Marisa Rose is here! LONG birth story inside - epi failure

IttyBittyBee · April 2012

I was originally due April 25, but our little girl had other plans and decided to want to make her entrance 3 weeks early.

Marisa Rose was born on April 2 at 10:09pm via emergency c-section. She weighed 8lbs, 10oz and was 20in long! I was 36 weeks, 5 days along, so I can only imagine how big she would have been if I went full term!

Sunday, April 1, I sat down to watch the CMA Awards and during a commercial break, decided to get up and get some ice cream around 9:30pm. I got to the fridge and felt a huge gush of warm water... baby was coming.

We got to the hospital and were admitted and in our L&D room by 10:30pm. At this point, contractions were starting up, I was 1cm, but nothing too painful. By 2am, the contractions were starting to get unbearable. I had horrible back labor. They checked me again and I was at 4cm. Although I was progressing quickly, I decided to get the epidural. They also started me on a magnesium sulfate drip because my BP was very high and for the last few weeks had borderline pre-eclampsia. The epi was glorious. Didnt hurt at all going in. My left side took almost instantly but I was able to feel some pain in my right side. They had me lie on my right side, so the epi would take to that side and it worked.

By 6am, I was 6cm. The nurses and doctors were all surprised that me being a first timer, that I was progressing this nicely. They all thought that by early afternoon, we would have a baby.

At noon, I was 8cm. Almost there! By 2pm, I was a little over 9cm (still had a bit of lip of cervix left) and started to feel the contractions on my right side again, so they decided to give me a more concentrated shot of epi and started me on Pitocin. The epi worked and I was comfortable again.

At 6pm, I was still at 9cm. They kept upping the Pitocin. The epi was wearing off on my right side again, so they gave me another concentrated shot of it.

By 8pm, I was still had the lip of cervix left. They had maxed out the Pitocin (level of 20) and decided they would have me try to push. I tried one push and it didnt do anything. At this point, the dr told me they would check me in an hour and if I hadn't progressed, they would have to do a c-section.

At 9pm, they checked me and no progress. The anesthesiologist came in and tested how numb I was. They touched my arm with cold ice and then touched the left side of my belly to see if I felt the same coldness as in my arm. Nope... all numb. They did the same to the right side and I felt cold. They gave me more epidural and finally I was numb on both sides.

My husband changed into the blue suit and around 9:30pm, almost 24hours to the the time my water broke, they wheeled me off to prep me on the table. DH was right behind me and they told him to stay in the hallway so they could set me up and they would bring him into the operating room once I was all set up.

In the operating room, they set me up, strapped me down. I was anxiously waiting to see my husband. They did one last numbness test on me with a little pin. Touched my arm and felt a prick. They touched the left side of my stomach and I felt nothing. They touched the right side of my stomach and I felt pain. They told me they would have to deliver me under general anesthesia. I was crushed and completely terrified. My first thoughts were: "I'm not going to be able to hear my baby's first cries. What if I die. I want my husband here with me". They put me under around 9:50pm and she was born at 10:09pm.

During this whole ordeal, DH was still outside in the hallway waiting to come in and didnt know anything went wrong or that I was being operated on under general anesthesia. He heard the baby's cry come from my operating room and a doctor came out holding our baby, gave her to him, said congratulations and ran back into the OR. DH just sat there stunned. He had no idea what just happened or what to even do with this newborn, so he just stood there with her and held her. The drs ended up talking to him about what happened afterwards.

Due to the magnesium sulfate that I was on, the general anesthesia and ALL of the epidural that was pumped into me for 24 hours... Marisa came out a little lazy and sleepy. During her first feeding by the nurse (we are formula feeding), Marisa stopped breathing for a few seconds. She was put in the NICU for observation and testing for 48 hours. The doctors had a feeling it was the general anesthesia and the magnesium sulfate that effected her, but had to start her on antibiotics, just in case.

We were in the hospital for 5 days. After all of the testing, turns out she is healthy as an ox. No infection or other issues... she is healthy as can be.

I am doing really well! I was off the pain meds after 3 days. I gained 60lbs with this pregnancy (most of it was water weight due to swelling and pre-e) and as of this morning (2 weeks postpartum) am down 59lbs!!! I fit in my pre-baby jeans and feel fantastic.

Despite the lack of communication with the drs and my DH during the c-section, we couldnt have been more pleased with how professional and caring the staff at our hospital was. One of our nurses actually took my cell phone and video recorded Maria's first cries, so that I would have that with me forever, since I was unable to hear them being under. I will treasure this video for as long as I live.

Marisa is doing great! She is back to her birth weight and eating like a champ (we are FF). She has some gas issues but the doctor told us to use Mylicon drops. We started the drops yesterday and it seems to have helped tremendously.

jenwet · April 2012

wow- what a story! congrats, mama- she's absolutely beautiful!!

vtwd40 · April 2012

Congrats! I had epi problems too, but I didn't feel any pain until she was out and they were closing me up (and I'm talking real pain, not pulling and tugging)! In some ways, it would have been better if I had been knocked out....you don't want to feel any of that mess!

gekeler6 · April 2012

Congrats on your beautiful baby girl! We never know what will happen, but things seemed to turn out just the way it needed to. So happy the nurse video taped her first cries!! She's beautiful!

Beener0514 · April 2012

I've been waiting to hear the news of your LO's arrival! Sorry the c-section didn't go as planned but how cool is it that your nurses videotaped her crying for you! I'm jealous that you have that!