Post by bookninja on Jun 30, 2015 13:51:52 GMT -5
kay, my excuse is sleep deprivation... These first few weeks are hard!
On Monday, June 15, I went in for my 38 week appointment, and had high blood pressure again (it had been that way for several appointments.). I had some protein in my urine as well. After doing a non stress test, the OB and my midwife decided to be on the safe side and scheduled an induction for 7:15 am on Wednesday the 17th (exactly 39 weeks gestation). My midwife said to expect several days, as I would need medication (cirvodil, I think) to even get me to the point of being able to use pitocin. At that point I was 2 cm, 80% effaced, and -2.
I proceeded to go home, clean the entire house on Tuesday. I tried to get a good nights sleep, but kept waking up!
We headed in at 7:15, got signed in and got checked. I had been having a few contractions all morning (not very close together, though...), and luckily, I had progressed to 3 cm, so I could skip the first med, and go straight to pitocin. I worked on that all morning, watching the contractions on the monitor. About noon, they started to get pretty painful, but I was still hoping for med free, so I was just trying to relax through them. Nurse came in and checked me, said that I was a "3 or 4", and I found out after the fact that they bumped up my pitocin then. And then it really started to hurt. I was using my breathing with DH to get through each contraction, and was contemplating pain meds. What pushed me over the edge, I think, was the lady in the next room, who started to scream. I looked at DH and said, I can't do that. So I rang the nurse and asked for an epidural. I was glad that I did, because by the time the anesthesiologist arrived (close to an hour later), I had reached the point where I was shaking and crying through each contraction.
That's when things got interesting for a bit... They sat me up to get the epidural, I had an intense contraction, she gave me the epidural, and then I had another contraction, one right after the other. Apparently I wasn't breathing calmly (no %#$&, it hurt!), and ended up hyperventilating right about the time they were spraying something on my back. Cue lungs full of whatever that was, and a 5 minute long coughing/wheezing/gasping for air fit that had them calling other nurses in and checking to see if I was one of that < 1%, that had allergic reactions/ lungs filling up with fluid. Once I could breathe, and the epidural kicked in, I was fine, but it was scary for me, and I think for DH, who couldn't do anything but watch as they tried to get me to breathe. As they left, a nurse checked me, I was only at 5 cm. I suspect they turned up the pitocin again at that point.
Things were pretty mellow for a few hours, but they kept coming in and having me try different positions, and gave me oxygen. Come to find out, LO's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. They experimented with turning off the pitocin, and things normalized. Once they turned it back on, more heart rate issues. It was causing concern, so some time around that evening, maybe 9 pm or so, they turned off the pitocin, checked me and broke my water. I had progressed to 7 cm, but baby was still at -1. They decided to see if my body would take it the rest of the way.
In a word, no. At 4 am I was still at 7 cm, -1. Midwife came in and said that we were going for a c-section, and within about 15 minutes, I was in an operating room. I wish that I had had the presence of mind to ask for a few minutes to wrap my mind around it, because maybe I would have thought to insist on skin to skin, which I really wanted, but didn't really happen.
Anyway, I was scared in the operating room as they prepped me, but finally they let DH come in and that helped, and then as soon as I heard baby Joanna's first cries, it all faded away. I remember being mad because I couldn't see her and DH could from where he was sitting. He got to go cut the cord, and then they brought her over for a minute before they had to go suction her lungs. She was a 9/10 apgar. She was born at 4:45 am on June 18th.
They did bring her to me for about 10 minutes when I was in recovery, which was wonderful. After that, it was several hours later, in the postpartum room, before I got to see her again. Turns out she was starting to move transverse, which is probably why she wasn't dropping, and she was also sunny side up. Midwife may have been trying to make me feel better, but she thought it might have ended up a c-section no matter what.
Beautiful baby, happy parents and at the end of the day, I can't ask for more than that! She was 7 lbs, 4 oz, 20 inches long , and gorgeous! (I might be biased!)
TLDR: induction, baby reacted poorly to pitocin, labor stalled without it, c-section, and all's well that ends well.
On Monday, June 15, I went in for my 38 week appointment, and had high blood pressure again (it had been that way for several appointments.). I had some protein in my urine as well. After doing a non stress test, the OB and my midwife decided to be on the safe side and scheduled an induction for 7:15 am on Wednesday the 17th (exactly 39 weeks gestation). My midwife said to expect several days, as I would need medication (cirvodil, I think) to even get me to the point of being able to use pitocin. At that point I was 2 cm, 80% effaced, and -2.
I proceeded to go home, clean the entire house on Tuesday. I tried to get a good nights sleep, but kept waking up!
We headed in at 7:15, got signed in and got checked. I had been having a few contractions all morning (not very close together, though...), and luckily, I had progressed to 3 cm, so I could skip the first med, and go straight to pitocin. I worked on that all morning, watching the contractions on the monitor. About noon, they started to get pretty painful, but I was still hoping for med free, so I was just trying to relax through them. Nurse came in and checked me, said that I was a "3 or 4", and I found out after the fact that they bumped up my pitocin then. And then it really started to hurt. I was using my breathing with DH to get through each contraction, and was contemplating pain meds. What pushed me over the edge, I think, was the lady in the next room, who started to scream. I looked at DH and said, I can't do that. So I rang the nurse and asked for an epidural. I was glad that I did, because by the time the anesthesiologist arrived (close to an hour later), I had reached the point where I was shaking and crying through each contraction.
That's when things got interesting for a bit... They sat me up to get the epidural, I had an intense contraction, she gave me the epidural, and then I had another contraction, one right after the other. Apparently I wasn't breathing calmly (no %#$&, it hurt!), and ended up hyperventilating right about the time they were spraying something on my back. Cue lungs full of whatever that was, and a 5 minute long coughing/wheezing/gasping for air fit that had them calling other nurses in and checking to see if I was one of that < 1%, that had allergic reactions/ lungs filling up with fluid. Once I could breathe, and the epidural kicked in, I was fine, but it was scary for me, and I think for DH, who couldn't do anything but watch as they tried to get me to breathe. As they left, a nurse checked me, I was only at 5 cm. I suspect they turned up the pitocin again at that point.
Things were pretty mellow for a few hours, but they kept coming in and having me try different positions, and gave me oxygen. Come to find out, LO's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. They experimented with turning off the pitocin, and things normalized. Once they turned it back on, more heart rate issues. It was causing concern, so some time around that evening, maybe 9 pm or so, they turned off the pitocin, checked me and broke my water. I had progressed to 7 cm, but baby was still at -1. They decided to see if my body would take it the rest of the way.
In a word, no. At 4 am I was still at 7 cm, -1. Midwife came in and said that we were going for a c-section, and within about 15 minutes, I was in an operating room. I wish that I had had the presence of mind to ask for a few minutes to wrap my mind around it, because maybe I would have thought to insist on skin to skin, which I really wanted, but didn't really happen.
Anyway, I was scared in the operating room as they prepped me, but finally they let DH come in and that helped, and then as soon as I heard baby Joanna's first cries, it all faded away. I remember being mad because I couldn't see her and DH could from where he was sitting. He got to go cut the cord, and then they brought her over for a minute before they had to go suction her lungs. She was a 9/10 apgar. She was born at 4:45 am on June 18th.
They did bring her to me for about 10 minutes when I was in recovery, which was wonderful. After that, it was several hours later, in the postpartum room, before I got to see her again. Turns out she was starting to move transverse, which is probably why she wasn't dropping, and she was also sunny side up. Midwife may have been trying to make me feel better, but she thought it might have ended up a c-section no matter what.
Beautiful baby, happy parents and at the end of the day, I can't ask for more than that! She was 7 lbs, 4 oz, 20 inches long , and gorgeous! (I might be biased!)
TLDR: induction, baby reacted poorly to pitocin, labor stalled without it, c-section, and all's well that ends well.
