Now for the whole story of the labor and delivery. We came in Saturday night at 8pm to begin the induction process. They set us up in a room, hooked me up to the monitors, had some lab work done, an IV put in and then waited for awhile to start the pitocin. Finally found out at 10:30 that they were trying to get a new bed for me because the button for the nurse wasn't working on the bed that was in the room. They got a new bed in there and started a low dose of pitocin at 11. Some time in the middle of the night they did turn the pitocin off for awhile and then started a higher dose at 6am. My doctor came in at 7:30 to check me but I hadn't dilated any more than the previous day when I was at 2cm. My doctor gave me 3 options. 1) I could continue on the pitocin and they would increase the dose. 2) I could go home, wait and try again later. Or 3) I could have a c-section. I really didn't want to have a c-section. Not only did I not want to have surgery and go through the painful recovery but I really wanted the whole experience of a vaginal birth. So we decided against that. And going home didn't make sense at all. We knew that he was already a big baby and that was why my body was having a hard time progressing to deliver him, so we ruled that option out as well. We had them increase the dose of pitocin.
They increased the pitocin every 30 minutes up to the highest dosage they would give. At that point my doctor checked me again and I had dilated to a 3 and had effaced to 80%. She was happy with the progress and decided that since we had already ruled out going home that it would help to break my water. At 10:30 she broke my water to help labor progress even more. At this point my contractions got much stronger. I wasn't really feeling anything before my water was broke and was quite shocked at the difference it made. I dilated to a 5 by noon and they gave me an epidural for the pain. The epidural did not hurt at all really but my contractions were quite strong at this point so I didn't care; I just wanted them to quit hurting. It looked like things were going well since my water had been broken. I had dilated 2 additional centimeters in an hour and a half. Before my water was broke it took me 3 hours to dilate just one centimeter. My progress slowed down after this though. After two hours I had only dilated another centimeter and then after another 2 hours I had dilated another centimeter to a 7.
I stayed at 7 centimeters for 3 hours. During this time I also started running a fever. They gave me some antibiotics through my IV and had me do some rocking on my hands and knees to try to reposition the baby to see if that would help. I started feeling a lot more pressure so we thought that it was getting close to time for the big show. They began prepping everything for delivery and then the doctor came in to check me again. The baby had moved down (hence the increased amount of pressure); however, I hadn't dilated any further. At this point we had no options but to have a c-section. Since I was running a fever they weren't going to let me stay on the pitocin any longer and I had been at a 7 for 3 hours. Plus, my doctor still thought the baby's head was too big to fit through my pelvis. So, after 10 hours from the point of breaking my water they began prepping me for a c-section. I was pretty upset about it because I really wanted a vaginal birth and didn't want to have surgery (I knew recovery would be rough). But it was important to make sure that baby and I were safe and healthy.
They wheeled me back to the OR a little bit after 8 and let Jonathan come back shortly after that. I was given additional medicine to numb me and help me relax (I was having the baby shakes from all the hormones of labor pretty bad). At 8:34 baby Ryan Matthew was born. Everything went really well with the c-section. Jonathan was able to cut the cord while they were cleaning Ryan off. Jonathan held Ryan, showed him to me and then carried him to the nursery. While Jonathan was in the nursery with Ryan for his check-up they finished everything with me. I honestly don't know how long this process took because I fell asleep and I don't remember a whole lot from the c-section due to all the medicine and nerves (I was pretty out of it). I remember waking up and my doctor was telling me that there was no way the baby was going to be able to fit through my pelvis because his head was too big and a bit off centered from the birth canal. He still ended up having a little bit of a cone shaped head from being down there and stuck (but it has gone down for the most part by now).
I was wheeled back to my room and they brought Ryan in to see me shortly after. I was able to nurse him and see him for a couple of minutes before they took Ryan back to the nursery for his bath. I was very glad that I was able to see him so soon after (that was one of my concerns with having a c-section) even if it was just for about 30 minutes. During this time I started feeling sick though and ended up throwing up several times through out the night. My fever had still not gone down so I received more antibiotics and Ryan had to have blood work done because I was running a fever but everything came back negative. I was moved to my postpartum room and they brought Ryan back shortly after this. He wasn't away from me too long; which made me very happy. I will follow up with some about his first day shortly. Here are a few pictures for now.
Right before going in Saturday night.
During labor (I think this was after they gave me the epidural).
Getting ready to go back to the OR. Trying to keep a positive additude and a smile on my face.
Baby Ryan is here.
Working on cleaning him off.
He did not like the medicine they have to put on their eyes.
Jonathan with Ryan. Jonathan got to stay with Ryan for most of the time while he was in the nursery.
Mommy gets to hold him for the first time.
No comments:
Post a Comment