Thursday we had our 41 week check up and a BPP. The BPP showed that Emma was measuring 9.2lbs with an AFI (amniotic fluid level) of 5 which is low. My ob was out of town, but Dr. R from her practice was concerned with her fluid level being low and her being big. He decided to induce me and called ahead to the hospital. I called the hospital every 2 hours until I was told to come in at 11pm.
We ate dinner at Friendly's, waited for our wonderful friends to come watch the dogs, and headed off to the hospital to have our baby girl. Dr. R was the doctor in working the pit that night and was already at the hospital when we got there. I was optimistic. When we rang the buzzer to L&D and the nurse asked if she could help us I replied, "I'm here to have my baby!" Haha. Or so I thought. Dr. R gave me cervadil at 12:30am, I got an ambien, and slept till 4am.
4am I started to have contractions. 12pm Dr. R came in to check me. I had made zero progress. No dilation, cervix still thick and high. So, on to citotek (?spelling)--an oral med taken every 4 hours to induce labor. Dr. F, another ob from my practice, was in the hospital so he checked me later on. No dilation. They let Paul and I off the unit to go walk around the floor and I am convinced I will be showing up at my ob's office Monday morning to say, "WTF! Dr. R told me I wouldn't be leaving the hospital without a baby!" as we imagine the look of surprise on their faces.
So now it's Friday night. Dr. D, the pit doctor, came in and said that he had talked to Dr. W, the on call dr for my ob for the weekend, and that if I continued to make no progress and my AFI was normal in the morning (Saturday) that they were going to send me home. WHAT! Keep in mind I've been having contractions every 5-8 minutes for over 12 hours at this point. Another ambien and I actually slept pretty good. Our nurse woke me up early Saturday morning to go get my AFI and I just know it's normal and I'm going to be sent home.
The tech measures the baby and she gets 9.1lbs. Dr. W comes in and tells us the AFI came back lower (3.8) and so he is going to insert a balloon catheter into my hooha as well as start pitocin (which they previously didn't want to do b/c I wasn't dilated). All the mother's reading this know how sensitive your cervix is when you are pregnant...now imagine someone pulling your cervix outside of your vajajay, using forceps to hold it as he inserts a balloon into you and inflates it with saline. Holy mother!
A few hours go by and my contractions are getting closer together and stronger. I get up to go to the bathroom and the balloon falls out. Hallelujah we've hit 4cm! Everyone is sure we are on the road now to a vaginal delivery. It's now 11amish. An hour later and I'm at 5cm. Good sign! I get an epidural and it's wonderful. I sleep, I don't feel any contractions at all. I think this is the best thing ever!
On Saturday let's just say that Paul got to see more things than he wanted too. I've never seen anyone gag so much. lol 6:30pm and my epidural has worn off. I'm still 5cm dilated. The anesthesiologist is with a case so I have to wait till 7pm for the next anesthesiologist to get there. She comes straight to my room and tops me off. Ahhh relief.
Our favorite nurse comes back on (although all the nurses in L&D were amazing, but we had just worked with Wendy before several times!). By 8pm I am still feeling all the contractions on my left side and can totally feel my left leg. So Wendy calls the anesthesiologist back and my only option is to have the original epidural removed and have a new one placed. We do this and I get pain relief...for another hour and a half. By 10:30pm I'm in a lot of pain, can feel every contraction, and still am only 5cm dilated. Plus my cervix has actually thickened back up. And I have blood in my urine bag. And the baby is not in position.
Keep in mind I have now been in the hospital for 48 hours and have been in active labor for over 12 hours. Wendy comes in to tell us that Dr. W has called in the surgical team. Dr. W comes in and tells us that I am going to have a c-section. Wendy preps me and Paul and wheels us down to the OR.
The anesthesiologist gives me more medication; however, I am so nauseous from laying down that I throw up through the entire operation. At one point I knock over the little bowl into my hair. I have no idea why anyone would elective to have a c-section. It was literally the most painful experience I've ever had. I was told to expect a little tugging and pulling (and even on tv birth shows all these women seem to only experience minor discomfort). I felt every single thing the 2 ob's were doing. When they were pulling Emma out I thought they were trying to kill me. Oh, and we found out that she was sunny side up which is why she couldn't get into birth position. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life.
It made me sad that I was in so much pain that when they walked by with me with Emma I could barely find any joy in seeing her. I never wanted to be one of those melodramatic mamas who cries and screams and whines through out her labor and up to the c-section I hadn't been. But during the c-section I lost it. I cried, I threw up, I just wanted it to be over. And when I heard Emma cry for the first time and Paul came over crying I did cry...partially at hearing Emma and partially at my own pain. I am not even sure there are adequate words to describe how painful my c-section was.
The special care pediatrician was there because Emma had pooped in utero and they had to suction out her lungs, but Paul said she handled it like a champ. She didn't even cry when she got her first shot!
So all my friends who have c-sections look beautiful and smiling in their first pics with the baby while I look like a drowned rat. lol
But our beautiful baby girl is here. She is amazing. It still doesn't seem possible that she was in my tummy not even 24 hours ago and now she's hanging out with us. Very surreal and I can't believe the hospital is going to let us leave with this little munchkin. We love her so much already!
As an added bonus I now get to spend an extra 4 days in the hospital (making my total stay 6 days--how much has Tricare paid for this pregnancy???? lol). The food is delicious, I get served all my meals in bed, and I get to wear jammies all the time. What could be better than that?
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| Emma Grace born 02/26 @ 11:58pm, 8lbs 11oz, 20.5 inches |
More updates to follow!
Jenn, rest assured that I looked no different after my c-section. I was in labor for 12 hours before they realized Ashley was breech. The joy of being a new mother with her family makes you look breathtaking...honestly!
ReplyDeleteShe is posing like a supermodel already!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your experience - hopefully it will disappear into fogginess as you guys start this new chapter!
Congrats from the three of us!
Congratulations - she is beautiful!! The Sprint network would like to thank you for the millions of text messages that went across between Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Brittney and Emily keeping me updated. Glad to hear all is well - sending best wishes and can't wait to meet her in May.
ReplyDeleteErika