So many cute clothes; such little time. Forgive me while I obsessively post cute pictures of my child!
Anyway -- where we left off is that I'd just been diagnosed with mild preeclampsia -- so mild, in fact, that my doctor now says
"Well, you didn't have full blown preeclampsia, but you were GOING to have it, so I put you on bedrest."
Whatever. I had elevated uric acid in my blood, trace protein in my urine, headache, high blood pressure (my normal BP is insanely low -- like 110/58... and it was elevated to about 140/90), blurry vision, and swollen fingers. I think that's preeclamsia! My SIL had very severe PE with my niece, so my whole family had sort of been on red alert about it.
So the night of 3/28, I checked into the hospital for cervical ripening -- an overnight procedure where they insert something called cervadil to make the cervix "favorable" for induction. We spent the long night in L & D, and at 7:30 AM, they started me on a pitocin drip.
I labored naturally -- without epidural -- to about 5 cms. I got to walk the halls, sit on the birthing ball... squeeze my husbands hand through some pretty tough contractions. Right around 5 cm, I asked for the epidural, and I think my timing was perfect, because in the hour that it took to hydrate me, get the anesthesiologist to the room, administer the epidural and have it take effect, the contractions got pretty severe -- still nothing I couldn't handle, but something I didn't WANT to handle much more of.
They'd turned up the pitocin a few times, and at 7:30 PM, I turned to Mike and to the nurse and said "
My body feels like it absolutely has to push right now."
It was the craziest thing -- obviously I've never been in labor before or had a baby, yet I instinctively knew that this was what needed to happen. She grabbed my doctor, and a few minutes later, exactly 12 hours after they started the pitocin, I started to push.
And 2.5 hours later, my little guy was basically stuck. I was pushing with all my might, I had the best labor coach in the entire world (Mike) holding one leg, encouraging me and supporting me. And things just weren't happening how they were supposed to. My epidural had already worn off once and been readministered, and we only had one more bollis left.
This is when my doctor turned to me and said
"It is 100% your decision, but my recommendation now is that we have a c section. The baby isn't moving, you're getting tired, the baby is getting tired... and I don't want to let this go on for another hour before making the call."
She didn't have to convince me -- I said "let's do it" and instantly they were prepping me for surgery.
As a little back story -- I'd been terrified all along of having this huge baby and what it would mean for my body. A close friend gave birth to a big baby years and years ago and her body has never quite been the same. I know that people have large babies every day and make a full recovery, but I was spooked. As somebody who doesn't get scared very often, and who considers herself pretty tough, I think it is telling that I was scared enough of delivery to not even blink at the idea of major abdominal surgery. I was not somebody who went into this process needing to have a certain kind of birth or delivery. I wasn't interested in a doula, a home birth, or eating my placenta. I just wanted a healthy baby and a healthy body when all was said in done. So a c-section (no tearing, no long-term incontinence or sexual side effects, plus another paid 2 weeks maternity leave!), sounded pretty damn good.
But this is where the ONLY thing happened that was disappointing - my epidural had worn off again, and it just didn't "take" correctly. When they started cutting, I could feel it -- and not in a horrible painful scary way, more in a "this feels like papercuts but who knows what the next cut will feel like" sort of way. I freaked out -- and with Mike holding my hand, the decision was quickly made to put me under anesthesia.
So goodnight Jess -- and when I woke up and came to, I had a perfect baby boy... who had been chillin' in our recovery room for about an hour with his dad. Mike got to introduce us, which was cool, and I continued to drift in and out of sleep / consciousness.
When my doctor came to visit me the next morning, she said that as it turns out, I have tiny little pelvic bones -- too small for the baby to pass through -- and that he was tilted at a weird angle that made it impossible to use forceps or vacuum to get him out (so for kiddo #2, whenever that may be, we'll be scheduling a routine CS, and I will do a spinal bloc so I can be awake for it).
The next couple of days were sort of a blur -- James Daniel was born on Friday at 11 PM, and we went home Monday around noon. It wasn't a ton of recovery time, and in retrospect, we probably should have stayed in the hospital another day.
Slowly the nurses got me back on my feet, and by the time we left, I was getting out of bed and to the bathroom myself, and even walking the halls a bit.
James nursed like a champ right from the get go -- latching on from attempt #1. Since then, I've had a few struggles, but mostly nursing has come naturally to me, for which I'm totally grateful.
We got home on Monday and then things took a bit of a turn -- unfortunately, I came down with one of my "scary" migraines on Monday evening. The full monty. Messed up vision, confusion, slurry speech, tingly fingers... the whole deal. It was worse than usual, and particularly scary since not only did I have a newborn baby at home, but had just spent the past 72 hours pushing, laboring, having surgery, being pumped full of drugs, and in intense sleep deprivation. Mike called my parents, who came to the house, and we all went to the ER.
An MRI, CT and many hours later, it was determined that I was NOT having a stroke or anything other than a migraine -- I left with instructions to follow up with the neurologist in the next few days, something I REALLY REALLY REALLY did not want to do.
But a few days later, we were in the neuro's office, going over the brain scans and having a routine exam. The long and short - I had a migraine, and she wasn't terribly concerned. I had a small amoutn of fluid / swelling, probably due to the preeclampsia, but possibly due to overuse of Sudafed (I'd been taking it daily to combat the intense sinus swelling that was causing me to store all night, keeping both Mike and I from sleeping). So, I left with instructions to discontinue use of Sudafed, and to come back for a follow-up MRI in August (already not looking forward to this).
With that behind us, I started feeling better and we've been able to move forward with normal new baby life -- my c-section recovery has been amazingly good and easy. I feel pretty much back to normal, just 2.5 weeks post-op. I've been cleared to start exercising again (albeit slowly), and I'm not having any more pain. I definitely have weakness in my abs, making it more difficult to do simple things like getting out of bed and getting off the sofa, but for the most part, I'm back....
...just in time for the sleep deprivation to set in.
So, parting thoughts, before I continue from present day forward?
It's been an amazing journey. Everything about conception, pregnancy, and delivery has been absolutely fascinating to me. The human anatomy -- particularly reproduction -- is absolutely amazing, and I want to learn more and more about it every day.
I have the best partner in the whole world in my husband, and not only is he a great husband and best friend, but a wonderful father (no surprises there).
My family and friends, particularly my mother, are amazing and I absolutely could NOT have gotten through the past couple of weeks without them. There have been visitors and phone calls, and every gesture is appreciated, but a few things stand out: my mom, making us dinners and helping me around the house (um, one day last week she cleaned all four of our bathrooms -- something I NEVER would ask her to do), my sister-in-law, making a bunch of meals and keeping me company while I was on bedrest... and the army of girlfriends, all mothers themselves, who have come over armed with tips and tricks and support and hepful gifts.
Once again, I am truly overwhelmed by love and support.
And on that note - my men are napping in the bedroom, and I've had just enough alone time now to miss them. I'm writing this on Weds night for publication on Thursday morning, which means it is just one day closer to the weekend, which is just on day closer to The Hubs being home with us for a couple of days.
Off and running,
Jessica
Posts
