Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Samantha

A week ago today I went to my 40 week Ob appointment. I was hoping I wouldn't go too much over my due date like I had with my other pregnancies.I was prepared for them to tell me that labor was not eminent and to go home and relax.But the baby i was carrying was slowing down. Less movement. I was hoping she was getting into position. Things didn't exactly go as I had planned.

I saw Mary, one of the Midwives, and she checked for the babies heart beat. She couldn't find it. She searched high and low and all over my belly. She couldn't locate it. I could tell she was a little more than concerned as she called for the ultra-sound machine to be wheeled in. I was surprisingly calm. I had felt the baby move a little bit earlier that morning.

As she squirted cold jelly all over my huge belly she asked me questions about the babies movements and such  and I told her that the movements has slowed down but I still was feeling some nudges and pokes. Then she found the baby on the machine and the babies heartbeat. The baby was fine. The only problem was that Mary couldn't find any fluid to measure.  It seems that my amniotic fluid had all dried up somehow. My water had not broken. As far as they could tell I was not leaking. It was a mystery. A mystery that sent my pregnant bottom to the hospital to be induced.

Before I left the Doctor's Office I made all my phone calls. Called Matt and told him to come home. I called the neighbor to pick up Peter from preschool. I called my Mom to tell her that I was not coming home. I've never been so grateful for cell phones. I went to the hospital and rode up in the elevator with a women who was being wheeled in. I could tell she was in the advanced stages of labor. That was going to be me soon.

April, another midwife, met me at the hospital. She was the one handling the induction. The induction that didn't take! I bounced on a birthing ball all day while being hooked up to pitocin all for it not to have done a thing. My cervix didn't budge. Meanwhile, the baby continued to be monitored and her heart beat continued steady and strong.

NOTE: between the hours 11:30am and 7pm, I had 4 different nurses.

At about 6:45 they gave me Cervadill. The longest night of my life was upon me. Because I was on the Cervadill, which is an insert they place as close to the cervix as they can, I had to stay in bed and be heavily monitored. If the monitor lost the babies heart rate then a nurse would rush in and readjust until the heartbeat could be found. So I stayed in the most uncomfortable bed in the whole universe hooked up to a bunch of wires all night long. My poor sweet baby was inside a dry uterus and she was just trying to get comfortable. Because their was no buffer of fluid for her she could feel those monitors pressing down on her, of that I am sure, so she moved all night long and I had nurses in and out of my room every half an hour. By morning my baby had settled into a comfy transverse breech position (sideways).  Her heart beat remained strong. I was exhausted.

So the next morning, unknowing that my baby was transverse, they took the Cervadill out, checked me, yes it has softened things up. Then I got out of that hell of a bed and ate breakfast. I wanted to jump start my day so I took to the halls to walk until Debbie, my favorite midwife, arrived to begin the pitocin. I walked for a good hour and began having contractions about 4 mins apart. As I walked I was excited that maybe I would just go into labor and I wouldn't need my pit drip. My handsome hubby arrived around 8:30 and Debbie around 9 am.  I told her that I was feeling contractions. As I described them she told me they were more than likely still Braxton Hicks. She decided to check me before she hooked me back up to my pit drip and she was glad she did. That is when we all discovered that little Samantha's head was not in place. Her hands AND feet were!  Because of the lack of fluid they couldn't try to turn her so my only option was a C-section. Of which I was totally fine. I just needed them to get my baby out so she would be safe. Debbie called the Doctor and the Doctor agreed that a C-section was the only option. They scheduled me for 4pm (because I had eaten breakfast).

I wish I could say that 4pm arrived and I was holding my baby at 4:30pm but no. All day long I was feeling contractions. But every time they hooked me up to the monitor my contractions would not show up. So the nurses just said it was the baby moving against my dry uterus. Which I could believe because of the pain of her moving all night long. So I believed them and all day long I was contracting but my belly wasn't getting very hard so I just told myself it was the baby shifting.

3pm rolls around and I am in pain. The only thing that bring me comfort is the fact that 4pm is coming soon. But then I was informed that I got bumped to 4:30 and they weren't even sure they could get me in then. Tortured doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling. I told the nurse that my contractions were getting worse and she touched my stomach and agreed that I was in fact having real contractions. But she wouldn't check me because it wouldn't change the outcome of the situation. Which translate to: You are still have a c-section. Duh.

I was sitting in a rocking chair at this time and I felt myself open and something moving into the birth canal. I told the nurse and she told me the same thing as before. It wasn't until I moved into the bed and yelled," I am feeling the urge to bare down! I feel like I have to poop!" Than she knew I was serious. She checked me and I was dilated to a 10 with bulging baby parts trying to making their way down the birth canal. That is when everyone sprang into action.The Doctor came in and confirmed that the baby parts where still hands and feet and my scheduled c-section turned into an emergency c-section.

 NOTE: At this point I had had a total of 7 nurses in 2 days. I had a total of 12 nurses during my 4 day stay.


What's a gal got to do to have a c-section around here?I was more than a little peeved at the way things went. I was mad that I had to get so far advanced into child birth before they took me seriously and stopped putting me off. I was upset that I had so many different nurses that none of them even got to know my name. When I think of all the things that could have gone wrong. If Samantha hadn't been as strong of a baby as she is, I don't know if she would have even survived.

Gratefully, she did. Gratefully everything turned out for the best and we are both well and thriving.Gratefully Heavenly Father provided skilled professionals when I needed them the most. Every time I hold my little sweetie I know that I am already holding a super strong woman with an even stronger spirit. And I am reminded that I'm no weakling either :)


I'll write about my crush on my anesthesiologist later....






4 comments:

Wendi said...

Awesome Kristin!!! Love the last bit about how you both are so strong. We just never know. You did it! I'm so glad you're healthy and so is the babe.

I hope to actually meet this one before she goes on a mission. Still haven't met Ben.

Enjoy being a mama of a newborn. They don't last long.

Wendi

Amanda Zipf said...

I'm so proud of you! What a scary ordeal! I would love to meet her and see you when you are up to it!
Amanda

Sunshine said...

Wow, that made me cry. Babies are just too special and I'm so thankful you get to keep and raise yours!! You guys are such a wonderful family. Hang in there!!!!!! If you need anything let me know.

Nancy said...

Thank you so much for writing your birth story! I am so glad that you are both ok! What an emotional story! Congratulations to you and dear Samantha. :)