Note: this is long, somewhat TMI, and may be poorly written and disjointed, I wrote it while I was still in the hospital.
---
After
a few false starts, Sunday Oct 7th ended up being the real thing. I
had actually had a contraction-free evening and stayed up til midnight,
so it was a rude awakening when just before 7 am, I was thrown awake by a
very intense, painful contraction. I understood now why the midwife
two weeks prior was so convinced that I wasn't ready then, and I felt
foolish for wondering if I just have an unusually high pain tolerance.
Nope! They started out at only four minutes apart and about a minute
long, so I probably could have called or gone in right away, but I
wanted to get a shower and eat the almond croissants I had proofed
overnight.
Turns out I could only eat one croissant, and I called and unsurprisingly the midwife on call told me to come in. Even though the contractions sucked, it was nice knowing that this was likely IT. The midwife on call was my least favorite of the team, but in retrospect I think we just had a not-so-good appointment...she was a little weird and maybe held out a bit longer on intervention than I would have liked, but overall was fine. Anyway, we get there and the MW has a student shadowing her, someone who was a doula for years and is now training to be a MW. She wound up being invaluable, as was the OB nurse who rounded out the team. When I got there I was only 2 cm, an hour later I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. They said typical progress for a first time mom is 1cm per hour so I was looking at delivering around 9 pm. I thought this was totally fine - I slept pretty well and wouldn't have to go into work.
The contractions got reallllly bad and I started asking for meds. I actually almost passed out when it took them three tries to get in an IV for my fluids. The MW was pushing for me to try to labor in the tub rather than go for meds, and the trainee was helping me breathe through them. Things got crazy though, I started having pitting edema and my blood pressure went sky-high (probably the pain had something to do with that) and I was diagnosed with PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) and shortly after, per-eclampsia. I was started on a magnesium sulfate IV for the blood pressure and told that IV drugs were no longer an option because of risk to the baby - hearing 'risky for the baby' probably did nothing for my blood pressure, it was a bit scary. At my next check, two hours after arrival, I was 8 cm dilated - the 5 cm in an hour explained the pain and large amount of bleeding I had going on. I got my MW to agree to an epidural, but the anaesthesiologist was in the OR so it took a while. In the meantime the nurse gave me fentanyl (sp?), even though she was supposed to wait until they could get some urine results - thank goodness for her, because I couldn't pee for the life of me and I neeeeeded some pain relief.
Turns out I could only eat one croissant, and I called and unsurprisingly the midwife on call told me to come in. Even though the contractions sucked, it was nice knowing that this was likely IT. The midwife on call was my least favorite of the team, but in retrospect I think we just had a not-so-good appointment...she was a little weird and maybe held out a bit longer on intervention than I would have liked, but overall was fine. Anyway, we get there and the MW has a student shadowing her, someone who was a doula for years and is now training to be a MW. She wound up being invaluable, as was the OB nurse who rounded out the team. When I got there I was only 2 cm, an hour later I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. They said typical progress for a first time mom is 1cm per hour so I was looking at delivering around 9 pm. I thought this was totally fine - I slept pretty well and wouldn't have to go into work.
The contractions got reallllly bad and I started asking for meds. I actually almost passed out when it took them three tries to get in an IV for my fluids. The MW was pushing for me to try to labor in the tub rather than go for meds, and the trainee was helping me breathe through them. Things got crazy though, I started having pitting edema and my blood pressure went sky-high (probably the pain had something to do with that) and I was diagnosed with PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) and shortly after, per-eclampsia. I was started on a magnesium sulfate IV for the blood pressure and told that IV drugs were no longer an option because of risk to the baby - hearing 'risky for the baby' probably did nothing for my blood pressure, it was a bit scary. At my next check, two hours after arrival, I was 8 cm dilated - the 5 cm in an hour explained the pain and large amount of bleeding I had going on. I got my MW to agree to an epidural, but the anaesthesiologist was in the OR so it took a while. In the meantime the nurse gave me fentanyl (sp?), even though she was supposed to wait until they could get some urine results - thank goodness for her, because I couldn't pee for the life of me and I neeeeeded some pain relief.
When the epidural finally came, it made a huge difference. Still lots
of pressure and a bit of pain, but I finally thought I could actually
make it through labor. Unfortunately things didn't progress past 9 cm
and the baby didn't drop below +1 station. The epidural started to wear
off and they suggested pitocin to help move things along. The pitocin
definitely worked to make the contractions more intense, but I actually
made some backwards progress to 7 cm. An OB came in and she and my MW
said that the baby was sunny-side up, and if she didn't turn soon they
would need to do a C-section because both of our heart rates were kind
of high. They got me into a crazy labor position, on my hands and knees
in the bed, in order to encourage the baby to roll over...and I
promptly vomited. By the time they finally got me cleaned up, the OB
came in and wanted to do an exam,
which required me turning on my back. Really, really sucked, and I was
still at 7 cm. I flipped back over and my MW spent like 30 minutes up
to her elbow in my vagina trying to get the baby to turn, it was
extremely uncomfortable and I was losing a lot of fluids and blood -
someone mentioned a hemmorhage kit and I was thinking, "Holy crap am I going to die?"
I was fine with the idea of a C-section, but my MW really seemed hesitant. Eventually we were finally at the point where it was a necessity, and thankfully she went along with it. An emergency got in ahead of me, so I waited about an hour before FINALLY going in just after midnight. Katherine was born at 12:20 and I cried when I saw her. Getting her out was fine, but whatever they did stitching me up hurt like crazy and I needed two more kinds of drugs.
Recovery was hard, especially because of the stuff they put me on for my blood pressure. I was only allowed to have 200 mL of fluids in an hour, and since I was getting almost that much through my IV, I basically wasn't able to drink ANYTHING. Shortly after delivery the hospital got super busy, and the nurses definitely dropped the ball on refilling my IV, getting out my cateter, etc (which I think is partially to blame for my crappy recovery). I was finally able to get out of bed on Tuesday evening, and they sent me home Wednesday afternoon. It was insane how many people were coming in and out, plus they kept forgetting about me and the temperature was wonky in the room - either freezing or boiling, it was enough that they would get concerned about Katherine's temperature being too high or too low, which was pretty anxiety-inducing. The second day after she was born, Jeff was feeling awful; tired to the point of dizziness, feverish, chills, and I thought he was actually going to have to go to the ER. I think it was just sleep deprivation, some rest and juice and food made a big difference, and in the meantime the nurses were taking over changing K's diaper and whatnot.
Shortly after getting home I realized that my breasts were really engorged, and the baby was unable to feed. I tried hand expression and pumping with no luck, and since she hadn't had any diapers that day I was pretty concerned. I'm still trying to work through the engorgement, but she has gotten several bottles now and I'm adjusting to the idea that she might be formula-fed from here on out. She's gained weight and is back above her birth weight, so now the only concern is getting her to SLEEP like a normal baby. We'll see how things go with the pumping, it's incredibly hard taking the time out of the day, especially since she takes forever to drink a bottle and I'm beyond sleep-deprived. If I give it up, though, I'm ok with that, even if my doctors aren't.
I was fine with the idea of a C-section, but my MW really seemed hesitant. Eventually we were finally at the point where it was a necessity, and thankfully she went along with it. An emergency got in ahead of me, so I waited about an hour before FINALLY going in just after midnight. Katherine was born at 12:20 and I cried when I saw her. Getting her out was fine, but whatever they did stitching me up hurt like crazy and I needed two more kinds of drugs.
Recovery was hard, especially because of the stuff they put me on for my blood pressure. I was only allowed to have 200 mL of fluids in an hour, and since I was getting almost that much through my IV, I basically wasn't able to drink ANYTHING. Shortly after delivery the hospital got super busy, and the nurses definitely dropped the ball on refilling my IV, getting out my cateter, etc (which I think is partially to blame for my crappy recovery). I was finally able to get out of bed on Tuesday evening, and they sent me home Wednesday afternoon. It was insane how many people were coming in and out, plus they kept forgetting about me and the temperature was wonky in the room - either freezing or boiling, it was enough that they would get concerned about Katherine's temperature being too high or too low, which was pretty anxiety-inducing. The second day after she was born, Jeff was feeling awful; tired to the point of dizziness, feverish, chills, and I thought he was actually going to have to go to the ER. I think it was just sleep deprivation, some rest and juice and food made a big difference, and in the meantime the nurses were taking over changing K's diaper and whatnot.
Shortly after getting home I realized that my breasts were really engorged, and the baby was unable to feed. I tried hand expression and pumping with no luck, and since she hadn't had any diapers that day I was pretty concerned. I'm still trying to work through the engorgement, but she has gotten several bottles now and I'm adjusting to the idea that she might be formula-fed from here on out. She's gained weight and is back above her birth weight, so now the only concern is getting her to SLEEP like a normal baby. We'll see how things go with the pumping, it's incredibly hard taking the time out of the day, especially since she takes forever to drink a bottle and I'm beyond sleep-deprived. If I give it up, though, I'm ok with that, even if my doctors aren't.
No comments:
Post a Comment