Blast From The Past - Bug's Birth Story

So after posting my previous post about Bug's 3rd birthday, I got to thinking about his birth story. I remembered typing it up and posting in on my old LiveJournal, so I headed over there and dug it out of the archives. So, for those of you who never had the joy of hearing how Bug came into the world, here you go!

Originally posted on Live Journal, February 11, 2005 @ 2:17PM. It has been edited for spelling and names have been changed.

Well, Bug is finally here after one heck of a ride. If anyone wants to know how things went during delivery, here's the birth story (I actually have a moment to type it...he's sleeping in his swing after eating...yeah!)

Well, on Saturday January 29th, I woke up at 1am with minor contractions. They weren't too painful and were about 10 minutes apart or so. That lasted all morning. I ended up watching TV all morning in bed until around 6am when Darling Hubby finally got up. He had asked me on Friday to cut his hair so, while I was in early labor, I'm cutting his hair...lol We thought that labor would progress faster so we got up and milled around the house. By 6pm things had started to move along a little better. I was timing contractions all day long and they were finally consistently about 3-6 minutes apart. I called the doctor and she said that I could come in and get checked.

At the hospital, they checked me and I was only about a 2. They admitted me since I was so overdue and hooked me up to all these different machines and IV's. I could have slugged the nurse that put in my IV. She tried in 4 different places on my hands and arms until she found a place where she wasn't hurting me. A couple places actually started to bleed all over the place - the bed and the floor...that wasn't fun. I had so many wires and hoses coming out of me that it wasn't funny. There was the contraction monitor, Bug's heartbeat monitor, my IV with the tubes for the Pitocin, Glucose solution, and Penicillin (for the group B strep).

My friend Rachelle from back home arrived around 8 (I was talking to her on the phone before I went to the hospital and I was supposed to call her once they admitted me.) Her boyfriend told her just to come up because more than likely, he would be born within the next day or so. I was actually trying to call her on her cell when she was walking in the door.

They kept checking me and I was dilating pretty slowly, despite the pitocin. They broke my water, which wasn't clear...meaning that Bug had already had his first bowel movement. There was a risk that if he inhaled or swallowed some of the amniotic fluid that he could get pneumonia or have other breathing problems.

Around midnight, the contractions were coming closer together and were getting pretty painful. I was near tears most of the time and squeezing both Darling Hubby's and Rachelle's hands. I was actually afraid that I would hurt them. I ended up begging for the epidural. They made Darling Hubby and Shell leave the room - probably because if he heard the doctor say "oops" he probably would have decked him. The anesthesiologist who came in to do the job had no sense of humor and didn't make me feel all that comfortable. He actually scared me because he poked me in the back with a pen to mark my spine. I jumped and he was like "it was only a pen...you need to hold still." He never warned me...Can't be prepared for something if I don't know someone is going to stick me with something. Anyway, I felt much better after the epidural was put in. The only downside was that I couldn't get out of bed and walk around, much less go to the bathroom. They had to insert a catheter...luckily I couldn't feel it. So add to the previous list of wires, the epidural in my back, the catheter, and 3 cardiac monitors - to make sure that I was handling the epidural without heart problems. They also hooked me up to a blood pressure cuff that was programmed to check my pressure every 15 minutes. It was hard to get sleep when your arm is squeezed every 15 minutes. Plus, when they changed my positions (I couldn't move on my own) if they put me on the side with the cuff, it would register that my pressure was high causing a monitor to beep, annoyingly, until a nurse came in and turned it off...they had to keep doing that.

I was also starting to get really hot so they were giving me wet cloths to wipe my face with and the nurse even turned down the heat. Poor Darling Hubby and Shell were freezing. Rachelle had on 4 layers of clothing, plus she had one of the blankets from my bed.

By morning, I was starting to feel the contractions again because the epidural was starting to wear off. They kept changing my positions to see if they could get the pain to go away, but it wasn't working. They were going to give me more meds in my epidural, but there was an emergency c-section that required the anesthesiologist and all the nurses. Someone was having triplets...ouch!

Ok, so

Well, after the whole triplet chaos, they came in and gave me some more medication, but that was really all they could give me because after a few times, the medication would become toxic. It helped for about an hour and started to wear off again. My doctor came in and checked me...I was up to 7cm. They decided to up my pitocin and insert a monitor to see exactly how strong my contractions were...yet one more wire...I was actually begging them before they started all this for the c-section because I couldn't take it anymore. The doctor said they couldn't do that without a good medical reason. So I had another 1/2 hour-45 minutes of pain. It turns out that my contractions just weren't strong enough to keep me progressing and with the fact that Bug had already had his first bowel movement, it was necessary to get him out sooner rather the later.

They got me all set to go into the OR. Darling Hubby was given scrubs to change into. We called my parents just to let them know that I was going into surgery, in case something happened. I was pretty scared at the aspect of being gutted like a fish, but it was for the best. The new anesthesiologist was great and actually had a sense of humor. He made me numb from my chest down so I couldn't feel a thing. They wheeled me into the OR and moved me onto the operating table. I still had the cardiac monitors, the blood pressure cuff, the epidural, the catheter, the IV, and now these inflatable air casts that would breath to keep the blood flowing in my legs. I was shivering uncontrollably because at this point I was so cold and scared. They put this big plastic pillow across my arms and started blowing warm air through it. They covered it with a towel and it kept me nice and warm. I still felt bad for Darling Hubby once he got in there because he was only wearing thin little scrubs and it was pretty cold in the room.

They checked to make sure that I was completely numb. I guess they were pinching me pretty hard with some instrument. I could feel them rubbing my belly down with the orange liquid. I didn't feel them cut me open, but I could feel a ton of pressure as they were digging around in there. It was like a great weight was lifted out of me when they pulled Bug out. Darling Hubby got a couple pictures, but the doctor was in the way so you really can't tell where his head is and whatnot. Normally they show the mom the baby over the screen, but since there was the problem with the meconium, they whisked him off to the corner to check him and make sure his airways were clear. I, of course, started to cry the instant he started to cry. I was just happy that he was breathing and crying. It was another 45 mintues until they got me sewed back up. Darling Hubby snapped a couple of pictures of Bug after they cleaned him up. He did well on his apgar scores with and 8 and a 9.

He was born at exactly 12:12pm on January 30, 2005, weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 13oz, 21 inches long. He's doing great, except for the breastfeeding, but he's eating formula like mad and gaining weight. He lost a pound before being released from the hospital, but as of Monday the 7th, he was back up to 9lbs 11oz.

Well, I had better get going. Bug's going to wake up soon for his feeding and I'm sure he's going to be hungry. Later