Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Baby has Arrived!

I'm very sorry I haven't posted anything since May 3rd!!!!  Though there were quite a few events since then to why I have not had the time to post anything.  May 4th & 5th we had a garage sale, the 4th I started experiencing contractions 5 min apart for most of the day so I went to the hospital.  False Labor.  The 5th I went in because I was leaking a clear discharge but it was not my amniotic fluid so I went home.  I swelled up like a balloon from that Saturday till the following Wednesday when I had a weekly doctor appointment.  It felt like I had tires around my upper thighs and my feet were so swollen it hurt to walk. 

The 6th-11th I was "babysat" so to speak by either my husband or my parents when my husband was at work "in case" my water broke, they didn't want me to be alone.  I told my husband and parents that on Saturday the 12th I was staying home when my husband went to work, that I wasn't going to their house because if we keep "playing it safe" I'm never going to go into labor.  All day I had been continuing to leak more clear fluid, this actually continued to happen since the previous Saturday when I went in except this time, I was getting wet more quickly.  I didn't want to go back to the hospital for another false alarm as the hospital we chose was 30 miles away, not the one 2 blocks from our house.

So I spent quite a bit of time online trying to figure out if there was a way you could test the fluid at home to know it was amniotic fluid.  I found a post that if you had ph paper and tested the fluid and it turned dark blue or 7.0 then it was amniotic fluid, as the ph balance of amniotic fluid is 6.8.  So amazingly enough I had ph paper at home.  I tested it 3x and it turned dark blue every time.  I tested my urine to make sure and that definitely did not turn dark blue.  I called the OB floor and explained, they had never heard of that and as usual told me that if that is what I suspect the only way to know is to come in so they can run a test.  So I called my mom and she picked me up and we went.  I didn't call my husband at work because last time I went in, it was a false alarm.  We went, they swabbed, we waited 20 min for the results during which my husband called my cell phone and asked me to look something up online and I said I couldn't because I was in the hospital.  He was irritated I didn't call him, but I told him, if I called you, it would be a false alarm.  I told him we were waiting and we didn't know yet and there was no reason for him to leave work if it was a false alarm.  My results came back that it was indeed amniotic fluid.  It never gushed, it trickled.  The hospital's policy is that if you are leaking amniotic fluid you are admitted.  So, I called my husband back and said, well, my water broke.

They immediately started me on pictocin via IV.  I wasn't having contractions.  Slept pretty good thru out the night, my doctor even let me eat until I got to 4 cm.  My doctor stopped by in the morning of the 13th (Mother's Day) and examined me.  Upon doing so, I suddenly felt like a gallon of warm water came gushing out of me.  I asked her, what in the world is that?!  She stated she broke my water and what I had leaking was from a small tear more then likely at the top of my uterus.  She was hoping this would speed up my contractions.  It did.  I aimed for natural child birth with no drugs.  Though eventually I couldn't handle the contractions when I was still a 2 so they gave me Fentinol which helped me go to an 8!  At which point they told me I couldn't have any more Fentinol and it was either an Intrathecal or an Epidural both which are long needles in the back and both of which I never wanted.  So I said no.  Pushing contractions were not painful like contractions that make you dilate.  I was told I pushed for 3 hours, I'm not sure if that is for baby and placenta or just baby.  You tend to lose track of time when you're pushing a baby out.

I am unsure at what point in my pushing I became utterly exhausted, but I told my doctor, "I know I said I didn't want you to use forceps or a vacuum, but I'm tired."  So she first tried an episiotomy in which I didn't feel and when they thought I should feel a burning sensation down there I never did.  Then she attached the vacuum and told me on the next push she would use the vacuum.  I have never pushed so hard in my LIFE!  We were successful except then that the umbilical cord was wrapped around my son's neck so she had the nurses push down on my pelvic cavity to stop him from going back up the birth canal, and with more pushing after that and pulling with the vacuum he was out and on my chest!  Though I remember thinking, I did it, but I can't see him, I was flat on my back with no energy to look up.  After my husband cut the umbilical cord they took him so I could expel my placenta.  Well, lets just say this was harder then anything I've ever read about it being like.  The placenta wouldn't detach so my doctor told me she had to go in after it and detach it with her hand after she had just stitched me up.  So they gave me a little bit more of the Fentinol and it was still excruciating.  Eventually she got it out and when it came out it exploded.

My little boy was born at 7:27pm on Mother's Day, weighing in at 8 lbs 6 oz, 21 inches long, with a full head of hair!  I didn't get to hold him again until 10pm when I was completely cleaned up and he was set to breast feed.

Since then on the 17th of May I called my doctor regarding what had thought I read about chest pain being a side effect of the Iron I was taking and they wanted me to come in as soon as possible.  They had me take an X-Ray that came up clean, then an EKG that was fine, and then I had to wait an hour for a CT scan in which came up with Pulminary Embolisms, I was immediately admitted to the hospital again and put on Heprin a blood thinner via an IV.  I was told I would be in the hospital 1-2 days, I was also started on coumadin.  The doctor in the hospital however told me I could go home when my INR reached 2-3.  Saturday morning I was still a 1.  However, my doctor and the lactation consultant told me I could take a form of the Heprin via a shot I administer to myself at home called Lovenox.  The only reason I didn't take it right away is because it wasn't proven safe with breast feeding.  The research indicated that the molecule in Lovenox is too big to transfer thru breastmilk and there for wouldn't affect my son.  That and if Lovenox is ingested thru the mouth it kills the drug.  So I am still giving myself Lovenox injections via a shot in the stomach.

I am scared that something will happen with the clots that they haven't dissolved since my number was a 1 when I left the hospital last Saturday and Monday morning went down to a .0.8, my doctor increased my coumadin and I get tested tomorrow again.  The clots could move to my brain and cause a stroke or to my heart and give me a heart attack.  We are praying I am ok.

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