On Thursday morning David woke me up at 5 am by climbing on top of me. I managed to get him back to sleep about 10 minutes later and right after he fell back asleep I had a pretty painful contraction across my back. It wasn't tightening up my stomach, but it was very painful. I figured it was a false contraction and tried to go back to sleep. Three minutes later I had another one. I told myself that if I had another one I would get up to see if they stopped. My contractions alway stop with movement. Three minutes later another one hit. Chris had slept on the couch because his snoring had been keeping me awake, and I was absolutely exhausted - so I walked out to the living room to tell him I thought I may be in labor for real. As soon as I began walking another contraction hit. I woke him up and told him and then went to run the bath to see if that stopped the contractions. The hot water felt really nice, but as soon as another contraction hit I knew this was real labor so I got out to warn Chris. I woke him up again and asked if he could make me breakfast - he looked at me like I was crazy. I really wanted to eat before we had to leave for the hospital - I thought for sure this would be a really long labor. As soon as I was done asking him another contraction hit that had me holding on to the back the couch and had me moaning pretty loud. That got Chris up! He began dashing around the house getting the kids up and told me that we were leaving NOW to take the kids to the babysitters and we were going to the hospital. At this point my contractions began stacking. They weren't tightening my tummy at all so I figured, again, that it was going to be a very long labor. We were both trying to reassure the kids that I was okay because it was becoming impossible for me to not moan through the contractions. As soon as we got in the car I called my mom to let her know we were on our way in and could barely get the words out of my mouth.
The contractions were so bad at this point that Chris ended up running a red light on the way to drop the kids off. The roads were completely empty, so it wasn't super dangerous even though it was completely illegal. As soon as we dropped the kids off he called the hospital to let them know we were on our way in. On the way to the hospital I thought I was going to deploy the airbag because I was bracing myself against it. I could literally feel myself dilate during some of the contractions. Chris ended up running another red light to get me there.
Chris parked right outside the ER and at first I told him I didn't want to walk so he was going to grab me a wheelchair, but then I had a sense of urgency and didn't want to wait on him. I told him to please go in and grab someone as I walking, I didn't want him to wait on me. As soon as the doors opened a nurse was there with a wheelchair. She had called me doctor to warn him I was coming in and he gave his nurses strict orders on how to "handle" me. She ran me upstairs while Chris was getting me registered. She told me that Dr. Schropp had strict marching orders that I was to be processed as quickly as possible, and that the IV was the most important thing to get in me so I could get pain meds in time. He is quite familiar with my quick deliveries. We got to the room and there were two more nurses waiting to help me undress and put the gown on, and another nurse who immediately began prepping my arm for an IV. They checked me and told me they weren't sure I'd get the epidural in time, as I was already 7-8 cms, and I changed to 8-9 as they were checking me. I think I started crying at this time, I did NOT want to go natural again.
Dr. Schropp arrived around then and I told him what they said and he said that he had already called the anesthesiologist who was on his way, and we just needed to get the IV fluids in. Chris came up at this time and as I was talking to him I looked down at my arm and it was twice the size as normal. I commented to the nurse and she replied that my vein had blown. Chris later told me the doctor looked really angry and told her she needed to get the line back in immediately. I started burning up at this point and retching, which made me very thankful that I didn't have breakfast. The cool cloths were amazing on my face. I asked if I could have Stadol while I waited for the epidural, and at first I was told no because the IV had not run through but then Dr. Schropp approved it. Wonderful stuff. The contractions were just as painful, but all of a sudden they were so much more mentally manageable. Somewhere in here I was told that the anesthesiologist had just arrived in the parking garage and was running as fast as he could. The nurses already had all of his stuff out and prepped for him so as soon as he got in the room they sat me up and had me round my back. He told me that he'd go as fast as he could but that some patients don't like when he goes fast. I told him that I wouldn't complain! About 4 minutes later he was done, and the doctor checked me and I was completely dilated. The pain of the contractions were gone, and since they were never tightening my stomach I didn't feel them at all. All of a sudden I felt a burning searing pain though and Charlie was descending. We just let the contractions naturally bring him down until the burning got to be too much. The doctor gave me a local shot to try to help the burning pain but it didn't take in time. I nearly lost it with the burn - it felt like I had no pain meds at all - but a few minutes later Charlies head was out and the pain disappeared. His cord wasn't wrapped around his neck, but it was all bunched up by his face. Even with Stadol, an epidural, and a local my pain wasn't completely gone. I could feel every stitch as I was sewn back up. Charlie was born at 8 am exactly, weighing 6 lbs 5.5 oz and was 19.5 inches. He was born a mere three hours after my son David woke me up. It was so scary how quickly everything happened. My doctor has suggested that if we decide for another that for my health and the babies health that we schedule an amnio and an induction at 37 weeks to ensure we get to the hospital in time. Charlie had issues breathing because he came down too quickly. The doctor also told me that the pain is more intense because they come down so quickly their heads don't mold and instead stay perfectly round making MY body have to mold instead. Charlie has a bruise on the top of his head from hitting my pelvic bone. I definitely want more kids, but I'm not sure I can go through another scary delivery.
*** My doctor is a saint too, the IV still hadn't completely emptied by the time Charlie was born, but he still gave me pain meds!
I'm glad every thing worked out in the end and everyone came out of it okay!
ReplyDeleteYea, Hailey's head stayed perfectly round too!.
Oh my goodness! That was scary. Saw the pics on FB though, and he is adorable! I so miss those first few weeks, they go so fast. (You need to post pics of all the kids more often, btw. :)) Congrats again!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteLeslie