Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Aidan's Birth Story (very long!)

The beginning of it all - Thursday, January 10 I started having some pre-labor symptoms at
home, really thought nothing of it, but decided to call my OB's office just to let them know.

The OB nurse called me back Thursday evening telling me since it was after 5pm and the office was closed, she'd like me to go in to the hospital's Labor & Delivery triage dept. just to get checked out and make sure everything was ok.

Thinking I would only be gone an hour or two, I had Chris stay home with Ava, and I drove myself to L&D. Was I ever in for a surprise!

Once in the triage area, they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor and examined me. After the exam I started having very strong contractions, 4-5 minutes apart. Also, my blood pressure was pretty high. So the OB that was on-call that evening said she couldn't very well send me back home given the circumstances, so she wanted me to stay overnight for monitoring. So much for a quick check! I called Chris to let him know, and they moved me to a L&D suite to be monitored, with hopes that my BP would be back to normal the next day and they'd let me come home.

Over the next 2 days, my BP stayed elevated, and they drew lots of blood work and sent urine labs. I spent thursday night and friday night in L&D, and saturday morning another OB physician came in and said with how everything was going, and the fact that I was already 38 weeks, it was recommended just to induce me and have this baby instead of just continuing to monitor the situation. So Saturday, we were told, it was time to get this baby delivered!

Saturday, January 12th, they started my IV, had me sign a ton of consents and paperwork, and started Pitocin around noon.

By 6pm, the RN checked me again, and after 6 hours on the Pitocin, and having regular, strong contractions, I wasn't making much progress. The OB came in to see me around 7pm, and decided to go ahead and break my water.

In the next hour, after she broke my water, contractions became much more intense! I got my epidural around 8:30 - heaven!! I could watch my contractions on the monitor and not feel them at all. Life was good!

Through the night I made slow progress, and towards morning, baby's head was very low, and things started to speed up all of a sudden. The nurse checked me at 6am - I was 5 cm. At 6:45am, after having a lot more pressure and bad contractions she checked me again and I was 6-7 cm. 15 minutes later, as the nurses were giving report at shift change in my room, I told them I felt like I needed to push. The oncoming RN checked me and laughed and said "That's because you do - you're 10cm!"

I started pushing at around 7:15am, they had the baby warmer in the room waiting for Aidan, and the delivery table all ready to go. That is when it all got interesting!!

After a few minutes of pushing, the OB and the RNs present noticed that Aidan's heartrate was dropping every time I pushed. They had me turn on one side and push, and then the other side - no luck. His heartrate continued to drop each time. Finally the OB told me to quit pushing altogether, and I breathed through a few contractions while she watched the monitor. Aidan's heart rate was dropping with every contraction at this point.

She talked to me, and I knew what was coming - it was time to do a c-section, because he was in distress, and we had to move quickly. They had placed a heartrate monitor on Aidan's scalp so they could get an accurate heartrate, and it was hooked up to a machine in the room that beeped with every beat. It was terrifying to hear it slow down with every contraction! They took Chris out to get some scrubs to wear into the operating room, prepped me, and wheeled me out the door down the hall to the OR. The tears started, I couldn't help it!

Once in the OR, I was shaking uncontrollably. Freezing cold, they crucified me to the skinny operating table with my arms stretched out to either side. I was still having contractions every 90 seconds at this point, and my epidural was not working at all.

The anesthesiologist bolused me several times in attempts to get me numb to do the c-section, but I wasn't feeling any relief. He did the "pinprick" skin test on my abdomen, and I felt every needle prick - the epidural was not working.

They told me they had no choice but to put a breathing tube down my throat and sedate me under general anesthesia. Because of this, and the fact that it was an emergency, Chris was not able to be in the room to see the delivery. I laid on the table saying "Oh my god, oh my god...." This was not exactly how I had planned on having this baby!

I was terrified beyond belief. I could feel them pushing some strong drugs into my IV... and the next thing I know, I'm seeing the bright lights of the OR, everything is a little hazy, I'm not in any pain, and they are telling me "Karin, we're all done!"

They wheeled me back to my room, Chris was there waiting for me. He had been able to see Aidan right after he was born, and he'd gone up with the NICU team with them and took a few pictures. Aidan was perfectly fine, and they were keeping him for 4 hours to monitor him. They also told me there was a reason behind why Aidan's heartrate kept dropping during delivery... he was delievered in the OR, and found to have his umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck! A c-section was inevitable, and we are very lucky to have been monitored so closely.

Finally, around 1pm, I finally got to see my baby boy when they brought him to my room. It was the longest wait, but it was worth it. He is absolutely perfect! Tiny, but perfect!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow...you went through so much! Actually, I think I would have rather been sedated...being awake for a C-section was not the funnest! We had to go into a quick C-section too after 3 hours of pushing and it is scary...but you made it!! He is so adorable - you both are so fortunate. We can't wait to see him. Good luck on your recovery...it's not as bad as you think! Love to you all - Kyle, Kiley and Nate Haskins