The evening of July 26 I was preparing to report to the hospital at 6 am the next day for my induction. I had really wanted to go into labor naturally but had resolved myself to being induced. I went to bed around 11 and noticed some cramping, but thought nothing of it because cramping has been the story of my life for the past few weeks. Around 12, I woke up and felt the baby make a huge movement, followed by a giant contraction. Huh...weird. After that I started noticing the cramps getting stronger, and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. I convinced myself I just had an upset stomach, because I was in total denial. I continued like this until around 2, at which point I decided to time my contractions. Lo and behold they were 2-3 minutes apart and last 1 minute or so each. The strange thing was some were really mild, but some were very painful. I was still in denial but I woke my husband up. I was like I'm just going to call the doctor and see what she thinks. He saw me experience one contraction and started loading the car. I refused to leave until the doc called back 20 minutes later and agreed that I should go to the hospital. I just kept thinking we should show up at 6 for the induction. LOL
The car ride over was interesting. Being forced to sit made the contractions so much more intense and I actually made my husband take an alternate route because I didn't want to sit through a red light. We got to the hospital around 3 and my husband rolls up to the desk and is like "my wife had a few contractions." They all kind of rolled their eyes and I about hit him...because we were past a few contractions, but they let me go to my room since I was already scheduled for the induction. I felt like no one was taking me seriously, but I went into the bathroom to change into the gown and let out this crazy animal like scream. After that the nurse came back and was like was that you? Let me check you. So I got up on the bed and she was very surprised to discover I was almost 7 cm dilated. After that things moved quickly. They starting bringing in all the baby gear which really freaked me out.
I had thought I wanted to skip the epidural but as soon as I realized how far along I was I really freaked out and started demanding it. I was terrified to have to push him out without drugs. More on that later....
It turns out I have shitty veins. It took 3 nurses, 2 blown veins and about an hour of me screaming profanities to get an IV started. Then I had to wait for half a bag of fluids to infuse. I kept telling the nurse that maybe we should just have the anesthesiologist come to my room so he would be ready when I was LOL. Lots more screaming and I can't do this, and she kept telling me "you are doing it" which just infuriated me. I was like yeah but I don't want to fucking do it. LOL. I also kept telling DH he was useless. Not a nice person in labor apparently.
FINALLY I had enough fluids and got the epidural around 5 am...I was so relieved as I waited for it to kick in...and waited and waited. The contractions were slightly dulled but I started freaking out screaming that a bowling ball was about to bust out of my butt and I had to shit everywhere. The nurse checked and I was complete and ready to push. The doctor wanted to let me labor down a bit and let the epidural kick in...but it just didn't. My legs were numb and I had the shakes but I was stuck in bed and even more angry and miserable. Just before 6 the doctor returned to deliver me. I pushed once and lost my freaking mind because it felt like a burning bowling ball was exploding out of my ass. A nurse told me to focus the energy I was using to scream to push and 2 hellish pushes later and he was out. At 6:08 am. 8 minutes after my "induction". It was a whirlwind for sure, but I'm so glad Jasper is here, and we are both healthy. He did get a cephalohematoma (ugly head bump) from descending too quickly. The pediatrician said basically my cervix gave him a hicky. LOL
Yesterday, July 31 I woke up just feeling super off and crampy, and it was exactly the same level of off and crampy as early in my inductions. Being used to how fast induction goes I thought yesterday was the day, but by noon they fizzled. I was so upset I cried. Went about business as usual and went to bed kind of early.
Woke before midnight to some lower ab pain and I was in that half dream/half not dream state that didn't make me think much of it. Woke again around 12:45 to same ab pain. Went back to sleep. Woke up at 1:30, same ab pain, and at that point I was like, " Oh shit! This might be contractions. I started timing and laying down they were 6 min apart. Then 4.5. I had this weird pattern after awhile where I would have a big contraction, then a few less awful contractions 1 minute apart, then a break for 4.5 minutes then another big one. I woke DH up and he was like, ok yeah we have to call my mom. You need to go in. Got DS ready to go and were in the car by 4:15. Called l&d to say we were coming in and threw up in driveway, then headed in.
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On the way in, a song called "shine" by mondo Cosmo played on the radio. It was popular when DD was born and I cried to it all the time. The last time I heard it on the radio was the anniversary of the day DD passed, more than 6 months ago. Just seemed like a good sign.
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Anyway we get in and we know MIL is gonna take an hour to get there so I'm working hard on laboring while DH watches DS. They check me when we get in and I'm a 4. I get out of bed and have a particularly bad contraction. I'm alone. My head isn't in the game. The nurse comes in and u ask the rules for pain meds and she says I can have the epidural anytime I want as long as I'm not crowning. I told her I wanted it ASAP, that was around 6. Anesthesiology was there around 6:30. Yiubguys weren't kidding the worst part was sitting through contractions while it was placed. But best. Decision. Ever. I smiled through my whole labor. They checked me after it kicked in and I was a 7. At 9:15 I told then it felt like something was leaking out my butt and they checked and baby was right there. He took about 1.5 hours to come out because he was sunny side up with his fist under his chin and couldn't get under the pubic bone. They started talking vacuum and I guess he didn't want any of that and one episiotomy and 4 pushes later he made it out. Did our skin to skin for a couple hours and he latched but it's a pretty bad one so we are working on it. Hes amazing and I cannot wait for DS to meet him.
For my last 3 appointments I had been stuck at 2.5 cm and soft but long... My last appointment was Thursday (40.5) and during that appointment they scheduled an induction for Monday at 5pm. This was the absolute latest they would let me go. Both of my previous pregnancies had also gone overdue, but I had been lucky to go on my own just before induction dates so I crossed my fingers that it would happen again. By Saturday night I had had zero signs of labour and was starting to get discouraged. On the way to bed I snapped a picture of myself and told my husband I was done, no more pictures of me pregnant allowed! This was around 945, at 1020 I felt a small contraction. I figured it wouldn't hurt to time them, as my past two labours had gone by super fast. From the first contraction they were between 7 and 10 minutes apart and lasting over a minute. Since the second half of my labour goes by so fast we figured it was go time and at 1130 called my mom to come watch the kids. We left the house around midnight, and by this point the contractions were getting painful and about 5 minutes apart, sitting in the car was agony. When we arrived at the hospital around 1230 I was checked and I was at 4.5 cm, they admitted me and they listened to baby and got me set up with an iv right away since I have a history of hemorrhaging post delivery and they wanted to make sure they'd be able to administer the right medication if it happened again. Once the iv portal was in they walked me to my room. By this point I remeber thinking to myself that each contraction was feeling like a big step up in pain and intensity from the one before. By the time I get to my room room I'm moaning through contractions - by now its about 120 am. At this point I get into the shower to labour and ask dh to spray the water on my tailbone, which feels like it might break off (side note, afterwards dh told me he could SEE the baby pushing on my tailbone with each contraction and was watching my hips open up each time. So freaky weird). As I shower I go from moaning to groaning to yelling in 3 contractions, at this point I head the nurse paging the doctor to say I'm close and asks me to tell her if I feel the urge to push. In the next contract I do feel the urge so we try to get me back into bed. At this point all hell breaks loose pretty much. There is no break in the pain and while I've made it to o the bed I cannot get my body to cooperate and lie down like they're asking me to do. Somehow I end up on my right side with my face pushed up against the rail insisting that I won't make it, that my body would tear in half... And then my body was pushing and on the first push I feel my water break, on the second I felt his head come out and on the third he was here! All by 1:57am, less than 4 hours after my first contraction! Once he was out and the pain had subsided I realized that due to the lighting I could see everything that was going on in the reflection of the light and watched as my tear was stitched up ... Would have been cool if I had been coherent enough to watch him be born! In the end I did hemorrhage a little, but not in the extreme way I did with my second. It took us a while to settle on the name Joel, but now that I've known him for a few days it really suits him!
I went to my 40+3 appointment on a Wednesday and was praying for the 'membrane sweep' as I hadn't been open enough to have one yet. Unfortunately the doc said I was completely closed and could not do the membrane sweep - so upsetting. So the doc scheduled my induction for the Sunday, and said she would be the doctor on call that night so she would likely deliver my baby (which was awesome because she is awesome). So, we went to the mall to look for a Smeg toaster (because I really wanted one, even though they're stupid expensive...just so beautiful)...anyway couldn't find the toaster but got a call from the clinic and they had to move my induction to the Saturday - and I almost had a breakdown in the Bed Bath and Beyond because I just didn't think 40+5 was late enough for an induction (but of course, I went along with it and booked it).
Then on Thursday afternoon I got (what I then thought...LOL) was a mega contraction. Went to bed and they got more regular, so I stayed up all night watching 30 Rock and The Office while having super irregular contractions - but never more than 15 minutes apart. By morning, DH and I went on a few walks and I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes..time to go!! Almost as soon as I got hooked up to the monitor in triage, baby had a huge heart deceleration. The doctors decided to start my induction then and there, as I was scheduled for my induction the next day anyway. Because of the deceleration, they had to use Foley balloon instead of medication to dilate my cervix. We were taken to a private antepartum room to wait for the balloon to do its thing, and were hooked up for continuous monitoring...contractions started becoming hellish and being stuck in the bed was not helpful! The balloon fell out after only 2 hours, and the doc who saw me at my 40+3 appointment came in to check on me (she was like "oh heyyy - I thought I was going to see you Sunday! Surprise!), I was 3-4 cm dilated. Was told they would move me to a labour room as soon as possible but they were super busy. ASAP turned into 7+ hours....almost all with continuous monitoring and all with active back labour. I was hell-bent on NOT having an epirdural - and was at my wits end when my doc came back into the room and suggested a few positions to help with the pain. I got into the shower for a bit (because we were waiting for a labour room, we hadn't done the shower yet because we weren't sure if we would have time - they kept being like "soon, soon"...ugh), and sat backwards on the toilet for a bit. But after a few hours of this and no progress on the labour room or my cervix, I just couldn't handle it anymore and decided to get an epidural. OF course, they say "well, we can't do an epidural until you're in the labour room"... omg. I just was losing it.
FINALLY, get into the labour room (I've been labouring for over 26 hours now), and get my epidural right away. Baby was having small heart deceleration continuously, so doc broke my water to see if that would get things moving (still at about 5cm at this point)... When she broke my water there was almost no fluid so there were concerns that baby's deceleration would worsen. And they did, so they started me on pitocin at a 1...baby did not like the pitocin so they turned it off and the specialist came in to infuse more amniotic fluid about an hour later. She gets there and goes "oh - you're at a 9.5/10 and baby is at +1" (only 1.5 hours after my doc checked and I was only at a 5). So we started pushing but baby was having a hard time with me on my back, so they had me get up on all fours (sooooo difficult with the epidural). But baby was just not having a good time and his heart kept decelerating so the WHOLE specialist team was brought in STAT and the vaccuum was started up. For reasons I don't understand, the vaccum failed and the forceps came out. Baby was born with a few pushes/pulls, an episiotomy (sp?) and a whole lot of stitches. His poor little head was severely bruised, he developed jaundice and his blood counts were low so we had an extended hospital stay - this part was way tougher than the actual delivery, because as soon as he looked like he was on the mend, his jaundice levels would increase again and we'd have to stay another night. We have been home for a few days now and adjusting nicely to feeding (no more formula supplementation and finally latching on like a champion)!! and baby is pretty much back at his birth weight!
Literally NONE of my birth went how I would have imagined, and I am so glad that I got that epidural in the end... my experience could have been so much worse had I not kept an open mind about pain meds. After the delivery, all I kept saying was "thank god I had that epidural" and the entire delivery team (nurses, regular doctor, specialists) all exclaimed in unison "us too!!!" At first, I felt 'guilty' getting it because I was so steadfast on going med-free...but I have absolutely zero regrets, in fact it may have been one of the best decisions I've made in my life.
ALSO - when we got home my mom and MIL had bought me the SMEG TOASTER as a push present!! So sweet of them LOL.
I've sat to write this a dozen times and just haven't gotten through it all - TW complications for both mother and baby discussed - but happy ending for all
On Tuesday, July 24th we dropped our 2 year old daughter off at daycare at 730 AM and then checked into the hospital for a 10 am planned c-section under general. Background - I have a rare connective tissue disorder which puts me at high risk for precipitous labor, hemorrhaging, and hip dislocation/ligament tearing in stirrups, as well as already damaged/bulging discs in my lower spine. The C-Section was strongly supported by my orthopedist and anesthesiology determined I was not an epidural candidate due to a history of easy bleeding. We were immediately taken to a labor room to change, have an NST, sign consent forms, and have one last consult with OB and anesthesiology. DH and I were nervous but I remember we just kept cracking each other up and smiling and laughing - I'm sure the neighboring labor rooms thought we were crazy or heavily medicated.
We ended up getting bumped a little due to emergencies, but around 11 my nurse came to walk me down to the OR. I got on the table and started to get nervous, especially since I was now pretty much naked in front of 10ish people without the labor brain fuzz distracting me. They gave me an O2 mask and told me to just keep breathing deeply. The anesthesiologist was really awesome narrating what was going on to try to keep me calm. Then it was time for the catheter - which I had been a little nervous about - my nurse couldn't get it in, tried a few times and then called in a second nurse. They tried to get me to get me to spread my knees a bit more and I was thinking um guys that's the whole reason we're doing this c-section!! lol Second nurse was SUPER rough but got it placed - the resident holding my O2 mask was super sweet and put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed as my eyes were crossing in pain with every attempt. Then they do the iodine and draping and the "awkward 3 minutes" they warned me about start where we all just kind of stare at each other waiting for the disinfectant to dry before pushing meds. Then it was finally go-time and I drifted off.
Going to switch to my husbands POV for a min since I was out. He waited in the original delivery room trying to distract himself by playing Disney Emoji blitz on both our phones. They had warned him it would take a solid 60-90 min and they would send someone out with an update when they could. About halfway in, a couple orderlies came and took my bed - he said that was terrifying for some reason. After some more waiting, the neonatal ped specialist comes in to tell him that the baby was delivered but having trouble breathing so was going straight to the NICU and asked him some questions regarding care and if we were ok with formula - stuff like that. She also updated him that I had had some bleeding but was OK and they were buttoning me up. I had warned my husband before we went in that c-section babies are sometimes born with fluid in the lungs and have to go to NICU for a little bit and he later thanked me for having warned him because otherwise he would have been freaking out. As for me - I never really pushed for details so I'm not sure at what point I "bled more than [they] would like" or how bad it really was, it was severe enough to warrant oxytocin drip to contract the uterus but not enough for a transfusion. We knew this was a possibility though - with either vaginal or c-section - and that's why we made this medical plan and also had 2 bags of blood on hand just in case.
First thing I remember upon waking up was holy hell pain - seriously the worse pain I've experienced. They told my husband they had to wait until I woke up to start the IV pain meds due to the bleeding complication - so I woke up after abdominal surgery with no pain meds in my system. A lot of it is fuzzy because of the pain, but I focused in on my husband's face and holding his hand. I typically have a very high pain tolerance but man that was rough - tears were streaming down my face without my control and I kept breathing fast. I was also vaguely aware that while I saw a room full of people but I didn't see a baby so I freaked out a bit. My husband said it took about 30 min for the pain to get under control. I will also say that I didn't really understand why a bunch of you ladies were anti pit - after that bag of oxytocin I totally get it. Contractions while not in labor and with fresh abdominal sutures are a complete BITCH! Once I was fully with it and my room was ready, they came to roll me over to maternity ward - and that's when the puking started. I puked for 9 hours - every time I thought I was better and we could move to take the catheter out so I could go see my son I'd puke again. We were all confused because I've never puked after anesthesia before - my nurse was really upset for me and chatting with another nurse figured out it was the IV meds - apparently a bunch of women react to Dilaudid by puking and since most of my surgeries have been out-patient I've never been on IV pain killers. So we switched to oxycodone pills ASAP - and of course I puked the first dose back up and then went pain med free for 4 hours. At 1130 PM - 12 hours after his birth - I finally got down to the NICU to hold my son and they let me nurse him (which is freaking difficult when the baby is hooked up to monitors and O2!). I was monitored closely for recurrent bleeding and all pads were weighed for the first day to measure further blood loss. Besides a 4 day migraine (probably a combo of pain and exhaustion), a hivey rash from boobs to hips, and my feet blowing up with pretty significant pitting edema, no further complications. I was up and walking to the NICU on my own by day 3 - which caused a pain spike on my original discharge day which ended up getting pushed out 2 days.
As for my son. He was officially diagnosed with Transient Tachypnea of Newborn (TTN) and fluid in the lungs. He was breathing fast and shallow and needed to be kept on CPAP but TTN usually resolves very quickly. He was doing better the first night which is when they let me nurse, but when we went to see him the next morning we were told he'd gotten worse and had to be put on a NIPV to help him take breaths besides just oxygen and they were discussing an xray to rule out collapsed lung. They were also stopping all food and introducing a tube and an iv drip. They said that he needed to concentrate on breathing and the addition of food was putting too much strain on his system and we could sit by the isolate and touch him but not to get him excited - well the sound of our voices was exciting him too much and I spent a lot of time in my room pumping because sitting with him and not being able to touch/hold him was too hard. The dr's and nurses were positive but no one still really could understand why the TTN was lingering so long - all his labs and tests were great, but they put him on antibiotics just to be safe. Through it all he was super fiesty - the nurses described him as "hangry" and he kept ripping his monitors off and angry sucking on a pacifier while staring down the nurses. Finally, on Friday we were allowed to feed him again and start weening him off the IV, and take him off NIPV. Saturday morning the ped came over to the maternity ward to tell us he was looking great and off the CPAP and if he stayed above 90% O2 sat all day he could go home Sunday! He passed all the tests and requirements set by the ped and after 5 nights in the NICU, we got to take our baby boy home. So far we've had 1 visit with our local pediatrician and 1 vist from a in-home nurse from the hospital and he is doing great.
Re: July Birth Stories
The car ride over was interesting. Being forced to sit made the contractions so much more intense and I actually made my husband take an alternate route because I didn't want to sit through a red light. We got to the hospital around 3 and my husband rolls up to the desk and is like "my wife had a few contractions." They all kind of rolled their eyes and I about hit him...because we were past a few contractions, but they let me go to my room since I was already scheduled for the induction. I felt like no one was taking me seriously, but I went into the bathroom to change into the gown and let out this crazy animal like scream. After that the nurse came back and was like was that you? Let me check you. So I got up on the bed and she was very surprised to discover I was almost 7 cm dilated. After that things moved quickly. They starting bringing in all the baby gear which really freaked me out.
I had thought I wanted to skip the epidural but as soon as I realized how far along I was I really freaked out and started demanding it. I was terrified to have to push him out without drugs. More on that later....
It turns out I have shitty veins. It took 3 nurses, 2 blown veins and about an hour of me screaming profanities to get an IV started. Then I had to wait for half a bag of fluids to infuse. I kept telling the nurse that maybe we should just have the anesthesiologist come to my room so he would be ready when I was LOL. Lots more screaming and I can't do this, and she kept telling me "you are doing it" which just infuriated me. I was like yeah but I don't want to fucking do it. LOL. I also kept telling DH he was useless. Not a nice person in labor apparently.
FINALLY I had enough fluids and got the epidural around 5 am...I was so relieved as I waited for it to kick in...and waited and waited. The contractions were slightly dulled but I started freaking out screaming that a bowling ball was about to bust out of my butt and I had to shit everywhere. The nurse checked and I was complete and ready to push. The doctor wanted to let me labor down a bit and let the epidural kick in...but it just didn't. My legs were numb and I had the shakes but I was stuck in bed and even more angry and miserable. Just before 6 the doctor returned to deliver me. I pushed once and lost my freaking mind because it felt like a burning bowling ball was exploding out of my ass. A nurse told me to focus the energy I was using to scream to push and 2 hellish pushes later and he was out. At 6:08 am. 8 minutes after my "induction". It was a whirlwind for sure, but I'm so glad Jasper is here, and we are both healthy. He did get a cephalohematoma (ugly head bump) from descending too quickly. The pediatrician said basically my cervix gave him a hicky. LOL
Woke before midnight to some lower ab pain and I was in that half dream/half not dream state that didn't make me think much of it. Woke again around 12:45 to same ab pain. Went back to sleep. Woke up at 1:30, same ab pain, and at that point I was like, " Oh shit! This might be contractions. I started timing and laying down they were 6 min apart. Then 4.5. I had this weird pattern after awhile where I would have a big contraction, then a few less awful contractions 1 minute apart, then a break for 4.5 minutes then another big one. I woke DH up and he was like, ok yeah we have to call my mom. You need to go in. Got DS ready to go and were in the car by 4:15. Called l&d to say we were coming in and threw up in driveway, then headed in.
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On the way in, a song called "shine" by mondo Cosmo played on the radio. It was popular when DD was born and I cried to it all the time. The last time I heard it on the radio was the anniversary of the day DD passed, more than 6 months ago. Just seemed like a good sign.
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Anyway we get in and we know MIL is gonna take an hour to get there so I'm working hard on laboring while DH watches DS. They check me when we get in and I'm a 4. I get out of bed and have a particularly bad contraction. I'm alone. My head isn't in the game. The nurse comes in and u ask the rules for pain meds and she says I can have the epidural anytime I want as long as I'm not crowning. I told her I wanted it ASAP, that was around 6. Anesthesiology was there around 6:30. Yiubguys weren't kidding the worst part was sitting through contractions while it was placed. But best. Decision. Ever. I smiled through my whole labor. They checked me after it kicked in and I was a 7. At 9:15 I told then it felt like something was leaking out my butt and they checked and baby was right there. He took about 1.5 hours to come out because he was sunny side up with his fist under his chin and couldn't get under the pubic bone. They started talking vacuum and I guess he didn't want any of that and one episiotomy and 4 pushes later he made it out. Did our skin to skin for a couple hours and he latched but it's a pretty bad one so we are working on it. Hes amazing and I cannot wait for DS to meet him.
I went to my 40+3 appointment on a Wednesday and was praying for the 'membrane sweep' as I hadn't been open enough to have one yet. Unfortunately the doc said I was completely closed and could not do the membrane sweep - so upsetting. So the doc scheduled my induction for the Sunday, and said she would be the doctor on call that night so she would likely deliver my baby (which was awesome because she is awesome). So, we went to the mall to look for a Smeg toaster (because I really wanted one, even though they're stupid expensive...just so beautiful)...anyway couldn't find the toaster but got a call from the clinic and they had to move my induction to the Saturday - and I almost had a breakdown in the Bed Bath and Beyond because I just didn't think 40+5 was late enough for an induction (but of course, I went along with it and booked it).
Then on Thursday afternoon I got (what I then thought...LOL) was a mega contraction. Went to bed and they got more regular, so I stayed up all night watching 30 Rock and The Office while having super irregular contractions - but never more than 15 minutes apart. By morning, DH and I went on a few walks and I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes..time to go!! Almost as soon as I got hooked up to the monitor in triage, baby had a huge heart deceleration. The doctors decided to start my induction then and there, as I was scheduled for my induction the next day anyway. Because of the deceleration, they had to use Foley balloon instead of medication to dilate my cervix. We were taken to a private antepartum room to wait for the balloon to do its thing, and were hooked up for continuous monitoring...contractions started becoming hellish and being stuck in the bed was not helpful! The balloon fell out after only 2 hours, and the doc who saw me at my 40+3 appointment came in to check on me (she was like "oh heyyy - I thought I was going to see you Sunday! Surprise!), I was 3-4 cm dilated. Was told they would move me to a labour room as soon as possible but they were super busy. ASAP turned into 7+ hours....almost all with continuous monitoring and all with active back labour. I was hell-bent on NOT having an epirdural - and was at my wits end when my doc came back into the room and suggested a few positions to help with the pain. I got into the shower for a bit (because we were waiting for a labour room, we hadn't done the shower yet because we weren't sure if we would have time - they kept being like "soon, soon"...ugh), and sat backwards on the toilet for a bit. But after a few hours of this and no progress on the labour room or my cervix, I just couldn't handle it anymore and decided to get an epidural. OF course, they say "well, we can't do an epidural until you're in the labour room"... omg. I just was losing it.
FINALLY, get into the labour room (I've been labouring for over 26 hours now), and get my epidural right away. Baby was having small heart deceleration continuously, so doc broke my water to see if that would get things moving (still at about 5cm at this point)... When she broke my water there was almost no fluid so there were concerns that baby's deceleration would worsen. And they did, so they started me on pitocin at a 1...baby did not like the pitocin so they turned it off and the specialist came in to infuse more amniotic fluid about an hour later. She gets there and goes "oh - you're at a 9.5/10 and baby is at +1" (only 1.5 hours after my doc checked and I was only at a 5). So we started pushing but baby was having a hard time with me on my back, so they had me get up on all fours (sooooo difficult with the epidural). But baby was just not having a good time and his heart kept decelerating so the WHOLE specialist team was brought in STAT and the vaccuum was started up. For reasons I don't understand, the vaccum failed and the forceps came out. Baby was born with a few pushes/pulls, an episiotomy (sp?) and a whole lot of stitches. His poor little head was severely bruised, he developed jaundice and his blood counts were low so we had an extended hospital stay - this part was way tougher than the actual delivery, because as soon as he looked like he was on the mend, his jaundice levels would increase again and we'd have to stay another night. We have been home for a few days now and adjusting nicely to feeding (no more formula supplementation and finally latching on like a champion)!! and baby is pretty much back at his birth weight!
Literally NONE of my birth went how I would have imagined, and I am so glad that I got that epidural in the end... my experience could have been so much worse had I not kept an open mind about pain meds. After the delivery, all I kept saying was "thank god I had that epidural" and the entire delivery team (nurses, regular doctor, specialists) all exclaimed in unison "us too!!!" At first, I felt 'guilty' getting it because I was so steadfast on going med-free...but I have absolutely zero regrets, in fact it may have been one of the best decisions I've made in my life.
ALSO - when we got home my mom and MIL had bought me the SMEG TOASTER as a push present!! So sweet of them LOL.
On Tuesday, July 24th we dropped our 2 year old daughter off at daycare at 730 AM and then checked into the hospital for a 10 am planned c-section under general. Background - I have a rare connective tissue disorder which puts me at high risk for precipitous labor, hemorrhaging, and hip dislocation/ligament tearing in stirrups, as well as already damaged/bulging discs in my lower spine. The C-Section was strongly supported by my orthopedist and anesthesiology determined I was not an epidural candidate due to a history of easy bleeding. We were immediately taken to a labor room to change, have an NST, sign consent forms, and have one last consult with OB and anesthesiology. DH and I were nervous but I remember we just kept cracking each other up and smiling and laughing - I'm sure the neighboring labor rooms thought we were crazy or heavily medicated.
We ended up getting bumped a little due to emergencies, but around 11 my nurse came to walk me down to the OR. I got on the table and started to get nervous, especially since I was now pretty much naked in front of 10ish people without the labor brain fuzz distracting me. They gave me an O2 mask and told me to just keep breathing deeply. The anesthesiologist was really awesome narrating what was going on to try to keep me calm. Then it was time for the catheter - which I had been a little nervous about - my nurse couldn't get it in, tried a few times and then called in a second nurse. They tried to get me to get me to spread my knees a bit more and I was thinking um guys that's the whole reason we're doing this c-section!! lol Second nurse was SUPER rough but got it placed - the resident holding my O2 mask was super sweet and put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed as my eyes were crossing in pain with every attempt. Then they do the iodine and draping and the "awkward 3 minutes" they warned me about start where we all just kind of stare at each other waiting for the disinfectant to dry before pushing meds. Then it was finally go-time and I drifted off.
Going to switch to my husbands POV for a min since I was out. He waited in the original delivery room trying to distract himself by playing Disney Emoji blitz on both our phones. They had warned him it would take a solid 60-90 min and they would send someone out with an update when they could. About halfway in, a couple orderlies came and took my bed - he said that was terrifying for some reason. After some more waiting, the neonatal ped specialist comes in to tell him that the baby was delivered but having trouble breathing so was going straight to the NICU and asked him some questions regarding care and if we were ok with formula - stuff like that. She also updated him that I had had some bleeding but was OK and they were buttoning me up. I had warned my husband before we went in that c-section babies are sometimes born with fluid in the lungs and have to go to NICU for a little bit and he later thanked me for having warned him because otherwise he would have been freaking out. As for me - I never really pushed for details so I'm not sure at what point I "bled more than [they] would like" or how bad it really was, it was severe enough to warrant oxytocin drip to contract the uterus but not enough for a transfusion. We knew this was a possibility though - with either vaginal or c-section - and that's why we made this medical plan and also had 2 bags of blood on hand just in case.
First thing I remember upon waking up was holy hell pain - seriously the worse pain I've experienced. They told my husband they had to wait until I woke up to start the IV pain meds due to the bleeding complication - so I woke up after abdominal surgery with no pain meds in my system. A lot of it is fuzzy because of the pain, but I focused in on my husband's face and holding his hand. I typically have a very high pain tolerance but man that was rough - tears were streaming down my face without my control and I kept breathing fast. I was also vaguely aware that while I saw a room full of people but I didn't see a baby so I freaked out a bit. My husband said it took about 30 min for the pain to get under control. I will also say that I didn't really understand why a bunch of you ladies were anti pit - after that bag of oxytocin I totally get it. Contractions while not in labor and with fresh abdominal sutures are a complete BITCH! Once I was fully with it and my room was ready, they came to roll me over to maternity ward - and that's when the puking started. I puked for 9 hours - every time I thought I was better and we could move to take the catheter out so I could go see my son I'd puke again. We were all confused because I've never puked after anesthesia before - my nurse was really upset for me and chatting with another nurse figured out it was the IV meds - apparently a bunch of women react to Dilaudid by puking and since most of my surgeries have been out-patient I've never been on IV pain killers. So we switched to oxycodone pills ASAP - and of course I puked the first dose back up and then went pain med free for 4 hours. At 1130 PM - 12 hours after his birth - I finally got down to the NICU to hold my son and they let me nurse him (which is freaking difficult when the baby is hooked up to monitors and O2!). I was monitored closely for recurrent bleeding and all pads were weighed for the first day to measure further blood loss. Besides a 4 day migraine (probably a combo of pain and exhaustion), a hivey rash from boobs to hips, and my feet blowing up with pretty significant pitting edema, no further complications. I was up and walking to the NICU on my own by day 3 - which caused a pain spike on my original discharge day which ended up getting pushed out 2 days.
As for my son. He was officially diagnosed with Transient Tachypnea of Newborn (TTN) and fluid in the lungs. He was breathing fast and shallow and needed to be kept on CPAP but TTN usually resolves very quickly. He was doing better the first night which is when they let me nurse, but when we went to see him the next morning we were told he'd gotten worse and had to be put on a NIPV to help him take breaths besides just oxygen and they were discussing an xray to rule out collapsed lung. They were also stopping all food and introducing a tube and an iv drip. They said that he needed to concentrate on breathing and the addition of food was putting too much strain on his system and we could sit by the isolate and touch him but not to get him excited - well the sound of our voices was exciting him too much and I spent a lot of time in my room pumping because sitting with him and not being able to touch/hold him was too hard. The dr's and nurses were positive but no one still really could understand why the TTN was lingering so long - all his labs and tests were great, but they put him on antibiotics just to be safe. Through it all he was super fiesty - the nurses described him as "hangry" and he kept ripping his monitors off and angry sucking on a pacifier while staring down the nurses. Finally, on Friday we were allowed to feed him again and start weening him off the IV, and take him off NIPV. Saturday morning the ped came over to the maternity ward to tell us he was looking great and off the CPAP and if he stayed above 90% O2 sat all day he could go home Sunday! He passed all the tests and requirements set by the ped and after 5 nights in the NICU, we got to take our baby boy home. So far we've had 1 visit with our local pediatrician and 1 vist from a in-home nurse from the hospital and he is doing great.