Luke's early arrival

theweathermanswife · July 2009

It has been quite the interesting past few weeks, leading up to Luke's arrival 3 1/2 weeks early! Luke Robert was born July 10, 2009 at 5:03pm. He weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 4 ounces and is 21 1/4 inches long!

Here is the short version of the last few weeks: I went into preterm labor at 33 weeks, spent 2 days in the hospital, and another 3 weeks on medication and home bedrest. An ultrasound in the hospital revealed that Luke may have a congenital heart condition. We had a fetal echocardiogram, which confirmed the defect (dilation of the ascending aorta), but did not give us a diagnosis - he would need further testing at birth. We were given a couple of potential diagnoses, and being a NICU nurse, this made me worry even more, knowing the possible outcomes. It was a rough 3 1/2 weeks, needless to say. Throughout the time I was on bedrest, we ended up in L&D triage several times with contractions too close together for comfort (I had them the entire time I was on bedrest, but sometimes they would get even closer together). At 36 weeks, I stopped the medication after my last dose on Tuesday night. I saw the ob on Wednesday as usual, having more contractions, but not really regular yet. On Thursday, DH and I ran some errands, and I definitely felt the contractions getting stronger and more regular. Around 7pm, they were 2-3 minutes apart and very strong. We headed into L&D triage for the 4th and final time!

The last 2 weeks of my pregnancy, I gained 17 pounds of fluid, which caused my blood pressure to go up. At home it was 160/100, right before we left for the hospital. When we got to L&D it was still pretty high (145/90 - my normal for pregnancy was about 125/78), and I was started on magnesium sulfate for pregnancy induced hypertension around midnight. Unfortunately, since this is also used to stop labor, it slowed me down. I was started on pitocin to speed things along around 2am. This caused the contractions to pick up instantly, but they weren't any stronger than the ones I had been having for the last 3 weeks. I was able to get some sleep until about 5:30, when the contractions really started to pick up and hurt. I asked for the epidural then, expecting it to be a long time before I could get it, since I wanted the attending physician. Well, by 6am, the epidural was in and working! The nurse checked me before they put it in, and I was still 2cm. I was disappointed to get the epidural so early, I figured I could at least stick it out until 4-5cm!

Throughout the morning, not much else changed. After about 12 hours with no progress, the nurse broke my water aruond 11am. I immediately went to 4cm. This helped me progress for a little while, but my labor eventually stalled out again. During this time, I started to develop a fever, and Luke's heartrate was not showing much variability - a sign that he might not be tolerating labor very well. I was given an oxygen mask and changed positions, but this was only a temporary fix. Around 4, I was checked again, and was maybe 4.5cm, 21 hours in. I was starting to guess where things were headed. I was starting to run a fever (despite only being ruptured about 5 hours), we have minimal fetal heartrate variability, no progress, and when the doctor checked me, he determined that Luke was malpositioned, and was not rotating into my pelvis correctly. He was head down, but not engaged, and I'm pretty sure he was sunnyside up. Because of all of this, a c/section it was.

I started shaking uncontrollably as they wheeled me into the OR - apparently a side effect of being in labor for so long with an epidural. I was freezing and literally could not control the upper half of my body from shaking. The prepped me and brought in DH. I squeezed his hand so tightly the entire time - I was terrified - and finally started hearing comments about how big the baby was. Next thing I knew, I felt a ton of pressure, the drape was dropped, and I saw my beautiful baby boy for the first time. I heard him cry, and started crying myself. The next few minutes were terrifying as I waited to hear how he was doing. The neonatologist I work with was at the delivery and came to talk to me. Apgars of 9 and 9, no distress, no need for the NICU, like we were concerned about. Once I heard all of this, I passed out and slept for the rest of the operation. I could not keep my eyes open! It turns out, they gave me demerol for the shaking, which put me right to sleep.

DH calmed Luke during this time by reciting Dr. Seuss, I was able to snuggle with him as soon as I went into the recovery room. When they headed to the nursery, they did a few tests on his heart, all of which came back normal. He had an echocardiogram the next day, which showed that the dilation is still there, but after speaking with the cardiologist, they are not expecting it to be a problem, at least not right now. We see the cardiologist on August 10 for another echo and possible genetic testing.

Luke is doing great! The first week was really rough. He had problems BFing, so I was forced to pump and supplement with formula. I have not pumped since Friday, and we seem to finally be settling into a little bit of a routine!