Labor Day 2

OK….so at 37 weeks.  I went into labor, but it stalled out after Little Man decided to turn "Sunny Side Up" on me.  It was heartbreaking to go to the hospital in labor and have to go home....still pregnant.

Taken two nights before Little Man's birth.

Early on a Sunday morning, marking the First Day of Spring; March 21st, I was awoken by contractions around 3am but fell back asleep, again at 4am falling back asleep and then finally at 5am…realizing that they were getting more intense every time they woke me up.  So I started to pay attention to what was going on; realizing that it was Day 1 of Week 39!  If I went now, they would let me go.  I woke the RacDad up at 5:45 and was in a lot of discomfort.  So we started timing.  I told him that I was going to take a shower now because I learned with Sweet Pea that they won’t let you do it later.  So, here is the timing:  5:55, 6:04, 6:13, (took shower) 6:23, 6:27, (Called mom and dad) 6:33, 6:39, 6:48, (Called nurse to inform hospital) 6:53, 6:57, 7:01, (Called the neighbor, woke up Sweet Pea, got her bag together) 7:05, 7:09, 7:13, 7:18, 7:23, (took Sweet Pea to the neighbor’s and got in the car to go) 7:26, 7:29, 7:32, 7:38, 7:44, 7:50…..arrived at the hospital again.  This time I was determined to not leave pregnant again!

Mom and Dad got into town just in time to see Sweet Pea and take her up to Sunday School.  Then they came to the hospital around 10 am.  I had been walking the halls again and then hooked up to monitors.  Little Man had an arrhythmia that we had been closely monitoring for 2 weeks.  It had already corrected itself.  I was not any more dilated than before.  I was almost fully effaced.  So, we were walking again until the contractions were too much to handle standing.  My nurse, Amy, checked me again and told me that Dr. Bishop (my backup Dr. because mine was on vacation!) was unavailable because of a slumber party she was hosting for her son, and that she’d be available that evening.  I told her that I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t make it.  So, she left to go get Dr. Jones (the on call Dr.) for me to meet because I was freaking out a little about my back up Dr. being unavailable on a day that she was supposed to be!  While she was gone, the RacDad called into work.  He was supposed to work a Craps Tournament during the day and was not going to make it there in time, whether we stayed at the hospital or not.  We were still waiting for the go ahead for Little Man’s arrival.  As the RacDad was hanging up from the call at 10:15, I felt a ‘POP’ and a big warm GUSH…….  I looked at the RacDad shocked and excited, and said, “My water broke!  My water broke!”  I looked at my mom and said, “No turning back now!” with a huge grin.  That was such an experience!  I was asleep when my water broke with Sweet Pea.  I swore that the RacDad and my mom could’ve heard it because I thought I did.

I called our neighbor to let her know that Sweet Pea was going to be with her for the day and that she could pick her up from Sunday School.  Sweet Pea called when she was getting picked up and was pretty disappointed that she couldn’t go to church.  There was a celebration for the new pastor that started that day.  I explained to her that there was no one to go to church with her and that Mommy and Daddy were going to be at the hospital all day with Grandma and Grandpa to have the baby.  I then told her that after the baby comes, that Grandma and Grandpa would come and get her so she could come and meet him.

Then I met Dr. Jones.  She was very nice and comforting; which is what I really needed being so apprehensive about my Doctors being unavailable.  I also met a student, Andrew, who was doing his residency.  He was so polite and cautious when he was asking if I would mind him being around through the day.  I was fast to say, “Absolutely you can!”  (I love having students around for visits/procedures.  In my experience, it makes the Dr. do things a little more thorough and they talk about what they are doing.  That way you know what’s going on too.)  I also like helping out someone who is learning.  He was very nice.  I also had nice chats with Amy.  She was also expecting and we had fun chats about shoes and belly bands and names.  The RacDad and I were waiting to see the little guy to find out what his name would be.

Things were progressing at a fairly slow pace.  I did get my epidural when the contractions were getting painful and I just couldn’t sit up or walk any more.  They had to monitor Little Man closely because of the arrhythmia, so I figured that if I was stuck in bed; I might as well be comfortable.  They also suggested Pitocin at noon.  I told her that I was apprehensive about it because I react very quickly to it.  Then Dr. Jones said that she’d give me just a little mini dose to see if it would help things along at about 1:30pm and I was at 6 cm.  Amy had to leave after to check on another patient because her nurse was having lunch and she said that she’d be back soon.  About 20 minutes after she left, I started getting that familiar ‘funny feeling’.  Another nurse came in to check on me and said that everything was fine.

Amy and Andrew came back in.  Andrew looked at the monitor and headed out.  I told Amy that I was starting to feel funny.  She said, “Funny, how?”  I said that there was a lot of pressure.  She checked and said that I was at 9 cm and that she was just going to sit down and work on my chart for a while.  She also turned me on my other side to help with the discomfort.  I laid there for about 15 minutes just trying to relax and breathe through the contractions that were getting noticeable…even with the epidural.  Finally, I told her that there was a LOT of pressure.  She checked again and said, “OK….I’m going to get you ready and have you push to see how it’s going to go.  So I pushed a little bit and she quickly said….STOP!  I have to get the Dr. NOW.”  Dr. Jones came in and explained to Andrew that the nurses will let women push a few times before getting the Dr. because they will usually push for a while.  BUT, not in my case.  So, I was holding back and waiting.  The RacDad and my mom were getting more excited with all the bustle in the room.  They had the warmer out and ready and Dr. Jones and Andrew were ready to start.  Amy held my hand and helped guide me through my labor.  I started to push and breath through my first contraction.  Dr. Jones said to stop and wait for the next one….it burned so badly!  Then she said to go again.  Midway through the breath, he was here!  Dr. Jones was astonished and this was Andrew’s first birth of his first OB rotation.  Dr. Jones walked Andrew through sewing up the tears that I had….they were extensive and happened too fast for her to be able to prevent it.  Little Man was placed directly on me so that my body could warm him. The RacDad cut the cord (which he didn't get to do with Sweet Pea).  I watched the RacDad and my mom filled with excitement and wonder.  He was perfect and I just didn’t want to let him go.  But, I had to get cleaned up and so did Little Man.  They took him to weigh and clean him on the warmer in my room.  Everything was so amazing.  Dr. Jones asked my mom if my first birth was this easy…she said, No.  It was easier…there was only 1 push.  Dr. Jones said that this was the easiest delivery she’s had to perform in decades.  We called Sweet Pea to let her know.  I then asked Sweet Pea what she thought we should name him because we couldn’t decide.

Little Man was born March 21, 2010 at 3:13 pm.  He was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches with a full head of hair.

After getting everyone settled and my Dad in to meet Little Man.  Then my parents left to go get Sweet Pea and the RacDad and I started making our phone calls.  Amy also ordered supper for me and helped me out of bed to go to the bathroom.  I was shocked that I could get out of bed!  Sweet Pea came just as I was finishing dinner.  Little Man had his bath and was snuggly wrapped.  We were getting ready to move down a floor to the recovery room.  The whole clan made its way with us.  Little Man ‘roomed in’ with the RacDad and me.  Sweet Pea stayed at the house with my mom and went to school during the day and came to visit in the evening while we were at the hospital.

It was a wonderful birthing experience.  I was so thankful to Amy, Andrew and Dr. Jones for taking such good care of us.  

"Labor Day #1"

I thought that it would be fun, with Labor Day around the corner, to start sharing a little personal information about my labor experiences.  I also wanted to share with you the births of our first two, since Peanut is heading our way in another 50 days or so.

Sweet Pea is our first born.  I was 21 years old.  We didn't find out what she was going to be and it was a really fun surprise.  I had been seeing my OB every week at that point and I was having intense contractions for days before that last visit. I was a day away from 38 weeks and he said that everything was just fine.  My contractions were very irregular so he told me that they would even out when it became time.  I went to work and got home at about 10:30 that night.  I woke up at 6:30 am, startled and wet.  Oh great!  I had heard that you can lose bladder control when pregnant, but this was not fun.  So I waddled down to the bathroom when I realized that it was actually my water that broke!  But my contractions were still irregular!  So, I woke up The Raconteur Daddy and in his sleepy daze and shocked expression on his face, we grabbed the bags and got in the car for the 40 minute drive to the hospital.  I called my Mom and Dad and he called his Dad and then his Mom.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am.  They made me ride the wheelchair all the way up to Labor and Delivery.  The nurses checked me out; I was at 3 centimeters and my contractions were still irregular.  They wouldn't let me walk around or get up because my water had broken already.  Because they wouldn't let me out of bed, they did allow me to get the epidural right away.

Now, it was a Saturday.  I had just seen my OB the day before.  He never told me that they don't work on the weekends.  The 'on call' OB from his practice (who I had never met) came in and informed me that he would be the one taking care of me.  I was upset and scared.  Here's this stranger that I had never heard of coming in instead of my doctor.  I guess there wasn't anything that I could do about it though.

My parents came in to be with RacDad and I.  The doctor immediately ordered pitocin to 'make my contractions regular'.  This didn't help, it just made them come quicker.  So I would get 3 right on top of each other, then a couple minutes later I'd have two, etc.  The doctor then left the hospital.  I was at 5 centimeters and it was 10 am.  I stayed at 5 for what seemed like a long time.  The nurses would come and check on me every so often, but there wasn't much change.  At 2:30, the nurse came in and checked on me and I was finally at 8 centimeters.  I asked her how much longer she'd think it would take.  She told me it would probably be a few more hours and she left the room again.  My Dad came over to watch the contraction graph again (he thought it was interesting, like watching spark graphs on a car).  He looked at me and said, "Are you feeling OK?"  I replied, "I feel funny."  So they called the nurse right back in after being gone for 10 minutes.  She sighed and said that she'd check me again.  When she lifted the sheet, she got white in the face and said, "Don't do anything!  The baby is right there!"  She called in other nurses and they called the doctor to tell him to come back to the hospital.  There was no time to wait.  So, they pulled the OB (from a different practice) out of the next room.  She came in and suited up.  One push later, I had my beautiful baby girl in my arms!  It was 3:03 pm.

Everything happened so quickly that my body didn't have a chance to stretch in the places that it needed to (finding out later that was thanks to the pitocin).  So, the doctor that delivered Sweet Pea had to do an episiotomy.  I was upset because that was the one thing I didn't want to happen, but again, I had no choice in the matter.  The doctor that was supposed to be there finally showed up when they were weighing Sweet Pea and the OB was starting to prep me for sutures.  He pushed her aside and told her that he could finish up.  So he sewed up the episiotomy and left the hospital again.

They whisked away Sweet Pea and RacDad to go to the nursery to clean her up and do her check ups while the nurses were rubbing my fundus.  I wish that I could have been with her the whole time, but that's not how the hospital did things.  The nurses were working hard because I was still bleeding.  At first they thought that it was because Sweet Pea's umbilical cord was only 12 inches and they thought that there was tearing.  After 1.5 hours, and not getting to see Sweet Pea because they were taking care of me, the nurses finally got the doctor on the phone.  He told them to just give me a couple shots and keep rubbing the fundus.  I had finally lost 7.5 units of blood when they called the doctor again 20 minutes later.   He finally came sauntering in as they were prepping RacDad for a transfusion and ushering my parents out.  He found that he had missed an artery when stitching me up the first time.  He said that I didn't need a transfusion because I was young enough to recover.  So, he gave me a second episiotomy (with no local anesthesia!) and stitched me up again.  It was agony feeling the whole thing and not having the strength to respond!  I couldn't even see anything at that point except for bright white.

I don't remember much after that point.  It was a terrifying time for my parents, not knowing what was happening.  It was also terrifying for RacDad, being there watching, not knowing if he'd be a single dad.  I just remember trying so hard to stay awake and trying to respond to him when he'd say my name, but it was impossible to do.  I could hear the fear in his voice and the nurses voices, and it still echos in my ears today.  I was so scared for him.

I finally came to around 8 pm.  I was allowed to eat and my Dad went and got me the most amazing Prime Rib dinner from a great restaurant up the street.  I don't remember getting moved to the Recovery room, but that's where I had dinner.  I finally got to see Sweet Pea and try nursing her for the first time.  She was taken back to the nursery.  The nurses continued to 'supplement' her with formula through the course of my 4 day hospital stay.  I just didn't have the strength to be able to have my supply come in well.  It took 2 full weeks for me to recover enough to be able to get out of bed by myself.  Poor RacDad had to not only take care of me, but take care of Sweet Pea on his own too.  He went back to work and I started on my road of getting healthy again.  After 6 weeks, I had to go back to work and my mom took over as Sweet Pea's daytime caregiver when RacDad and I had to work at the same time.

It was a very difficult experience to get over.  That's one of the few reasons why there are so many years between Sweet Pea and Little Man.  I also think that there were residual things that caused the two miscarriages that happened between Sweet Pea and Little Man, but that's for another day.

Just remember that if there is something that you need or want for your child, don't be afraid to speak up about it.  I was so young and didn't know that I could have told the nurses to not give her formula.  I didn't know that I could demand that I nurse her right away and be the sole person to feed her.  I didn't know that I could have told that horrible doctor that he needed to step aside and let the other OB finish her work.  I know that most labors don't go according to 'the plan', but if there is something that you really want (or don't want) don't be afraid to say something.  It won't offend the nurses or doctors, they are there for you...not the other way around.