Friday, October 26, 2012

Tallet's Birth Story - Part 2 - The Hospital

Walking to the delivery room was a challenge. I had several contractions along the way that caused me to stop and grip onto something to stay standing. All I wanted to do was lay down.

Everything after that is kind of a blur and it is hard to remember when every event happened but I will try.

I layed in the bed for a while, trying to relax and breath through the contractions. The nurses told me my pain medication options and I said I didn't want anything. The offered the tub and the shower to me, so after a while I decided to try out the shower.

Getting to the shower was a chore because any movement triggered another contractions and it was so hard to do anything while having one. The shower felt great and I stayed in there for probably 45 minutes. I used the washroom right after and had several contractions while I was doing that. It was very uncomfortable.

I got checked and was only 4 cm dilated. I was disappointed because my contractions were so intense I figure something should have been progressing faster than than.

When we were reading and preparing for labor, I remember looking forward to having Eric rub my back during contractions. But once I was having them back rubs did not feel good, so Eric couldn't really do a lot to help me.

People had told me that in-between contractions you get a break and have no pain. I did not experience that. The pained dulled between contractions, but did not go away. The nurses remarked how they couldn't believe how intense my contractions were naturally, that they only usually see contractions like that with someone on the oxytocin drip.

I was very thirsty the whole time and drank ALOT of water. The nurses said I was doing a good job handing the contractions because I was breathing through them and a lot of people hold their breath. This is probably part of the reason everything is a bit of a blur, because I was so concentrated on breathing through the pain.

My heart rate was high and the nurse was very concerned and wanted to put an IV in. I would have liked to avoid that, but I wasn't going to be stupid about refusing something I needed. It took them 5 tries and 3 different nurses to get an IV in.

I don't really remember the order of things after that. But my blood pressure was high, temperature was climbing and turned into a fever and they put me on the monitors with straps because they were concerned about the babies heart rate during contractions. I remember taking a pill for my blood pressure and tylenol for my fever, neither of them helped.

The next time I was check was like 3 hours after the first time and I was still only 4-5 cm dilated and my cervix was starting to swell.

At some point I had a urinary catheter inserted and an internal monitor placed on the baby. It took 4 or 5 people to get my urinary catheter in, and a couple to place the monitor properly. I also had blood taken because they were concerned about an infection.

I remember feeling helpless while all these things were being done because I didn't have a clear mind to ask questions about them, I was so focused on breathing through and handling the contractions that remained 1-2 minutes apart.

I did not want to use any drugs for this labor, but after not progressing much and my cervix swelling and some prodding from the nurses I dedided to let them give me some fentanyl. I hoped it would help me relax through the contractions a bit more so my body could relax and my cervix could dilate further. The drugs took the edge off the pain slightly, but barely did anything.

Shortly after all these interventions I was moved into the high risk delivery room. The nurse in there was kind of mean and asked me multiple times why I didn't want an epidural. Every time she would give me more fentanyl she would try to convince me to have one, but I kept refusing because I still wanted to try my best to deal with the pain.

I was checked again and I was 7 cm. I was excited I had moved along a bit more, so I continued to deal with the contractions for another 4 hours. I remember Eric reading to me for a while, I don't think he knew what else to do. It did help me to relax.

I was checked again around 8 am and I was still 7 cm and my cervix was still swollen. I was so discouraged and disappointed that I hadn't progressed at all in 4 hours of intense contractions. The nurses and doctors that came to check in on me were already talking about C-sections which I still really wanted to avoid.

At some point I was told I had an infection and they gave me IV antibiotics.

My doctor was on call that morning, and I was told she would come to see me soon. My nurse was trying to convince me to have and epidural, and I was starting to consider it. I heard the nurses talking in their side room that my only chance of a vaginal delivery was to have an epidural. With MUCH hesitance I decided to go for it. Their reasoning was that it would help me relax and hopefully help my dilate. I told the nurses I wanted it, and they said my doctor was coming soon and I could talk about it with her.

It was such a relief to see my doctor when she came. It just calmed me down a lot. She said we were heading in the direction of a c section. When she checked me she said that the baby was facing the wrong way, which could be a reason I was not progressing because baby's head was not fitting into my pelvis properly enough to dilate me. Contractions were mostly painful in the lower half of my abdomen and my pelvis. I felt like I had to take a gigantic crap. The nurse tried to tell me it was the baby's head, but I told her I was POSITIVE I had to go to the washroom. She said when the dr checked me she would check for stool, and sure enough when she did check there was nothing there. I am sure they hear that all the time.

Anyways, my options were c-section or to try some oxytocin to make the contractions strong so I could dilate. I could not imagine them any stronger or being able to handle them, so I said I didn't want to do that without an epidural.

I waited for the anesthesiolgist to come talk to me about my epidural. As soon as I decided to go of the epidural, I was VERY impatient about getting it and it seemed like it took forever for him to get there.

When he arrived the news was not what I expected. He informed me that while an epidural is a low risk procedure, I was at high risk because I had an infection. He refused to do an epidural for me and said I was at risk for ending up in the ICU because of the infection I had. If I needed a c-section, it would have to be under general anaesthesia.

This scared me and made me really worried about my own health. My doctor came back in and said that we had to decide between a c-section and trying a bit longer with some oxytocin. She said baby was still doing well and that is why we could still try for a vaginal birth, but because of how I was doing she highly recommended going for the c-section.

At this point I was 12 hours into contractions that were 1-2 minutes apart, I had an infection, pretty much every vital sign was elevated, it was a no brainer to go for the c-section. Eric was in charge of making decisions for me, and even he was ready for me to have a c-section. It took us about 2 minutes of talking about it to say yes.

In 20 minutes I was in the surgery room. I was laying there just hoping they would put me under already so the pain could go away. Eric was not aloud to be in the room because I was under a general anesthesia, meaning I was right out.

I woke up feeling MUCH better, despite the surgical pain, to Eric tearfully telling me we has a little boy who weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. Minutes later I got to see him, and he was perfect.

**I will continue about recovery from surgery another day!**



3 comments:

Stacey said...

Awe, sorry it didn't go at all like you hoped. That can be hard. How are you doing?

Lindsey Dueck said...

I am doing alright, wishing I didn't have to deal with soreness from surgery. It would make things a lot easier if i didn't have to deal with that! But other than that things are great!

Sarah said...

Thanks for posting this so quickly! I am so glad that you and Tallet are healthly post delivery! Even when births don't go as planned they are this miraculous gift once that baby is safe in your arms! Hopefully the soreness goes away soon.

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