Where did the time go??
I cannot believe that my baby will be a 1yr old this week. It feels like yesterday that I was pregnant with her. Anyway, I figure now is as good a time as any to record my birth story. I'm trying to cut it, but LJ is not working. I hope it gets cut.
So, I know this is waaaaayyyyyy late, but hey, that is how I roll. I need to start with some back story. I started having some foot swelling at 28wks pregnant. I knew that this was too early for this, but the midwife said it was probably due to the work that I do being on my feet all day. I was working about 55hrs/wk. Three weeks before Reagan was born, my FIL had to have quadruple bypass surgery. We made several trips to Alabama to visit him. The car rides were agony for me due to my swelling. It would always go down overnight, but I had to sit with my feet up for most of the day to keep them under control. They would still be extremely swollen by the end of the day though. I bought some Ace bandages to use for compression. I knew this was too much swelling too early. I had been keeping a check on my BP due to my white coat syndrome. They could never get an accurate read at the doctor's. We visited my FIL a week before Reagan was born. By then the swelling was horrible. I checked my BP then and it was like 124/83. This was higher than it had been running but still within normal limits. I had been running 110/65ish. I thought nothing of it for the time being. During the week at work though my hands started swelling. They were so bad by midweek that my middle finger on my right hand was numb, and I couldn't make a fist with either hand. This was not good for work obviously since I am a chiropractor. I thought I was just getting some late pregnancy swelling at this point though. I continued with work and didn't worry too much. On Friday I went to work like normal. We were planning a trip to my parent's for the weekend for a baby shower for me. I was excited to go and see everyone. When I got off work I wasn't feeling quite right. I just happened to have the BP machine in the car. I decided to check it just to see. I was floored when it read 160/99. I tried to rationalize it saying that it was probably just my excitement and nervousness over making the trip that evening. I went home to rest and try to get it down. I continued to check it, and it came down to 140/90. I am aware of the signs for pre-eclampsia. I had some urinalysis strips at the house, so I checked for protein. It did not show up at the time. I decided to go on about my weekend since I had a doctor's apt anyway on Monday. I weighed myself that Friday morning at the office and was at 190lbs. I wrapped my legs with the Ace bandages, hopped in the truck, and off we went to TN. I had a great time that weekend, but the swelling continued to get worse. My BPs stayed 140-160/90-99. I had so much fluid on me that it was in my throat. I sounded congested, and my voice had changed. Mark would wake me at night asking me if I was ok. Annoyed I would answer I'm fine why are you waking me. He told me my breathing sounded funny and he was worried. My sister made the comment "you don't look or sound like you. It looks like you are going to pop." She thought I looked puffy. I tried to drink lots of water to improve things, but it did not help at all. I was wrapping my legs at night to get the swelling to go down. My legs above the bandage would overhang the bandage by about an inch at this point. Nothing would make them go down. I was really starting to get worried at this point. I put on a happy face for my shower but never forgot what all was happening with my body. By Sunday of that weekend, I was completely and utterly miserable. Nothing would keep the feet and legs down, my hands were almost unusable, and I sounded like a smoker. My sister was really worried. I asked Mark if he would go to the doctor with me the next day as I knew it wouldn't be good. He told me he had a client apt with work and couldn't make it. I asked my mom, and she agreed to go home with us and go the apt with me. I got my swollen self up Monday morning as usual and went to work. When I weighed in there at my office, I was at 195lbs. This was up 5lbs from Friday. I saw my morning patients and went off to the doctor's visit. I had never met Margaret Strickhauser(midwife) before. I had made this apt with her for this reason. Everything with the visit went fine. At the end, I told her about my BP readings. She stated that I did look puffy, but she had nothing which to compare it as she had never seen me before. She went immediately and grabbed a BP cuff. She told me to close my eyes and relax while she took my BP. She told me that she wasn't going to tell me how high it was, but that she couldn't let me go home. She checked my cervix to see if I would need cervidil if we had to deliver that day. My cervix was already softening like my body knew it needed to deliver. She said she was sending me to the hospital for monitoring and lab tests. I asked her what their urinalysis showed, and she said she didn't care. They apparently aren't extremely accurate, and she wanted another one done at the hospital. I about lost it there in the office. I made it to the car(not sure why I drove myself) and called Mark on the way to the hospital. He asked if he needed to come *enter tears* I told him I didn't know. The tears were enough for him. He cancelled his trip and rushed to the hospital. It was around lunch time, and I was hungry. They brought me a sandwich to eat while monitoring me. No one was allowed to tell me what my BPs were. Reagan's heart rate was fine, and she was active. After an hour or so Mark and mom went to grab a bite to eat. Of course Margaret came in at that time to tell me that I had 2+ protein in my urine, and my platelets had already started dropping. We would begin and induction immediately and would have a baby either later that day or the next morning. I was crushed. I wanted a natural labor and delivery, not this, never this. Mom and Mark returned shortly and were told. I asked if we could just break my water and let me walk to get labor going. Margaret told me absolutely not, that they would be starting me on magnesium to prevent seizures. I was told this would make me feel like I was on fire and had the flu. I would have to lie on my left side with the lights out and no commotion in the room at all. I was scared to death. Only 2 people were allowed to be with me, and if my pressures went up 1 would have to leave. We rotated family in and out so they could see me before the "big event". At 3:30 Monday June 8th we started Magnesium and Pitocin. I wanted to go through labor without an epidural but was convinced that this couldn't be done with pitocin. Everyone and everything I had read said it was near impossible. I still wanted to try though. They kept coming in and turning the pitocin up saying that "those contractions" would never get a baby out. We were discussing when they would break my water. Mark needed to go home and pack us a bag but didn't want to miss anything. Margaret agreed not to do anything else until he had gotten back. We live in Dallas, GA. I delivered at North Fulton. That is over an hour ride 1 way. He got back around 9:30pm. I still wasn't feeling the contractions at this time. Apparently they were pretty strong because the nurses were baffled that I couldn't feel them. They felt my stomach to make sure the reading wasn't wrong. At 10:30pm, Margaret came in to break my water. I was really scared at this point because I knew it was about to get bad. The release of the water was quite a relief though. Then Margaret said she was going to stretch my cervix to help things along. This was the most severe pain I had and have ever experienced. I was climbing off the bed. Boy was I glad when she was done. Several hours went by with just cramping pain. I would have Mark rub my back when a contraction would come while I concentrated on making sure all my muscles were relaxed. By the time I had done a whole body survey, the contraction was over. This helped with the pain. I only got nauseous once and sniffing an alcohol swab took care of that. So I sniffed swabs as Mark rubbed my back. I thought people were crazy when they said you should sleep between contractions however, I did just that. They were only about 5 minute naps, but I got them. The only time the contractions got too bad was when I hadn't been to the bathroom for a while. Once I did, I was ok again. The nurse during the day told me that they usually catheterize people on the magnesium. She told me as long as I could safely get to the bathroom and back, she wouldn't, but she didn't know what the next nurse would do. I told them to just bring the epidural with them if they planned to do that. The night nurse was surprised to find that I was still going to the bathroom and wasn't cathed. I fought it at this point, and it wasn't required. We continued to labor through the night. Mark would fall asleep on the stool by the bed between contractions. I would wake him for my back rub when one would come. At some time around 4 I guess, the contractions were getting really close together. I told Mark that I was ok where we were with the pain, but I couldn't do this at this intensity for hours. I was ready for my epidural. (I didn't know that I would have a normal transition on pitocin or I would have recognized this as it) We called the nurse to order it. She left to call the anethesiologist. I was disappointed that I wasn't going to make it all the way but relieved that the pain was about to be over. The nurse came back in and said that the anethesiologist would want to know how far along I was. She checked me and said I was at 8cm. Immediately I got a huge urge to push. I told her "I have got to push." I was surprised at how strong that urge was. She said "you can't push you are only at 8cm". Yeah right, like I could stop it. I had a wonderful push. It felt so good to do that, but of course she was frieking out. I told her if she didn't want me doing that, she needed to get my epidural here now. I was going to push as long as I felt the urge. She ran out. Margaret came in quickly. She checked me and said I was 10cm just as the anesth. was coming in. She told him we didn't need him, we were delivering right then. The room became a flurry of activity. We had a whole NICU team in place since I was only at 35 wks. I checked the clock. It was 4:50am. I wanted to know how long I was pushing. At 5:21am, I had a baby girl. She was whisked to the NICU team immediately. Mark and mom got to stand over there and see her. I was being stitched for my 2nd degree tear. We waited about an hour for the scale to come in(there were lots of babies born there during this time). They thought she would get to stay with us initially, but she started having grunting breathing. The scale finally got there, and she was 4lb 13oz. I begged them to let me hold her for just a second before they took her to the NICU. I got about 5 min. That was the last time I held her for 3 days. She stayed in the NICU for 10 days before coming home. This was certainly not the birth I wanted, but what do you do? If you made it through this, thanks for reading.
ETA: I finally found out that my BPs were 170/110 when they wouldn't tell me. It took me a month with meds to get it back under control. I spent 24hrs after delivery on the magnesium. They kept a check on my output, and I was losing 1L of fluid every hour. They were amazed at the amount coming out and surprised at my bladder capacity.
So, I know this is waaaaayyyyyy late, but hey, that is how I roll. I need to start with some back story. I started having some foot swelling at 28wks pregnant. I knew that this was too early for this, but the midwife said it was probably due to the work that I do being on my feet all day. I was working about 55hrs/wk. Three weeks before Reagan was born, my FIL had to have quadruple bypass surgery. We made several trips to Alabama to visit him. The car rides were agony for me due to my swelling. It would always go down overnight, but I had to sit with my feet up for most of the day to keep them under control. They would still be extremely swollen by the end of the day though. I bought some Ace bandages to use for compression. I knew this was too much swelling too early. I had been keeping a check on my BP due to my white coat syndrome. They could never get an accurate read at the doctor's. We visited my FIL a week before Reagan was born. By then the swelling was horrible. I checked my BP then and it was like 124/83. This was higher than it had been running but still within normal limits. I had been running 110/65ish. I thought nothing of it for the time being. During the week at work though my hands started swelling. They were so bad by midweek that my middle finger on my right hand was numb, and I couldn't make a fist with either hand. This was not good for work obviously since I am a chiropractor. I thought I was just getting some late pregnancy swelling at this point though. I continued with work and didn't worry too much. On Friday I went to work like normal. We were planning a trip to my parent's for the weekend for a baby shower for me. I was excited to go and see everyone. When I got off work I wasn't feeling quite right. I just happened to have the BP machine in the car. I decided to check it just to see. I was floored when it read 160/99. I tried to rationalize it saying that it was probably just my excitement and nervousness over making the trip that evening. I went home to rest and try to get it down. I continued to check it, and it came down to 140/90. I am aware of the signs for pre-eclampsia. I had some urinalysis strips at the house, so I checked for protein. It did not show up at the time. I decided to go on about my weekend since I had a doctor's apt anyway on Monday. I weighed myself that Friday morning at the office and was at 190lbs. I wrapped my legs with the Ace bandages, hopped in the truck, and off we went to TN. I had a great time that weekend, but the swelling continued to get worse. My BPs stayed 140-160/90-99. I had so much fluid on me that it was in my throat. I sounded congested, and my voice had changed. Mark would wake me at night asking me if I was ok. Annoyed I would answer I'm fine why are you waking me. He told me my breathing sounded funny and he was worried. My sister made the comment "you don't look or sound like you. It looks like you are going to pop." She thought I looked puffy. I tried to drink lots of water to improve things, but it did not help at all. I was wrapping my legs at night to get the swelling to go down. My legs above the bandage would overhang the bandage by about an inch at this point. Nothing would make them go down. I was really starting to get worried at this point. I put on a happy face for my shower but never forgot what all was happening with my body. By Sunday of that weekend, I was completely and utterly miserable. Nothing would keep the feet and legs down, my hands were almost unusable, and I sounded like a smoker. My sister was really worried. I asked Mark if he would go to the doctor with me the next day as I knew it wouldn't be good. He told me he had a client apt with work and couldn't make it. I asked my mom, and she agreed to go home with us and go the apt with me. I got my swollen self up Monday morning as usual and went to work. When I weighed in there at my office, I was at 195lbs. This was up 5lbs from Friday. I saw my morning patients and went off to the doctor's visit. I had never met Margaret Strickhauser(midwife) before. I had made this apt with her for this reason. Everything with the visit went fine. At the end, I told her about my BP readings. She stated that I did look puffy, but she had nothing which to compare it as she had never seen me before. She went immediately and grabbed a BP cuff. She told me to close my eyes and relax while she took my BP. She told me that she wasn't going to tell me how high it was, but that she couldn't let me go home. She checked my cervix to see if I would need cervidil if we had to deliver that day. My cervix was already softening like my body knew it needed to deliver. She said she was sending me to the hospital for monitoring and lab tests. I asked her what their urinalysis showed, and she said she didn't care. They apparently aren't extremely accurate, and she wanted another one done at the hospital. I about lost it there in the office. I made it to the car(not sure why I drove myself) and called Mark on the way to the hospital. He asked if he needed to come *enter tears* I told him I didn't know. The tears were enough for him. He cancelled his trip and rushed to the hospital. It was around lunch time, and I was hungry. They brought me a sandwich to eat while monitoring me. No one was allowed to tell me what my BPs were. Reagan's heart rate was fine, and she was active. After an hour or so Mark and mom went to grab a bite to eat. Of course Margaret came in at that time to tell me that I had 2+ protein in my urine, and my platelets had already started dropping. We would begin and induction immediately and would have a baby either later that day or the next morning. I was crushed. I wanted a natural labor and delivery, not this, never this. Mom and Mark returned shortly and were told. I asked if we could just break my water and let me walk to get labor going. Margaret told me absolutely not, that they would be starting me on magnesium to prevent seizures. I was told this would make me feel like I was on fire and had the flu. I would have to lie on my left side with the lights out and no commotion in the room at all. I was scared to death. Only 2 people were allowed to be with me, and if my pressures went up 1 would have to leave. We rotated family in and out so they could see me before the "big event". At 3:30 Monday June 8th we started Magnesium and Pitocin. I wanted to go through labor without an epidural but was convinced that this couldn't be done with pitocin. Everyone and everything I had read said it was near impossible. I still wanted to try though. They kept coming in and turning the pitocin up saying that "those contractions" would never get a baby out. We were discussing when they would break my water. Mark needed to go home and pack us a bag but didn't want to miss anything. Margaret agreed not to do anything else until he had gotten back. We live in Dallas, GA. I delivered at North Fulton. That is over an hour ride 1 way. He got back around 9:30pm. I still wasn't feeling the contractions at this time. Apparently they were pretty strong because the nurses were baffled that I couldn't feel them. They felt my stomach to make sure the reading wasn't wrong. At 10:30pm, Margaret came in to break my water. I was really scared at this point because I knew it was about to get bad. The release of the water was quite a relief though. Then Margaret said she was going to stretch my cervix to help things along. This was the most severe pain I had and have ever experienced. I was climbing off the bed. Boy was I glad when she was done. Several hours went by with just cramping pain. I would have Mark rub my back when a contraction would come while I concentrated on making sure all my muscles were relaxed. By the time I had done a whole body survey, the contraction was over. This helped with the pain. I only got nauseous once and sniffing an alcohol swab took care of that. So I sniffed swabs as Mark rubbed my back. I thought people were crazy when they said you should sleep between contractions however, I did just that. They were only about 5 minute naps, but I got them. The only time the contractions got too bad was when I hadn't been to the bathroom for a while. Once I did, I was ok again. The nurse during the day told me that they usually catheterize people on the magnesium. She told me as long as I could safely get to the bathroom and back, she wouldn't, but she didn't know what the next nurse would do. I told them to just bring the epidural with them if they planned to do that. The night nurse was surprised to find that I was still going to the bathroom and wasn't cathed. I fought it at this point, and it wasn't required. We continued to labor through the night. Mark would fall asleep on the stool by the bed between contractions. I would wake him for my back rub when one would come. At some time around 4 I guess, the contractions were getting really close together. I told Mark that I was ok where we were with the pain, but I couldn't do this at this intensity for hours. I was ready for my epidural. (I didn't know that I would have a normal transition on pitocin or I would have recognized this as it) We called the nurse to order it. She left to call the anethesiologist. I was disappointed that I wasn't going to make it all the way but relieved that the pain was about to be over. The nurse came back in and said that the anethesiologist would want to know how far along I was. She checked me and said I was at 8cm. Immediately I got a huge urge to push. I told her "I have got to push." I was surprised at how strong that urge was. She said "you can't push you are only at 8cm". Yeah right, like I could stop it. I had a wonderful push. It felt so good to do that, but of course she was frieking out. I told her if she didn't want me doing that, she needed to get my epidural here now. I was going to push as long as I felt the urge. She ran out. Margaret came in quickly. She checked me and said I was 10cm just as the anesth. was coming in. She told him we didn't need him, we were delivering right then. The room became a flurry of activity. We had a whole NICU team in place since I was only at 35 wks. I checked the clock. It was 4:50am. I wanted to know how long I was pushing. At 5:21am, I had a baby girl. She was whisked to the NICU team immediately. Mark and mom got to stand over there and see her. I was being stitched for my 2nd degree tear. We waited about an hour for the scale to come in(there were lots of babies born there during this time). They thought she would get to stay with us initially, but she started having grunting breathing. The scale finally got there, and she was 4lb 13oz. I begged them to let me hold her for just a second before they took her to the NICU. I got about 5 min. That was the last time I held her for 3 days. She stayed in the NICU for 10 days before coming home. This was certainly not the birth I wanted, but what do you do? If you made it through this, thanks for reading.
ETA: I finally found out that my BPs were 170/110 when they wouldn't tell me. It took me a month with meds to get it back under control. I spent 24hrs after delivery on the magnesium. They kept a check on my output, and I was losing 1L of fluid every hour. They were amazed at the amount coming out and surprised at my bladder capacity.