I realized I never shared my birth story on this board...so here it is, 2 months late. Isabelle Ashley was born October 7th, 7 lbs, 6 oz.
Isabelle kept teasing us of when she was coming. I had a lot of false
labor but nothing to show for it. Finally, 40 weeks came and still no
munchkin. We went to our appointment as usual and decided to induce the
following Wednesday night since I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia.
FF to Wednesday night. I am already having contractions in my back
about 10 minutes apart. Great, maybe this will be easier since she's
already making a run for it. We go to the hospital, get all set up and
they start the cervix dilator. Things go slowly and by 7 am I am dilated to 2 cm. I am not in
pain, just uncomfortable. Dr. G decides to proceed with the Pitocin and
break my water and that's when the shiz hits the fan. I begin to have
crazy contractions less than 1 minute apart. By 8 am, I am 4 cm and
having to breathe like a mad woman to make through it through each
contraction. S and my grandmother are talking casually and I remember
saying:
Me (quietly): "Please stop talking."
Them: "yada yada"
Me (A little louder): "Guys, I can't focus."
Them: "What's wrong? yada yada"
Me: "S, STOP TALKING."
LOL I laugh at it now since I was in so much pain, I could barely talk
so they felt bad they didn't hear me. I never thought I'd be the bitchy
laboring chick, but I could not focus on my breathing and listen to
what they were saying and the pain was nuts.
Finally, they get Dr. Jones (I think that was his name?) in to do my
epidural. Thank God for that man. I was in so much pain that I was just
like "hurry up!" I think I remember S sitting at my feet while they put
in the catheter...I can't really remember. After he's done and I lay
down, I start feeling some relief, but only on one side. I tell them
it's not working and suffer through another 15 minutes while we wait on
Dr. awesome to get back. He pushes some more meds through the catheter
and immediately I am able to relax. I pass out.
While all this is going on, Izzie's HR continues to drop with each
contraction. At one point it would dip into the 70s and not get better
til the contraction had ended. That's not good for princess pumpkin
seed when the contractions are less than a minute apart. Dr. G decided
around 10ish to replace some of the water in my amniotic sac in hopes
that it will help LO move. She was thinking that Izz had descended too
fast and was crushing her cord. They push the water, wait and still no
change. After waiting a bit (I have no idea how accurate I am on the
times, everything was such a blur), Dr. G says the words that I did NOT
want to hear: "Michelle, we're going to have to do a c-section." I was
so out of it that I just started bawling. I cried so hard I couldn't
breathe, which didn't make our situation any better.
I can't believe I'm able to write this story because I really feel like it was such a blur. I only remember a few images.
These people flying around me to get me prepped for surgery are
incredible. I couldn't keep up with who was where or what they were
doing. I remember the N.A. talking to me as he was pushing the rest of
the awesome drugs. Don't have a clue what we talked about though. I
started shaking, bad. Finally they get the curtain up and let S come
in. At this point, I'm just ready to go to sleep. Until I feel them
start to cut. I didn't feel any pain but I could tell when they were
cutting, pulling and tugging. SO EFFING WEIRD. Literally 60 seconds
later, she is out and hollering like a mad woman. S watched the whole
thing and he is still talking about how crazy it was. I'm glad I
couldn't watch.
S goes with the wee one and I am left to get prodded and poked some
more. I remember being so tired but I wouldn't let myself fall asleep
because I seriously thought I wouldn't wake up. LOL. Finally I pass
out. Apparently I was in there a long time (S told me this after). I
had lost a lot of blood, probably why I finally passed out. I wake up
in recovery with S next to me and the nurse telling me it was time for
skin to skin with the most perfect little girl I've ever seen.
The recovery has sucked but it's bearable. Lots of fun meds and stool
softeners. Isabelle had absolutely no health problems whatsoever...just
didn't like labor I guess.
I wish things had gone a little more the way I wanted but in the end,
we are both safe and doing fantastic so the complaining I can do is
limited.
Thanks for reading.
Re: emergency c-section-overdue