Only 8 months late... why not share now?

#1_BadgeBunny

My LOs are 8 months old now but i never shared my birth story here before and thought why not!!! Its long but enjoy! Dont miss the part about the "spinadural!"

 

 

On Oct 26, 2009 Everything was as normal... fat and pregnant hahaha. I had felt very uncomfortable all day and felt as if the babies had "dropped" but didn't think much of it since i was just 36 weeks 5 days pregnant. I went to bed as normal in the guest room with my 300 pillows and tums. A short time later Mike came home from work (around 12:30 as usual). Before he went to take a shower he came in to check in on me. Since I was still awake we chatted for about 5 min when all of a sudden I felt a strong contraction. Trying not to worry Mike (or myself) i just listened while he talked. The next thing i knew i was making a mad dash for the bathroom b/c my water had just broke. The whole time Mike and dogs chasing me down the hall wondering what the rush was for! As i ran down the hall praying my water wouldn't come gushing out on the carpeted hall way i was yelling to Mike "I think my water just broke!!!!!!!!!". As i stood in the shower Mike ran for the phone and called the OB/GYN. He told us to come in right away. (Good thing i had my bags packed!!!) As calmly as we could we gathered my things and got in the truck. The whole ride to the hospital thoughts rushed through our brains. Nothing would be as we know it from this day forward!!!

1:10 am (10/27/09) We arrived at the hospital. We were taken to triage and my OB/GYN(Dr. M) informed me we would be staying. We were brought to our labor room and introduced to our nurses. Joy was our 3rd shift nurse and was very good at making the scariness of the situation bearable. I was attached to the many monitors and left to labor.

6:00 am (10/27/09) I labored till about 6 am with very little pain and even less sleep from excitement. When Dr. M was doing rounds he came by to check on me. I was 2cm dilated when i got to the hospital and at 6 am i was barely 3 cm dilated!!!! Dr. M suggested we start some pitocin to jump start the labor. He explained that my water broke due the the mass of the babies but my body was still thinking i was 36 weeks pregnant and was in no rush to go into labor. For the safety of the babies and myself i had to get on with the delivery and pitocin was the way to go. Our day shift nurse Patrice was very nice and got my pitocin started. I was again left to labor.

9 am (10/27/09) the contractions were stronger and more noticeable. Dr. M again came to check on me i was now 3-4 cm dilated. Dr. M said i could have an epidural any time i would like one but i needed to know that the on call anesthesiologist had a scheduled c-section at 10 am so I needed to get the epidural soon or wait until the scheduled c-section was done. Seeing how fast the contractions got painful once i was on the pitocin i was nervous to loose the anesthesiologist so i opted to start with a light epidural.

9:30am (10/27/09) The anesthesiologist was called in. She was extremely nice and understood my nerves regarding an epidural. I have a previous spinal injury leaving my L4 & L5 in very bad shape. The anesthesiologist opted to insert the epidural a bit higher to avoid interfering with my injury. This is when things started to go bad!!! Once the meds were inserted i began to notice my hands were getting cold. By the time they had me go to swing my legs back around and on the table i couldn't move them. After a few minutes and the numbness continuing to spread up my body. It had become clear to the anesthesiologist and the nurse i ended up with a spinal!!!! The spinal was quickly moving up my body and before i knew it i couldn't move my arms. They quickly propped me up to use gravity to keep the immobility from spreading. This caused my blood pressure to dip drastically and they had to administer large amounts of blood pressure drugs. Once my BP was settled they repeatedly check to see if the numbness was spreading. Thank God it didn't spread any higher b/c by this point i was numb from the top of my breast to my feet. I was extremely scared and was getting nervous about being able to breathe. The anesthesiologist immediately stopped the meds and said that i would have to just wait for the effects to wear off!!!! After 1-2 hours I could finally start to move my arms again. I was certainly glad things were coming back to some amount of normalcy but was terrified to get an more meds!!

3pm (10/27/09) The "spinadural" (as Patrice and i were affectionately calling it) had finally wore off!!! But now i was in pain again. The anesthesiologist came back in and gave me 1 cc of the meds as apposed to the normal 10cc. This took the edge off for about 1 hour... but the pain was back. The new anesthesiologist had come on duty and ensured me he felt the catheter that was administering the "spinaldural" was back where it belonged and he could now hook me up to the machine and give me a constant stream of meds. I let him go ahead and do so and i was extremely thankful that he was right. I was numb in all the right places but could still move!!! Thank you Lord!!!!!!!

7:15pm (10/27/09) Labor progressed and despite the epidural i could feel a lot of pressure and back discomfort. That was what i had wanted all along, i wanted just something small to take the edge off but i still wanted to feel the contractions and labor as drug free as possible. Dr.M came in a checked me again...i was finally fully dilated and i could begin pushing!!! YEAH!!!!!

9:15pm (10/27/09) Pushing i did... for 3 hours!!! Dr. M walked in and informed me that they don't let mothers push for more than 3 hours (it was too risky) he suggested we try to use the vacuum to remove Baby A. By 9:30 pm Dr. M was set up to use the vacuum. According to Mike once Dr. M inserted the vacuum he was shaking his head in a not so happy manner. I gave it two good pushed but the vacuum came off each time. At this point everything started to move extremely fast!!!! Dr. M stood up (this is when i knew what i was dreading was about to happen)and informed Mike and i that i would have to go in for a c-section! Nurses swarmed the labor room and began moving machines, prepping me and coming in and out of the room. Dr. M whisked Mike away and said if he had to make phone calls now would be the time and he had to quickly get in scrubs and wash up! I was wheeled down the hall and got to meet Mike at the OR door where he gave me a kiss and said he would be in soon. Thank God the anesthesiologist who fixed my "spinadurla" was with me. He was very sweet talking to me the entire time. The entire time i just kept asking if the babies were ok....Dr.M ensured me numerous times the babies were just fine and so was I, but that we needed to get them out ASAP. Many emotions over took me. Feelings of fear, failure and excitement flooded my mind. Once on the table everything continued to move very fast. The anesthesiologist was extremely sweet and sat at my head and talked to me until Mike was allowed in the room. Due to my anesthesia problems earlier he started with a low dose and said i had to let him know if i felt anything. Talk about scary. Knowing they are starting at the absolute lowest dose! I was terrified that once they got in i would feel everything but trusted that this anesthesiologist was very good it calmed some fears.

Finally with Mike by my side Dr. M proceeded. Thankfully i felt very little and other than nerves i was doing ok. With in a matter of minutes i could feel Dr. M pulling Baby A out (10:34 pm) and before i knew it her little head popped over the curtain and she started crying as did I. One minute later (10:35pm) Baby B was out and his little face popped over the curtain as well. The were both whisked away out of my line of sight, but I could hear them both crying (it was a life changing moment to realize they were two beautiful babies just on the other side of the curtain and they were mine!!).

A few minutes later Baby A (Michaella Lynne) was in Mike's arms and i was kissing my baby girl for the first time!!!! Sadly baby our son (Michael Vincent) was whisked away. We could hear him cry but the pediatrician said he was having a little bit of a hard time breathing and needed to be taken care of right away. With my husband and our baby girl at my side is when things got a little scary again. I turned to Mike and said "i don't feel good... like i am getting all spacey" The next thing i knew i went to look around the room to try and regain my bearings and Mike stopped me from looking to my right (at the time i didn't know why but according to Mike the machine that's suctions the blood filled up rather quickly and he didn't want me to see it and freak) The next thing i knew i hear the anesthesiologist say he was going to give me something to make me sleepy. I awoke as they were wheeling me down the hall to recovery.

11:30pm (10/27/09) I was in recovery with my two beautiful babies at my side. The pediatrician was working with our son and a nurse was cleaning our daughter up and swaddling her. Still semi out of it from the drugs all i could do was observe. Mike and i watched as they assessed the babies and took my vitals. I still didn't know what my son looked like and according to the pediatrician he needed to be taken back to the nursery for the night to be observed so it didn't appear i was going to get to hold him. We attempted to get our daughter to breast feed but with my grogginess the nurses decided they would take her to the nursery as well and syringe feed her for the night so i could recover. About 2 hours after entering recovery we were finally sent to our recovery room where we would spend the next few days getting to know our babies. It was a long night staring at the clock until i could really see my babies for the first time!

7:00 am (10/28/09) I was awoken by the nurse to check my vitals and get me some more pain meds. About an hour later our babies were finally wheeled into our room!!! What an exciting moment getting to hold both my children at the same time. Our little family was finally all together!

The next few days were filled with many trials and scary moments. Talk about crash course in taking care of two babies. But somehow Mike and I survived.

4pm (10/31/09) I was cleared by Dr. M to go home and our pediatrician informed us that our son was also cleared to come home. Unfortunately our baby girl had to stay!!! Nothing major but her Bilirubins had yet to come down and she would need to spend at least the next 24 hours in the nursery. It was a hard choice and after many hours of crying and feeling like a bad mom i decided to leave her at the hospital where she was safe and could get the care she needed and bring our son home (but not with out a nice long visit to the nursery to feed and cuddle w/ her).

Once home it was nice to finally get some alone time with my son. He wouldn't breast feed at the hospital so Mike was doing all his feedings and i had very little time to bond with him. As concerned for our daughter as i was... i was enjoying the time with my son. Thankfully 24 hours after being released from the hospital we received the call saying our daughter could come home too!!!!

5pm (11/01/09) Our new family was complete and all home safe and healthy!!!