Well it's been a week since we went into the hospital. It's hard to believe that one week ago right now, MP and I were waiting for a call from the hospital that we were supposed to head on over.
We arrived shortly before 9pm, but had to wait in the lobby for nearly an hour. We were both nervous - and we wanted to get into the hospital room before 10 so we could watch the new Rescue Me! That didn't happen. Instead, we had to sit and wait for an hour. It was about 10 when we got into the room and I got changed. We sat in the room and answered the nurses questions regarding everything. It was nearly 10:45 before she was done so we waited for the 11pm encore presentation of Rescue Me! During that showing, we hardly got to watch it because the other nurse came into set me up on the monitor and get my IV in. So, I am re-watching last weeks episode as I type this!
After midnight, I was starting to get very uncomfortable in the labor bed. I kept fidgeting and the baby monitor would fall off a lot. As a result, the nurse would come in often to rearrange it b/c they couldn't get a long enough read of Ireland's heart rate. At one point, the nurse came in pretty frantic and said that Ireland's heart rate dropped. She called my doctor and as a result, the doctor decided not to start the cervadil insert at that time because they didn't think the baby would like it. They wanted to keep monitoring her heart rate.
It was a long night in that room. The labor bed is the most uncomfortable bed, ever. I'm at my heaviest and I have to lay on a side to get a good read on the monitor and so therefore I'm just really uncomfortable. I didn't sleep, I just moved a lot and watched Netflix and begged the nurse to let me stand up out of bed for a bit. I'm hooked to an IV and the baby monitor machine and I can't go anywhere without being unhooked and dragging the IV with me. I know all my mommy friends can relate, but man, no one told me how much torture THAT would be!
By 6am, I finally got a bit of sleep until about 7:30 when my doctor was coming in for the day. She did an exam - and true to form, I still had a hard cervix. The baby's heart rate had looked good overnight so they were ready to do the insert. The insert must stay in for 12 hours. So by 9am on Thursday the insert was in and by 12 I was allowed to eat and drink. So, my wonderful husband got me a sandwich and chips and fruit. After lunch, I crashed for a few hours.
I woke up in the 2pm hour and I was starting to feel a bit of pressure down 'there'. My doctor had come in and as we were talking, I had a small contraction. As that occurred, the baby's heart rate dropped again. My doctor grew concerned and said I had to lay down and be monitored again for a bit. So, I did. As I did, the contractions started to occur a bit more. They didn't hurt at that point, but just felt like cramping. A few hours later, say around 4 or 5, they started to get more frequent and while still not totally painful, they were enough that I had to breath hard through them. The nurse found me a medicine ball to sit on and that helped a lot, as it got me out of that uncomfortable bed.
I went to the bathroom around 6 and came out and spoke with the nurse for about an hour. We were just bs'ing and hanging out for most of the hour. Towards the end of her shift, she was checking me out and all of a sudden she got really frantic. She made me lay down and handed me an oxygen mask. She kicked my godmother and FIL out of the room and asked MP to stay. Once again, Ireland's heart rate dropped, this time really low. I still had nearly two hours to be on the cervadil, but the nurse swiftly removed it.
So, she called my doctor in and we began to discuss our options. The baby was clearly not doing well. Either she wasn't liking the cervadil, or certain ways i moved kept her moving on her cord. Either way, this wasn't good. Doctor said we could start the pictocin, but more than likely, the drop in heart ratwould occur again and it might need to be stopped. I was very torn on what decision to make. Try to go ahead and force into natural labor, or get a c-section?
After talking more about the heart rate, I decided that a c-section would be best at this point for me and the baby. I would continue to be stressed and worry about the heart rate, and that would not be good.
So, we quickly got prepped for surgery, MP got his scrubbies on, and I laid in bed sucking O2. This happened fast enough that I didn't get to take pictures of MP in his scrubs, or make any phone calls. MP called my mom and that was it.
Sometime in the 7pm hour, I was wheeled into the OR and prepped with a spinal. As they were just about ready to go and the sheet was up, MP was allowed to come in and sit by me.
The surgery was weird. The staff was amazing. They just flowed in their roles and took care of me from start to finish. My doctor is so calming and just the personality I needed to operate on me. I laid there calm as could be. I mean, I couldn't move anything from my boobs down, but I still concentrated on being still and calm. The idea that my insides were out and a baby was to be coming soon was so surreal and I just laid there waiting to hear my baby.
Soon enough, I hear the nurse tell MP to stand up to see his baby. My doctor pull the curtain down a bit and all of a sudden, I saw, for a brief second, my beautiful baby girl. I started bawling and then I heard her screams and cries and I laughed, then cried a lot more. MP got up and took pictures of her and came back and said 'she is really cute' and was just beaming. It was so, just amazing.
Towards the end of surgery, MP was able to bring Ireland over to me and I just cried a little more b/c she is just so beautiful. I was immediately addicted to her.
We went back to our labor and delivery room for about an hour and then up to our room for the next few days. In that time we got to call our parents and have Aunt Cherry and Mike come up to see Ireland. I was just still so drugged up and trying to nurse my little peanut.
The next few days were great, even though they were a bit hard, too. I loved being awake in the middle of the night and seeing my daughter sleeping on one side of me and my husband on the other. I hated the first day in mom and baby when I couldn't get up and get my daughter myself, but I loved having the nurses wait on us! Hee Hee
I have to say that once again, MP was an amazing help. He is such a wonderful husband and already an incredible father. Ireland and I are so lucky we have him. He helped me taking my bandage off, which hurt. He helped every last bit with the baby, with nursing, with making sure I had water. I adore him.
We got discharged on Sunday after lunch. We packed up our stuff and made our way home with a little teeny person in our car.
Home 4 days now, its been a process. I'm healing up well. I am still in pain and discomfort at times and not able to move fast, but I feel good overall. Nursing has been better than I expected, yet still has its challenges.
My hormones are definitely out of whack and I need to get more sleep when I can. But overall, so far has been better than I expected.
Nana is here and spoiling us with help and love. I'm here to provide milk and MP is here to snuggle his daughter. Life is good.
My daughter is amazing and beautiful. She so strong and loves to roll over to her side to sleep. She is a right side sleeper like me. I love our early morning feedings when we fall back to sleep together in the quiet, with her on my chest. I love her little coo's and sounds and I fall in love again every time I see MP snuggling that little peanut. God is amazing and I can't thank him enough for these truly wonderful gifts.
awww- thanks for sharing your special story!!
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