Let me backtrack. As most of you know, I had a rather tough pregnancy with my little girl. Unexplained bursts of bleeding through all three trimesters, bedrest, and early contractions. I failed my one hour glucose tolerance test, found out I was GBS +, and at one point was told that I might possibly miscarry. I wish I could say that pregnancy was a joyful, worry-free time, but to be perfectly honest I didn't allow myself to dream about the future until I hit that 20 week mark. Once I hit the 32 week mark, I began the preparations for my little bundle of joy. During that whole time, especially when I was on bedrest, I felt closer to God. Pregnancy really was a dry run for my little girl's arrival.
But back to Manny. On Saturday, April 7, 2011 I noticed that I was leaking a little more fluid than usual (sorry if that's TMI). Since, I've had bleeding issues throughout the pregnancy, I called my OB and was told to have it checked out at the hospital. Once there, I was placed on the monitor and told that everything looked good. I was having some contractions, but I wouldn't have known if it weren't for the fetal monitor. My blood pressure was borderline, but there was nothing to keep my from being an inpatient. At that time I was 35 weeks and 4 days pregnant.
Looking back, I should have advocated that they at least do a cervical exam to see if I was dilated, or have them do an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. I suspected my mucous plug was starting to go, but was relieved that the OB didn't seem too concerned. She told me that it could be a few more weeks and to take it easy. I was discharged around five in the afternoon.
At that point, I felt exhausted. In my mind, I knew I should go home and take a nap, but I felt bad knowing that it would be awhile before we would both go out and see our friends/family again. So we went, watched the Manny fight, and got home around midnight. The following day was Mother's Day, and so we talked about having lunch with his parents after church. I went to bed around one, and Kev stayed up until around 2:00 in the morning.
At approximately six in the morning on April 8th, my water broke while I was asleep. I woke up when it happened, and my first thought was, "Did I just pee on myself?". My heart started beating a little faster, I checked the sheets, made sure everything was nice and dry, then checked my fluid to make sure it was clear.
I started getting dressed because I knew that if it were my bag of water, I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. Because I was GBS+, I knew that I needed IV antibiotics at least four hours prior to delivery to protect the baby. I also knew that I didn't want a cord prolapse or having something weird happen on the 20 minute drive to the hospital. So my plans of having a bubble bath, breakfast, and curling my hair went straight out the window.
I woke up my poor husband and told him I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. My hospital bag was already packed, and I had a feeling that the next time I came back to the apartment I would be a mommy.
On the way to the hospital, more fluid started leaking in spurts. I knew without a doubt that my water was breaking and a nervous energy started building up inside of me. I just hoped that my contractions wouldn't kick in too badly before I got to the hospital.
Once inside the hospital, a nurse recognized me from the day before. She said, "You were here yesterday, right? What brings you in?" I told her that my water was breaking and they promptly placed me in a room, and an hour later it was confirmed by a ferning test and I was officially and inpatient. By this time it was around 8 am. I am so glad that the day nurse, Jodi, was someone I had met before during antepartum. She was the sweetest, and I'm glad that she was my nurse for part of the day. She checked me, announced I was 3 cm, and told me that I could get an epidural at any time.
Around 2:00 pm , a new nurse Megan came in. She was terrific and was great about the timing of getting an epidural. And let me tell you, I love that anesthesiologist. Labor really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be thanks to the epidural. I've heard horror stories about back pain, and the epidural not working...but that wasn't the case for me. Until I actually had to push, I really felt very little discomfort. In all honesty, the IV placement in the hand was worse than the epidural placement. Thank you Dr. Perry!
After the epidural was in, Megan told me I was 4 cm. They hoped that by getting the epidural I would dilate a little faster. I was already on pitocin at that point, and my contractions were close and strong according to the monitor. At around 8:00 pm a new nurse came in and checked me. I was still 5 cm, and I remember being so disappointed. I knew that if I started getting a fever, they would start talking to me about a c-section and that was something I was hoping to avoid.
Luckily, at around 9:00 pm I was checked again, and was told that I was 7 cm and starting to move fast. At around 10:00 pm I was told that I was fully dilated and that I was ready to push and have a baby!
That is where I hit the wall. The epidural helped, but the pressure was horrible. I pushed with all my might, but my little girl was stuck in the same place. I did this for about 2.5 hours and to my horror, I started crying from sheer exhaustion and pain. I felt like a failure for not being able to push her out, and I so wanted to avoid a vaccum delivery/c-section. I was also scared of a shoulder dystocia, and I remember thinking, "I want to give up." Thank goodness for Kevin. He encouraged me, held my head, and was so good during the labor process.
Finally, the OB and nurse encouraged me to let them do a vacuum delivery with the next push. I remember everyone screaming "push, push,push". I never looked, I just closed my eyes and pushed like there was no tomorrow. Everything after that was a blur. I vaguely heard Kevin saying, "she's out, she's here honey." I also remember them placing my girl on my chest briefly, and her eyes were wide open, arms and legs extended. She was so pale and quiet. The nurses immediately took her to the warmer and I worried that something was wrong. It seemed like an eternity, but in reality it was probably only about 30 seconds or so before I heard her cry.
That cry was the sweetest sound in the world. I was in such shock and was so glad that she was here and healthy. Abigail was born on May 9, 2011 just after midnight. She was a few weeks early (my estimated due date was May 31.) , and was considered a late preterm infant, but was very much health enough to be with all the other newborns.
Postpartum was a blur. Abigail developed jaundice but was treated with phototherapy early and was allowed to go home with me. The first two weeks were rough. It turns out I developed post partum eclampsia with blood pressures ranging from 180/200 over 90/110. Kev, Abi, and I ended up staying with my mom that first week just so we could get on our feet. I was scared to be alone with my daughter due to my blood pressure. I never had any symptoms of high blood pressure, I always felt fine, so I worried about having a heart attack/stroke/goodness knows what. Thank goodness for medicine. To make a long story short, after being treated in the ER, I was prescribed labetalol to take at home. After a few days it kicked in, and to this day, I still take it otherwise by blood pressure goes sky high.
Kevin also ended up in the ER that first week due to some kind of really bad allergic reaction where his body started swelling. It was not a good week. An epi pen later, he was also home with me and Abi. I really do not know what we would have done that first week without my mom and family. Between two ER visits, and Abi's daily appointments at the pediatrician (due to her jaundice), we were exhausted.
But we got through that period, went home a week and a half after her birth and started the journey of parenting. It was during this time period, I noticed that Abi was congested when she was sleeping. I didn't worry about it much until she was almost 3 weeks old and I heard her wheezing. I worried that she had asthma or that there was some kind of breathing difficulty. I brought her to see the MD and it was then she was diagnosed with GERD (gastrointestinal esophageal reflux disease). In short, she has heartburn.
The reason she was fussy, sounded congested, and was wheezing was because the food she was eating was coming back up. The valve that goes between the esophagus and stomach was loose and not doing its job properly. So all the acid in Abi's stomach was coming back up and burning her poor little throat. I felt horrible as I learned that the wheezing was a late sign, and that the symptoms I thought were colic were actually Abi's way of letting me know she was in pain.
So now we're on to present time. And to think it really did just start with Manny Pacquiao.
No comments:
Post a Comment