After enduring five days at the hospital, we have finally arrived safely at home! Everything started a week ago. Wednesday I visited my doctor and she stripped my membranes. We'd tried this the previous two weeks to no avail. This time it worked! I also had been drinking loads of raspberry leaf tea and taking evening primrose oil for the last week. On Wednesday evening I started having constant low abdominal and back cramping that lasted through the night. I slept fine, but every time I woke up the pain was still there.
Around 11am on Thursday morning the cramping became intermittent and didn't go away with rest, activity, eating, etc. So I figured it was early labor. By 8pm the contractions were more frequent and stronger and Greg went in to work to prepare for his sub the next day. While he was gone I cleaned house slowly between contractions and finished packing. By the time he got home at 11pm I knew we had to go to the hospital soon, but was holding off because I didn't want to be sent home for not being far enough into labor. Contractions were very strong and I didn't do much other than lie on the couch or bed for the next 2 hours and tried to relax.
We arrived at the hospital just before 1am on Friday morning. My mom and step dad arrived about an hour later. Unfortunately over the next 4 hours I only progressed 1 cm while continuing to have regular contractions every 2 minutes. My mom rubbed my back giving Greg a break and she helped me in the tub. They ended up sending me home around 5:30am because I planned on laboring without drugs and the nurse said I'd be more comfortable at home. I didn't want to go but consented, crying the whole time. My contractions were VERY strong. Brynn's head was very low down causing much pain in the pelvis and low back. The contraction pains were never at the top of my uterus as they say they are supposed to be.
Once home I stood in the shower for 20 minutes which helped a little. Then I tried to sleep. It just got worse. I was continually up to pee because Brynn's head was pressing on my bladder. Sitting on the toilet trying to pee through pelvic and back pain was terrible. I was in so much pain and could not relax the way I had learned in our Bradley classes. Greg tried to help me relax but I just couldn't. I was so frustrated because it was MUCH worse than I thought it was going to be, but I wasn't progressing. Finally I couldn't take it any longer. Being at home was worse and we couldn't sleep. I needed an epidural.
We arrived again at the hospital around 8:15 am. I had a wonderful young and sweet nurse named Jackie. She started my IV and drew blood. She gave me fluids in the IV before the anesthesiologist arrived for the epidural. He explained everything and was calm. I was scared and Jackie held my hand while the needles were inserted. I stayed calm and he put the epidural in without complication. By 10am I wasn't feeling my contractions.... Praise the Lord! I was able to get some rest after being up since 10am the previous day. Greg napped too. He'd been up since 6:30am the previous day.
I was placed on Pitocin around noon because the contractions had slowed down to every 10 minutes. This worked, along with the bag of waters being broken, and by 7pm I was ready to push. It was change of shift and I was assigned another nurse with 17 years of experience named Delilah. By that time, I wanted to feel the contractions so that I would know when to push, so I let the epidural wear off and only had a little tingling in the legs. My doctor was scheduled to be off duty at 9pm but said with a wink that she would stay to deliver the baby.
With Delilah's wonderful, encouraging support we got off to a good start pushing. Greg had one leg and my mom had the other. Greg's mom, my step dad and my cousin and her 6 year old daughter waited in the waiting room. We expected to have a baby around 9pm. At 9pm we thought it could be another hour. I could see and feel Brynn's head, but she wasn't coming any farther. The doctor checked on me several times and helped me push. Not much was happening but she allowed me to continue pushing.
Around 10:30pm after many tears of fear I agreed to try the vacuum. The whole birth team arrived in the room ready for the "delivery." I pushed very hard through four contractions with the assistance of the vacuum. I cried fearing for my baby. I tried more pushing on my own... nothing! By 11pm I was absolutely exhausted. My neck and upper back were hurting so badly from pushing for four hours with my head curled over my abdomen. I gave up and agreed to a C-section, again after many tears of fear. Mom and Greg were praying constantly at my side.
While pushing with contractions I didn't feel their pain. Once I agreed to the C-Section and couldn't push any more, I could feel every contraction. The anesthesiologist was next door and I waited 15 minutes for my epidural booster. The pain in my neck and upper back was so severe I started to have a panic attack. As they wheeled me into surgery around 11:45pm I was freaking out about the neck pain. Finally, only after they got more drugs into the epidural and I was numb from the armpits down with tingly fingers, did my neck relax.
The surgical suite was packed. Four doctors, three nurses, a surgical tech, a respiratory therapist and us. Greg was at my head to hold my hand until Brynn was born. At 12:03am on October 4th we heard her little cry. We cried and Greg took her first photo. Greg went with her while they examined her. We had our first photos together then Greg went to the nursery with Brynn where she met more family. One of the labor nurses, a friend of mine from the ER, Shannon, stayed with me. She held my hand and spoke loving, encouraging words to me while the doctors repaired my abdomen.
By 1am I was in my room and they brought our baby in to feed and lay on my chest. My labor nurse Delilah was with me until 2am. She was wonderful. Having an almost totally numb body and watching someone move your legs without feeling them was creepy. I couldn't watch.
Brynn had been in a posterior position with her face toward my left hip. Her back was to my back which caused the horrible back labor. That is why she was unable to come out around my pubic bone. With four hours of pushing her little head just wouldn't budge. And I think because my amniotic fluid had been low the last two months is why she hadn't turned. Now why the doctor didn't figure that out before they pulled her out of me is beyond me. I asked the nurse and the doctor several times if her head felt in the right position when they examined me. They thought it was in the usual position. Thinking back I should have mentioned that I could still feel her feet where I had always felt them, just to the left of my navel.
So we recovered over the weekend and on Sunday evening found out that Brynn would most likely be staying until Tuesday due to high bilirubin levels (jaundice). I was discharged Monday night to a room across from the nursery where we were able to "board". Last night, Tuesday, we left around 6pm after Brynn's bilirubin levels had been stable for 12 hours. We were so excited to have the whole ordeal over with and go home with our beautiful daughter!
Around 11am on Thursday morning the cramping became intermittent and didn't go away with rest, activity, eating, etc. So I figured it was early labor. By 8pm the contractions were more frequent and stronger and Greg went in to work to prepare for his sub the next day. While he was gone I cleaned house slowly between contractions and finished packing. By the time he got home at 11pm I knew we had to go to the hospital soon, but was holding off because I didn't want to be sent home for not being far enough into labor. Contractions were very strong and I didn't do much other than lie on the couch or bed for the next 2 hours and tried to relax.
We arrived at the hospital just before 1am on Friday morning. My mom and step dad arrived about an hour later. Unfortunately over the next 4 hours I only progressed 1 cm while continuing to have regular contractions every 2 minutes. My mom rubbed my back giving Greg a break and she helped me in the tub. They ended up sending me home around 5:30am because I planned on laboring without drugs and the nurse said I'd be more comfortable at home. I didn't want to go but consented, crying the whole time. My contractions were VERY strong. Brynn's head was very low down causing much pain in the pelvis and low back. The contraction pains were never at the top of my uterus as they say they are supposed to be.
Once home I stood in the shower for 20 minutes which helped a little. Then I tried to sleep. It just got worse. I was continually up to pee because Brynn's head was pressing on my bladder. Sitting on the toilet trying to pee through pelvic and back pain was terrible. I was in so much pain and could not relax the way I had learned in our Bradley classes. Greg tried to help me relax but I just couldn't. I was so frustrated because it was MUCH worse than I thought it was going to be, but I wasn't progressing. Finally I couldn't take it any longer. Being at home was worse and we couldn't sleep. I needed an epidural.
We arrived again at the hospital around 8:15 am. I had a wonderful young and sweet nurse named Jackie. She started my IV and drew blood. She gave me fluids in the IV before the anesthesiologist arrived for the epidural. He explained everything and was calm. I was scared and Jackie held my hand while the needles were inserted. I stayed calm and he put the epidural in without complication. By 10am I wasn't feeling my contractions.... Praise the Lord! I was able to get some rest after being up since 10am the previous day. Greg napped too. He'd been up since 6:30am the previous day.
I was placed on Pitocin around noon because the contractions had slowed down to every 10 minutes. This worked, along with the bag of waters being broken, and by 7pm I was ready to push. It was change of shift and I was assigned another nurse with 17 years of experience named Delilah. By that time, I wanted to feel the contractions so that I would know when to push, so I let the epidural wear off and only had a little tingling in the legs. My doctor was scheduled to be off duty at 9pm but said with a wink that she would stay to deliver the baby.
With Delilah's wonderful, encouraging support we got off to a good start pushing. Greg had one leg and my mom had the other. Greg's mom, my step dad and my cousin and her 6 year old daughter waited in the waiting room. We expected to have a baby around 9pm. At 9pm we thought it could be another hour. I could see and feel Brynn's head, but she wasn't coming any farther. The doctor checked on me several times and helped me push. Not much was happening but she allowed me to continue pushing.
Around 10:30pm after many tears of fear I agreed to try the vacuum. The whole birth team arrived in the room ready for the "delivery." I pushed very hard through four contractions with the assistance of the vacuum. I cried fearing for my baby. I tried more pushing on my own... nothing! By 11pm I was absolutely exhausted. My neck and upper back were hurting so badly from pushing for four hours with my head curled over my abdomen. I gave up and agreed to a C-section, again after many tears of fear. Mom and Greg were praying constantly at my side.
While pushing with contractions I didn't feel their pain. Once I agreed to the C-Section and couldn't push any more, I could feel every contraction. The anesthesiologist was next door and I waited 15 minutes for my epidural booster. The pain in my neck and upper back was so severe I started to have a panic attack. As they wheeled me into surgery around 11:45pm I was freaking out about the neck pain. Finally, only after they got more drugs into the epidural and I was numb from the armpits down with tingly fingers, did my neck relax.
The surgical suite was packed. Four doctors, three nurses, a surgical tech, a respiratory therapist and us. Greg was at my head to hold my hand until Brynn was born. At 12:03am on October 4th we heard her little cry. We cried and Greg took her first photo. Greg went with her while they examined her. We had our first photos together then Greg went to the nursery with Brynn where she met more family. One of the labor nurses, a friend of mine from the ER, Shannon, stayed with me. She held my hand and spoke loving, encouraging words to me while the doctors repaired my abdomen.
By 1am I was in my room and they brought our baby in to feed and lay on my chest. My labor nurse Delilah was with me until 2am. She was wonderful. Having an almost totally numb body and watching someone move your legs without feeling them was creepy. I couldn't watch.
Brynn had been in a posterior position with her face toward my left hip. Her back was to my back which caused the horrible back labor. That is why she was unable to come out around my pubic bone. With four hours of pushing her little head just wouldn't budge. And I think because my amniotic fluid had been low the last two months is why she hadn't turned. Now why the doctor didn't figure that out before they pulled her out of me is beyond me. I asked the nurse and the doctor several times if her head felt in the right position when they examined me. They thought it was in the usual position. Thinking back I should have mentioned that I could still feel her feet where I had always felt them, just to the left of my navel.
So we recovered over the weekend and on Sunday evening found out that Brynn would most likely be staying until Tuesday due to high bilirubin levels (jaundice). I was discharged Monday night to a room across from the nursery where we were able to "board". Last night, Tuesday, we left around 6pm after Brynn's bilirubin levels had been stable for 12 hours. We were so excited to have the whole ordeal over with and go home with our beautiful daughter!
2 comments:
I really appreciate your story, Alise. Labor is one thing I'm certainly not looking forward to in life, but while your experience sounded dreadfully painful, I can see from the rest of your posts that she is 100% worth all of it. It looks like you guys have been enjoying her thoroughly! :)
I cried through reading your story. I really can empathize with you. My first labor (with Celia) was very similar. My labor with Molly was so fast and I didn't have any drugs or complications. I really felt God's grace. We and many prayed, and prayed for it to be way easier and it was. So, I hope this is encouraging!
Post a Comment