Coco's Birth Story/Update - VERY LONG
Jun 4, 2016 22:19:19 GMT -5
Post by cocobellaf on Jun 4, 2016 22:19:19 GMT -5
Hey everyone!
Things are finally starting to calm down for us. It's still hectic, but a manageable hectic now.
I guess I'll start with the birth story. I don't know if I should put a trigger or anything, but it's fairly traumatic for someone who has experienced it so... Read on, unless you've got a weak heart/stomach.
Saturday evening we went in to the hospital for contractions. The past few weeks I'd been having contractions but no dilation, so we were treating with all the different meds + strict bed rest. We tried the terbutaline shot several times, procardia pill, terbutaline pill, flexeril, etc. On Saturday it was clear that nothing was working. They gave me a couple terbutaline shots and went ahead on starting the steriods for her lungs. We had to go back to the hospital Sunday to finish the steroid treatment and check for any dilation.
We went back in Sunday earlier than we were supposed to because the contractions started back up again. Got checked and had started dilating. So we started the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours.
My God. It was hell. It made the hyperemesis awful, I was vomiting, couldn't keep anything down. It blurred my vision so I couldn't see anything. It was miserable. And I was still contracting and dilating while on it. We got the contractions down after 12 hours on the mag, plus another 12 hours to finish the treatment.
Tuesday evening my OB came by to check me and see if I could go back home on bed rest. Contractions had started up strong again but I was hopeful they were just BH and that I wasn't dilating anymore. I had to pee, so I tried to get off the bed and ended up wetting myself on the bed a little. Got into the bathroom and a big gush of water came out. I called for my OB to come look. She had me get back on the bed and checked my cervix and said, "Well, we're having this baby. Your water just broke!" Cue panic on our part. It was Tuesday around 4:30 PM.
So contractions got hard very quickly. They gave me some Staydol (sp?) and that helped take the edge off, but still very painful. I had contractions every 2-3 minutes all night long. I didn't want to do the epidural until I'd reached 4 cm, so I just held on. Eventually, we got there and started the epidural. It worked for a few minutes, and then suddenly started to wear off. This happened several times. The first time is because it fell out. And then because there was a kink in something. And then something else. And then I had to wait an hour until they'd try a new one. So we tried the epidural again (and this guy was a horrible man, ugh!) and it wouldn't take.
So... I ended up with a natural, 24-25 hour long birth. I pushed for 2 hours at the end. The bad thing is that most women have breaks in between contractions, but mine were constant. I was lucky to get 30 seconds in between, and then they lasted 2 minutes or so every time. When we were pushing, I actually didn't have breaks in contractions... it was just one long contraction that would dip down a bit and then shoot back up. Instead of doing 3 10-second pushes, I was doing 5 or 6 10-second pushes, breaking for a few seconds, and then pushing again.
H was amazing. He didn't sit or eat or drink or use the bathroom the whole time. He let me scream at him and he just kept feeding me ice chips, brushing my hair back, talking me through it. At then end, he held one of my legs and watched as I was pushing her out. When I would get an especially good push, he would start getting excited and cheer me on. He watched as she crowned and came out and just cried. I got to hold her for about 2 seconds before they took her away. The crowning/ring of fire, them stretching me open so she could slide out faster, the stitches, nothing hurt compared to the labor.
The experience was absolutely traumatizing. My body shook for about 12 hours afterwards. I couldn't see because my vision was so blurred. I couldn't see my daughter's face when I finally got to look at her through an incubator. That night, every time I tried to close my eyes and go to sleep, I could feel the contractions starting again and then the flashbacks would be begin.
It was a really rough night. We were up practically the whole time because I had to keep getting checked. I ran a fever during the labor, so I had to do extra antibiotics. I had to start pumping every 2-3 hours. It was a blur!
So that is my long story.
As for updates... Kennedy is off all oxygen. She's eating like a pig. We do bottle feeds with my milk+supplement every other feed, and they are cutting back on her tube feedings because she is so greedy with the bottle. She had to do some phototherapy today for jaundice, but she's almost back up to her birth weight and she is just blowing them away. Tomorrow we are going to try nursing!! She has an amazing suck reflex, which really doesn't develop until 35 weeks, but we're going with it.
She is so feisty. She's already trying to lift her head. She tore out one of her IVs so they had to replace it. She's incredibly strong. She is amazing and perfect.
After a hellish pregnancy and delivery, I am having an amazing recovery. I was able to eat anything as soon as they started feeding me right after delivery. I haven't been sick once. Food tastes like food again. The back pain was immediately gone. I feel more alive than I have in months. Since I didn't get an epi, I was walking to the bathroom immediately after they finished cleaning me up.
My job right now is to sleep, eat, pump, visit baby. H's mom is staying with us for now to cook and clean.
And now for pics!
Right after birth.
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Things are finally starting to calm down for us. It's still hectic, but a manageable hectic now.
I guess I'll start with the birth story. I don't know if I should put a trigger or anything, but it's fairly traumatic for someone who has experienced it so... Read on, unless you've got a weak heart/stomach.
Saturday evening we went in to the hospital for contractions. The past few weeks I'd been having contractions but no dilation, so we were treating with all the different meds + strict bed rest. We tried the terbutaline shot several times, procardia pill, terbutaline pill, flexeril, etc. On Saturday it was clear that nothing was working. They gave me a couple terbutaline shots and went ahead on starting the steriods for her lungs. We had to go back to the hospital Sunday to finish the steroid treatment and check for any dilation.
We went back in Sunday earlier than we were supposed to because the contractions started back up again. Got checked and had started dilating. So we started the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours.
My God. It was hell. It made the hyperemesis awful, I was vomiting, couldn't keep anything down. It blurred my vision so I couldn't see anything. It was miserable. And I was still contracting and dilating while on it. We got the contractions down after 12 hours on the mag, plus another 12 hours to finish the treatment.
Tuesday evening my OB came by to check me and see if I could go back home on bed rest. Contractions had started up strong again but I was hopeful they were just BH and that I wasn't dilating anymore. I had to pee, so I tried to get off the bed and ended up wetting myself on the bed a little. Got into the bathroom and a big gush of water came out. I called for my OB to come look. She had me get back on the bed and checked my cervix and said, "Well, we're having this baby. Your water just broke!" Cue panic on our part. It was Tuesday around 4:30 PM.
So contractions got hard very quickly. They gave me some Staydol (sp?) and that helped take the edge off, but still very painful. I had contractions every 2-3 minutes all night long. I didn't want to do the epidural until I'd reached 4 cm, so I just held on. Eventually, we got there and started the epidural. It worked for a few minutes, and then suddenly started to wear off. This happened several times. The first time is because it fell out. And then because there was a kink in something. And then something else. And then I had to wait an hour until they'd try a new one. So we tried the epidural again (and this guy was a horrible man, ugh!) and it wouldn't take.
So... I ended up with a natural, 24-25 hour long birth. I pushed for 2 hours at the end. The bad thing is that most women have breaks in between contractions, but mine were constant. I was lucky to get 30 seconds in between, and then they lasted 2 minutes or so every time. When we were pushing, I actually didn't have breaks in contractions... it was just one long contraction that would dip down a bit and then shoot back up. Instead of doing 3 10-second pushes, I was doing 5 or 6 10-second pushes, breaking for a few seconds, and then pushing again.
H was amazing. He didn't sit or eat or drink or use the bathroom the whole time. He let me scream at him and he just kept feeding me ice chips, brushing my hair back, talking me through it. At then end, he held one of my legs and watched as I was pushing her out. When I would get an especially good push, he would start getting excited and cheer me on. He watched as she crowned and came out and just cried. I got to hold her for about 2 seconds before they took her away. The crowning/ring of fire, them stretching me open so she could slide out faster, the stitches, nothing hurt compared to the labor.
The experience was absolutely traumatizing. My body shook for about 12 hours afterwards. I couldn't see because my vision was so blurred. I couldn't see my daughter's face when I finally got to look at her through an incubator. That night, every time I tried to close my eyes and go to sleep, I could feel the contractions starting again and then the flashbacks would be begin.
It was a really rough night. We were up practically the whole time because I had to keep getting checked. I ran a fever during the labor, so I had to do extra antibiotics. I had to start pumping every 2-3 hours. It was a blur!
So that is my long story.
As for updates... Kennedy is off all oxygen. She's eating like a pig. We do bottle feeds with my milk+supplement every other feed, and they are cutting back on her tube feedings because she is so greedy with the bottle. She had to do some phototherapy today for jaundice, but she's almost back up to her birth weight and she is just blowing them away. Tomorrow we are going to try nursing!! She has an amazing suck reflex, which really doesn't develop until 35 weeks, but we're going with it.
She is so feisty. She's already trying to lift her head. She tore out one of her IVs so they had to replace it. She's incredibly strong. She is amazing and perfect.
After a hellish pregnancy and delivery, I am having an amazing recovery. I was able to eat anything as soon as they started feeding me right after delivery. I haven't been sick once. Food tastes like food again. The back pain was immediately gone. I feel more alive than I have in months. Since I didn't get an epi, I was walking to the bathroom immediately after they finished cleaning me up.
My job right now is to sleep, eat, pump, visit baby. H's mom is staying with us for now to cook and clean.
And now for pics!
Right after birth.
