Jonathan's Birth Story

On the 23rd, last Thursday, I saw my OB. I had been having blood pressure issues for a week or more, and headaches with blurred vision. Chris and I told him this, as well as about my swelling in my hands and feet. He was concerned due to my symptoms, as well as the presence of protein in my urine. These are signs of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is "diagnosed by the elevation of the expectant mother’s blood pressure usually after the twentieth week of pregnancy combined with the appearance of excessive protein in her urine." according to www.preeclampsia.org. Dr. H was concerned that we may need to deliver the baby now. He said it was ok since I was 37 weeks, but he needed to make sure it was medically necessary before we took any action.

We left that appointment with orders to go straight to Labor & Delivery for monitoring of my blood pressure, lab work, and monitoring of baby, knowing it was possible we would have a baby that night. When we got there, I was having contractions every 90 seconds, my blood pressure was high, my urine had protein in it, and my reflexes were abnormal.  (We found out later that our nurse was actually concerned that I would have a seizure and had everything ready for an emergency c-section!) We were told to expect staying for 24 hours for a 24 hour total protein in my urine.  A few hours later when they were finally able to get a hold of my doctor. He said to send me home with the stuff to do the 24 hours urine test at home, and orders to not go to work in the morning. My blood pressures were still high, my vision blurred, and I felt awful.

Friday evening I dropped off urine jugs, and waited for the doctor to call. 10:00 that night rolled around and I felt even worse. I called my OB...He was gone and not on call. They transferred me to the on call OB. I told his answering service my symptoms and that I had just turned in a 24 hour urine. They passed this info on to Dr. M, immediately got back on the phone and told me to go directly to the hospital and asked which hospital I would be going to.

We dropped of Carson at my parents, and headed for the hospital.  When we arrived to the hospital at 11:40, they were waiting for us on labor and delivery.  They doctor had called ahead and spoke with them about me. Within 15 minutes, I was hooked up to the fetal monitor, blood pressure monitor, and they were drawing labwork.  My first blood pressure there was 175/100! Within another 10 minutes, I had an IV of magnesium sulfate to bring my blood pressure down. That stuff stinks! It makes you feel flushed all over and makes you want to drink non-stop. I wasn't allowed to drink water or even have ice chips as there was concern we would be having an emergency C-section.  By 1:00am, we were told my labs were worsening.  My total protein was over 1800 (it should be under 300). My platelets were dropping, my hemoglobin was dropping and my blood pressure was still too high.

CUE ANXIETY NOW!

My friend who is a nurse at the hospital we go to came in and gave us the news.   We were going to be having a C-section at 7am. The doctor on call was not happy with my labs from Thursday and was even less pleased with the labs from Friday night. He decided it was time to have this baby and stop the preeclampsia before it causes permanent damage.  I was ready to have the baby and feel better, yet I started crying.  I think this is the point that Chris realized just how serious everything was for me and Jonathan.

We called our parents, moved to another room to rest for a few hours, and tried to prepare for the morning.

Saturday morning I "woke up" around 5am. My blood pressure was now stable. My head still hurt, but I was very fuzzy on everything mentally. I just laid there thinking about what was about to happen, hoping that the medicine wouldn't cause any problems for Jonathan (it's been known to cause respiratory, reflex, and muscle issues).  By 5:45, the anesthesiologist was in my room asking questions to prepare for my spinal for the surgery.  Within another 30-45 minutes, my room was a flurry of activity. Jonathan apparently was having heart rate issues and there was concern that they would be doing a stat emergency C-section. He straightened up though and pretty soon they were giving me pre-op meds and prepping me for surgery.

My in-laws were there with us by 6:40. At 7:05, they were preparing to wheel me to the OR. I was upset because I hadn't seen Carson yet and I wanted to tell him I loved him before I went in for the surgery.  As they wheeled me out of my room, there he was with my parents and grandparents. It brought tears to my eyes to see him.  The reality of everything set in and I was ready.  I was wheeled into the OR at 7:15am.  They performed my spinal anesthesia (weirdest feeling ever!), laid me back, checked baby's position and started the surgery at 7:40.

They brought Chris in and he sat right by my right hand and my head.  It seemed like everything went so fast at this point. I was sick from my blood pressure dropping,  so I was in and out of being alert. At 8:00 on the nose, we heard, "He's a big boy!" followed by the sweetest cry. Jonathan was born. He was crying, and active. It was an answered prayer!

They weighed the baby, cleaned him up, and brought him to meet mommy. 

Then, Chris and Jonathan went to the nursery and they gave me medicine for pain and nausea. Everything after this point is very fuzzy. 

I remember being given a picture of our son to hold and take to recovery with me. I remember being rolled down the hall to see the baby in the nursery, then off to recovery.  They kept asking me to wiggle my toes there, as soon as I did that, I was back to my room to see my family!

Introducing....

Jonathan Patrick

 

 

 

 

 

Born May 25, 2013 at 8:00 a.m.

 

Weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces

 

21 inches long



My 1st Birth Story

Warning!!! THIS IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH! Read on at your OWN RISK!


 Four and a half years ago, I gave birth to a wonderful, beautiful baby boy. His entry into the world however, was anything but beautiful and wonderful.



       After 2 weeks of regular contractions, but not dilating, and a few visits to Labor & Delivery only to be sent home, I was done. I wanted the little guy out. Monday July 14th was my last OB appointment. At that visit, I asked for induction.....You see, one year prior to this, my nephew died at the hands of an imcompetent doctor who failed to do a emergency c-section in time to save him. I was determined I WAS NOT having my baby on Asa's first angel birthday. No way in heck was that happening. So I asked to be induced on my doctor's on call day so that I could avoid any chance of that happening....We knew I was carrying a big baby and blood pressures hadn't been good for weeks, so my doctor was alright with inducing at 39 weeks, 4 days given the family history and my current pregnant isses.


        Wednesday July 16th was the big day. I was admitted to the hospital at 12:01am to start IV antibiotics, and barely slept all night due to the lady next door birthing what I can only assume was a hippopotamus from the way it sounded! Anyhow, I was induced at 6am that day and within an hour of being induced was having strong regular contractions. I was dilated to 1.5cm and the dr broke my water around 8am. After that, the contractions got even stronger. I had IV pain meds around 9, they made me sleepy and sort of took away some pain, but they didn't last long. I tried the birthing ball, the rocking chair, everything, but nothing helped. I wanted to walk the halls but since I was on pitocin, I was told no. My nurse (also my coworker at the time) talked me into getting my epidural in hopes that it would make things progress finally. I asked for the epidural around 11:30, and finally at 1:30 I got it. It was the greatest thing in the world! I don't know why anyone would do it without one.

       By 2pm I was 2cm (some progress?!) and I was effacing more (cervix thinning out). I started feeling more pressure and pain down low and they checked me again at 4:00 and I was 3cm.  I laid back and tried to relax. At 5:30 I was throwing up and feeling pressure down low again. They checked me and I was 5cm, 95% effaced, -1 station. Chris went to go eat supper as we were expecting it to be a few more hours yet. I was discouraged and wanted a C-Section but my doctor simply said "You promised me a good induction and I promised you a natural delivery. I'm keeping you to that!". By 6:15 I was throwing up again. They checked me and I was 6-7cm. WOW! I was moving fast now. So then I felt more pressure and pain, she checked me and I was 8cm at 7pm. I called Chris and told him to get back there NOW! Luckily he was pulling in the parking lot at that time. I was horribly uncomfortable and feeling a lot of pressure and the contractions were hurting really bad again. So they checked me and I was 9cm with an anterior lip, it was about 7:30 now. I had to lay on my side trying not to push....THAT'S NOT EASY!!!! It was so uncomfortable. My epidural was empty, so anesthesia had to come give me another loading dose. That started working around 8, which is good because it was time to push then!

       I pushed and pushed but Mr. Carson was too big and it just wasn't working. I was so frustrated and just wanted him out! The dr came back in around 8:45. I was pushing so hard but felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Apparently, I was getting there though, they had me feel his head and it was great! It gave me encouragement that I was almost there and I was able to do it. I pushed a three or four more times really hard and Carson was born. His head was out but his shoulders got stuck (shoulder dystocia).  You could see the panic on my OB's face, and everyone else in the room had the same look at that point. My OB had to take both of her hands in there to pull him out.  He had bruises on his arms from where she was pulling trying to get him out.  At 9:13pm, Carson entered this world. All 8lbs 10oz, and 22 inches of him! He came out very blue and not wanting to breathe.  I kept asking what was wrong and the nurse just kept not answering me. I was an OB nurse....I KNEW something was wrong. The nurse picked up the ambu bag to start life saving measures and he FINALLY took a breath. He started getting better color and crying after they put him on the warmer and kept rubbing him and giving him oxygen. The doctor even kept asking the nurse if he was alright. Something I never will forget. My husband had a look of complete fear on his face. My mom kept saying "he's okay Becky, he's okay."

       Once he started crying and was pink, I realized that yes, he was ok, but I wasn't okay. The OB ordered my nurse to give me a shot of pain medicine on top of my epidural and asked for extra sutures to be brought in. I knew something was wrong. You see, there are different degrees of tearing when  you have a child. My OB had given me a 2nd Degree episiotomy but then when Carson's big shoulders got stuck, things quickly got worse. I ended up with a 4th degree tear.  For those of you who don't know what this is, it means I tore my perineum from my vagina clear through my rectum. I had internal and external stitches. It took just shy of an hour for them to stitch me up. I felt it despite all the drugs. On top of this, I was losing quite a bit of blood.

      I didn't hold my son first. I didn't even hold him for an hour. When I finally got to hold him, I was so out of it from the pain meds that I couldn't focus. Our first feeding found me falling asleep with him at my breast! Our family finally met him around 10:30 that evening, and they only were allowed to stay for 30 minutes because I was so bad.

In the subseqent hoursI had to have three shots of Methergine (a drug to stop the bleeding) and had to take methergine pills as well for 24 hours after delivery. I couldn't sit or lay down without horrible pain.

We left the hospital Friday afternoon, July 18th, with a jaundiced little boy.  We had to go back for labwork Saturday morning and it wasn't great, so we had to go back again on Sunday. Sunday Carson was very very jaundiced so we knew the labs wouldn't be good. His bilirubin was too high so he had to be admitted to the hospital. It was so hard to have him there. My mom and Chris made me come home and mom stayed with him Sunday night so that I would get some sleep since I hadn't slept much before that. They put him under triple lights to bring down the bilirubin level, and it worked great! By 10am Monday it was low enough we were discharged.

But we weren't home long. On Monday, July 28th, I was admitted to the hospital for a uterine infection from my traumatic delivery and subsequent repair. Once again I was away from my baby. I was in horrible pain, I was still bleeding quite a bit, and they wanted to give me a blood transfusion?! By Wednesday, the antibiotics had worked enough that I was discharged home.

The months that followed were plagued by incontinence and shame. I had to wear pads and carry extra clothes with me every where I went. If had a touch of a stomach bug, I couldn't work because I wasn't able to hold my stool until I made it to the bathroom. In June of 2009, when Carson was 11 months old, I had a very extensive surgery to repair my perineal floor. (It's called an anal sphincteroplasty with perineal floor repair if you want to google it...I will spare the bad details here).   I spent 4 days in a hospital over an hour from home. I couldn't sit, laugh, or walk without pain. However, in the months that followed that surgery, things did get better with the incontinence.  They aren't perfect yet, and I need a second surgery to try and achieve even better results, but for now it's on hold because it hasn't been studied in pregnancy. 

So there you have it.....my birth horror story.  There was no Hallmark moment where he was put on my chest for me to hold. Daddy wasn't able to cut the cord.  I wasn't the first to hold him. It was anything but perfect, but the end result of a healthy, wonderful little boy was well worth it!