushing about how pretty she is and all her hair.  MIL said NOTHING about her being a girl - as soon as she saw her, she fell in love.  Good thing, because momma was hormonal.  I did kind of snap at her because she made a comment about how DH had club feet and how hard it was to treat and was like, "Sorry, MNL".  I teared up and said that we are choosing to be positive and that I've already had 2 breakdowns that day and didn't need to hear any horror stories.  DH shut her up too saying "Mom, we'll get through it."


That night I told DH to just go home to sleep.  He left with his family around 11 or so and came back around 6 am Friday morning.  There really was no point in having him stay in the hospital when Claire wasn’t rooming in with us.  Plus, without his snoring, I slept a little better.


The next few days were just a blur of visitors, making trips to the NICU, getting my vitals taken, etc.  It was tough because my room was on the 7th floor and the NICU was on the 5th floor.  Claire continued to rock with her  blood sugars, which they checked every three hours.  If it was above 60, they would lower her Dextrose drip.  The goal was to eventually be off the Dextrose but still able to maintain good blood sugars.  DH did as many feedings and diaper changes as he could.  Saturday morning I went down and saw Claire under the UV lights because apparently her bilirubin was a bit high.  However a few hours later the resident took her off the lights and said that the night doctor had been overly cautious in putting her under the lights.  

There was discussion on Saturday about sending me home but they decided to hold off since there was some suspicion that my incision may have been infected.  I woke up on Friday night SO ITCHY.  They ended up keeping me until Sunday morning and treated me with antibiotics just in case.  I suspect it was an allergic reaction to the tape they used.


We learned on Sunday that Claire's bilirubin levels were back up so back under the lamps she went.  We ended up leaving on Sunday for a few hours in the afternoon to fill some Rxs and stuff and when we returned Sunday night we learned that she was getting moved to the Step-Down/ Transitional nursery.  We were happy, but the night nurse sucked.  She just seemed like an airhead.  Luckily the nurse the following day was much better.


Claire finally went home on Monday after 5 days in the NICU/TCN.  We were so happy to get her home.  


Sidenote, it seemed like people had “Pump-Radar” and would always come into my room when I was pumping.   Food delivery, the woman doing the cleaning, etc.  It was so annoying.  Anyone else?
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