Birth Story - Finally
It was a long 8 months, with the fibroid causing complications and much talk about exactly HOW to get him out of there (during a c-section, of course). I carried high and transverse - I’m talking the whole baby above my belly button the whole pregnancy. The baby was due Nov 22 and a c-section was scheduled for Nov. 16 so that both my OB and Perinatologist could be there (Nov 22 was Thanksgiving). On the morning of Friday, October 19 I woke up and wandered out to the couch to sleep, which was common. I was groggy and didn’t pay much attention to the small bit of leakage I felt - I figured it was that darn pregnancy incontinence. When I woke up later in the morning to go to work, it hadn’t stopped. I could feel a slow trickle of fluid out of my cervix, though I still thought it might be pee. I asked my husband and he also thought it was probably pee, but since it came on so fast and wasn’t stopping we decided I would call the OB when I got to work.
I called around 9 am and left a message. They got back to me around 11 and I told them what it felt like. The nurse said something like “actually, that does kind of sound like amniotic fluid.” I finished up a few things at work and headed in to get tested. The PA took me into a room and used a PH litmus test; she said if it turns blue it could be amniotic fluid and we will have to do another test. Well, it turned blue immediately so she sent the sample to the lab to have them confirm. At this time I called Del to warn him and I think he started to panic a little. When the PA came back she told me that it was amniotic fluid and they were going to admit me to the hospital right away. My doctor had the day off and one of her associates would take over my care. She told me to leave my car and walk straight to the hospital (it is right next door). She walked me out and gave me a hug and said that everything was going to be fine.
I got to the hospital and it was kind of surreal - to be walking to the hospital, waiting in line for the elevator, etc. all while I might be having a baby! At this point I felt no contractions or anything. The PA had checked my cervix and I was not dilated at all. I got to L&D and the gave me a gown and put me in a little room with no windows. They hooked me up to fetal monitoring and I could see that I was having some really, really mild contractions but that the baby was just chillin’. I sat there forever kind of just spaced out and called people. My dad was frantic and trying to decide whether to come down or not since he lives 4 hours away. I called Del and told him what to do: bring the bag, make sure to eat before you come, etc. He was panicked but I was calm because I didn’t feel like much had happened. On the way to the hospital he stopped at Texadelphia and ran into our friends Katie and Dana and told them what was going on and got them all in a panic, too.
It ended up taking him 3 hours to get to the hospital that was 20 mins away, but still nothing had happened. Finally the doctor came in and talked to us. He said they wanted to give me antibiotics because my strep-B status was unknown. They took a strep-B sample and hooked me up to an IV. If he sample came back negative in 48 hours they’d take me off of them. He explained that more than 50% of women go into labor within 24 hours of their water breaking and more than 90% do so within a week. His goal was to be hands-off and try to let the little one cook a while longer. He said every day that the baby is inside of me is 2-3 days we don’t have to spend in the NICU. After that, they moved us to a ‘more comfortable’ room which was actually way less comfortable because it had a laboring bed instead of a sleeping bed and was impossible to sleep in. Poor Del had to sleep in this awful chair.
He came back the next day to congratulate me on beating 50% of women because I had not shown any signs of labor. He told me he wasn’t going to do any cervical checks because he didn’t want to introduce bacteria and doubted whether I was even able to dilate with the fibroid in front of the cervix.
Then they moved me into another ‘more comfortable room’ which was tiny but was a lot more comfortable. It had a real bed and a window and a tv with volume control. I spent 4 days in this room waiting to go into labor and hoping I wouldn’t. All the nurses were awesome and we started bets on if it was a boy or a girl. After a while we were hoping girl because we heard they do better health-wise when they are born early. We had tons of visitors and watched the world series in the evenings. That Monday I finally got to see my doctor - Dr. Binford. She reiterated what the other guy said and told me that we would be scheduling the c-section sometime soon. It was crazy to me that I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital without a baby in my arms!
I was thinking she still wanted another week or so of waiting so that I would be 36 weeks instead of 35 but that Tuesday she came in and said the operation was scheduled for Wednesday at 4:30 - less than 36 hours away. I was super excited but not entirely sure I was ready for all this.
That morning I finished up some work (I had been working from the hospital bed because they had wi-fi) and by noon my parents were there. By 2pm Del was also there and him and my dad were putting on scrubs to come into the operating room with me. Dr. Binford was running late so we waited until close to 5.
A nurse came in and said it was time. I put on hospital gowns and walked down to the operating room. I went into the room alone because they don’t let dads/partners in while administering anesthesia, I’m not sure why. Their hydraulic table was broken so they had this old metal thing with a foot pump that must have been from the 50’s. It was also partially broken and they couldn’t lower it down enough for me to get on it so they had to go find a stool. Meanwhile the anesthesiologist comes in and starts yelling at people. He didn’t want any music playing even though it was my cd to make me stay calm. He yelled and huffed and gruffed. When Dr. Binford got there he started fighting with her about whether or not to have blood on hand. She didn’t think we needed it and didn’t want me to have to pay for it. He just kept yelling at her - I hated him. Then he came over to do my spinal. He did the lidocane to numb the area and I was fine. When he started the spinal he hit a nerve and the WORST PAIN EVER shot down my spine and into my right hip/butt cheek. I started crying and saying “it hurts, it hurts” so he pulled it all out and had to start over. He did fine the second time, but by now I really didn’t like him. He also put in an epidural in case the spinal wore off too fast. The whole time I was in tears and a really nice nurse came and stood in front of me and supported my body and wiped the tears off my glasses - nurse Morgan… she was awesome. So they got me down on the table and put the curtain up and all that and before I knew it they had started. I was like “Where is Del?” and someone went to get him. He said that they left him waiting a really long time and he was scared something had happened. But he came in and held my hand and talked to me and things were looking up. Then that darn anesthesiologist came over and started asking us stupid questions like where we work and where we grew up. It was obvious that he was trying to distract us but I was still really trying to hear what the doctors were saying. Most sound was really muffled though - I guess that is the drugs.
Then I heard something about “twisted” and said to del very calmly “Ooooh… twisted doesn’t sound good,” which made the anesthesiologist even more annoying. He kept touching Del on the arm to make sure he wasn’t going into shock. Then he said something like “we’re almost there… just count down from…” and he waited like 10 seconds before saying “fifty!” Jeez… then it is obvious that we are not that close. But at about 42 I heard Dr. Binford say “It’s a Boy!” and I got so happy and continued crying. After a few minutes they brought him over to me and I got to sort of hold him for maybe 15 seconds.
He was so early and was having some breathing problems so they cleaned him up real fast and had Del go look at him. On the way over to see him Del saw some blood in a bucket and decided I was going to die. He then left the baby to come back to me but I yelled at him to go back to the baby. Shortly after they left and I was being stitched up. I asked for my dad and someone brought him in. We talked a little about the baby and stuff and the anesthesiologist did the same stupid questions thing to him. He also tried once to stand up and look and the dude forcefully sat him down and told him that he didn’t get to look. What a jerk.
Then, about 2/3 of the way through sewing me up the spinal wore off. They started putting stuff in the epidural but it was ineffective. Eventually they started giving me something in my IV that made me pass out every 2-3 minutes. Finally they were done and nurse Morgan and my dad and I went to recovery. They gave me ice chips that I declared to be the best ice ships ever - even better than at Sonic. Every 15 minutes she would push on my uterus, which hurt like a bitch for obvious reasons plus the fact that it was right on top of my vertical incision. My dad kept going in and out of the room to check on the baby and tell everyone that I was fine. Del still thought I was dying because he was in the soundproof nursery. Meanwhile Nurse Morgan hooked us up with a bigger, nicer room that had an actual couch for Del to sleep on. Damn, she was awesome.
On the way to the new room they wheeled me by the nursery and I saw Del and Julien and everything looked so perfect.
A little while later they brought him in and it sounded like he was constantly crying. I guess this was the ‘grunting’ you hear about when they are trying to get fluid out of the lungs. He did it for about 3-4 more hours and quit. We were finally together as a family.
We stayed for 4 days and had some problems with feeding, blood sugar, jaundice and more. But he never did have to go to the NICU. We had tons of awesome visitors and help from nurses, doctors and lactation consultants. I have to say that aside from the worst anesthesiologist ever, I couldn’t complain about a single thing. Del already wants to start trying for him to have a little sister ;-)
I called around 9 am and left a message. They got back to me around 11 and I told them what it felt like. The nurse said something like “actually, that does kind of sound like amniotic fluid.” I finished up a few things at work and headed in to get tested. The PA took me into a room and used a PH litmus test; she said if it turns blue it could be amniotic fluid and we will have to do another test. Well, it turned blue immediately so she sent the sample to the lab to have them confirm. At this time I called Del to warn him and I think he started to panic a little. When the PA came back she told me that it was amniotic fluid and they were going to admit me to the hospital right away. My doctor had the day off and one of her associates would take over my care. She told me to leave my car and walk straight to the hospital (it is right next door). She walked me out and gave me a hug and said that everything was going to be fine.
I got to the hospital and it was kind of surreal - to be walking to the hospital, waiting in line for the elevator, etc. all while I might be having a baby! At this point I felt no contractions or anything. The PA had checked my cervix and I was not dilated at all. I got to L&D and the gave me a gown and put me in a little room with no windows. They hooked me up to fetal monitoring and I could see that I was having some really, really mild contractions but that the baby was just chillin’. I sat there forever kind of just spaced out and called people. My dad was frantic and trying to decide whether to come down or not since he lives 4 hours away. I called Del and told him what to do: bring the bag, make sure to eat before you come, etc. He was panicked but I was calm because I didn’t feel like much had happened. On the way to the hospital he stopped at Texadelphia and ran into our friends Katie and Dana and told them what was going on and got them all in a panic, too.
It ended up taking him 3 hours to get to the hospital that was 20 mins away, but still nothing had happened. Finally the doctor came in and talked to us. He said they wanted to give me antibiotics because my strep-B status was unknown. They took a strep-B sample and hooked me up to an IV. If he sample came back negative in 48 hours they’d take me off of them. He explained that more than 50% of women go into labor within 24 hours of their water breaking and more than 90% do so within a week. His goal was to be hands-off and try to let the little one cook a while longer. He said every day that the baby is inside of me is 2-3 days we don’t have to spend in the NICU. After that, they moved us to a ‘more comfortable’ room which was actually way less comfortable because it had a laboring bed instead of a sleeping bed and was impossible to sleep in. Poor Del had to sleep in this awful chair.
He came back the next day to congratulate me on beating 50% of women because I had not shown any signs of labor. He told me he wasn’t going to do any cervical checks because he didn’t want to introduce bacteria and doubted whether I was even able to dilate with the fibroid in front of the cervix.
Then they moved me into another ‘more comfortable room’ which was tiny but was a lot more comfortable. It had a real bed and a window and a tv with volume control. I spent 4 days in this room waiting to go into labor and hoping I wouldn’t. All the nurses were awesome and we started bets on if it was a boy or a girl. After a while we were hoping girl because we heard they do better health-wise when they are born early. We had tons of visitors and watched the world series in the evenings. That Monday I finally got to see my doctor - Dr. Binford. She reiterated what the other guy said and told me that we would be scheduling the c-section sometime soon. It was crazy to me that I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital without a baby in my arms!
I was thinking she still wanted another week or so of waiting so that I would be 36 weeks instead of 35 but that Tuesday she came in and said the operation was scheduled for Wednesday at 4:30 - less than 36 hours away. I was super excited but not entirely sure I was ready for all this.
That morning I finished up some work (I had been working from the hospital bed because they had wi-fi) and by noon my parents were there. By 2pm Del was also there and him and my dad were putting on scrubs to come into the operating room with me. Dr. Binford was running late so we waited until close to 5.
A nurse came in and said it was time. I put on hospital gowns and walked down to the operating room. I went into the room alone because they don’t let dads/partners in while administering anesthesia, I’m not sure why. Their hydraulic table was broken so they had this old metal thing with a foot pump that must have been from the 50’s. It was also partially broken and they couldn’t lower it down enough for me to get on it so they had to go find a stool. Meanwhile the anesthesiologist comes in and starts yelling at people. He didn’t want any music playing even though it was my cd to make me stay calm. He yelled and huffed and gruffed. When Dr. Binford got there he started fighting with her about whether or not to have blood on hand. She didn’t think we needed it and didn’t want me to have to pay for it. He just kept yelling at her - I hated him. Then he came over to do my spinal. He did the lidocane to numb the area and I was fine. When he started the spinal he hit a nerve and the WORST PAIN EVER shot down my spine and into my right hip/butt cheek. I started crying and saying “it hurts, it hurts” so he pulled it all out and had to start over. He did fine the second time, but by now I really didn’t like him. He also put in an epidural in case the spinal wore off too fast. The whole time I was in tears and a really nice nurse came and stood in front of me and supported my body and wiped the tears off my glasses - nurse Morgan… she was awesome. So they got me down on the table and put the curtain up and all that and before I knew it they had started. I was like “Where is Del?” and someone went to get him. He said that they left him waiting a really long time and he was scared something had happened. But he came in and held my hand and talked to me and things were looking up. Then that darn anesthesiologist came over and started asking us stupid questions like where we work and where we grew up. It was obvious that he was trying to distract us but I was still really trying to hear what the doctors were saying. Most sound was really muffled though - I guess that is the drugs.
Then I heard something about “twisted” and said to del very calmly “Ooooh… twisted doesn’t sound good,” which made the anesthesiologist even more annoying. He kept touching Del on the arm to make sure he wasn’t going into shock. Then he said something like “we’re almost there… just count down from…” and he waited like 10 seconds before saying “fifty!” Jeez… then it is obvious that we are not that close. But at about 42 I heard Dr. Binford say “It’s a Boy!” and I got so happy and continued crying. After a few minutes they brought him over to me and I got to sort of hold him for maybe 15 seconds.
He was so early and was having some breathing problems so they cleaned him up real fast and had Del go look at him. On the way over to see him Del saw some blood in a bucket and decided I was going to die. He then left the baby to come back to me but I yelled at him to go back to the baby. Shortly after they left and I was being stitched up. I asked for my dad and someone brought him in. We talked a little about the baby and stuff and the anesthesiologist did the same stupid questions thing to him. He also tried once to stand up and look and the dude forcefully sat him down and told him that he didn’t get to look. What a jerk.
Then, about 2/3 of the way through sewing me up the spinal wore off. They started putting stuff in the epidural but it was ineffective. Eventually they started giving me something in my IV that made me pass out every 2-3 minutes. Finally they were done and nurse Morgan and my dad and I went to recovery. They gave me ice chips that I declared to be the best ice ships ever - even better than at Sonic. Every 15 minutes she would push on my uterus, which hurt like a bitch for obvious reasons plus the fact that it was right on top of my vertical incision. My dad kept going in and out of the room to check on the baby and tell everyone that I was fine. Del still thought I was dying because he was in the soundproof nursery. Meanwhile Nurse Morgan hooked us up with a bigger, nicer room that had an actual couch for Del to sleep on. Damn, she was awesome.
On the way to the new room they wheeled me by the nursery and I saw Del and Julien and everything looked so perfect.
A little while later they brought him in and it sounded like he was constantly crying. I guess this was the ‘grunting’ you hear about when they are trying to get fluid out of the lungs. He did it for about 3-4 more hours and quit. We were finally together as a family.
We stayed for 4 days and had some problems with feeding, blood sugar, jaundice and more. But he never did have to go to the NICU. We had tons of awesome visitors and help from nurses, doctors and lactation consultants. I have to say that aside from the worst anesthesiologist ever, I couldn’t complain about a single thing. Del already wants to start trying for him to have a little sister ;-)