Claire's (long) birth story

harper80 · February 2011

We'll start with the happy stuff: Claire Audrey, born Valentine's Day at 5:19 p.m. I was 41 weeks pregnant when I went in for my induction.

We went in for the induction Monday a.m. and all was looking fine. The baby was still high but I'd dilated enough to just need pitocin. Around 2 p.m. we were nearing the max level of pitocin and then bam! I started feeling it. The baby was still sunny side up so I felt constant horrible lower back pain. We called for the epidural but the anesthesiologists were backed up so we had to wait two (!) hours for them to show up.

Around 4:45 p.m. the epidural dudes showed up - a regular doc and an intern/student. The intern gets first crack at the epi and has me lean over to get it. It hurts especially like a mofo because the contractions were on top of each other and all in my back. The intern cannot get the epidural to work and has to keep trying, but she keeps hitting areas that haven't been numbed. Finally, the head doctor takes over and gets the epidural in on his first try. The pain went away almost instantly, though I got really really light headed and nauseous. Meanwhile, the nurse checks me for progress and I'd dilated to 4cm (from a fingeritp in the morning.) Something was happening! The doc asks if I still want to try it vaginally and I said yes, so she breaks my water. I barely remember that or even felt it.

This is where it gets blurry. It's maybe 4:50 p.m. or so? All of a sudden one of the nurses comes rushing toward me. She puts an oxygen mask on me and has me roll over to one side, then the other, then get on my hands and knees. My blood pressure was crashing and the baby's heart rate dropped drastically. I never found out what the number was. The nurse turned to me and said, "We have to get her out now." So next thing I know, they are running me through the halls of labor and delivery. I am sobbing and kept saying, "My husband, my husband, where's my husband?" H had been pulled aside into a hallway and they handed him a hair cap and mask (no time for scrubs) and told him to go into the OR but not touch anything. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and was crying the entire time and just praying that the baby would be alive.

The c-section felt weird but not painful. Then the doc said something like, "Here she is! She's beautiful!" and told me to open my eyes so I could see the baby. I did and just saw a flash of a little thing. I don't remember what she looked like, only that she was not crying. We kept asking, "Is she ok? Is she ok?" and no one had a real answer for us. Then she finally cried and they whisked her off to the NICU. We had no idea on her weight, length, etc.

They sewed me up and we went back to the recovery room, which looked like a crime scene. Bloody stuff everywhere. I am shaking uncontrollably so they give me Demerol in an IV and that slowly stopped it, though it took at least 30 minutes or so. H went down to the NICU and they told him she was 8 lbs, 10 oz, 21 inches long and born at 5:19 p.m. They said she had some circulation problems initially but they'd settled down.

Three hours later, they wheeled me down to the mom-baby room. H went ahead with our bags and when they spun me into the room he was holding Claire. It was so sweet. He was so obviously in love and cooing at her. They got me in there and handed me Claire. I can't remember much about this at all. I probably cried but in all honesty was so full of drugs that I barely remember it. A nurse helped us to breastfeed and Claire latched right away with the help of one of those nipple shield things. It felt weird but normal and she just chomped away and did a fabulous job.

Monday night is blurry but I awoke in the middle of the night panicking because I thought I was paralyzed. I still had the epidural in so my legs/abdomen were numb, and my entire neck/shoulders area was stiff and I couldn't move at all. I told the nurses about that and they said it was likely that air got trapped in my abdomen during surgery and traveled up to my neck/shoulders as gas bubbles, causing pain. They gave me Gas-X and basically said i would fart the pain out of neck and shoulders (at least that's how I interpreted it ... weird but seemingly normal, they said.)

Long story short on that end: Since Monday night the pain has only intensified. They keep giving me Gas X, I keep farting like crazy but with no relief. I'm telling every nurse and doctor about this pain and they all think it's the air bubbles, until my nurse (BLESS HER HEART) today started asking about my epidural. It turns out that I have a spinal headache and will be getting a blood patch in the morning.

Despite all the complications - I feel OK and the baby is perfect and a champion breastfeeder. We're very much in love (and I am very much full of painkillers right now

Maxines Mom · February 2011

She's beautiful! Thanks for sharing your story.

MarriedWriter · February 2011

Wow, I'm so sorry you had so many complications, but glad the baby is doing well! Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

vervectica · February 2011

Claire is beautiful! Congratulations! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

TiffanyTheMom · February 2011

congrats on her birth! it sounds traumatic to me, but you seem to be coping well.

thatsmary · February 2011

Hurray for a happy baby! And for pain killers. Enjoy your beautiful girl. She looks very alert in the photo.

MiniMadness · February 2011

Happy stuff... Your little baby girl is beautiful and Congrats!!

But, Wow. I'm sorry you had such a tramatic birthing experience. Why did they leave the epi in?

bunnie712 · February 2011

She's beautiful! I'm so sorry you had such a rough go of it though. I hope you recover quickly.

missstacylynn25 · February 2011

Congratulations! Sorry things didn't go perfectly and you've been having problems--hopefully things get much better soon! Your daughter is beautiful and LOVE her name (if we were having a girl, she'd be a Claire!).