Birth Can Be So Scary ... Here's My Nightmare of an Encounter

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Let's start off by saying she was ten days late and I had very mild contractions on and off randomly for about a week prior. (super fun lol) Anyway my doctor and I decided to schedule an induction and at the time she was only mildly concerned by the fact that she hadn't dropped. 

Fast forward to the night before my induction and cue contractions beginning at about 9pm. I was scheduled for 7:30 the following morning. I was up all night with significantly stronger contractions but no consistency. I called in at about 5am, talked to the nurse and she said it sounded as if I was going into labor naturally and that I could come in early if I wanted to. We arrived at about 6am. 

Dr. came in a few hours later said I was dilating and broke my water. Contractions obviously got much worse from then on. Keep in mind baby had still not dropped by this point. Few hours go by and contractions are still having trouble with consistency. I was given some stuff to drink that was supposed to help with that. 

I asked for an epidural in the afternoon when I was dilated to 5. It wasn't so much the contractions as it was the combination of contractions and back pain. (Back pain started up a little over half way through pregnancy and was far worse when laying on my back.) Anyway, so they call for the anesthesiologist. She gets me all hooked up and leaves. Well about 45 mins goes by and only the right half is numb. So they call her back and she does some checking and we decide to have it pulled out some to straighten it out. She does, waits around and the left side begins to go numb. Yay finally pain free. 

It's early evening by now and the Dr comes to check me again. Baby still hadn't dropped and I was dilated to an 8. Now she's concerned. She has the nurses put me into a bunch of different positions to try to get baby to move down. Bear in mind my legs are numb during this, so I'm pretty helpless as I'm put on my hands and knees and moved all around. No luck. Around 5:30 - 6pm the Dr finally calls it and says I need to have an emergency C-section. I bawled. I can't express to you how horrified, sad and scared I was. My boyfriend and mother had been helping me through but only one could come in with me. So now I'm an emotional wreck and I have to decide who goes. For most people it's a no brainer, the father. For me, my boyfriend is very easily grossed out, terrified and frankly afraid of newborns. My mother, none of those things and I needed someone strong with me because I was totally losing it so I picked her. He was perfectly fine with it and I think he preferred it that way. (His mother was super pissed at me for it though, he said.) 

Moving on, another anesthesiologist came in to prep me. Lucky me a few minutes prior I had noticed that my epidural was wearing off. Totally feeling the contractions again and yes, I'm sure it wasn't just pressure. Yeah, that's not supposed to happen. So I'm talking to this lady and she's telling me they're just going to ramp up the epidural for the surgery so I asked about the fact that it's wearing off and she like oh. She decided to remove it and give me a spinal instead. 

Now we're headed down to the OR, they're having problems pushing my bed and then they're having problems figuring out which prep area they needed to be in. Basically I was feeling less and less confident in their capabilities by the second. They finally get me into the OR and remove my epidural. It took like 20-30 mins to do the spinal. Apparently she was having issues and my Dr is standing behind me practically pacing. Finally she gets that all worked out and I go numb. 

Well I've never had surgery before but now I know that I don't do well. I couldn't breath and felt nauseous. I quite nearly passed out. They were very close to giving me a breathing tube which would have landed me in the ICU postpartum. My dr was fantastic though. She kept checking on me and kept me talking, all the while working really fast to avoid any further complications. 

My precious baby girl, Brooklynn, was born at 7:18 pm. After spending all day hoping for a safe arrival, she was finally here and all I could do was look at her as my mom held her for the first time. When she brought her close I was able to say hello and kiss her before the vomiting started. I had to wait until the nausea passed before I could hold her and that took about an hour or so. 

Right before I got to hold her.

Turns out that the C section was a really good call. If they had waited any longer Brooklynn could have destroyed my bladder and/or my uterus. My doctor was very happy that everything turned out well given all my complications. 

So there is Brooklynn's birth story. Quite the adventure, huh?

Easy birth or nightmare, let's hear your stories in the comments!

And now some more pictures:

Ready to see the Easter bunny. 2017

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 'Til next time,
Shay