Date of Birth: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8:55 pm
Original Due Date: April 8, 2012
Weeks Pregnant: 40 weeks, 4 days
Weight: 9 lbs, 5.7 oz
Height: 20 inches
Head circumference: 14.6 inches
As I mentioned in the previous entry, the doctor really felt that, even though my body was not indicating it was time for Alaina to come, an induction would be the best plan because of Alaina's size and the potential for complications if we continued to wait. So, Chad and I went back to the hospital at 6 pm on Wednesday evening to be admitted. The induction process typically begins with the nurses placing two monitors on you--one to monitor the baby's heart rate and the other to monitor your contractions. Interestingly, I had few contractions but once I was admitted, I started having them pretty inconsistently. I guess Alaina just knew we had arrived and it was time to kick things into high gear. That said, she did not make things easy on the nurses. In order to begin the induction (placing cervidil), the nurses needed to see Alaina's heart rate and Alaina wanted no part of that. She began squirming around and, what typically takes 5 minutes, took over 30 minutes as they kept having to come in and move the monitors around so they could get the data they needed. During this time, I also received my first ever IV--I have terrible veins so I was nervous about it but it wasn't so bad. Once the cervidil was placed, I continued having contractions every 1 to 7 minutes, and they would last 40 to 100 seconds. The doctor came in and checked and I still was only 1 centimeter dilated. The night was pretty uneventful. Not surprisingly, I got very little sleep as they were coming in to check on us at least every hour.
Thursday morning my water broke on its own at 7:05 am. Things got very real from there! The contractions were much stronger, though still pretty inconsistent. I ate breakfast and showered. I was hoping to have made progress but unfortunately, I had not. I was started on Pitocin and after several hours, had still not made any progress. I was handling the pain okay but it was worse than I expected so I did opt to get IV pain medication and an hour later, I was 3 cm and 100% effaced so I decided to get an epidural which, by the way, was pretty much the best decision of my life. All along I had said that I would prefer not to get the epidural--not because it was like a badge of honor or anything but mostly because I was really nervous about things being inserted in my spine (and maybe a small part of me wanted to see how much I could tolerate). Choosing to get the epidural after I had received the dose of IV pain meds an hour before really decreased my anxiety about the process. The anesthesiologist was phenomenal, though. He explained everything clearly and was very funny and nice. Right after the epidural (around 3 pm) I made it up to 4 cm and lost a lot more fluid.
However, several hours later, I still had not made progress. My doctor came back to check me again at 8 pm and I was still only about 4-5 cm and Alaina had not dropped. Additionally, whenever I would have a contraction Alaina's heart rate decelerated a bit, indicating that she was not tolerating labor very well anymore. I had known this was a possibility for a number of weeks and even going into the hospital the night before, Chad and I discussed that we ultimately wanted to do what was best for Alaina. My doctor came in and said that while she could support me continuing to labor, she would recommend opting for a c-section because we were getting to a point where Alaina really wasn't making progress and waiting could increase the likelihood of complications. And that just was not a decision we were willing to make. So the doctor "mobilized" the c-section team and indicated that we would be holding our baby within the hour. Remembering that statement still makes me really emotional.
Things started happening so fast after that. The anesthesiologist came back to give me a stronger dose of epidural since I would not be getting a spinal or general anesthesia. They gave Chad his information and the scrubs he would wear in the surgery room. They took me back to the room to get me prepped. I really didn't have time to process or get nervous. Everyone took really good care of me and explained what they were doing in great detail. Interestingly, I was not bothered by the medication, the pressure, the weird pulling sensations, not being able to move my arms, or feeling I couldn't breathe. What truly bothered me was the curtain. I had always seen or imagined curtains that were perpendicular to the floor--however, my experience was that the curtain was at an angle just a few feet from my face. I am not particularly claustrophobic but I actually had to keep my eyes closed throughout as it made me a little panicky. I was very thankful for my mindfulness and deep breathing skills as this (with lots of prayers!) helped keep my breathing under control.
Chad checked in regularly with the doctors on their progress. He was such a great support throughout. The anesthesiologist then excitedly told him that if he wanted to see her, that she was being pulled out. I could hear his excitement and I immediately started crying (which I was not expecting). Then I heard her crying and it was beautiful. I heard people talking about how big and gorgeous she was. The doctor told someone to bring her over so that I could see her. I couldn't believe how huge she was with rolls all over! They asked me if I wanted to touch her and I just couldn't--I knew I might lose it and I was already barely hanging onto control of the anxiety and emotions. Chad went and spent time while they cleaned her off and began taking her vital signs. He was great about coming back over and checking on me and letting me know how Alaina was doing. I kept asking for her measurements and laughed when I heard she was almost 9 and a half pounds. They brought her over and she was so gorgeous.
Once we got back to the recovery room, things started going downhill pretty fast. My nurse requested someone get the doctor because I was losing a lot of blood and clots. My doctor came in and confirmed this. I was fully awake during this time but, because of the anxiety, my memory of some of what happened is a little fuzzy. I remember asking the doctor to be frank with me and to tell me what she was thinking and asked if she was worried. My heart dropped when she looked me in the eyes and said that yes, she was concerned. They started a second IV and gave me a series of intramuscular injections (3-4?) along with the most painful "fundal massages" to try to stop the bleeding. The doctor said she was hoping to get things under control and that she couldn't predict if it would continue to worsen but they were taking every precaution they could because otherwise, they might have to do an emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and/or I may need a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, I missed out on a lot of early time with Alaina due to this but she was a little trooper. And it was worth it because the doctors were able to get everything under control and I did not need surgery and though my levels dropped quite a bit (and I'm still taking iron supplements), I also did not need a blood transfusion. We got back to our room at around 3 am and I remember little of that night. Alaina had swallowed some amniotic fluid and had been coughing that up quite a bit and that made feeding go a bit slower. But she was so alert and perfect. I was very excited she got to stay in the room with us. I really just wish I remembered a bit more.
She is beautiful!! I'm so glad you and baby Alaina made it through everything ok! I know how scary bleeding like that is. I'm so glad you're ok!!
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