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Baby John’s Birth Story, LONG, a little TMI
- May 5, 2009 at 12:29 PM
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- Comments (6) Total Views (102) Everyone can see this journal post.
It all started on wed, 4/22/09. I had a chiropractor appt in the early morning, and I just felt different all day, after that. After dinner, I started cleaning the kitchen, and started contracting, but sporadically. After putting the kiddos to bed, I let my dh know what was happening. Knowing full well this could go on for a few days, I folded some laundry, took some benedryl and went to bed. I woke up @ around 2am, and stayed awake until about 5 contracting sporadically. My dh asked me if he should call-in to work, and I told him yes, I was really crampy. We woke up again at about 7:30, and the stopped. Ugh! I was irritated! Got the kiddos off to school, and packed up our LO and went to the mall to walk and walk. They picked up more, and started getting more painful, but still sporadic. I noticed that they always died off everytime I rested. (again, grr!) we went home after a few hours. When we got home, I just went to bed and watched tv. Dh made dinner, and it was just another ordinary evening, except I was still contracting. So that was all day thurs. I did make phone calls in case we had to go in the middle of the night. I took benedryl again, and actually slept okay that night.
Friday morning about 4:30, my dh asked me if he should call-in again, and I told him yes, you better, I'm still crampy. So he did... he got up around 6ish to take care of the kids, an I stayed in bed another hour. My contractions were starting to really piss me off! At like 7:20ish, I sat up and thought maybe if I rink a bottle of water they will leave me alone for a while until I was ready to deal with them! LOL! BUT as soon as I sat up, I gushed out... I wasn't sure if it was water or blod or what so I ran to the bathroom, and realized it was A LOT of blood, and I freaked. I have a history of placental abruption, and this was a good sign that it was happeneing again. I ran out and told my dh, It was too early to call the dr, so I called l&d, and they told me to definitely get in! 5 minutes later, I lost my mucus plug, and it LOOKED JUST like a plug! (EW! TMI, SORRY!) it took us 2 hours to get there, because we had nothing ready to go. But damn it, wouldn't you know... after I was there, and all hooked up to the monitors, and in bed, EVERYTHING stopped! The contractions, the bleeding, EVERYTHING! GRR! So we were let go @ noon, and I was beside myself. I had a dr's appt at 2:15, so we had lunch, and stayed in town, and went to the mall. As soon as I was up and around, the contractions picked up again. We went to the dr's, and my dh stayed out in the van withour dd who was taking a nap, and when I got in her office, I burst into tears! She handed me tissues and asked me if I was rethinking the whole induction thing, and I said "totally YES!" Keep in mind, I'm 39 weeks 4 days at this point. When she checked me to see if I was dialating, I sprung a leak again, and it was fresh blood. She told me that she did NOT like the fact I was bleeding and told me she would call l&d to see if they had a bed for me. They were having staffing issues, so it was decided that I would go in the next day. (YES, SATURDAY!) so once again, we went home. By this time the kiddos were home... and my oldest, (who's 14) was starting to get really worried about me, because the contractions were getting even more painful, (but STILL sporadic!) he kept asking me if I should go to the hospital. Knowing that they weren't coming in any specific pattern I didn't want to be sent home again, so I just hung in there. (But the thing was, I was BLEEDING, wouldn't that be considered emergent? I would think so!) I took some MORE benedryl that night, but got crap for sleep.
I got up @ 4, puttered on the computer, and watched a little tv. I was making sure that my baby was moving, because I was getting really concerned by this point. He was, thank god! We packed the kids up, and the boys stayed back at the house until their dad came to get them, and we brought the girls with us. My mom would be picking up our 5 y/o later that morning, but our 2 y/o wpuld stay with us for a while. My best friend told me later that she had no problem taking her and keeping her overnight, but that would happen after 4pm. No problem. ANYWAYS, we got to the hospital, and a good friend was my nurse. THAT was cool. The bleed ing had settled, but she knew what was going on, so when she hooked up the pitocin, she was being very cautious with it, and not bumping it up that often. It was just what my body needed to kik the contractions on a more even keel. She started it about 10:30ish, and by 11 something, we could already tell that they were every 2-5 minutes. I dealt with them just fine, and feeling more relaxed that I was in a medical setting, and if anything went wrong, they could intervene. So for the rest of her shift, everything was happy-go-lucky.
By the time the 2nd shift nurse came on, I was ready for an epidural! Omg, it was hitting me like a ton of bricks! So I got it around 3:45, and then I was checked to see how far I was dialted, (the first time all day) that's when all hell broke loose. I started bleeding like a piglet! The nurse was super concerned! I was only 1 cm the day before, and now I was almost 4 cm, but bleeding very heavy. They were talking possible c-section, and I started to freak. The severity of the situation was becoming even clearer. My dr came in, and checked me again, and my water broke. She told me, that now the baby's head would become more engaged in my cervix, so it SHOULD clot everything off. It did for the most part, but I could feel the squish of blood leaking every once in awhile. My anethesiologist and nurse was very hovering around me, which I was glad of.. I was just trying to relax and enjoy the rest of the birth process. My sister was on her way, and my girlfriend came and got Lily. My dh and I rested, and when my sis got there, I visited with her a bit and would doze off. Finally, around 8, I felt the urge to push. Sure enough, it was time. By the time everything was setup and dr was there, it was 8:30, and I started pushing. I think I pushed through 3 contractions, and he was born! Omg! The emotions!!! He was as blue as a smurf, I remember asking if he was okay, because he cried, but then he didn't, he was just checking things out. His first apgar scores weren't 9, I don't remember what they were, but then he pinkened up, and his 2nd scores were 9. After my dr got the placeta out, she told me it was 25-30% abrupted! YIKES!!! After cleaning baby up, the respiratory therapist informed us that he had swallowed a lot of blood and she really needed to suction his tummy out... she got out 30 cc's of blood... that is A LOT! He did a whole lot better after that.
FINALLY, as everyone was cleaning everything up, dr and I talked about doing the tubal right away or doing it in the morning. It turned out that the OR was empty right then, so within 20-30 minutes after delivery, I was in OR. I was totally aware of them pulling me over on the table, but I could see myself in the lamps on the ceiling and got scared that I would see them doing their thing. My anesthesiologist was still with me, and he reassured me that he was about to give me Versed and a total block in my epidural, so I would take a nice nap. He also reassure me by saying, "this is routine, this is no problem, I was A LOT more worried about you and your baby earlier... that was A LOT of blood loss!" omg, this dr has been doing this a LONG time, so his words really meant something to me. I took my nap, and the rest is history. My baby is safe and healthy, and I'm just recovering. It was scary, but then I knew everything would be okay. I was relaxed through most of the day; it just got really scary there for a little while.
Comments:
Oh, wow, I was so scared with all the blood you were talking about! This is the kind of case where an induction is a blessing! I'm so glad you're both okay and that it went so well, considering! You did great, mama, and congratulations! Nursing after surgery is hard for a lot of moms, so let me know if you need any support/help (my first was a cesarean--and I know you only had a tubal, but I had a laproscopic cholecystectomy at 4 months, too, so I've had both major and minor surgeries while nursing). I'm so happy for you (although I'm sorry it was so rough!) and welcome to the world, baby John!
I finally read it! Congratulations Laura!! That's just wonderful that everything turned out so perfectly!!
ACK! Laurie!! I mean Laurie!!!
i am just so thankful that it had a happy ending, and he's safe and healthy. since then, i've heard similiar stories with horrible endings. it's all good! :)
Okay .. so I am way out of the loop! Haha. I haven't been on cafemom in forever! Congratulations 5 months later. ;) That was a pretty scary situation! I'm glad everyone is okay. :)
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Congratulations! Thanks for sharing. I'm glad that you & baby John are doing great!!
- my5
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