Zane's birth story (really long w/ PIPs)

lax15bsu · October 2010

On Sept 15th, after going in to L&D for an NST due to decreased movement from LO, I found out I was in preterm labor at one day shy of 33 weeks. Spent a week in the hospital: two days at our local hospital and then transferred to Indianapolis to a hospital more specialized to handle us for the rest of that week. In that time, we got the steroid shots for LO's lungs and I dilated to 5cm before the doctors got a handle on my contractions. Then they sent me home on bed rest with medication to keep away the contractions.

We snuck away one afternoon to do some maternity pictures. :-) Here's my favorite:

Despite a couple nights of thinking "this is it" when the contractions came back, we went another 20 days dilated to 5cm before my water broke.

Monday, 10/4, at 35weeks and 4 days, we had a check up with my OB to see how we were doing. I was still at 5cm and feeling just absolutely miserable. My OB had told me I could go back to work at the end of that week once we hit 36 weeks... I was really dreading that. I had horrible, awful heartburn; a rib out of place for weeks, and was just overall run-down, sleep-deprived and sore.

But about 1:00am on Tuesday, 10/5, I thought my water broke. It wasn't a big gush. It was more "hmm... I know I stopped peeing already... why am I still hearing water dripping?" I took another 15 minutes to fully understand that yes, my water was indeed broken. I had been having contractions all evening, but they were not more painful than any I had had before. If my water had not broken when it did, I was about to call my OB anyway just because the contractions were getting to be about 5 to 6 minutes apart and not going away like they had basically every other night. So, after a quick call to the on-call doctor who said something like, of course please make your way quickly to the hospital, Jeremy and I packed up the last few things for our hospital bag and headed in.

We got up to L&D around 1:30am and the nurse to confirmed my water had really broken. There really was very little doubt, especially when about 20 minutes later I had a particularly painful contraction and had a huge gush that just went on and on. Once in L&D, the contractions quickly became more and more painful and unbearable. I knew going in that I wanted an epidural, so the nurses got my IV and fluids going pretty quickly.

I wasn't told this until later, but the anesthesiologist on-call was MIA. I guess the nurses had called her very soon after I came in, but I didn't get the epi until about 3:30am. DH overheard the nurses commenting that the anesthesiologist should have been there to give me the epi long before then, since she had answered her phone and said she would be right in. Regardless, I got the epi before I killed anyone. I could still move and feel my legs, something I wasn't expecting. I also wasn't expecting the shakes. I couldn't feel the contractions once the epi was in place, but I sure knew when I was having one just because I shook so very badly. I tried relaxing my body and letting my teeth chatter away the shakes, but then I worried about my teeth chipping because it got so bad. When I was checked right after the epi was placed, I was about 8cm.

All throughout my preterm labor, LO had been an absolute rockstar. His heartrate and movements had always been perfect. But about 5am, the OB came in and told me that she did not like his heartrate being so high. It was getting up close to 200bpm, and she thought that there was something going on with him. So she wanted him out quickly. I was still at 8cm, and she gave me till 5:30 to progress to 10cm and if we didn't get there, she wanted to go for a c-section.

5:30 came around - still at 8cm. Dr called the surgical team and the nurse got me prepped for a c-section - shaved, catheter in place, Jeremy got his scrubs on and everything. At 6am, I was still at a stinking 8cm. Then we had to wait, because that anesthesiologist who made me wait for my epi was MIA again.

But, really, I'm not going to complain about her being late again. Because around 6:30am, I started feeling a lot of pressure. When the OB checked me, I had finally gotten to 10cm and was ready to push. She had me do one practice push and was apparently happy with whatever I did. They got the room all set up and after pushing for 12 minutes, Zane was born! He was put on my chest right away, but he didn't give a big gusty cry... Just a weak squeak. And after being on my chest for a minute, he quit breathing altogether.

He got whisked away to the warmer, where the nurses stimulated him to breathe again. He was cleaned up, wrapped up, and given back to me for just a minute to cuddle and kiss. And then they had to take him down to the nursery. I delivered the placenta and had to get a couple stitches for two first degree tears. Within two hours, I was up and showered and able to walk down to the nursery to see Zane.

My little guy was born at 35 wks and 5 days; 7lb 2oz and 20 inches long at 6:55am on 10/5/10. He had a space-man bubble helmet over his head supplying him with humidified oxygen for the first two days. He had a fever of 101.6 when he came out, so he was given an IV and started on antibiotics right away. His chest x-rays also showed he had fluid on his lungs and he was dx with neonatal pneumonia.

Within a couple of days, we dropped the bubble and the extra oxygen. His lungs cleared up and he was breathing perfectly fine on his own. That first day though, he scared the crap out of everyone by just stopping breathing twice. The nurses were able to get him to breathe again each time, but the pediatrician was concerned enough to tell us if he did it any more, they would have to transfer him down to Indianapolis to the Children's Hospital. Thankfully, just the threat of having to be transferred was enough for my guy to straighten up. He never quit breathing again.

Zane had to stay in the nursery for a full seven days to finish out the entire round of antibiotics. But we are now home and doing great! We're still struggling to establish my breast milk supply, so I've had to pump to supplement.

See, told you it was going to be really long! I'm so so so much in love with this little guy...

xnbride · October 2010

wow what a whirlwind, but it was all worth it because just look at that guy. He is such a cutie. I love the "bubble" pic. He was a good size baby! Way to go mama!