All through my pregnancy I thought for sure my little girl would be late. I was 3 days late, my husband was a few days late, I figured the pattern would continue. I was wrong, my daughter decided to make her appearance 11 days early due to pre-eclampsia.
I went in for my routine 38 week appointment feeling over done with pregnancy at that point. My pregnancy was very easy: no nausea, sleeping fine, just heartburn in the third trimester (think 4 bottles of tums in 12 weeks). A few appointments earlier my blood pressure was elevated and there was some protein in my urine, but nothing too alarming, just needed to be watched. This appointment was different. My blood pressure was really high and quite a bit of protein this time. My doctor came in ready to send me straight to the hospital. He said I looked pre-eclamptic because of all the swelling in my hands and legs along with heightened reflexes, but my blood pressure, while high, wasn’t high enough to send me in. I was told to watch for headaches and vision changes and to call if any of that happened. To say that I was terrified when I left the appointment would be an understatement. I tried calling my husband to tell him what had happened and to help me process that it really could be any day, but no luck since he was at orientation for his new job. So I called my mom, like most girls would in time of emotional crisis. She reassured me that everything would be ok and to take it easy the rest of the day and the next. I was still worried, but handling it ok.
The rest of the day came and went without symptoms, but the next day I woke up with a splitting headache Tylenol wouldn’t touch, so I dealt with it all day since I needed to run errands that absolutely had to be done pre-baby. I called the doctor’s office around 2 p.m. to see what I needed to do. They called back after hours and said I needed to go to the hospital to be checked out. I decided to go to Walgreens to have my blood pressure checked because, hey, it doesn’t cost $200 to go to Walgreens. My blood pressure was at 148/92 (the cut-off for pre-e is 140/90 and the day before my top umber was in the high 120s). So to the hospital we went. We got to the hospital at 6:45 p.m. Luckily, my doctor was already there with another patient. When he came into the room I was being monitored in I was immediately told I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital without a baby.
I was started on Pitocin and cytotec at 8:45 p.m. Contractions were barely noticeable until my water broke around 2 a.m. then the pain started. I asked for fentanyl since I had planned to labor and birth without an epidural, but the contractions were awful thanks to the Pitocin. I caved around three and got the epidural in and working by four along with another medication to help me sleep. I was able to sleep until about 8, and woke up with an oxygen mask since the baby’s heartbeat started going down, but recovered with the extra oxygen. By 10 I was fully effaced, dilated, and ready to go. My nurse called the doctor and he said to try some practice pushes to see if I was ready to push or if I needed to bear down. It finally sunk in that this was real and happening now. My husband saw that I was starting to freak out and said he was going to call my mom to be in the room. I protested at first because I really wanted it to be something just for the two of us to experience together, but I knew he was right. So he called my mom and she was there in 30 minutes. I was ready to go, so we started pushing while we waited for the doctor to get there. He came in the next 15 minutes, and I pushed for an hour and a half, with no pain thanks to that amazing epidural, before my sweet Olivia Charlotte was born at 11:28 a.m on September 1st. I was immediately in love and thrilled that she was here, even though I felt completely unprepared with her coming a week and a half early. With a surprise induction, all of the emotional upheaval that came with it, and the only thing left intact on my birth plan being a vaginal birth, it was insanely overwhelming, but it couldn’t have gone better. She’s the light of my husband’s and my life and I can’t imagine a world where she came any later!
- Elizabeth (Olivia's Mom)
No comments:
Post a Comment