This
blog post is going to be long and detailed. Be prepared or choose not to read.
;) I’m mainly writing this post so in a few years when I think I want another
baby, I can read Jack’s birth story and remember why I never want to go through
labor again. Okay, I’m kidding… mostly.
On Friday, June 21st, Michael and I headed to the doctor for my LAST appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine to check on Jack’s kidneys and size. On the way there, I told Michael my blood pressure was starting to rise because MFM appointments always made me nervous. I’m not sure why since I knew what to expect with his kidneys, even after birth, but for some reason I would get worked up before every appointment.
The ultrasound tech was one of our favorites and she measured all of the measurements she needed for our records. She told us that Jack had hair and that his head was off the charts. He was still measuring 2.5 weeks ahead all over his body and was estimated to weigh 8lbs 1oz. After she completed her measurements, a nurse came in and took my blood pressure. She was using a different machine than normal and my blood pressure came back as 159/103. I have NEVER been that high before so I asked her to take it again. They decided to use a different machine and it came back at 148/94. This was better but still not good so they called my OB downstairs and asked her what she wanted them to do. I was supposed to be heading down for my 37 week check up with her but I already knew she was going to send me for observation. Instead, she sent me to Labor and Delivery and said I’d be on bed rest and observation for 24 hours. I saw this coming and had told Michael that week that if my blood pressure even looked funny, they’d be keeping me… I was right.
Bed rest in the hospital was not much fun. My OB came in that evening and told me that I had until Saturday night to get my blood pressure steady or I’d end up being induced or with a c-section by Sunday. I was not thrilled with the idea of just scheduling a c-section but my doctor was still convinced Jack was going to be huge. I chose not to go ahead and schedule a c-section and said I would see how the weekend went.
Meanwhile, my blood pressure would be awesome and normal one check and then high the next. This vicious cycle kept going and really confused the on-call doctor. She wasn’t sure what to do since Pregnancy Induced Hypertension is classified as TWO high blood pressure readings in 6 hours. They were checking my blood pressure every 4 hours and since it was hit or miss, I was only having two high ones every 8 hours. I also had to pee in a jug to test for Pre-Eclampsia. In the end, I passed the pre-E test but my blood pressure kept going in the same pattern. By Saturday night, the on-call doctor said she was stumped on whether or not to induce me. She was afraid that if I went home, I’d end up really sick quickly or end up with pre-E out of nowhere. She said I would be on bed rest at home and then Michael opened his big mouth and told her I don’t really follow bed rest when I’m at home. So in the end, the decision was made to induce me. I was worried about induction at 37 weeks because I know they call white boys, “weeny white boys” when born early. I was really hoping to make it 38 weeks with Jack. However, I lost that battle and was told that induction would start Saturday night. Prior to beginning induction, I was 1cm dilated.
Saturday night they started the induction with Cervidil to prep my cervix for delivery. This form of induction is left in for 12 hours before Pitocin is started. On Sunday morning when they removed the Cervidil, I was 2cm dilated and at noon, Pitocin was started. I made quick progress with Pitocin and I felt great. Once labor really started, I was 5cm dilated and decided to give in and go for the Epidural. I had planned to labor as long as possible without it but ended up giving in and am SO glad I did. Apparently I had a perfect epidural because I could move my own legs from side to side to flip over but could not feel a thing when it came to pain. It was awesome. I continued to make some progress and then my progress halted for a few hours. I had a reaction to the epidural (I’m assuming) and got really lightheaded and sick to my stomach and almost threw up on a nurse. At the same time, Jack’s heart rate dropped drastically and they hooked me up to oxygen immediately. Once the doctor saw this, she was leaning more towards a c-section and told me if his heart rate dropped for no reason one more time, I’d be heading back to the OR. His heart rate stayed steady for a while but seemed to dip every time they rolled me to my right side or back and they figured out that he must be pinching his cord in those positions. Therefore, I spent the last 7 hours of my labor on my left side.
I continued to make progress and by midnight I was 9cm and 95% effaced. However, at that point, I started to run a fever and began to chill extremely bad. My entire body was shaking violently and my teeth were chattering. I’ve never had such body shakes in my life. The nurse tried to tell me I was having another reaction to the epidural but the doctor finally said I had gotten an infection from having my water broken 11 hours prior. They started me on antibiotics and fluids immediately. The fever and violent shakes continued for 2 hours and I never made any more progress with labor. At that point (2:00am on Monday, June 24th), the doctor decided for me that my infection was too severe and at that point, I was moving on to a c-section. I was totally bummed after being in labor for almost 28 hours but knew that there was no way I could push with the fever and shakes I had. After shaking for 2 hours, I had absolutely NO energy left in me and literally thought I was going to die.
From here, Michael was told to “suit up” and they shipped me off to the OR. I remember asking the anesthesiologist what would happen if I slept through the entire thing because my body was completely and entirely worn out. He told me that would be fine and they’d wake me up when Jack was born. I remember being so tired but not able to sleep so I just kept rolling my head from side to side with my eyes closed. I was begging my body to just sleep but I was still conscious and aware and could hear everything going on around me. Once in the OR, everyone did their prep work and then they couldn’t find the doctor. She ended up showing up almost a half hour later (I was slightly irritated at this point) and began surgery. I began to panic at this point because they were no longer watching Jack’s heart rate and I had to lie on my back for the surgery. They encouraged me that he would be fine but in the back of my mind I kept panicking and thinking that his heart rate could be dropping at any time. They brought Michael in and the rest is history. A c-section wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought but was intense pressure on my stomach as they performed surgery and stitched me up.
Our BEAUTIFUL and blonde haired baby boy was born at 3:35am on Monday, June 24th. He weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 21 and 1/4 inches long. He had a nice cone head from being head down for 19 weeks but that went away within a day. Due to my infection, he was taken to the NICU for 48 hours so they could monitor him and make sure he did not pick up the infection or have any issues caused by my fever. In the end, he passed all the NICU tests and was able to spend his last day and a half in the hospital with us as I recovered from my c-section.
With Jack's feeding and gas issues, he was not a very happy camper
for the first two weeks of life. We finally figured both out and I attempted
some newborn pictures of him since we were unable to get any taken with all the
chaos in our lives. He wasn't the happiest camper during pictures and I'll try
again soon but loved these two. I am obsessed with his gorgeous blonde hair and
his baby faux-hawk. <3
As if
all of this drama was not enough, if you remember, we were supposed to close on
our house Tuesday, June 25th. Well, Jack was born on Monday, June 24th.
However, the title company was going to do a mobile closing for us and come to
the hospital so we could close on time. We found out the day of closing that
the USDA did not complete all of their paperwork on time and closing would be
pushed back. We had no idea when we would close and did not find out until that
Friday. Our new closing date became Tuesday, July 2nd. In the end, it was
probably a blessing to close a week after Jack was born instead of a day but
that meant we were forced to move July 4th when we knew friends and family were
off and able to help.
I cannot THANK our friends enough for all their help on a busy holiday. They busted butt to get us in our new home and I am so appreciative to have such loving and flexible friends. We were completely in our home by that Saturday. It's not been 2 weeks in our new home and we STILL have boxes everywhere but we'll get there. :) I am in love with our new home and am so glad to have such a gorgeous home and beautiful family all in the same week. We are truly blessed and life could not be better... or maybe it could with a little bit more sleep. ;)
On Friday, June 21st, Michael and I headed to the doctor for my LAST appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine to check on Jack’s kidneys and size. On the way there, I told Michael my blood pressure was starting to rise because MFM appointments always made me nervous. I’m not sure why since I knew what to expect with his kidneys, even after birth, but for some reason I would get worked up before every appointment.
The ultrasound tech was one of our favorites and she measured all of the measurements she needed for our records. She told us that Jack had hair and that his head was off the charts. He was still measuring 2.5 weeks ahead all over his body and was estimated to weigh 8lbs 1oz. After she completed her measurements, a nurse came in and took my blood pressure. She was using a different machine than normal and my blood pressure came back as 159/103. I have NEVER been that high before so I asked her to take it again. They decided to use a different machine and it came back at 148/94. This was better but still not good so they called my OB downstairs and asked her what she wanted them to do. I was supposed to be heading down for my 37 week check up with her but I already knew she was going to send me for observation. Instead, she sent me to Labor and Delivery and said I’d be on bed rest and observation for 24 hours. I saw this coming and had told Michael that week that if my blood pressure even looked funny, they’d be keeping me… I was right.
Bed rest in the hospital was not much fun. My OB came in that evening and told me that I had until Saturday night to get my blood pressure steady or I’d end up being induced or with a c-section by Sunday. I was not thrilled with the idea of just scheduling a c-section but my doctor was still convinced Jack was going to be huge. I chose not to go ahead and schedule a c-section and said I would see how the weekend went.
Meanwhile, my blood pressure would be awesome and normal one check and then high the next. This vicious cycle kept going and really confused the on-call doctor. She wasn’t sure what to do since Pregnancy Induced Hypertension is classified as TWO high blood pressure readings in 6 hours. They were checking my blood pressure every 4 hours and since it was hit or miss, I was only having two high ones every 8 hours. I also had to pee in a jug to test for Pre-Eclampsia. In the end, I passed the pre-E test but my blood pressure kept going in the same pattern. By Saturday night, the on-call doctor said she was stumped on whether or not to induce me. She was afraid that if I went home, I’d end up really sick quickly or end up with pre-E out of nowhere. She said I would be on bed rest at home and then Michael opened his big mouth and told her I don’t really follow bed rest when I’m at home. So in the end, the decision was made to induce me. I was worried about induction at 37 weeks because I know they call white boys, “weeny white boys” when born early. I was really hoping to make it 38 weeks with Jack. However, I lost that battle and was told that induction would start Saturday night. Prior to beginning induction, I was 1cm dilated.
Saturday night they started the induction with Cervidil to prep my cervix for delivery. This form of induction is left in for 12 hours before Pitocin is started. On Sunday morning when they removed the Cervidil, I was 2cm dilated and at noon, Pitocin was started. I made quick progress with Pitocin and I felt great. Once labor really started, I was 5cm dilated and decided to give in and go for the Epidural. I had planned to labor as long as possible without it but ended up giving in and am SO glad I did. Apparently I had a perfect epidural because I could move my own legs from side to side to flip over but could not feel a thing when it came to pain. It was awesome. I continued to make some progress and then my progress halted for a few hours. I had a reaction to the epidural (I’m assuming) and got really lightheaded and sick to my stomach and almost threw up on a nurse. At the same time, Jack’s heart rate dropped drastically and they hooked me up to oxygen immediately. Once the doctor saw this, she was leaning more towards a c-section and told me if his heart rate dropped for no reason one more time, I’d be heading back to the OR. His heart rate stayed steady for a while but seemed to dip every time they rolled me to my right side or back and they figured out that he must be pinching his cord in those positions. Therefore, I spent the last 7 hours of my labor on my left side.
I continued to make progress and by midnight I was 9cm and 95% effaced. However, at that point, I started to run a fever and began to chill extremely bad. My entire body was shaking violently and my teeth were chattering. I’ve never had such body shakes in my life. The nurse tried to tell me I was having another reaction to the epidural but the doctor finally said I had gotten an infection from having my water broken 11 hours prior. They started me on antibiotics and fluids immediately. The fever and violent shakes continued for 2 hours and I never made any more progress with labor. At that point (2:00am on Monday, June 24th), the doctor decided for me that my infection was too severe and at that point, I was moving on to a c-section. I was totally bummed after being in labor for almost 28 hours but knew that there was no way I could push with the fever and shakes I had. After shaking for 2 hours, I had absolutely NO energy left in me and literally thought I was going to die.
From here, Michael was told to “suit up” and they shipped me off to the OR. I remember asking the anesthesiologist what would happen if I slept through the entire thing because my body was completely and entirely worn out. He told me that would be fine and they’d wake me up when Jack was born. I remember being so tired but not able to sleep so I just kept rolling my head from side to side with my eyes closed. I was begging my body to just sleep but I was still conscious and aware and could hear everything going on around me. Once in the OR, everyone did their prep work and then they couldn’t find the doctor. She ended up showing up almost a half hour later (I was slightly irritated at this point) and began surgery. I began to panic at this point because they were no longer watching Jack’s heart rate and I had to lie on my back for the surgery. They encouraged me that he would be fine but in the back of my mind I kept panicking and thinking that his heart rate could be dropping at any time. They brought Michael in and the rest is history. A c-section wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought but was intense pressure on my stomach as they performed surgery and stitched me up.
Our BEAUTIFUL and blonde haired baby boy was born at 3:35am on Monday, June 24th. He weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 21 and 1/4 inches long. He had a nice cone head from being head down for 19 weeks but that went away within a day. Due to my infection, he was taken to the NICU for 48 hours so they could monitor him and make sure he did not pick up the infection or have any issues caused by my fever. In the end, he passed all the NICU tests and was able to spend his last day and a half in the hospital with us as I recovered from my c-section.
There was lots of other drama surrounding bed rest and
labor but for the most part, I wanted to remember the key points of that long
weekend… mostly so I could let my child know how much I love him and what I
went through just to get him here. ;) Good thing he’s stinkin’ cute! <3
********
Home Sweet Home
I cannot THANK our friends enough for all their help on a busy holiday. They busted butt to get us in our new home and I am so appreciative to have such loving and flexible friends. We were completely in our home by that Saturday. It's not been 2 weeks in our new home and we STILL have boxes everywhere but we'll get there. :) I am in love with our new home and am so glad to have such a gorgeous home and beautiful family all in the same week. We are truly blessed and life could not be better... or maybe it could with a little bit more sleep. ;)
Love,
The Goodins
party of 3
<3
