The Birth Story

So, I woke up around 4am on Wednesday morning to call the hospital to make sure there was room for us to come in for our induction and there was.  I was kind of hoping to wait and get some sleep, but by 5:30 am we reported for induction.  I was hooked up and going by 6:30 with fluids and penicilan (GBS pos).  The doc came in to break my water around 7:30 and had to try three times which scratched the babies head but released no water until about 20 minutes later.  It was clear and running down my legs so I was happy.  They put a contraction monitor inside my uterus which was reading that the contractions were spiking off the chart and they really were way easier than my early labor contractions, so I was thinking I could handle things at least for awhile.  Everything was going fairly well with me progressing slowly, but handling the pain very well until about 1 pm when I got my third dose of penicilin. 

I got the shakes really bad and could not focus on staying relaxed through the contractions.  They got to be 4-5 in the 7 minute window on the monitor, but I don't think they lasted very long.  After 20 minutes of the shakes I requested an epidural.  The anastesiologist was asking about my hobbies (wtf?) while explaining the burn from the initial numbing shots which was no big deal compared to his bony fingers digging into my back, and I told him so which apparantly was rude, but I thought he should update his pain speach. 

The epidural took the pain from the contractions away, but I still had the shakes and my legs felt numb and heavy and it was difficult to relax enough to sleep.  Eventually I took a small nap and then watched some animal planet while in the Buddah position (sort of seated with the heals of the feet touching) which was supposed to help the baby move down as he was still -2.  This position slowed his heart rate down and I was moved onto my left side while they temp stopped the pitocin and called the doctor.  His heart rate came back up and they eventually started the pit again but the contractions never got back up to that 100 % mark and the doc wanted me to switch to the other side to get things going more.  I was checked again and told I was at 6cm and about 80% effaced.  Then his heart rate dropped again and stayed down for a few minutes after the pitocin was turned off and I was flipped on my left side.  The doctor said we needed to do a c-section and I started crying and shaking.  My doula came over and said that things were going to go fast now, but everything would be ok. 

They allowed both my husband and doula in the OR with me which was nice.  They were able to use the epidural point to get my numb enough to not be knocked out.  When they got to the uterus I heard the assisting doc say Pea Soup and I said Meconium and the doctor said yup, but there was a doctor for him there already because of his low heart rate.  So he was removed, but not breathing for a few minutes because he breathed in the mec and they tried to suction as much as possible.  While we were waiting for baby cries my doctor as someone to push the button below the blue thing which sounded just vague enough to scare the shit outta me.  And then in rushed a bunch of people asking what was needed.  The doctor had called a "Code" and I was wondering if it was me or the baby who was dying.  Then I started to feel chest pain and thought for sure it was me.  I told the annesthstiesiologist about the chest pain and he said it was normal because they had pulled out my uterus and all the other organs in my body were being pulled down.  The doctor said that she wanted them to get another nurse in because she didnt hear the baby crying.  Eventually he did cry and they took him to the nursery.  My husband refused to leave me and the Doula went and took the first pics of him for us.  I have to selfishly say that I am glad he stayed with me even though I told him to go.  After I got put back together they took me to my post partum room to recover.  I remember that they took my temp and blood pressure a lot and pushed on my stomach during that first hour but everything else is a blur.  My husband finally went to the nursery while I was wheeled into recovery, but he really didn't want to.  He still maintains that the baby will not remember he was there, but I will. 

The baby was born at 6:38 pm and I was pronounced recovered around 8:45pm.  After that we were given sporadic updates as to why we couldn't see the baby and what was wrong with him.  His breathing was elevated, he had high band counts, he had breathed in meconium and they wanted to monitor him for at least 4 hours.  He was unable to maintain his temp and was placed in a warming tray but wouldn't stay warm after being removed, and his blood sugar was low so they had to give him formula.  I occasionaly dozed but woke up as soon as a nurse walked into the room to hear what was happening with the baby.  He was to have a test at 6 am and we would find out if he could come in after that.  By 7am I was asking my nurse what was happening and she said they were waiting on results.  At 7:30am the nursery nurse came in to say she was leaving but he had been maintaining his temp out of the warmth for a half an hour, but we should ask around 8am what his temp was to make sure they kept checking it. 

At 8:30am a nurse came in with him and I asked if I was supposed to try and breast feed him and she said sure.  I asked how long we had him until they had to bring him back and she said that he had maintained a good temp for an hour and a half so he should be fine.  We got to keep him the rest of the stay and asked the nurses to check his temp everytime they were in the room or walking by or just whenever we thought of it.  He kept it up and we were given the crazy anxious parents look, but we didnt't care.  Suprisingly he has taken to breast feeding like a champ and has been recovering better than me overall.  It could have been so much worse, but every time I try to talk to someone about what happened or even type about it the water works start.  But we are now home and trying to get sleep and eat.  Speaking of eating someone should be getting hungry again.