Hello again! I believe back in November I left off with high blood pressure, a pee test, and lots of false labor. =) It was good times. The next day (Thursday the 29th), I got up and followed my usual morning routine. Breakfast, take a break, shower, take a break, fix hair and do makeup in case today's the day, take a break, do just enough cleaning to make myself feel accomplished, and then get back to watching Netflix.
*Personal and potentially graphic material ahead... read at your own risk*
That afternoon my mom took me to Wichita to drop off my 24 hours worth of pee. =) You're welcome for that visual. Later, I watched more TV and went to bed... in my chair. I had a few fake contractions but nothing out of control like most nights. I woke up at 3 a.m. (Friday, the 30th - my actual due date) to use the bathroom... you know... again. So I peed and when I got up I felt like maybe my water had broke. Either that or I was peeing my pants... but just a little. ha! It wasn't completely obvious though so I went back to the family room where Dac was sleeping on the couch and told him I thought it might be time but wasn't sure. I didn't want to risk another false alarm. I decided to start getting around just in case and it wasn't long before it became much more obvious. My water had broke and it was a'leakin'. I really wanted to shower but decided I didn't want to risk taking the time since we were headed out of town. I wasn't really having contractions (go figure, I had tons of them that month but when my water broke...nothing) but was having a little pressure and thought it was better safe than sorry. The bag had been packed for weeks and aside from a couple last minute things - we were ready to head out. A couple things like... a final 40-weeks picture. =) WHOA MAMA! We also loved on Peety - enjoying a final moment as a family of three. (awww)
I threw a puppy pad and a beach towel on the passenger seat and away we went! We were a tad anxious but ready. As ready as you can be to bring a little human into the world. When we got to Wichita we stopped at QuikTrip. Dac got donuts and shockingly enough I got a banana. I used the bathroom again and there was no denying we'd made the right decision in going up. Things were getting a taaaaad out of control. I got checked in at the hospital, afraid to sit on anything but even more afraid to stand. They took me to a tiny room to check me and make sure it was the real deal annnnnnnd... it was! =) They also did a last minute ultrasound to confirm the baby was in fact still head down. Way down. ha!
Later, I got taken to an actual birth room. No turning back! At this point my water had been broke for like 5-6 hours, I wasn't having contractions, and much to my dismay Dr. A decided I needed some Pitocin. Now it seems to me that a lot of women want that baby to hurry the heck out there at the end. It's not to say that I wasn't DANG uncomfortable because I was. BUT, I was not in a hurry. I wanted that baby to come when he/she and God decided was the best, healthiest time. I had no interest in induction unless it became medically necessary. I was NOT a happy camper about starting that Pit and I questioned them about it but I know Dr. A and she knows me and I believed that if she thought it was necessary at that point, it probably was. So I let them do it. I'm a planner but I'm also a roll-with-the-punches kind of girl and that's exactly what I was going to do.
And I was going to do it with a smile... ha!
Within an hour or two I started having contractions and pain and pressure and had to pee... again. It was like a flood gate opened. It was straight out of a movie only thankfully, the huge puddles were on the hospital room floor and not in the cookie aisle of the Wal-Marts. =) Praise Jesus for that. Knees clinched tight, I waddled back to my bed and the nurse stuffed towels between my legs. What a sight. That's when things got REAL. Immediately the contractions went from 0-60 and the pressure was WHOA and I got scared. I was afraid that baby was coming in five minutes and I didn't have an epidural. That was not acceptable. So I gave them the go-ahead and clinched the blanket while breathing through contractions and waiting on the relief.
Not too much later, another pregnant lady came in to insert the epidural. Poor girl. It seemed to take forever and by that time the contractions were pretty stinkin' close together so it was hard for me to hold still. Once it was in and after a couple tweaks, I was feeling much better and was able to rest.
But then, in no time, I was in pain again... breathing through contractions again and I could not get comfortable at all. I felt every bit of getting the catheter too. Um... NEVER again please. Thanks. I thought maybe this was all normal... but after a while my nurse said I shouldn't be having to breathe through contractions - that I shouldn't be feeling them at all. Well nice to know!
I was progressing perfectly though... about a cm an hour... so I had just been sucking it up.
Even though I was dilating like a champ and even though the baby was already so low (and had been for a month) he wasn't dropping any more. While my nurse was gone to lunch, another nurse checked in on me. Lord have mercy... I dodged a bullet there. She kept coming in and cranking up the Pitocin. I had to tell her I didn't want it increased and that I was progressing well. She said in a snarky voice "well isn't that what you're here for... to have a baby? We might as well hurry it up". NO. That's not how it's going to work lady.
The pain was getting out of control again... so I got a "booster" of sorts through the spinal. Again, that helped but unfortunately didn't last long enough. PS - special thanks to my awesome nurse for putting my hair in a ponytail. =) I guess I should mention that IV's don't bother me one bit. I've had many and honestly, I kind of like the feeling of getting hydrated. They typically don't hurt me either. That one did though. I felt like I couldn't move or use my hand. It was very uncomfortable... which is why I couldn't do my own hair.
The baby still wasn't dropped enough but I was fully dilated and had been for a few hours. I was truly miserable, in so much pain, and out of it. I guess I didn't realize how long I'd been at a '10'. Everyone was starting to get concerned. The Pit had long been shut off and both the baby and I were showing some signs of distress.
They hooked me up to the oxygen and put the baby on an internal monitor. It wasn't long after that - right around shift change - the new resident on call checked me again. I was still a 10 but the baby still hadn't dropped any lower.
Things weren't looking so hot. The new nurse called Dr. A and it was then I knew my so-called "plan" was flying out the window. She threw out some big words to the resident who then proceeded to tell me the baby's head was too large to safely pass through. I may have "teared up" a minute but again, I knew I needed that C-section and they made it clear I needed it now. I think deep down I knew it long before then. I wanted so bad to avoid surgery, and Dr. A knew it, but that baby wasn't coming without it.
The nurse made the call and in about two seconds the room was full of people prepping me for surgery. I signed the consent form, Dac put his scrubs on, and in less than 10 minutes I was in that operating room.
Stay tuned for part 2... (spoiler alert... it has a happy ending!) =)
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