Pre-eclampsia & a baby with no name - kcbizme's birth story
Mar 26, 2015 16:38:40 GMT -5
Post by kcbizme on Mar 26, 2015 16:38:40 GMT -5
My story is very long! It's taken me 3 weeks to finally type this up, so here goes:
I had my 40 week appt on Tuesday 3/3. My bp was 162/90 and the nurse told me I was going to L&D after my appt, and to lie down on my left side and they would retake my bp in about 10 minutes. My husband hadn't made it to the doc's office yet and I was already freaking out waiting for him to get there. The doc came in and checked my cervix and I was at 1 cm and 50% effaced. Then she checked my bp again and it was at 164/92. My husband was there by this point and after the doc left the office I started crying.
I was escorted over to L&D and checked in. I had pre-registered with the hospital months before so all I had to do was sign the paperwork. They gave me a room and a gown and told me to remove everything, including my jewelry.
At 4:00 they started the magnesium drip. That was awful. My whole body felt like it was on fire! I even had them bring me a fan because I was so hot. At 5:15 they put in the first dose of Cytotec. I was able to eat 2 hours after the first dose was administered. I had my H bring me some fries. At 6:55 they gave me a dose of bp meds because my pressures kept getting higher. At one point it was 180-something/102. I got 3 more doses of Cytotec every 4 hours along with cervical checks. Around 11 the nurses kicked everyone except my H and my mom out. I hated my nurses overnight because they had tiny hands and my cervical checks hurt like hell! I can't tell you how happy I was to see my doc in the morning (she's tall with long fingers). I was contracting every 1-3 minutes on my own overnight, but the 4 doses of Cytotec only got me to 2 cm.
At 8:25 on 3/4 the Pitocin was started. My doc came in at 9:05 and broke my water. I labored until 11:30 before I finally started asking for pain relief. They didn't want to give me pain meds because I was already on magnesium. At 12:00 the epidural was placed and I was so much better off. I was able to relax and could only feel pressure from the contractions, not pain. I finally started to progress but baby wasn't tolerating the pit so they had to turn it off. This happened 2 more times and after the 3rd time the doc said she didn't want to turn it back on and that she was recommending a c-section because the baby couldn't tolerate contractions on the pit and I wasn't contracting regularly without it. She was also concerned that I would develop an infection. My H and I stalled as long as we could. I cried, we prayed and I finally said okay. They started prepping me at about 5:30 and at 5:50 I was wheeled to the OR. My H put his scrubs on and sat in the waiting room. He brought 3 phones in with him to take pictures when they were ready to start.
We were able to see the whole procedure in the reflection of the lights over the operating table which was really cool. I even mentioned it and my doctor laughed and kept going. At 6:31pm on Wednesday, March 4th, my beautiful boy came into the world screaming and peeing! He weighed 6 lbs 4.8 oz and was 19.29" long. The NICU team assessed him before I got to hold him or see him because I was on magnesium. My H was calling out to me what he looked like from across the room. Then he brought him over to me and laid him on my chest while the doc finished sewing me up. My H was crying and so was I. He was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen!
We didn't get to go home until Saturday. I had to stay in L&D for 24 hours after he was born because I had to stay on the magnesium. I got moved upstairs about 9:30 on Thursday evening. My MIL stayed at the hospital with us that night which actually turned out to be a big help. I was finally able to move around after being bedridden for 2 days and it felt amazing! I was able to manage my pain with just the Motrin 800.
We we argued for the next 2 days over what name we would give him. We didn't name him until we were almost ready to leave the hospital, literally. We finally chose the name Benjamin!
I had a hard time dealing with the fact that my birth literally went completely opposite of how I had imagined and prepared for it to go. I was hoping for a completely med-free, intervention-free birth and I got the absolute last thing I ever wanted. I ended up with a beautiful, healthy baby boy and in the end that is all that really matters.
If you made it through this long story, you deserve a cookie! Thank you for reading!
I had my 40 week appt on Tuesday 3/3. My bp was 162/90 and the nurse told me I was going to L&D after my appt, and to lie down on my left side and they would retake my bp in about 10 minutes. My husband hadn't made it to the doc's office yet and I was already freaking out waiting for him to get there. The doc came in and checked my cervix and I was at 1 cm and 50% effaced. Then she checked my bp again and it was at 164/92. My husband was there by this point and after the doc left the office I started crying.
I was escorted over to L&D and checked in. I had pre-registered with the hospital months before so all I had to do was sign the paperwork. They gave me a room and a gown and told me to remove everything, including my jewelry.
At 4:00 they started the magnesium drip. That was awful. My whole body felt like it was on fire! I even had them bring me a fan because I was so hot. At 5:15 they put in the first dose of Cytotec. I was able to eat 2 hours after the first dose was administered. I had my H bring me some fries. At 6:55 they gave me a dose of bp meds because my pressures kept getting higher. At one point it was 180-something/102. I got 3 more doses of Cytotec every 4 hours along with cervical checks. Around 11 the nurses kicked everyone except my H and my mom out. I hated my nurses overnight because they had tiny hands and my cervical checks hurt like hell! I can't tell you how happy I was to see my doc in the morning (she's tall with long fingers). I was contracting every 1-3 minutes on my own overnight, but the 4 doses of Cytotec only got me to 2 cm.
At 8:25 on 3/4 the Pitocin was started. My doc came in at 9:05 and broke my water. I labored until 11:30 before I finally started asking for pain relief. They didn't want to give me pain meds because I was already on magnesium. At 12:00 the epidural was placed and I was so much better off. I was able to relax and could only feel pressure from the contractions, not pain. I finally started to progress but baby wasn't tolerating the pit so they had to turn it off. This happened 2 more times and after the 3rd time the doc said she didn't want to turn it back on and that she was recommending a c-section because the baby couldn't tolerate contractions on the pit and I wasn't contracting regularly without it. She was also concerned that I would develop an infection. My H and I stalled as long as we could. I cried, we prayed and I finally said okay. They started prepping me at about 5:30 and at 5:50 I was wheeled to the OR. My H put his scrubs on and sat in the waiting room. He brought 3 phones in with him to take pictures when they were ready to start.
We were able to see the whole procedure in the reflection of the lights over the operating table which was really cool. I even mentioned it and my doctor laughed and kept going. At 6:31pm on Wednesday, March 4th, my beautiful boy came into the world screaming and peeing! He weighed 6 lbs 4.8 oz and was 19.29" long. The NICU team assessed him before I got to hold him or see him because I was on magnesium. My H was calling out to me what he looked like from across the room. Then he brought him over to me and laid him on my chest while the doc finished sewing me up. My H was crying and so was I. He was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen!
We didn't get to go home until Saturday. I had to stay in L&D for 24 hours after he was born because I had to stay on the magnesium. I got moved upstairs about 9:30 on Thursday evening. My MIL stayed at the hospital with us that night which actually turned out to be a big help. I was finally able to move around after being bedridden for 2 days and it felt amazing! I was able to manage my pain with just the Motrin 800.
We we argued for the next 2 days over what name we would give him. We didn't name him until we were almost ready to leave the hospital, literally. We finally chose the name Benjamin!
I had a hard time dealing with the fact that my birth literally went completely opposite of how I had imagined and prepared for it to go. I was hoping for a completely med-free, intervention-free birth and I got the absolute last thing I ever wanted. I ended up with a beautiful, healthy baby boy and in the end that is all that really matters.
If you made it through this long story, you deserve a cookie! Thank you for reading!
