Baby Ducky Birth Story (XP CAR)
Jun 28, 2016 8:36:39 GMT -5
Post by littleducky on Jun 28, 2016 8:36:39 GMT -5
Hi ladies!
I haven't dropped off a cliff, although the complete radio silence over the past week may have suggested as much. We have had a rough go of things since getting home, so I have been in survival mode. I'm finally getting around to writing out my birth story, so here it is for your reading pleasure. Warning – it’s looooooong, and it includes my postpartum story (so far) as well.
I went in for my induction at 10pm on Monday night, 6/20. I did all my paperwork and got settled in a room and got my IV hooked up and all that jazz. Finally got things going at about 12:30am. I was checked and I was starting at 1cm, 50% effaced, and -3. Cytotec was placed at 12:40am and I was told to get some sleep. I was not able to sleep well at all on the horribly uncomfortable labor and delivery bed, and I'm sure that adrenaline was interfering, too. I maybe dozed an hour here or there, but I definitely did not get quality sleep. At 4:40am I was checked again and I was 2cm, still 50% effaced and -3.
At 6:30am they started the pitocin at 2 units and they turned it up over the next few ours. By 7:30 it was up to 4 units, byt 9 up to 6 units, and by 9:30 up to 8 units. They were able to get a wireless monitoring unit set up so that I was allowed to walk the halls a bit. I was checked again at 9:30am, and I was up to 3cm. At this point, the OB recommended going ahead and requesting the epidural. My platelet count was stable (this was a concern for the epi -- my platelet count had been on the edge of the safe level for an epidural) and the OB was concerned that the IV fluid I was getting could drop my platelet count more just by diluting my blood with more fluid, so I went ahead and requested the epidural. It was placed at 10:45am and it was amazing.
Over the next few hours, the pitocin was increased every 30 minutes, to 10 at 11am, 12 at 11:30, 14 at noon. By noon, I was still 3cm. At 1:45, I was 3.5 cm and 70% effaced. I was having good contractions but not progressing much, so the OB decided to go ahead and rupture my membranes and see if that moved things along. Throughout the afternoon, they also had me work on getting into different positions to try to get the baby to turn. The OB was concerned that the reason that I wasn't progressing very quickly was that the baby's head was turned or possibly sunny side up, making it so that she wasn't coming down the way she should. By 4:30pm, I was at 5cm, 90% effaced, and -1. But the OB was concerned about some of the baby's variable heart rate patterns, so she wanted to put in an internal contraction monitor and use it to put some fluid back into the uterus (called an amnioinfusion). She thought that adding some fluid back would make the baby tolerate the contractions better. The internal contraction monitor was placed at 4:40pm.
The internal monitor was incredibly painful. I asked the anesthesiologist to redose my epi but even with the bolus, I had severe pain inside where I felt the monitor with every contraction. By 5:35pm, I was at 7 cm and figured I was in the home stretch. The nurse I had all day was saying how her shift ended at 7, but that if I was about to deliver within 30 min or so of shift change, she might stay since she didn't want to miss the delivery after being with me all day.
The OBs switched at around 6pm, and my regular OB happened to be taking over. I told her how horribly uncomfortable the internal monitor was, and she removed it at 7 pm. It was a huge relief. She also checked me and I was at 8cm, so while I was still feeling a lot of pain, pressure, and discomfort, I figured that it would all be over soon. I was having quite a bit of bleeding at this point, so they had me sign consents for a c-section and blood products just in case.
Unfortunately things didn't progress as quickly as we had hoped because the baby's head was still turned and preventing her from coming down and preventing me from dilating the rest of the way. At 8:20pm, I was at 9cm and 0 station, but with a thick lip of cervix. I figured I'd be pushing shortly.
Instead, I stalled at 9cm for four and a half miserable hours. Baby’s heartrate looked good, and I was contracting, so everything looked good on the monitors. But I was feeling really intense pain and pressure with each contraction that the epidural wasn’t helping with. They kept telling me that the pain and pressure I was feeling was low enough that the epidural wouldn’t work as well on that area. I guess that makes sense. What you feel when you’re at 9cm is usually just for a brief period of time, and usually you feel it regardless of whether you have an epi or not. It’s a bit fuzzy, but I remember a lot of crying and writing and asking the anesthesiologist to come back over and over again for more drugs. By 10:30pm, my OB was saying that the baby just wasn’t making progress due to her position and that we would likely be looking at a c-section if nothing changed within 30 minutes. I was upset, but I also felt like if a c/s was inevitable, I’d rather get it done and over with than be in horrible pain even longer. She said she’d be back to check me again in 30 minutes. In the meantime, she got pulled into another delivery. A resident came in at some point and explained that she was in another delivery and would be back to check me after she finished in there, but that we would probably be going to the OR. The anesthesiologists kept redosing me and eventually gave me the dose they usually give for a c-section. I guess I fell asleep at some point, even though I was sort of dozing between contractions and then waking up crying during each contraction. (DH reports this – my memory is pretty fuzzy on the details here.) I do know that I dozed for a little bit, because I remember waking up and forgetting for just a second where I was, and thinking that I was at home. And then I totally lost my shit when I realized where I was and that I was still in labor. According to DH, I said things like, “why won’t they just get a knife and cut this baby out of me?” I also said things about how everyone was ignoring me and it wasn’t fair for them to keep torturing me and making me do this if I was going to have to have a c-section anyway (which is the distinct impression I had gotten, given my lack of progress).
At 12:30am (at this point, it was Wednesday 6/22), my OB still hadn’t come back yet because she was still in another delivery. I said that I was feeling a whole lot of pressure and that I thought I needed to push. A resident came in at 12:40am. She said that she could still feel a lip of cervix but that the lip was soft and that she could push it behind the baby’s head, so I could go ahead and try to push. I started pushing at 12:47am and baby girl was born at 12:59am. My OB made it into the room about halfway through pushing. Until that point, it was several residents who were in the room as well as my nurse. I had a few second-degree tears which needed to be repaired. Baby was 8 lbs 13 oz and absolutely perfect.
Baby and I had skin to skin time right away and she nursed for a little while. We were ultimately transferred to a mother/baby room around 4:30am.
Baby nursed decently well while we were at the hospital, but we did notice that she had a tongue tie, so we made an appointment to get that correct ASAP. Thankfully there was an appointment available on Friday 6/24. We were discharged from the hospital in the early afternoon of Thursday 6/23.
The first several days home were rough, to say the least. Baby got jaundiced and almost was readmitted to the hospital for phototherapy, and her platelet count kept dropping each day and bottomed out at 56 on 6/26. This is due to my autoimmune disorder. My anti-platelet antibodies crossed over to her in utero and caused her to have a low platelet count. The maternal antibodies usually die off within the first few days and the baby’s platelets hit their low point generally between day 2 and day 5. Thankfully, her platelet count had increased slightly as of 6/27, so we are probably in the clear at this point, since once they start to go up, they will continue to go up.
The jaundice was a big problem the first several days, since she got VERY sleepy and was refusing to nurse or even eat much at all when we supplemented with a syringe. We ended up in the ER for four hours between 1 and 5am on Saturday 6/25 because she was so lethargic. She was right on the line of whether we should be permitted to take her home or not, but they ultimately let us go home as long as we continued to basically force feed her as much formula and pumped milk as possible and get her levels checked again on Sunday. Unfortunately on Sunday, after we went to the pedi again and then went over to the lab at the hospital (our pedi usually can do blood draws in the office, but their lab isn’t open on Sundays) and finally got home, we got a call that the blood sample had clotted, so we had to leave the house and go back to the hospital lab AGAIN. This same thing happened yesterday, when we went to the pedi, got her blood drawn, and then got a call a couple hours later that it had clotted and we had to go back out again. The good news was though that when we did finally get the results back, both her platelets and bilirubin had improved. She is still not gaining weight the way she should be though (weighed in at 8 lbs .5 oz yesterday), so our task for today is to try to feed her as much as possible, which should be a LOT easier when we aren’t driving all over town getting blood drawn and going to doctor appointments.
I spiked a fever yesterday afternoon and the OB thinks I probably have a UTI, so I need to pee in a jar and have DH take it into the OB’s office this morning. Because a UTI is exactly what I feel like dealing with right now, and I love the idea of ending up with a yeast infection from antibiotics. Also, when the baby was jaundiced and sleepy, she started refusing the breast and now hasn’t nursed since Saturday. I had the lactation consultant here yesterday afternoon (Monday) and she recommended switching to paced bottle feeding (we had been using a syringe), doing a lot of skin to skin, and some tongue exercises. I am hopeful that she will breastfeed successfully once she gains a bit more weight and is a bit more alert, but it is very upsetting right now that she won’t. But at least we are on the right track now with the bilirubin and the platelets and we are trying to deal with one thing at a time.
We are all home together and that is what matters. 5yo DS has been super sweet with her, although he does need reminders to be calm and not jump around on the couch next to her, for example. Hoping that we can make some progress with the remaining issues over the next few days.
TLDR: Baby girl was delivered vaginally at 12:59am on June 22, 2016 after a long induction that stalled at 9cm for far too many hours. 8lbs 13 oz and absolutely perfect in every way. Dealt with jaundice and low platelets and nursing issues and weight loss over the past several days, some of which have resolved and some of which are ongoing, but hopefully all of which will be resolved soon.
I haven't dropped off a cliff, although the complete radio silence over the past week may have suggested as much. We have had a rough go of things since getting home, so I have been in survival mode. I'm finally getting around to writing out my birth story, so here it is for your reading pleasure. Warning – it’s looooooong, and it includes my postpartum story (so far) as well.
I went in for my induction at 10pm on Monday night, 6/20. I did all my paperwork and got settled in a room and got my IV hooked up and all that jazz. Finally got things going at about 12:30am. I was checked and I was starting at 1cm, 50% effaced, and -3. Cytotec was placed at 12:40am and I was told to get some sleep. I was not able to sleep well at all on the horribly uncomfortable labor and delivery bed, and I'm sure that adrenaline was interfering, too. I maybe dozed an hour here or there, but I definitely did not get quality sleep. At 4:40am I was checked again and I was 2cm, still 50% effaced and -3.
At 6:30am they started the pitocin at 2 units and they turned it up over the next few ours. By 7:30 it was up to 4 units, byt 9 up to 6 units, and by 9:30 up to 8 units. They were able to get a wireless monitoring unit set up so that I was allowed to walk the halls a bit. I was checked again at 9:30am, and I was up to 3cm. At this point, the OB recommended going ahead and requesting the epidural. My platelet count was stable (this was a concern for the epi -- my platelet count had been on the edge of the safe level for an epidural) and the OB was concerned that the IV fluid I was getting could drop my platelet count more just by diluting my blood with more fluid, so I went ahead and requested the epidural. It was placed at 10:45am and it was amazing.
Over the next few hours, the pitocin was increased every 30 minutes, to 10 at 11am, 12 at 11:30, 14 at noon. By noon, I was still 3cm. At 1:45, I was 3.5 cm and 70% effaced. I was having good contractions but not progressing much, so the OB decided to go ahead and rupture my membranes and see if that moved things along. Throughout the afternoon, they also had me work on getting into different positions to try to get the baby to turn. The OB was concerned that the reason that I wasn't progressing very quickly was that the baby's head was turned or possibly sunny side up, making it so that she wasn't coming down the way she should. By 4:30pm, I was at 5cm, 90% effaced, and -1. But the OB was concerned about some of the baby's variable heart rate patterns, so she wanted to put in an internal contraction monitor and use it to put some fluid back into the uterus (called an amnioinfusion). She thought that adding some fluid back would make the baby tolerate the contractions better. The internal contraction monitor was placed at 4:40pm.
The internal monitor was incredibly painful. I asked the anesthesiologist to redose my epi but even with the bolus, I had severe pain inside where I felt the monitor with every contraction. By 5:35pm, I was at 7 cm and figured I was in the home stretch. The nurse I had all day was saying how her shift ended at 7, but that if I was about to deliver within 30 min or so of shift change, she might stay since she didn't want to miss the delivery after being with me all day.
The OBs switched at around 6pm, and my regular OB happened to be taking over. I told her how horribly uncomfortable the internal monitor was, and she removed it at 7 pm. It was a huge relief. She also checked me and I was at 8cm, so while I was still feeling a lot of pain, pressure, and discomfort, I figured that it would all be over soon. I was having quite a bit of bleeding at this point, so they had me sign consents for a c-section and blood products just in case.
Unfortunately things didn't progress as quickly as we had hoped because the baby's head was still turned and preventing her from coming down and preventing me from dilating the rest of the way. At 8:20pm, I was at 9cm and 0 station, but with a thick lip of cervix. I figured I'd be pushing shortly.
Instead, I stalled at 9cm for four and a half miserable hours. Baby’s heartrate looked good, and I was contracting, so everything looked good on the monitors. But I was feeling really intense pain and pressure with each contraction that the epidural wasn’t helping with. They kept telling me that the pain and pressure I was feeling was low enough that the epidural wouldn’t work as well on that area. I guess that makes sense. What you feel when you’re at 9cm is usually just for a brief period of time, and usually you feel it regardless of whether you have an epi or not. It’s a bit fuzzy, but I remember a lot of crying and writing and asking the anesthesiologist to come back over and over again for more drugs. By 10:30pm, my OB was saying that the baby just wasn’t making progress due to her position and that we would likely be looking at a c-section if nothing changed within 30 minutes. I was upset, but I also felt like if a c/s was inevitable, I’d rather get it done and over with than be in horrible pain even longer. She said she’d be back to check me again in 30 minutes. In the meantime, she got pulled into another delivery. A resident came in at some point and explained that she was in another delivery and would be back to check me after she finished in there, but that we would probably be going to the OR. The anesthesiologists kept redosing me and eventually gave me the dose they usually give for a c-section. I guess I fell asleep at some point, even though I was sort of dozing between contractions and then waking up crying during each contraction. (DH reports this – my memory is pretty fuzzy on the details here.) I do know that I dozed for a little bit, because I remember waking up and forgetting for just a second where I was, and thinking that I was at home. And then I totally lost my shit when I realized where I was and that I was still in labor. According to DH, I said things like, “why won’t they just get a knife and cut this baby out of me?” I also said things about how everyone was ignoring me and it wasn’t fair for them to keep torturing me and making me do this if I was going to have to have a c-section anyway (which is the distinct impression I had gotten, given my lack of progress).
At 12:30am (at this point, it was Wednesday 6/22), my OB still hadn’t come back yet because she was still in another delivery. I said that I was feeling a whole lot of pressure and that I thought I needed to push. A resident came in at 12:40am. She said that she could still feel a lip of cervix but that the lip was soft and that she could push it behind the baby’s head, so I could go ahead and try to push. I started pushing at 12:47am and baby girl was born at 12:59am. My OB made it into the room about halfway through pushing. Until that point, it was several residents who were in the room as well as my nurse. I had a few second-degree tears which needed to be repaired. Baby was 8 lbs 13 oz and absolutely perfect.
Baby and I had skin to skin time right away and she nursed for a little while. We were ultimately transferred to a mother/baby room around 4:30am.
Baby nursed decently well while we were at the hospital, but we did notice that she had a tongue tie, so we made an appointment to get that correct ASAP. Thankfully there was an appointment available on Friday 6/24. We were discharged from the hospital in the early afternoon of Thursday 6/23.
The first several days home were rough, to say the least. Baby got jaundiced and almost was readmitted to the hospital for phototherapy, and her platelet count kept dropping each day and bottomed out at 56 on 6/26. This is due to my autoimmune disorder. My anti-platelet antibodies crossed over to her in utero and caused her to have a low platelet count. The maternal antibodies usually die off within the first few days and the baby’s platelets hit their low point generally between day 2 and day 5. Thankfully, her platelet count had increased slightly as of 6/27, so we are probably in the clear at this point, since once they start to go up, they will continue to go up.
The jaundice was a big problem the first several days, since she got VERY sleepy and was refusing to nurse or even eat much at all when we supplemented with a syringe. We ended up in the ER for four hours between 1 and 5am on Saturday 6/25 because she was so lethargic. She was right on the line of whether we should be permitted to take her home or not, but they ultimately let us go home as long as we continued to basically force feed her as much formula and pumped milk as possible and get her levels checked again on Sunday. Unfortunately on Sunday, after we went to the pedi again and then went over to the lab at the hospital (our pedi usually can do blood draws in the office, but their lab isn’t open on Sundays) and finally got home, we got a call that the blood sample had clotted, so we had to leave the house and go back to the hospital lab AGAIN. This same thing happened yesterday, when we went to the pedi, got her blood drawn, and then got a call a couple hours later that it had clotted and we had to go back out again. The good news was though that when we did finally get the results back, both her platelets and bilirubin had improved. She is still not gaining weight the way she should be though (weighed in at 8 lbs .5 oz yesterday), so our task for today is to try to feed her as much as possible, which should be a LOT easier when we aren’t driving all over town getting blood drawn and going to doctor appointments.
I spiked a fever yesterday afternoon and the OB thinks I probably have a UTI, so I need to pee in a jar and have DH take it into the OB’s office this morning. Because a UTI is exactly what I feel like dealing with right now, and I love the idea of ending up with a yeast infection from antibiotics. Also, when the baby was jaundiced and sleepy, she started refusing the breast and now hasn’t nursed since Saturday. I had the lactation consultant here yesterday afternoon (Monday) and she recommended switching to paced bottle feeding (we had been using a syringe), doing a lot of skin to skin, and some tongue exercises. I am hopeful that she will breastfeed successfully once she gains a bit more weight and is a bit more alert, but it is very upsetting right now that she won’t. But at least we are on the right track now with the bilirubin and the platelets and we are trying to deal with one thing at a time.
We are all home together and that is what matters. 5yo DS has been super sweet with her, although he does need reminders to be calm and not jump around on the couch next to her, for example. Hoping that we can make some progress with the remaining issues over the next few days.
TLDR: Baby girl was delivered vaginally at 12:59am on June 22, 2016 after a long induction that stalled at 9cm for far too many hours. 8lbs 13 oz and absolutely perfect in every way. Dealt with jaundice and low platelets and nursing issues and weight loss over the past several days, some of which have resolved and some of which are ongoing, but hopefully all of which will be resolved soon.
