Andrew James Birth Story

AZAmy77

Finally seem to have a few minutes to share our birth story.

 Wednesday morning I woke up at 5am with a contraction.  (I had been to L & D on Friday morning upon waking up with more than usual discharge, clear watery, which they checked and said was not amniotic fluid and cervix was closed).  I had this same discharge from Friday on and didn't think there was much more or different on Wednesday morning.  My doctor had given me the guidelines that if contractions continued regularly every 10 minutes or less for 2 hours, to go back in - so I moved into another room to relax and time my contractions on my nifty free contraction tracker app on my phone.

They were about 8 minutes apart, so around 7:30 I woke up DH and said we needed to head to the hospital.  We got into triage around 8:30, seemed to be a busy morning there.  When they examined me and did the swab test, and it immediately turned blue, but she was going to check on the slide to confirm.  Sure enough, water had broken so we were admitted.  I was still having contractions every 6-7 minutes or so.  I did not yet have the GBS test, so they started IV antibiotics and fluids.  Also had all the fetal monitors on all the time.  They gave me some medication to help dilate/ready my cervix.  I got 2 doses of this (every 4 hours), when I came in I was about .5cm dilated.

 During the second dose, the contractions were speeding up and becoming stronger.  The nurse thought with how the contractions were moving along I didn't need any more of the drugs, but so far was not very dilated (~1.5cm).  Around 8:30pm, the contractions got incredibly painful were about 2.5 minutes apart and lasting a minute long.  I felt intense pressure to push, the only thing that was helping me forgo the pushing urge was vocalizing outward, which I'm sure the patients down the hall enjoyed listening too.  Around 10:30 I asked for the epidural after not progressing very much (2cm).  The epidural brought immediate pain relief, I could still feel each contraction and pushing sensation, but I could deal with it.  After getting the epidural and laboring for a while, I got a fever and baby's heart rate increased.  At this point, they wanted to start Pitocin, but were worried about baby's heart rate - so they gave my Tylenol and different antibiotics iv, and oxygen to help stabilize baby.  I also had been having a lot of muscle spasms and shaking through my arms and legs. 

Around 3am, they were happy enough with baby's heartrate and started Pitocin, I was around 2.5cm dilated.  I labored with the Pitocin until 5am, after a cervical check, showed no change.  We decided to go ahead with the C-section.  Baby's heartrate was still higher than they wanted and nothing was helping me progess, and of course had been laboring at this point for 24 hours with possible infection going on already.

After we signed the paperwork, I got different drugs in the epidural and got moved over to surgery.  Andrew James was born at 6:02 am on Thursday morning.  19 in long and weighing 6lbs 3 oz with a big head of hair (my heartburn!).  He got 8/8 on his apgar scores and breathed well on his own after a brief oxygen session.  It was hard for me to see him, with everyone around the table, but DH watched as he was delivered and then went over to the warmer with him.  After he was cleaned off, he brought him over to me so I could see him before I was taken to recovery.  DH went with baby to the nursery.

 Andrew had quite a cone head for a baby delivered by c section, dr said he was sunny side up but wasn't sure why he hadn't been able to turn through my pelvis, thought it was something with the shape possibly.

I spent several hours in recovery just with the oxygen and ivs, my fever went back up, so had more antibiotics and Tylenol and still had the shaking.  About 3 hours after delivery, DH and a nursery nurse brought Andrew to me to try to breastfeed.  We didn't have any luck with breastfeeding, but I got to hold and cuddle him for a bit. 

We are all still in the hospital recovering.  Andrew has finished his antibiotics with no sign of infection, but is having trouble feeding.  Poor little guy seems to just get too tired out and hasn't been taking enough in.  They had to put a feeding tube in last night.  We haven't had much luck breastfeeding so far, but I have been doing well pumping, so he is getting that along with formula.  We are only trying breastfeeding once every 3-4 feedings to help him from getting too tired.  We are going to try with a lactation consultant this afternoon and also do some kangaroo care.  I am going to stay in the hospital as long as they allow me to, either through Sunday or Monday?  It looks like Andrew will need to stay here longer though, we hope to have him home with us soon.

 Here are some pictures as reward for reading through this book. 

(anyone have any advice for C-section recoveries or premie care would be appreciated!)

 

 

 

AZAmy77

BLT20051

He's so precious. I hope you both feel better and get to come home soon!

JANCANDANCE

Congrats!! So adorable!

kimmy42

Congrats!!! He is so beautiful!!! Sorry you are having a tough time, I hope you feel better real soon t"s & p"s!

PurpleCobra1

Congrats!

LiLi23

Congrats!! He's a cutie!

RedLipstick69

Wow! Congrats Mom

kymelissa

Congrats! CSection advice...walk as much as you can when they let you and don't skip the pain meds. You will need them. If you think you can skip, don't. Take them for however long they prescribe them. I think I did for 10 days. With the walking and the 10 days of pain meds, I was good to go. You may also want to ask for a tummy binder. That also felt great to keep everything stable.

dmlk413

Congrats!  I hope he gets eating better soon!

Luthy

I'm sorry it was rough! I'll be thinking of you and Andrew and I hope he gets to come home really soon!

heavenpaige

Cutie!! Congrats.

kari.sandall

kymelissa:

Congrats! CSection advice...walk as much as you can when they let you and don't skip the pain meds. You will need them. If you think you can skip, don't. Take them for however long they prescribe them. I think I did for 10 days. With the walking and the 10 days of pain meds, I was good to go. You may also want to ask for a tummy binder. That also felt great to keep everything stable.

I totally agree with not skipping pain medicine! Especially if you need to walk down to see Andrew. I skipped some doses in the hospital and regretted it later.

WifeofaComposer

He's adorable!! My C-section advice is, don't push yourself too hard. I didn't take a single dose of any pain meds - not even Tylenol, during my recovery. I was prepared for the discomfort, and I managed it perfectly well, but I needed help with simple tasks, like getting up from the toilet. Your abdominal muscles are going to be very weak for about 2 weeks. Don't be ashamed to ask for help when you need it. Rest as often as you can, too. Be well! I hope your little cutie starts feeding easier soon.

spolan

Congrats, Mama!

Get up and move around a bit if you can.  Make sure you move. Don't over do it, but It really does help with the C/S.  Also, I don't have any advice for preemies, but had a hell of a time BF with DD.  I would look at getting an LC ASAP and spend as much skin to skin time as you can.

ChristyD6

Congrats!!!

phishgirl29

Congrats to you!  What a handsome fella!

Nix55

What a cutie. Get well soon.

sparklemotion86

Congrats!! I hope he gets better soon and you can take him home.

kgb-13

Cute! Hope recovery goes well for you both!

rzurbr

Congrats on a cutie and I hope that you start to feel better and can enjoy your time with your little guy. 

dlBinger61713

Glad in the end that you both are OK. He's adorable. Try to continue with BF, but if baby doesn't ever catch on, don't feel like you've failed for any reason. Things aren't always so second nature as people would have you believe. Thoughts and prayers with you and your new LO!

jlml2008

Congrats on your baby boy!

FordFalcor

So sweet, congrats!

sap275

Congrats! Very cute. Hope the both of you feel better soon. 

hjk5000

He is such a cutie Amy! DS was an emergency c/s and spent some time in the NICU. It's a lot to process. You'll both be home and feeling great before you know it.

iggles09

Congrats!! Hope you both have a quick and easy recovery

AZAmy77

Thanks all! Today both dh and I did an hour of skin to skin time with him which was really nice. Definitely looking forward to doing that daily. It was also a nice time for dh and I to bond together with Andrew and get to know him.

Our pediatrician is only letting him try a bottle or breast feeding every third feeding, so we tried once today with a lactation consultant and think we got him nicely latched on, he just wasn't interested in sucking, but glad to see every time there is improvement

Oh also figured out the not to skip pain meds advice this morning after deciding I didn't need them last night. Not a pleasant morning :

musicalsilver

Congratulations lady!  I hope Andrew gets feeding better and gets to go home with you soon!

CocoMcGee

Yay for Andrew and Amy! He's beautiful!