Thursday, December 27th 2018
Woke up and remembered I had a doctors appointment at 11:20 that afternoon. I always like going to the doctor because so far everything has gone well and they just keep telling me how healthy our baby is and that we are on track for our due date. I REALLY wanted to have our baby on my due date. It was my great grandpa's birthday.
(foreshadowing)
Chas and I headed to the doctors office and once we got there they took my blood pressure. Happens every time. Ehhh... a little high but it has been a little high the last few times and they said that was totally fine. The doctor came in and checked our little mans heart rate. It's low. Not scary low, but low enough the doctor wass concerned. That, along with my high-ish blood pressure worried the doctor enough for him to set up an appointment at the hospital for some testing. Just to double check that everything is okay. The doctor told us that worst case scenario, I might be induced at the hospital. WHAT?
We had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and run home for a bit before we had to go to the hospital. Chas and I thought just in case, lets pack some things we might need if things go down. We cleaned the house a little and crossed our fingers we'd be back home soon. Fast forward to the hospital. They did an ultrasound as well as a blood pressure cuff to monitor Oliver and I.
My blood pressure had skyrocketed.
Everyone kept telling me to calm down and relax. The weird thing was that through all of this, when I'd usually be panicking, I felt calm. I wasn't panicking. I wasn't worried. But my BP kept rising. It was decided that I would be sent up to maternity to be monitored and to do a few more tests. If all went well, and they could get my BP down, I could go home.
We checked in at the maternity ward and we were brought to a huge room. I realized this is the room people have babies in. But not ME. Not TODAY. right?! I was just here for testing. (Still, uncharacteristically calm. Chas and I were joking that they must be pumping the hospital with some kind of calming gas because we were almost giggly!)
I put on the stupid gown, peed in a cup, and got hooked up to a bunch of monitors for myself and the baby. Our nurse came in after a few hours with a doctor and told us that my blood pressure was getting dangerously high and they found a large amount of protein in my urine. These were signs that I have pre-eclampsia. They don't know much about it, but if it gets bad enough, I could start having seizures, which is really bad news. The only way to fix it is to have the baby. They were going to induce labor and Oliver would be here the next day. It was almost like a cue was given because at that moment about three more nurses came in and began setting me up for an IV and talking to me about medicines they'd use to induce labor and I couldn't handle it. I started bawling. We were not prepared for this. Our house was a mess, we didn't have anyone to take care of our pets. We hadn't even opened the car seat or set up the crib! I didn't have enough time to mentally prepare. The nurses gave us a moment and I just sobbed while Chas held me.
This brings me to a very important part of our story. My husband. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect partner through all of this. He was kind and supportive and never once made me feel bad or weird for crying, or puking, or being splayed out half naked pushing out our son. He was and is just the greatest.
Okay, back to the nitty-gritty. In order to bring my BP down, I had to be put on this medicine the nurses called "Devil Juice." It was supposed to make me "feel like actual dirt." It was horrible. I felt foggy, and sick. Imagine really bad flu symptoms while also having contractions on top of a panic attack. That's sort of what it felt like. I was then put on more medicine that was supposed to induce labor. So from about 4pm to about 6am the next day, a nurse came in every hour or so to check to see how dilated I was, (which for the record, HURTS) give me more meds, or help me to the bathroom, all while every ten minutes or so a machine would check my BP. (not much sleep happened that night)
Friday, December 28th 2018
Here is where it gets exciting. About 6 in the morning, the nurse came in and told me that if my water didn't break on its own within the next hour or so, someone would be by to break it manually. Then I could get an epidural. What I didn't know was that by the time the person would be around to break my water, I would have missed the anesthesiologist. He would be going in to do a surgery and wouldn't be available for another few hours. My body knew this. I didn't... but my body did. Not even 20 minutes after the conversation with the nurse, I felt this slight pain. It felt like I had a water balloon inside me and my muscles squeezed it until it broke! I couldn't believe it! I woke Chas up and called the nurse.
This was by far the most painful part. Once my water broke, the contractions really kicked into high gear. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist hadn't gone into surgery yet so he came by in less than a half hour. (Which was a HUGE blessing!) The epidural hurt, almost as bad as the contractions. Once I couldn't feel the lower half of my body anymore, they got me all set up to start pushing.
I pushed for two and a half hours. The doctor came in and saw that I was exhausted. He gave us a couple options to help get the little guy out. We decided on this suction-cup-plunger-type-thing that would grab Oliver's head and the doctor could pull him out. One push, Two push, suction-thingy, BABY! Oliver came out screaming, and peeing. He was healthy and strong. I cried, Chas cried and Oliver continued screaming. The nurses took him and made sure he was okay and then brought him to me. I thought he was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen. I still can't believe I helped create something so perfect. While our little man rested on me, I began feeling a little foggy. I was tired and starting to feel really cold. Oliver felt like a little heating pad. That's when I noticed that the nurses and the doctor were acting strange. The fogginess made it so that I couldn't really understand what was happening. I was only able to focus on how cold I was and how warm my baby felt. I started shivering. I couldn't understand why my legs were still propped up. I just wanted them to put my legs down, cover me up, and give me blankets. I heard people talking about my blood type. I heard the doctor saying something wasn't working. I had been hooked up to another IV. Someone gave me a shot in my leg. A nurse came by and took my baby because I was shaking so bad. I managed to look over at Chas and I have never seen him more concerned.
I was hemorrhaging. A lot. They couldn't get the bleeding to stop. The doctor was about to start a blood transfusion when things finally started to slow down. At this point, I couldn't open my eyes or speak. I could sort of hear what was going on but the only thing I could focus on was how cold I was. I was trembling so bad that the nurses had to hold down my arm in order to stick me with another needle. My body was so tired. In hindsight, I am really glad that all of my other senses had been put on the back burner. I think if I was totally aware of what was happening, I would have panicked. The worst was over. The doctor got the bleeding to stop and some very nice nurses came to my rescue with warm blankets! I was just buried in blankets. They even put them around my head so just the smallest bit of my face was showing. Chas kept laying himself somewhat over me to try and warm me up. I remember being so grateful he was doing that but still too tired to speak. I trembled uncontrollably for another 2 hours or so. I've never been more exhausted in my life. I was told that I lost twice the amount of blood that women lose during child birth. I am so grateful for my doctor and the nurses for their hard work and quick thinking. They literally saved my life.
Chas went to see the baby and I rested. (as much as you can rest when your body is shaking constantly for what feels like forever.) Back to how amazing my husband is: Chas brought me water and fed me grapes when I started to come back to the land of the five sense. I felt like a baby bird. It was weird.
The rest of the story is pretty boring compared to all that excitement. Once I started feeling better, they put me back on the "Devil Juice" and I felt like a pile of dirt again. After a few hours they moved us out of the delivery room and into the "Mother and Baby" part of the hospital. You'd think that the hospital staff would think, "hey, she just had a baby, lets leave her alone to rest" nope. All night people kept coming in to make sure I wasn't bleeding more, or to check my blood pressure, or to give me more medicine. How dare they make sure I was okay? haha juuuussst kidding. We were so grateful for the nurses. They were so kind, and respectful. I mean, I would have loved to sleep, but I'm glad they did their job!
Over the next 48 hours I was monitored and visited by SO many people. We had the normal rounds from nurses as well as a visit from the lactation specialist, the pediatricians, the pharmacist, the people cleaning our room, people bringing us food, multiple doctors and the lady who wanted to make sure I'd seek help if I thought I had postpartum depression. Again, I totally get they are just doing their job. They are making sure the baby and I are taken care of. But man, I just wanted to sleep, eat, hold my baby, and visit with our friends and family who came to see us.
Sunday, December 30th 2018
Oliver was discharged before I was. My blood pressure was still incredibly high and we'd been at the hospital for four days. I was getting cabin fever. The doctor decided to send me home with some medicine and made me promise to monitor my BP. We were finally allowed to go home!
My BP is great now and I'm off all the medication besides Ibproven. Oliver is healthy and happy and enjoys wiggling, peeing on us, making funny noises, and not allowing his parents to sleep. Ever.
Life has been crazy the past month. I know parenting is going to be a hard road, but I am excited for this new adventure.
-R
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