Two Steps Forward, and One Step Back: Birth Story

I first want to say that I am so thankful for this community and all the support they provide for one another. I am sorry that I am not better about commenting or providing support, but as of lately I have been more busy than usual. I decided I should provide a semi ending to this story. I say semi because someday I may come back to this space, but for now I would much rather enjoy hanging out with my son and also taking care of a plethora of chores. I may come back once he has a more set schedule, but right now it is all over the place and I sleep when I can. Here is the birth story, sorry but it is a little long.

Wednesday (4/24) to Thursday(4/25) - started getting ready for bed and went to the bathroom where I felt a gush come out while going at first I thought it was just my bladder being really full until I stood up and some more leaked down my leg. I decided to examine the protocol the doctor gave me for the last month and calling the on-call doctor. While doing this I felt more gushes so I examined the bathroom floor to find the discharge was clear and watery. I called the on-call doctor and sure enough they told me to head into labor and delivery.

It was now 12:15 am on Thursday. I told DH we had to go and he said really. I said yeah it is a possible false alarm but we need to make sure so we headed out kind of frantically grabbing items. As we headed to the hospital I started feeling some contractions but nothing too strong.

I was checked in and occasionally felt some stronger contractions. The nurse checked me out and said I was dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced. She then tested for amniotic fluid which came back positive. I was definitely starting to have this baby and nothing was going to prevent it at this point. I was admitted. I think it was about 1:30 at this point.

DH decided to go and get us some extra things we had forgotten at the house with the rule he had to stay on the phone with me as he drove home just in case he needed to turn back. He made it there and back in record time. In the meantime my contractions had been getting stronger so they did a check to find I was at 4-5 cm and 90 % effaced. This was at about 4am. So I continued to walk around and labor away. Around 5 the contractions started to get real intense, but I just kept going although I was starting to get real tired without any sleep for about 20 hours. Finally at 5:30 I caved and asked for an epidural, I needed sleep. After the epidural they checked me and I was at 9- 10 cm and 100 % effaced, but they wanted my labor to push him down further into the birth canal so they would let me be for a little while. So I kinda snoozed, but not really. I had DH contact the acupuncture office to cancel my appointment that morning and then at 7 he called his parents.

Around 8 they checked to see if he had come down farther and had me try pushing to see if he would come done farther, but found that he was still in the same spot. They decided to turn me on my side to see if they could get him to move in a better position, but first they wanted to give me more pain meds through the epidural so we waited for that to kick in. In the meantime, the NICU nurse came and talked with us to tell us what would happen now since he was coming slightly early and would not be full term. The informed us that he would have to stay in the NICU for a minimum of 6 hours and before every feeding for the first 24 hours they would have to test his blood sugar and his bilirubin levels would also have to be check as well as his weight. They would also have to carefully monitor his oxygen levels. We were also told that he may have a hard time taking in food since the sucking and swallowing reflexes are developed during the 37 and 38 weeks of pregnancy. This was disheartening to hear, but there was nothing we could really do about it and they wanted us to make a decision on how to supplement his feeds as this would be important in maintaining his birth weight. We chose donor milk. At this point, which it was about 9, both my SIL and MIL arrived to hang out with us and they were a very welcome distraction as I still waiting around for little guy to come.

The nurses came back to check in around 10 and had me flip and found that I and decided to give me Pitocin to kick up the contractions and help the little guy along. Finally, around 11 the nurses came in and had me push to see if he was ready and we were given the green light to go so they went and got my doctor.

My doctor came in and I had 2 nurses on one side and DH and another nurse on the other side holding my legs up and coaching me on how to push. It seemed like I pushed 5 or 6 times before they told me that he was really close and that he had a lot of hair, which DH confirmed. Basically every time a contraction would get going I would take a deep breath in and hold it while pushing and then let it out when I couldn’t do it anymore. I would do this 3 times for each contraction and then rest between. When his head seemed to be almost out the doctor would get this gel stuff to try and make it easier for him to slide out. This all started to hurt so much and I was so tired and I just kept telling them this. Finally after trying to push his head out 5 or 6 times the doctor recommended an episiotomy, which I declined because I was scared of how it would hurt. I also noticed at this point the concern on DH’s face although there was nothing I could do or say to make his fears go away because I was too busy thinking about the next push. I went through one more contraction and the doctor again recommended the episiotomy because the little guy’s head just kept going back inside and finally I relented. We went through a couple more pushes and finally his head was out and the doctor was suctioning his mouth and nose. I then had to push one more time to get the rest of his body out and there he was. It took a second, but then I heard him cry and he was handed to me. The time was 12:15 pm. He was 6 lbs and 12 ozs and 19 3/4 inches long. All of a sudden I was anxious because I wasn’t sure what to do with this new guy, but then I looked at him and everything melted away. He was so little and precious. At that point they took him from me because they needed to make sure that all his operations were up and running.

The doctor then had me push out the placenta while the doctors pressed on my stomach and all of a sudden I saw what looked like a giant bloody roast come out of me. While they were dealing with all this I was trying to watch all that was occurring with my new little guy. DH was standing close by to see that everything was going well. I was getting stitches at this point and let me tell you that was kinda painful and once that was done and the little guy had been checked over they finally let me try breast feeding him. We did get him to latch and maybe he got something, but I am not sure on that first feed. After 10 mins on one side, he was taken away to the NICU to start his minimum of 6 hours. I pumped right after this and got a couple of drops of colostrum. During the next few hours nurses came in and out of my room pushing on my stomach, trying to get the blood out and giving me pain meds and checking my vitals and they made me walk to the bathroom at one point. All part of the recovery process. 3 hours later they brought him back for a feeding and he did 10 on one side and 15 on the other side. The lactation nurse helped me and it seemed we were off to a great start with breast feeding. DH then fed him a bottle and I pumped a few more drops and back to the NICU he went. So far all his blood sugars and test have come back normal and good. 3 hours later he came back and was allowed to stay in our room unless something went wrong. At 7 SIL and her son came by and this was the first time my nephew saw his new little cousin. We did let him hold him with SIL helping and it was so sweet. After they left we had a feeding, but it was problematic as were most of them that night. The nurses told me that it was normal and that he was just tired, but he would take a bottle and his blood sugars continued to maintain pretty well.

Friday(4/26) we learned that he lost 5 ounces and that his bilirubin levels were just below the high risk line so it was looking like we could go home on Saturday. On Friday we just worked on feedings, he had his pictures taken and his hearing test done and we set it up so that he could get his circumcision done. We also went to the discharge class. We were so excited to be going home. I was experiencing quite a bit of swelling in my feet but other than that I was starting to feel better. Later that night we had a little scare as his blood sugar was 45 and they didn’t want to see it go below that number, but they decided to check and see how it was at the next feeding and then proceed and at the next feeding it was 66. That night he had his bilirubin levels checked again and we had to wait on those results. They weren’t in the high risk yet, but we were told that they would need to check one more before discharge.

Saturday morning (4/27) he went for his circumcision and didn’t even cry. He usually cries for everything like getting his temp checked, his blood pressure, and diaper changes, but the circumcision didn’t even phase him. We started getting ready because everything was looking like he would be coming home, but then his noon readings on his bilirubin levels came back and they were now in the high risk zone. The pediatrician on duty didn’t want to risk him being readmitted so they explained that he would have photo therapy and stay for the night and maybe we could go home on Sunday. We then found out that since I was discharged they would have to try and make arrangements for me to stay so that I could feed him at night. Luckily, they didn’t need the room we were currently in so they said that I could room in although we couldn’t have guests and there would no longer be room service or any other perks just being there with him and luckily he had the lights that allowed him to stay in our room. Although this did mean that he had to stay in his bed at all times unless we were feeding him and feedings had to be limited to 45 minutes. At midnight he was checked again after doing phototherapy for 12 hours and his numbers had continued to rise, but were no longer in the high risk range. They still wanted to keep him and see how he would do.

At noon on Sunday they checked again and while they were getting better they still wanted to keep him another day just to be cautious and prevent him being readmitted. The plan was that he would get 12 more hours of photo therapy and then his levels would be rechecked and then if they were good the lights would be turned off and then at 6 his levels would be rechecked for the rebound number.

At midnight on Monday his numbers looked much better so they turned the lights off and we waited. Finally at 6 his levels were looked at again and they had gone up by less than a point and that was what they were hoping to see. They said to have them checked again at his pediatrician’s appointment the next day, but that he should be good to be discharges. So we went home that day with our new wittle guy (DH’s phrase).

As of now my little guy is a whooping 10 lbs 11 ozs. Breastfeeding is going really well and he generally goes down well for bedtime. Can't say the same for his naps. He loves being held by mommy and doesn't like the swing, infant chair, carseat, boppy, or the paci. We are working on these things because mommy's arms aren't an option all day, every day and he is getting better. We do get the occassional smile from him, but it is not the social smile yet. Next week he will be 2 months and I am enjoying every moment because I am realizing all too soon that he is going to grow up really fast. Anyways if you stuck it out to this point thanks.