Post by quijibo on Dec 14, 2018 22:05:37 GMT -6
It’s time to write it out!
Last Tuesday I went in for my 39-week checkup and was sent to L&D for monitoring due to high blood pressure and trace protein in my urine. While in L&D, I was contracting, though not progressing, and my blood pressure chilled out a little bit. The triage nurse was convinced I’d be staying and even put in an IV, but the doctor sent me home and told me to see him the next morning for a blood pressure check.
So, on Wednesday, I went to the office and my blood pressure was up again. The doctor said he now had reason to induce, but I could wait until Friday. He left it up to me. I didn’t want to be induced, as my daughter came on her own. I wanted the same for DS. But after experiencing some dizzy spells, swelling in my legs, and just insane discomfort everywhere else, I waived the white flag. It was baby time.
I took DD to daycare, H drove back from a job, and off to the hospital we went. They were packed, so we spent 6 hours in triage. They started the pitocin pretty low and we did laps. They didn’t crank things up until we got a labor room.
Baby’s head was high. The laps continued. The contractions were manageable. My ego was all inflated for feeling like pitocin wasn’t as evil as everyone said. EL OH EL AT ME AND MY EGO.
Due to being tired and just done with it all, I cried when they checked me and I was still only 4cm dilated. So the laps continued and they cranked the pitocin some more.
Shit eventually got real and the epidural was on its way. The pain was excruciating. My ego exited the building at this time. After two attempts due to scoliosis, I finally had an epidural in place. HOWEVER, I could feel some kind of weird pressure, so they immediately checked me after the epidural. I was at a 9 and my water was bulging, hence that weird feeling. They went to break my water but it went on its own during the check. Once my water broke, I was at a 10. Baby time.
The transition from 4cm to 9cm to water breaking to 10cm, plus the epidural that wasn’t even in full effect yet, was a lot all at once. I threw up and then dry heaved. I felt so strange and out of control of my body. I ended up with an oxygen mask and they were rolling me from one side to the other. I’m not sure if DS was in distress or if they were trying to find him on the monitors again after the puking and heaving. Anyway, I pushed through three contractions and out he came.
He did not come out crying. He came out grunting and wouldn’t stop. The nurses were trying to get a good scream out of him but nothing was working. They took him over to the baby area for a once over and to try to clean out his airways. I did eventually get him back, but the grunting continued. My labor nurse eventually suggested we allow her to take him to the nursery to get additional eyeballs on him. We now know that he ended up in the NICU due to transient tachypnea of the newborn. The theory is that he came so fast and furious that the fluid wasn’t properly squished out of his airways.
He spent four days in the NICU and was then monitored for jaundice. Both the TTN and the jaundice have since resolved themselves.
The whole labor and delivery has been a lot to process. It just was not what we were expecting. It was a wild, wild ride.
Stats: DS was born at 12:45am on Thursday, December 6. He weighed 8lbs. 4oz. He is 21 inches long. I’m hiding from him right now (needed to walk away and let H handle for a bit), but we love him to absolute pieces. He has some amazing blonde / red hair.
DD doesn’t bother with him too much. She does like to be a helper and if he cries, she’ll turn on the music on the bouncer. She’s really very sweet with him and seems un-phased by his presence.
Out of respect for my H’s wishes, I can’t share a picture of DS (we don’t do full face on social media either), so his cool hair will have to do.
Last Tuesday I went in for my 39-week checkup and was sent to L&D for monitoring due to high blood pressure and trace protein in my urine. While in L&D, I was contracting, though not progressing, and my blood pressure chilled out a little bit. The triage nurse was convinced I’d be staying and even put in an IV, but the doctor sent me home and told me to see him the next morning for a blood pressure check.
So, on Wednesday, I went to the office and my blood pressure was up again. The doctor said he now had reason to induce, but I could wait until Friday. He left it up to me. I didn’t want to be induced, as my daughter came on her own. I wanted the same for DS. But after experiencing some dizzy spells, swelling in my legs, and just insane discomfort everywhere else, I waived the white flag. It was baby time.
I took DD to daycare, H drove back from a job, and off to the hospital we went. They were packed, so we spent 6 hours in triage. They started the pitocin pretty low and we did laps. They didn’t crank things up until we got a labor room.
Baby’s head was high. The laps continued. The contractions were manageable. My ego was all inflated for feeling like pitocin wasn’t as evil as everyone said. EL OH EL AT ME AND MY EGO.
Due to being tired and just done with it all, I cried when they checked me and I was still only 4cm dilated. So the laps continued and they cranked the pitocin some more.
Shit eventually got real and the epidural was on its way. The pain was excruciating. My ego exited the building at this time. After two attempts due to scoliosis, I finally had an epidural in place. HOWEVER, I could feel some kind of weird pressure, so they immediately checked me after the epidural. I was at a 9 and my water was bulging, hence that weird feeling. They went to break my water but it went on its own during the check. Once my water broke, I was at a 10. Baby time.
The transition from 4cm to 9cm to water breaking to 10cm, plus the epidural that wasn’t even in full effect yet, was a lot all at once. I threw up and then dry heaved. I felt so strange and out of control of my body. I ended up with an oxygen mask and they were rolling me from one side to the other. I’m not sure if DS was in distress or if they were trying to find him on the monitors again after the puking and heaving. Anyway, I pushed through three contractions and out he came.
He did not come out crying. He came out grunting and wouldn’t stop. The nurses were trying to get a good scream out of him but nothing was working. They took him over to the baby area for a once over and to try to clean out his airways. I did eventually get him back, but the grunting continued. My labor nurse eventually suggested we allow her to take him to the nursery to get additional eyeballs on him. We now know that he ended up in the NICU due to transient tachypnea of the newborn. The theory is that he came so fast and furious that the fluid wasn’t properly squished out of his airways.
He spent four days in the NICU and was then monitored for jaundice. Both the TTN and the jaundice have since resolved themselves.
The whole labor and delivery has been a lot to process. It just was not what we were expecting. It was a wild, wild ride.
Stats: DS was born at 12:45am on Thursday, December 6. He weighed 8lbs. 4oz. He is 21 inches long. I’m hiding from him right now (needed to walk away and let H handle for a bit), but we love him to absolute pieces. He has some amazing blonde / red hair.
DD doesn’t bother with him too much. She does like to be a helper and if he cries, she’ll turn on the music on the bouncer. She’s really very sweet with him and seems un-phased by his presence.
Out of respect for my H’s wishes, I can’t share a picture of DS (we don’t do full face on social media either), so his cool hair will have to do.
