The old addage holds true - the best laid plans of mice and men will usually come unravelled at some point.
I posted on Tuesday that we thought my water had broken early Tuesday morning. Turns out, it had, partially. I apparently had multiple bags, which I had with my DD when she was born. Based on further discussions with the nursing staff, this is apparently not that uncommong. Anyway - long story short, the labor never progressed, and much to my dismay, they sent us home around noon on Tuesday.
I will admit, I was depressed. I had been so ready to have a baby that day! My only consolation was that I did indeed have a time for my induction scheduled bright and early Wednesday morning. I was directed to call first, as the L&D ward of our hospital had been swamped on St. Patty's Day. But, thankfully, there was a room available and our plans were no longer put off.
I got to L&D at around 7:15 AM, the designated time. From that point, we proceeded to wait for our L&D nurse to have time to start the induction. I was told I'd receive a full bag of fluids before they started pitocin, and that things would proceed from there.
By around 9, I was finally all hooked up, and ready to go. The pitocin was started, and I started to have some contractions, but we started having problems keeping track of both the baby's heartbeat via the external monitor, and also the strength of my contractions. I was more than a little disappointed when, upon checking my cervix, my doc announced that I was still at 2 CM - the same I'd been for 3 weeks! My pitocin was cranked up, and the contractions started coming hard and fast - one of top of the other.
Because the baby couldn't be monitored externally, they broke my water and placed an internal monitor (which my husband refers to as the "corkscrew") in her head. Again, the problems with monitoring my contractions persisted.
As the intensity of the contractions increased, I was checked again, only to hear that I was now at 3 to 4 cm, but that if I wanted an epidural, now was a good time, because the anesthesiologist was available. He finished up two other patients, and came to give me my epidural. It was uncomfortable as he rooted around in my back, and my husband has since told me I bled a lot - but I'm VERY happy he said nothing at the time.
My epi started kicking in, and almost immediately, they noticed it was uneven - one side receiving more medication than the other. They had me roll to my side, apparently so the meds could spread more evenly. Well. The baby did not tolerate being moved to that side, so much repositioning happened as they tried to find a position that was both beneficial to the baby, and worked with the epi.
Around this time, my mother came up to the hospital, and started noticing how low my blood pressure was. Apparently this is common with an epi, nd the nurses were not worried. They administered a dosage of ephedrine, and waited for my BP to come back up. It didn't.
Two more doses of ephedrine later, it still wasn't having the desired effect, and the anesthesiologist and my OB were called to come figure it out.
At the same time, they were trying to find a better way to monitor my contractions, and my OB decided to go ahead and place an internal monitor for the contractions, which goes in vaginally and sits between the baby and the wall of the uterus, to measure the strength of the contraction.
Well, this was apparently an extremely bad idea. From that point on, life got bad. My blood pressure tanked, which they later determined was due to the epidural "creeping up" - meaning it was going higher up than my breastbone. When this happens, your body obviously can't continue doing everything it needs to do to keep you alive. Oops. Simultaneously, the baby's heartrate dropped to 38, and we went through another frustrating exercise of repositioning me, and trying to do what we could to get things out.
The OB checked me again, and determined I had shot up to 9 CM, fully effaced, baby at +2 station, so they tried having me push a couple of times. Unfortunately, we didn't have time, due to the baby's dropping vitals, and my crashing BP. At this point, they had put oxygen on me, and I was gulping air as fast as I could, aware that I was about to fade out.
More nurses flooded the room, and they started ripping the wires and tubes out of the wall, and throwing them on my bed. I was immediately wheeled into the OR, for an emergency c/s. I was terrified. I've mentioned before, my prior OB had said a c/s would be "catastrophic" for me. Well, at that point it was c/s or lose the baby.
I was vaguely aware of being tied down to the table, my stomach prepped, and the anesthesiologist putting a mask over my face. My husband was not allowed in the room, due to the extreme emergency of the situation. I was intubated, and shortly thereafter, my daughter was delivered.
Chloe Elizabeth Sage was born at 2:15 pm, pink and screaming immediately. Her apgars were 8, 8, and 9, but she did have a slightly high temp when first born. They monitored her blood sugar until midnight, but she seems to be doing very well! She's breastfeeding welll so far, and she's met her pedi, so she's good to go.
I, on the other hand, am not doing quite as well. I haven't slept for two nights, and am pretty sore. They're going to keep me for 5 days, a day longer than normal, due to my other health conditions.
DH and I are both still reeling from what happened, because the truth of the matter is, both Chloe and I were crashing. Had they waited even another minute or two, one or both of us may not have made it. The OB explained to me this morning how dire Chloe's situation was - the testing they did on her cord blood after she was delivered indicated she literally was moments away from severe brain damage or death.
So - it didn't go the way we would have liked, but I have one of the most beatiful baby girls ever born, to help me get through the pain and sleeplessness!
Good luck to you all with your deliveries, and may they ALL be less daramatic and choatic than mine!
Re: Chaos Theory in Full Effect: Our Birth Story
Wow, how scary! I am so glad everything turned out ok and you have such a beautiful baby girl
Best of luck during your recovery - you're in my thoughts ad prayers PC. I'm gonna miss you around here missy!
Goodness Gracious!!! What an ordeal! and how scary!!
I am glad you and baby are fine! Thank you for sharing!
I would have been so scared.
I'm so happy you and Chloe are safe. She is beautiful! Congrats!
Wow, I'm so happy you both are doing okay!
It must have been pretty scary for you. Congrats on your beautiful Chloe!
Oh my gosh! Welcome Chloe - she's beautiful. I hope you start to feel better and are able to take care of you. Sounds scary - I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now.
Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!
Holy sh!t! I'm so glad everyone is ok! I guess she's not Baby Chaos for nothing
Seriously, congratulations. She's beautiful
I woke up this morning wondering how you were doing! Sounds very scary...but I am so glad you were where you were so they could take great care of you!!
Glad you are doing ok and baby too!! Can't wait to join you on 0-6!
Congrats again PC!!
Wow!!! That was crazy, but I am happy to hear that the both of you are doing better.?
Congrats!!?
Whoa and thank you for confirming why I do not want an epidural
I am so glad to hear you both made it out safe and healthy!
::slowly crosses legs::
Congrats. I hope you have a speedy recovery!! She's a precious little doll.
Sorry you had to go through all of that. I am glad that you and your daughter are both ok. She is beautiful.
Can I ask what hospital you delivered at? I am also delivering in Omaha.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
oh my!! i hope all is okay with you soon. I am so glad that Chloe is okay and that you both made it through such a scary ordeal!
my thoughts and prayers are with you!!