I love reading birth stories and I think there is a lot that can be learned from them so today for Live & Learn thursday I am posting Foster's Birth Story, ENJOY!
Wednesday, July 20th, I went in to the OB to turn in my second 24 hour urine collection and have an ultrasound. I had been thinking that bedrest had been going well and they were going to just tell me to keep hanging in there. WRONG. My OB said that she was no longer comfortable with me being at home and managing me there and she was going to go call my MFM.
She walked back into the room and said "Lets have a baby!"...... Immediate shock and panic. She said that labor and delivery was full but to head home, pack my bags and be ready because they were going to call me to come in as soon as they had a room that night. She also gave me the "come to jesus" talk telling me that realistically my odds of having a c-section are VERY high. I have an extremely narrow pelvis and my body isnt dilating or effacing on its own yet. I still opted to try for the induction since this is the delivery that I had dreamed about and pictured in my head. I know things dont always go as planned but I wanted to be able to say that I tried everything.
So, I went home and started to rush around the house because NOTHING was ready. My DH had to install the car seat and I had to pack bags for baby and myself and Justin. My house wasnt done being cleaned and the carpet cleaners hasnt come yet... how could this be happening?!
We got to the hospital at 9pm and got our room and got settled in. My OB was in the hospital so she came over and talked to us and it was so nice to see her and know that she was following us all the way.
The first thing that we tried was Cervadil. It is supposed to ripen your cervix and start you dilating. The way that drug works is that you put it in and wait 12 hours and then check to see how it worked. Right before placing the Cervadil the resident came in and checked my cervix because I as having contractions ever 4 minutes steadily but no progress. So, in went the cervadil and12 hours later they checked me (11am the next day) and it had done NOTHING. We were so disappointed and it seemed like such a waste of time.
The next plan was so use cytotech which does the same thing as cervadil but just works differently. The only problem here was that in order to use this drug you have to have less than 12 contractions in an hour and i was having them every 2 to 3 minutes. So, no cytotech.
We went on to pitocin. We upped the dose many times and sometimes had to bring it back down because my worthless contractions were too close together. They did multiple cervical checks but nothing was changing except my cervix was getting softer. They decided that they thought they might be able to force a fingertip through my cervix so they wanted to try a foley balloon to cause my to dilate to 4cm.
By this time I was extrememly frustrated and done. Baby refused to stay on the monitor so there was literally a nurse in the room with us 90% of the time trying to get him on the monitor... my belly was SO sore from them poking that monitor around for hours and hours. I was ready to throw that monitor! Haha.
The resident came in to do that foley and immediately said that he wouldnt be able to get it because of the awkward position of my cervix. He said that he would have to go get another Dr. The new Dr came in and he was about 70 years old and they tell me that he and his father are the 2 doctors that brought this procedure to the US in the 1980s. He starts and let me tell you that it was the most painful thing that I have maybe ever felt. I was emotionally exhausted at this point and the pain added to that I just had had it. He kept asking for different tools and trying to force it when it just wasnt working. After a few minutes I was literaly crying so hard that I was almost screaming and I said I didnt want to do it anymore and the Dr would not stop! My husband and my nurse tried to get him to stop and he wouldnt. Finally he said that my cervix just wouldnt allow it and that I was only the second patient he had EVER had that he was unsuccessful on. Gee, thanks buddy.
After 28 hours of induction and no progress I was ready to throw in the towel so they called my OB and she said she was gonna come in right then and it was c-section time. This is when I panicked and realized I was about to have surgery, eek!
My blood pressure got really high (about 210/140)
and they decided that I couldn't walk to the OR, they were gonna have to roll me there in my bed. They did a spinal block and it was surgery time.
At 12:55am July 22nd Foster Everett D_____ was born at exactly 36 weeks, 6 pounds 14 ounces, and 19.4 inches long. He cried immediately and in turn I cried immediately. I could not believe that after all we had been through our miracle was finally here. It was emotional to say the least. I still cry when I think about it.
They took him over to the warmer and worked on him immediately. They then wrapped him up and brought him to Justin and I got to see him for a moment and kiss his head. Then they had to take him to the nursery they said and I told Justin to go with them.
After surgery they took me to the recovery room and I got to see my parents, justin's parents, justin's aunt, and cousin. It was so nice to see them and they were all headed back out to the waiting room to wait and see Foster.
I kept trying to stay awake because I was expecting them to bring me my baby but the first thing I heard was that he was in the NICU with CPAP, oxygen, a feeing tube, IV, and monitors. It broke my heart that he was having such a hard time and I wasnt there with him. They told me that I wasnt going to be able to go to the mother-baby floor right away because I had to be transferred to high risk and be on a magnesium sulfate drip for 24 hours for my sever preeclampsia. I wouldnt be able to see my baby until after that was over.
Worst. news. ever.
Justin and the family all got to go see him and Justing brought pictures to show me. It was so nice to see him but I wanted to hold him so badly. After going through all of that I couldnt believe I didnt ever get to hold him =(
I ended up getting off my magnesium sulfate drip after 12 hours instead of 24 and the next afternoon I got to see my baby boy. It was such an amazing moment to get to look at him and know that he was real.
He spent about 48 hours in the NICU (as did I, haha). Then on Monday we went home.
Tuesday he had some issues and we went to the pediatrician and he had 3 attacks of respiratory distress in the office and we got sent to Children's hospital. He was admitted and we spent every moment there with him. Its so sad to see a tiny little preemie get poked and prodded but we knew it was for the best.
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