John's Birth Story (Long & 1wk Late)

KMW08 · November 2014

My EDD was 11/28/14 but my body had other plans and baby John made his debut on Monday, 11/10/14 at 37w3d at 6:58PM. He was 8lbs7oz and 19.25inches long.

Lil man has been breech or transverse at every US we had. Due to my septum surgery, I was treated as if I had a prior c/s. Because of this, I was not a candidate for manual version or if he had rotated on his own I could not have pitocin to induce labor. I was already preparing myself for a csection because that would be the most likely scenario.

Backing up to Thurs 11/6- I had a rough day at home. I couldn't get comfortable, I can only describe it as feeling "off" and I had a mild backache and eventually it made it's way around to my lower pelvic area. Baby was very active and was consistent on my home doppler, so I wasn't terribly concerned about him. The pain wasn't contraction pain as it was a constant ache/pressure. I also had symptoms of reflux and the need to poop although nothing would come out. I couldn't get anything to help ease my symptoms, a hot bath would work for a while. I think I sat in a hot bath 4 times that day. I called Triage and they thought it was probably reflux. I had my doubts and by 2:30AM I had woke up dh and told him I was going to meet my mom and have her take me to L&D. DH was persistent that if I was going to the hospital, he was going. As I was trying to talk him into letting me go with my mom, he was rubbing my back and I ended up falling asleep. Friday 11/7 I woke up, still felt a bit off but felt a ton better. DH was concerned so he called into work and I also called in to work. As the day went on I kept feeling better and better. The only odd thing about Friday was that all of my leg swelling had completely disappeared. Saturday 11/8 and Sunday 11/9 were normal days, I even went to work and had no trouble doing my 11hr shifts.

Monday 11/10 I woke up at 3AM with the same abdominal pain and "reflux" that I had on Thursday. It wasn't as severe, so I insisted that dh go on to work and I would call if I needed anything. By 11:30AM the pain would not subside and I couldn't do anything to get it ease up either. I called dh and told him I was going to L&D. I really figured that they would tell me it was reflux, give me something and send me on my way. DH was adamant that I didn't go by myself, so he came home and off we went.

In triage they hooked me and baby up to the monitors. Baby was stable and doing great. My BP was consistent 140s /upper 80s-lower 90s. They drew some lab work. My labs came back and showed some liver enzymes were out of whack and that I was most likely in the beginning stages of PreE. I was admitted to L&D and spent the rest of the day without anything to eat or drink and just waiting for my csection. I had only had 1 slice of bread with a spoonful of peanut butter and 1 bottle of water, but I still had to wait at least 8hrs. They started getting me prepped at 6PM. My BP had been spiking throughout the day, so I was given Magnesium (it's some awful shit). Baby was delivered at 6:58PM and taken to the NICU for some breathing difficulties. I never got to hear the movie-classic "baby crying" so I was a bit freaked out, but everybody else in the room was happy and said baby was doing just fine. My OB was on call, so I was very thankful that my actual OB got to do the csection! I got to see my baby for about 5minutes in the NICU before they wheeled me to my post-partum room. Baby spent the night in the NICU and almost the entire next day. He was finally released and I got to bond with him at 5PM on Tuesday. Also, he had his frenulum clipped and a circumcision on Wednesday afternoon, so another day of delayed bonding with baby.

I won't even go into the complete magnesium story, but basically I was really f**cked up from it. My BP still wouldn't come down far enough for the docs to take me off the mag, I ended up having a lazy eye that wouldn't focus, and I just felt like shit. I was pretty drugged up and out of it from the mag. There are parts of my days that I don't even remember. I ended up being on the mag for 30hrs (standard is 24). Also on magnesium you aren't allowed to eat or drink anything and you can't get out of the bed. Finally my mom was fed up enough that she demanded to see a doc and to get me off the mag, I was miserable as it was closer to 40-45hrs since I had anything to eat or drink. Finally I was taken off the mag and started on some BP meds. As the mag wore off my BP immediately came back down to the normal range and continued to be stable the rest of my stay. I was also pretty pain free, so I didn't need any pain meds after day2. I probably wouldn't have needed them after day1 but I was so F'd up from the mag that I didn't know what I was taking.

During this whole ordeal, I was still trying to EBF and pump to get my milk in. However, lil guy kept dropping weight. As my hospital really encourages BFeeding, they didn't start forumula supplementing until day 4. I was pretty wore out and getting back to normal, so I had no idea that my baby had dropped that much weight. If I would've heard the weights each day, I probably would have demanded formula sooner. I think my body was so jacked from that mag experience + baby being in the NICU, that my milk supply was low - it's still a battle I'm working on. Due to John's weight drop (down 13% from birth weight) we had to stay another day. They wanted to keep us a 6th day, but I told them no way in hell we were staying. We were finally released from the hospital Friday 11/14 at 2PM.

Overall, I didn't have a great birth experience. However, I am just happy that lil man is here and healthy - it's all I really prayed for and the most important part!

John had a f/u dr's appointment this past Mon (11/17). His weight was at 7lb5oz, only 3oz less than his birthweight. We are doing great at home and it's a huge adjustment! During the day he is eating every 2-3hrs and we are trying to get to the 3-4hr range over night. We have some latch issues and my milk supply is still low. I've been trying to stay ahead of his schedule, so I pump an hour before he's due to eat. He gets my breast milk first (I'm up to about 15mL/0.5oz each time I pump) then we supplement with formula - he's been taking 60mL/2oz at each feeding. The lactation specialist says that I'm doing everything right to try and get my milk to come in and to keep at it. She says the only thing that could help is to actually have him at my breast before we feed him. However, we have latch issues and it's been very frustrating to say the least. I plan to continue pumping and taking fenugreek to try and bring my milk in. So that's my story up to date.