A Month Late Update

Well, the last time I wrote I was still pregnant at 36 weeks. Five days after that post, I had my baby girl via emergency c-section.

Where do I begin? Well, that Thursday (November 5), I had an appointment at the OB's office. Earlier that day, I had an appointment to get a flu shot with Karlee. We went and came back home to wait until it was time to go to the OB. Well, all day I hadn't been feeling well. Then I started getting vision problems (like weird colorful streamers in my vision and black spots). I generally felt like crap. I thought it might be due partly to the flu shot. I started to get a headache. I knew that my blood pressure would probably be high and I'd get sent to Labor and Delivery just to be sent home after it went down again. I couldn't do that because I had Karlee with me and I didn't want to call EG at work because it was only him and his boss scheduled at work that day. So I called up the OB's office to cancel my appointment but asked to talk to a nurse. The nurse insisted that I come there, because of my blood pressure. She in fact asked that I come earlier than my appointment, which was at 3. So I called EG's sister Carol up and asked her if she could watch Karlee at the last minute. I had to drive the whole way out there (at least 15 minutes one way). Carol took one look at me and said, "They need to take that baby."

I went to the OB and they said that I was 1 cm dialated and 75% effaced. They saw how high my blood pressure was. The bottom number was 110, I remember. Three different people came in to check it to confirm it. Then the midwife came back in and said, "Well, you're very swollen, feeling sick, and your blood pressure is very high. You also have protein in your urine. You are going to have to have this baby, that's the only way to correct this." So I said, "Ok, well, how soon?" She said, "Well, I'm going to send you to labor and delivery and I'm pretty sure you won't be leaving this hospital without a baby." I said, "How sure?" She said, "99.9% sure." So I got really nervous and she said that she was going to call L&D to let them know that I was coming down. They did not let me go on my own and had a nurse go with me (they never did that before). I didn't understand the severity of the situation quite yet. I thought they just sent her with me so I wouldn't change my mind and leave. Once we got to L&D, two nurses stood on each side of me and led me to a room until they got my real room ready.

I called EG up and told him about the situation and he left work to go home and get things ready for me. Of course, I had not packed my suitcase yet because I thought I had three weeks to go! I was actually going to do it that weekend. Anyway, he got Karlee some things around too and took it out to Carol's and then came up to the hospital. I called my mom and let her know what was going on too.

The midwife came back and started me on an IV. They said they were going to start things in the morning to get labor started at about 6 am. I think they started Pitocin that night but I don't remember much because I was pretty sick. I know that I was very nauseated and did throw up. The next morning, along with Pitocin, they gave me magnesium sulfate in my IV. I thought this was to bring my blood pressure down. Later I found out it was to prevent a convulsion from happening. I was so sick from that! I was vomiting bile. They also gave me something that sounded like Silver something. It was supposed to bring my blood pressure down.

Soon it was like a conference in my room. A doctor, a midwife, and several nurses and the anesthesiologist came into my room. They told me that the Pitocin wasn't working, my blood pressure was not coming down, and the risk of me continuing on like this versus delivering the baby early was just not a question, they had to take the baby. I had to have a c-section. The anesthesiologist told me that he was hoping that I could be awake for the delivery of the baby, but we'd have to wait and see. They also did not know if EG was going to be allowed in the OR or not. The doctors left, and two nurses began prepping me for surgery. They told EG to put scrubs on and before I knew it, I was put in the OR and given a spinal block. EG had to stay out in the hallway and they'd let him know if he could come in or not when they were ready.

I was still so sick. I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt like I could barely breathe. I wondered (honestly) if I was dying. I just wanted to see my baby. The anesthesiologist kept talking to me and telling me to breathe. They let EG in. I told the anesthesiologist that I was going to throw up. He told me to turn my head and vomit in the basin next to my head. I did. It was all bile. So gross! The doctors were doing the surgery at this point. I couldn't feel much. I kept trying to breathe. It seemed like forever. I didn't think I was going to make it. A nurse said, "You're going to feel a lot of pressure on your chest. We have to push down on it to get the baby out." She pushed and I felt like I'd never get my breath back. I got sick again. Then they told EG to look over the cloth thing they had between us and them so I couldn't watch the surgery. He stood up and then they told me I was going to feel some tugging, which I did. They said, "It's a girl!" and I heard her start to scream. They paused near us so I could get a glimpse of her and then they took her to the table next to us and told EG to come over and cut the rest of the cord. She was screaming away. They said, "Wow, she's a big baby! 7 pounds and 10 ounces!" She was 19.5 inches long and was born at 10:59 a.m. She had a head circumference of 14. Then she started choking and I kinda felt horrified for a minute, but they suctioned her out a few more times and cleaned her up a little. They put a hat on her and had me kiss her head. EG held her and I focused on trying to get through everything. Then all of the sudden, they took the baby away and made EG leave. I got sick a few more times but it was mostly gagging.

Then they transferred me to another bed and to a room next to the OR. Two nurses were working on me - I was bleeding a lot (more than usual) and they kept having to move me back and forth to clean me up and they were pressing on my belly too. The spinal block wore off. OH WOW! I was in so much pain! They were moving me so much and I had that pelvic symphisis disorder - I thought my hips were going to break. I begged them to let me have a little time to prepare before they moved me but they wouldn't. Then the pitocin kicked in! Labor pains after I already had the baby!! Oh my...I begged them for something. They had to wait for some reason - maybe in case I had to go back into surgery. They called an ultrasound tech in to see why I was bleeding so badly. I have never felt so much pain in my life. They finally gave me a morphine shot, but it wore off quickly and they couldn't give me another shot for an hour. EG finally showed up sometime during the day. I was so dry - I hadn't had anything to drink since the day before and they allowed me some ice chips, then some water (and they yelled at me for drinking it too fast but I was SO thirsty). The cramps kept coming but would feel better if EG put counterpressure on them (it was like back labor). Wow oh wow, my pelvis was on fire! The bleeding finally slowed down. I asked if I could see my baby and they brought her in after awhile.

Eventually they put me in another room where I could be monitored with nurses that were working with only me. They loaded me up on heavy narcotics. I remember thinking one thing but saying something totally different. It was hard to see and hard to focus. I don't remember much of that night or a big part of the next day. They gave me two units of blood because I had been anemic and lost a lot of blood. I couldn't do much other than hold the baby for short amounts of time, and then I'd basically pass out. My mom and brother came to visit. I don't remember much else that day.

Eventually they moved me to the main wing when I started to get a little better. They ended up giving me two more units of blood because the first two were not enough. I spent about a week in the hospital.

Payton Layne was absolutely gorgeous. She was very lethargic for a long time because of the medicine that they had given me that transfered to her before the c-section. She was a little jaundiced, but otherwise very healthy. I wish I could have bonded with her a little earlier, but because I had been so sick I had not been able to see her much at all those first few days. She looked very little - not like a 7 pound 10 ounce baby - everyone said she looked like a preemie. She was even wearing preemie diapers. Her head was so perfectly round and soft. She had hair but not as thick as Karlee's, or as dark. She was perfect.

The doctor told me that I could have died - things were very serious. It was a good thing that I decided to go in to the OB that day instead of cancelling out like I had planned!

More to come...Payton needs fed!