Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve updated with a new post. We are finally starting to settle down with Baby C (hereto forth also known as Junior, the Kid, and Poopy McGee). As I start to type, Junior is sitting in his baby carrier, sucking on his binky, and awake but content. Currently, he’s in a don’t-put-me-down-or-I-will-scream-bloody-murder fit today. He’s lucky he’s cute.
Before he turned our world upside down, I fully intended to keep this blog updated at least once a week. That is, until I had the delivery and postpartum weeks from Hell.
I want to preface this by saying I had the most normal, uncomplicated pregnancy ever. So what happened to me and Junior was totally unexpected.
My last day of work before maternity leave was January 3, with my due date being January 13. After work that day, I went to my doctor’s appointment for my weekly checkup. After 38 and a half weeks of normal blood pressure (Actually 25 and a half years of normal blood pressure), guess who had high blood pressure? As any ob-gyn will tell you, high blood pressure means a trip straight to triage. As expected, I freaked out and called hubby to tell him to meet me at the hospital and bring the hospital bag (which by the way, I didn’t finish packing, procrastination at its finest). Husband went home to let dog out and to get the bag ready, as we live really close to the hospital. I went to triage and started to text family to let them know the situation.
At triage, they drew blood, ran tests, registered me in. 2 hours later, blood pressure came down, and I was discharged from triage. I was happy but a little bummed that I wouldn’t be having the baby that day. Being discharged from triage at 39 weeks is like almost finishing a level of Candy Crush but then running out of moves to clear that one jelly block. (insert sad face). I just wanted to get this pregnancy over with.
As luck would have it, my water broke two days later. Well, it trickled…a lot. Freakout part two happened, and I called hubby to come home and make the voyage to triage again.
This time, we leveled up to Labor and Delivery. Today was the big day. I put on the hospital gown and made my way to the delivery suite. Even though my water broke, I wasn’t feeling any contractions. The nurse let me know offhand that it may be a while. I was 3cm dilated. To the Pitocin we go to speed things up. IV attempt #1 failed. IV attempt #2 was shoddy at best but it stuck. 3 hours later, family and friends showed up eagerly anticipating Junior’s arrival. I am now 4cm dilated. I still wasn’t feeling any contractions but my blood pressure was still high. So doctor ordered a bag of magnesium sulfate to my IV tree (the count is at 3 now: IV fluid, Pitocin, Magnesium).
The nurses kept trying to sell me on an epidural to bring my blood pressure down and hopefully speed labor up, but if I wasn’t feeling any pain, why bother? I did my research on the epidural. I wasn’t against one but here are my reasons why I was hesitant:
1. epidurals increase the chances of using a vacuum or plunger device or a c-section. That just made me uneasy.
2. I didn’t want to be strapped down. I liked being able to get up and go the bathroom, especially with my water still leaking out of me. It was not fun lying in a pool of that. Gross.
3. My back ached for the last 4 months of pregnancy, I didn’t want to risk the chance of more back pain.
4. If it somehow affected my baby, I could never forgive myself.
5. More needles and medications?!
6. They say it doesn’t prolong labor but I didn’t believe it. When it came time to push, I want it out immediately.
7. Epidurals can make your blood pressure drop… dangerously,
10 hours later, I had a painful contraction and gave in ( reason number 5!). Wouldn’t you know it… reason number 7 happened. I must have dozed off because I woke up to flood of nurses checking the monitors and throwing an oxygen mask on me telling me to “breathe for baby”… just what a mom-to-be wants to hear. After I stopped shaking and my oxygen levels were stable, we “labored” on.
6 hours later of being tied down to this bed (reason number 2!) and at 8am, I was 8cm. At 9am, I was 9cm. And then I stayed at 9cm for 3 hours. Doctor came in and could feel the head but was worried about the swelling. She recommended a c-section (reason number 1!). So off we went to the operating room.
At 1:37 pm, Junior was born. Doctor was right about the swelling. Poor guy had a conehead. Unfortunately because of an infection, he was taken to the NICU as a preventative measure. For the next 24 hours, my blood pressure and fever was still high, so the next time I saw baby wasn’t until hours later for a few minutes in the NICU.
They took me off the magnesium so I could be more lucid but that meant not drinking or eating for the next 12 hours. This was already after 24 hours of not eating. I thought the worst was over. WRONG!
Hospital procedures prohibited me from seeing baby until I could walk on my own. Over the next day, I tried to walk on my own, fainted twice, more oxygen masks and blood drawn, and a CT scan. It was determined that I lost too much blood and needed an immediate blood transfusion. I couldn’t visit at baby all that day. Needless to say, I had multiple meltdowns.
The next day, I felt better (we are now day 4 at the hospital) and I was DETERMINED to walk and see my baby. The third time was a charm. So hubby wheeled me down to the NICU and see the most beautiful creature in the world.
Doctor would keep me at the hospital another day and a half for more monitoring. As it turned out, Junior was perfectly healthy aside from a little jaundice. Mommy and baby went home the same day after 6 days in the hospital.
A week later, I thought I was in the clear. Me and my new family were on base trying to renew my dependent ID when my c-section incision zippered open. BLOOD EVERYWHERE.
Thankfully the base clinic was nearby so we drove there first thinking they might be able to stop the bleeding. They definitely helped but 911 was called, and I went on my first ambulance ride to the ER. “Wound Dehiscence”, they called it due to large hematoma from the c-section. (please don’t eat before you google “Wound Dehiscence”, it’s not for the faint of heart)
With this complication, you can’t just go in and close it, It has to be packed and left open to bleed out until it closes up on its own. For the next few weeks, I had to have doctors’ visits and nurses come to my house to pack and monitor the wound along with my hubby, all while I’m taking care of a newborn. (thankfully, a lot of motrin and ovycodone were prescribed)
7 weeks have gone by, my wound has closed up but the memories of this experience are still fresh. Would I do it all over again?
For this smile… absolutely.
