Monday, August 12, 2013

Birth part 2

Mom and I decided to start walking the halls. I showed her how to use my contraction timer app on my iphone and she was really good about ready my cues and being able to start and stop the timer without me even having to say anything. By the time DH got back the contractions were lasting about a minute and coming every 3 minutes. It was getting to be close to 4pm and mom was trying to suggest having the nurse do a cervix check in case we needed to call my midwife, but I didn't feel like I had really hit transition yet. I decided just to wait for her to get there.
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We continued walking the halls until the nurse came to find us that my midwife was there just after 5pm. We were all very surprised when she checked me that I was only 5cm and still only 60-70% and high. She suggested that we get a strip on the baby and then get in the shower on my hands and knees for a while. It was then that I realized I had forgot my tankini top that I had bought. SO I was just totally naked laying over my birth ball in the shower LOL! I am not sure how long I was in the shower but the contractions did not feel as bad with the water hitting my back. I got out just before the shift change so that must have been around 7pm. While I was in there my midwife told me my blood work had come back and that my H&H (hemoglobin and hematocrit) was only 8.8 and that left no room for error if I started bleeding so I had to have an IV.
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20110614-IMG_7067The new nurse was so fabulous. She was from Hawaii and had 4 natural child births and was so excited that we were having a surprise baby because she had as well! We hit it off right away. I was her only laboring mother so she basically stayed in the room with me. My midwife started looking for a vein for the IV and I have horrible veins. I knew it would be hard to find a site. My midwife got one vein in my right forearm, but the vein blew before she could finish setting up the IV. She went to my left arm and found a vein right below my elbow but that one blew as well. If she couldn't get a vein the anesthesiologist said he would place a central line, which I obviously didn't want. Thankfully 3rd time was the charm and she got the IV placed on the back of my right hand. She decided to just hang a back of fluid so the IV would have something running through it. It was a little annoying since I had been drinking so much water to stay hydrated and avoid the IV.
After the IV placement I was able to get back out of bed. My midwife had one other patient in the triage area so she was between the two of us. My midwife brought in some lavender oil to help me relax. My nurse helped me get into a standing position and would have me do a hip sway/squat through the contractions. At about 8pm they started seeing a few decels on the monitor so after some talking we agreed it would be best to get an internal monitor so that they could really see what the baby was doing and see how strong my contractions were. They were now lasting about 1 1/2 min and coming every 2-3 min. We she placed the internal monitors I was still only 5cm. I was trying not to get discouraged, but after 8 hours of labor I was surprised I had not progressed farther.
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20110614-IMG_7071I got back up between contractions and the first contraction I had while standing up the baby's heart rate plummeted. I don't know how long it was but the drop was well below the 100 mark on the screen
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The nurse let me go through one more contraction standing to see what the baby would do. Sure enough the heart rate dropped right after the peak of the contraction. Into the bed I went. I continued to breath through the contraction an rock my hips as much as I could while laying on my side. The baby's heart rate was better, but was still having decels. After a while of switching back and forth on my sides. My midwife suggested a saline infusion so they hooked that up to see if the decels would stop.20110614-IMG_7072
The longer I was in bed the more my contractions slowed down. They got to about 5 minutes apart instead of 2 minutes. At about 9 pm my midwife came in and sat down by the bed. The decels were starting to happen between the contractions. My contractions were slowing down and I wasn't dilating. She suggested we try an epidural to see if it would relax me enough so I would dilate and birth this baby. I agreed since if a c-section was going to happen it would be better to already have the epidural in place.
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They called for the epidural and started to prepare me, this doctor was very particular about how things are during the procedure. The kids wanted to come see me so we made arrangements for them to come up to the hospital and my Dad would take them home to spend the night. The time should have been perfect for the epidural to be done by the time they got to the hospital.

When the doctor got to the room my mom and DH had to leave the room. I answered his questions and got into position. I held perfectly still just like the nurse had instructed me. At the end of the procedure I felt a stabbing pain up the back of my neck to the top of my head. The doctor said the needle was out and that he wasn't doing anything. He continued to tape up the tubing and finished what he was doing. The numbness was spreading fast. When he finished I was still sitting up. I told my midwife I didn't feel right and everything was very numb. I started to kind if fall over and my midwife helped but then as soon as I was laying down I felt worse. My midwife toon my blood pressure and it was 80/30!!
My midwife called for help and everything got kind of blurry. The kept asking me to squeeze their hands and I couldn't. I would try talk and nothing would come out. They rubbed my chest asking if I could feel it but I couldn't. I was so scared, I had no idea what was going on and there were so many people in the room.

They gave me a shot of epinephrine and raised my head some and my blood pressure came up. They kept telling me that I was breathing even though I couldn't feel that I was. The nurse was reassuring me that the baby was doing fine, even though I wasn't. Just when I started feeling a little better it started happening again. They called for the anesthesiologist to come back in and my midwife called for a shot of something else (they told me later it was to reverse the effects of the epidural) plus a second shot of epinephrine.
After the 2nd episode passed my midwife went out to the waiting room to talk to DH & my mom and brought them back in with her. They officially called "decision time" for the c-section at 10:26pm. The kids never got to come in of course. The doctor I thought would be doing the c-section was actually on vacation so another OB was covering for him. I was disappointed because this OB has no bedside manor ... but he is a great surgeon. The anesthesiologist started talking about giving me more meds for the c-section, but I don't understand why (my midwife and nurse didn't either) because I was already so numb I felt NOTHING below my neck. He settled for only giving me a 3rd of a regular c-section dose. My midwife was concerned that I would have a reaction again. She said that if they had to put in a breathing tube they would put me under general anesthesia and then DH couldn't be in the OR.
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There was lots of activity after they called for the c-section. I was still kind of out of it. I don't remember many details. I know I wanted to close my eyes but I was afraid too. I know that mom was making sure all my stuff was packed up. They gave DH scrubs to change into, they were huge LOL. The nurse changed me out of my pretty custom gown and into the regular hospital one again. Then it was time to move me. I remember that nothing happened slowly. Everything was very fast paced.
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Once in the OR I remember thinking it was nothing like the movies and the room was very small and white. They made DH wait outside. They moved me to the OR table, I told them I never felt huge during the pregnancy until that moment ... it had to have taken 6-8 people to move me. I felt like I was the size of a whale. After they moved me I felt like I needed to throw up but I had no muscles to get it out. I asked someone to suction it and the anesthesiologist said it would make me gag. I didn't care, I just wanted it out! I think my nurse finally came and did it for me.

It felt like forever before they let DH come in the room. All I remember seeing was his eyes the size of saucers, since he had a face mask and hat it was all I could see. I think they started once he was in the room. They said you might feel some pressure, but I felt nothing at all. The next thing I heard was his cry and then my midwife said "It's a boy" and I started crying. I have no pictures from in the OR because we were not able to take a camera in with us.  I didn’t see my son for hours because they would not bring him to me in my recovery room.  Luckily my mom had kept my camera and took photos of him in the Baby Holding Area.

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