Member- MrsDTMajor
- 4 years ago
- Wedding: September 2012
Hey everyone. Mrs. DT Major here. If you had asked me a few days ago if I would be writing what I’m about to write I woulda thought you were crazy… but here’s my story
Tuesday night I was laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep. I realized I had to go to the bathroom so I got up to pee. I peed and wiped. I always look when I wipe just to make sure things are ok and I noticed a lot of large white gooey discharge on my tissue. I thought to myself “This is new” I wakled back to the bed wondering if that was my mucus plug. I was 35 weeks 5 days pregnant so I was thinking that was a possibility. I decided to do some research online and found out that it could have been. I decided that I would call the doc in the morning just to talk to them about it. A little bit later. Like 10 minutes later I had to pee again (of course I did I’m pregnant!) So I went to the toilet. When I sat down a trickle of liquid came out when I sat down. This time I thought to myself. “Hmmm… have I started to lose control of my bladder?” Then I started to pee. I looked at my panty liner (I’ve been wearing those since I was about 12 weeks) and there was clear liwuid on it. I got up and laid down in bed. As I was laying down I felt that there was liquid gathering in my vagina. But I also had the urge to pee. So I got up and went back to the bathroom. When I sat down on the toilet I heard a gush of fluid. I stood up and more fluid came out. I say to myself, “My water broke!” I called my husband who was working at his second job and told him I thought my water broke. He was surprised but very calm. He asked if I was sure. I told him I would call the doc and call him back. So I think it was around 11 pm I called my doctor’s office. I spoke with the answering service and the on call doc called me back. I told her what was going on. She asked me how far along I was. I told her I was going to be 36 weeks on Thursday. She said that she wanted me to go to labor and delivery to get checked out. So I called DH back and told him I needed to go to the doctor. He asked if I could drive myself and he could meet me there (his job is 30-45 minutes away) I told him that I thought it would be a good idea if he drove me to the hospital. So he said he was on his way.
While I was waiting for my husband I decided to make sure I had everything I needed in my hospital bag and the baby’s hospital bag. DH didn’t have a bag packed so I threw some stuff in a bag for him as well. Oh and did I mention that there was fluid leaking the entire time I was walking around. I put on a pad and it was soaked through in a matter of minutes. I then decided that maybe I should just sit down. So I sat down on the toilet. DH came home, he packed up the car and we left for the hospital. We even decided to throw the car seat in the car just in case we needed it. Probably sevretly hoping we didn’t.
When we arrived at the hospital DH dropped me off at the ER and sped away to park. The police officer at the ER offered to wheel me upstairs to the maternity ward. As we were rolling along a nurse came and took over. We got to the maternity ward and I was taken to triage. DH arrived. The nurse asked me what I was here for and I told her I thought my water was broke. She asked me how far along I was and I told her I was gong to be 36 weeks on Thursday. She looked skeptical and told me to go to the bathroom, take off all my clothes and put on a gown. I did and started to climb in the bed. As I was getting in the bed the nurse noticed fluid running down my legs. She said, “Your water did break!” She asked if I was in pain and I told her no. I wasn’t having any contractions. So she called the doc and was instructed to check my cervix. She did and guess what? I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. She called the doc again. She came back and said the doc wanted me admitted. They would check me in the morning and if needed give me Pitocin so I would deliver the baby that day. Shocked DH and I were escorted to our room. What???? We were about to have our baby? We were just getting used to the idea that I was going to be induced on July 10th instead of hopefully delivering her on July 18th which was our due date. I was getting induced because I am a Type II Diabetic and diabetics are induced at 39 weeks because anything past 39 there’s a higher risk of the baby being born still born.
Once we were moved into our room I had to convince DH to go ahead to get something to eat. Because this was unexpected we didn’t have a chance to get him snacks. He didn’t want to leave but I told him she wasn’t going to come right now. So he left to grab himself a burger and some snacks. While he was out a nurse from the NICU came to talk to me. Because my baby was going to be born at 35 weeks 6 days she would be considered a late pre term baby. As a precaution she would need to be monitored in the NICU for at least 6 hours. There they would check her lung function, liver function, temperature reglation and her blood sugar levels. The nurse kept going over everything and looked shocked when she asked if I had any questions and I said no. I explained to her that I am a social worker and am used to dealing with babies that are born early so a lot of what she told me didn’t worry me. (Plus on the way to the hospital I explained some of this to DH in case they wanted me to deliver her and he wouldn’t be too shocked by what the docs had to say.) I was also told that there would be a team from the NICU there when I delivered to monitor her and see how she was doing. I asked if I could still see her while in the NICU. The nurse said that they actually have the father’s take the baby to the NICU and that I could sit in there with her whenever I wanted as long as I wanted.
DH came back and he didn’t want to go to sleep. I told him I would be ok and to go to sleep. He works 2 jobs one from 11am -8pm and 9pm-3:30am. And he had been at work all week. I wanted him alert for the birth so I told him to get some sleep. I ended up finally falling asleep at around 6 am. I woke up a little while later because I was uncmfortable. The nurse came in to check me and I was 3.5-4 cm dilated and 75% efaced. The nurse asked me about my pain and I told her I was uncomfortable but ok. She left I just hung out.
Here are some details I left out…. When I was checked into my room they put in an IV and started me on fluids. I was also hooked up to a monitor to watch her heartbeat and monitor my contractions. The nurse had me put on the infamous mesh panties and a pad to help soak up my amniotic fluild. Also my doctor came by to see me. Benefits of the OB’s office being in the same building as the hospital.
Back to my story. When the nurse came back she checked me. It was about 2 hours after I was last checked. I hadn’t made any progress so the doctor decided to put me on Pitocin. After I was started on the Pitocin I was had to take off my lovely undies and they laid a bunch of bads and towels under me. Because I was on an IV with fluids (in addition to the Pitocin) I had to call the nurse every 30 minutes to unhook me from everything so I could go to the bathroom. I felt bad for calling her but she kept saying I was pregnant and of course I would have to go to the bathroom. While I was laying down my baby kept moving away from teh monitor so the nurse had to come in about every 30 minutes anyway because Houdini kept escaping.
Each time someone came in they asked me about my pain. I really wasn’t feeling any pain. I was incomfortable. Occasionally I would get a pain in my back or would feel like someone was sitting on my pelvis but it was manageable. (I always knew that I was going to get an epidural so I wasn’t trying not to get one for that reason. I just liked being able to me mobile and knew once I got it I would have to stay in the bed) Actually I was surprised that it hurt a little when the baby moved. The nurse explained that the baby’s movements were more pronounced because there was less fluid to cushion her movements.
A few hours later (like 2 or 3) I was checked and I was 7 cm! And I was starting to get uncomfortable. I felt like a 500 pound man was sitting on my pelvis. The nurse said that was the baby moving down. I was also feeling some pain in my back. The nurse told me that I could get the epidural whenever I wanted. She said it wouldn’t take away the pressure I was feeling but it would help with the pain. I told her I would see how I felt. Well…. about 15 minutes later I called her back in and asked for an epidural. So anesthisia was called and I got my epidural. After I got the epidural the nurse told me I would start to progress much faster because I was already at 7cm and the epi would further relax myu muscles
Can I just take a moment to say how awesome an epidural is? Once it was in and started working I felt so much better! Even though I wasn’t able to get sleep I was able to rest.
Around 4:30 the nurse came in to check me and I was 10CM! She said I had a little bit of cervix left on my right side so she would let me sit to see if it thinned out but would make sure to let the doc and the next shift know. I took a moment to ask her what was going to happen next. I knew that I was going to have to push but I didn’t know what to do. DH and I decided not to take any child birth classes (gasp!). A big reason was because DH had to work durning every time the classes were offered. Plus for some reason we just wanted to go in and just experience things for ourselves. People have been birthing babies forever and many of them have done it without taking a class. (NOTHING aagainst people who do decide to do that. Just as everything in pregnancy it was a choice we made and I never want to come off as judgey because someone made a choice about their pregnancy that I didn’t. Just as I don’t want anyone judging me) So I asked the nurse what I needed to do. She said that I would have my legs up and push like I was having the world’s biggest bowel movement. She said I would figure it out once I started.
The next shift came in around 5:30 and checked me. She said I would be ready to push soon. My doc also stopped by and checked me and said that I would be pushing soon. Then things started happening…. The charge nurse came in and set up a table with everything they would need for labor. The NICU came and set up the baby’s bed warmer…
I just realized that I haven’t really mentioned DH a lot. I really wanted him to sleep so he would be rested when I had to push and for when teh baby arrived so he could be with her where ever they took her. While all this had gone on he had gotten up, had lunch, showered, talked to some nurses and took a few naps.
The nurse came in at 6:30 and said they would have me start pushing really soon. I would also like to add that I think my epidural came out because I had started to feel some of the pain I was feeling earlier. The nurse repositioned me in the bed. She also pulled the stirrups out and took off the bottom end of the bed. She left to go talk to the doc.
For a few moments DH and I were alone. We looked at eachother. He said he was nervous. I told him I was too. I told him he didn’t have to look at the business end of what was going on unless he wanted to. He said he didn’t think he would be able to without passing out. I told him I understood. The nurse came back and I started to push.
I started pushing at around 7:15 pm on Wednesday June 19, 2013. It was just me DH and the nurse (Lynn) in the room. Oh… and it was her second day at the hospital. She’s been a nurse for 15 years but new to our hospital. At first DH didn’t know what to do. He stood beside the bed and held my leg. The nurse waited until she could see I was having a contraction and had me push. I was told to grab my legs by the back of my knees, press my spine into the bed, take a deep breath, hold it, put my chin in my chest and push. I had to do that in sets of 3 for every time I had to push. After pushing for about 20 minutes Lynn told DH to go get me some ice chips. He got me some ice and started to feed it to me in between pushes. Lynn was checking me. When I started to push the baby was still pretty high up. When Lynn checked me she could tell she was slowly starting to move down but instead of the baby being face down she was face up. I was also starting to feel burning on the right side of my pelvis. Lynn said that was probably where the baby was sitting. I kept pushing. But Lynn changed my position. Instead laying on my back I had to get on my side with one leg in a stirrup and the other on the bed. I had to hold onto the bedrail, press my head against the rail and push. I did that on my left side and my right side, I did 4 sets of pushing on each side. The doctor came in and checked me. She felt the baby was face up instead of face down but was starting to turn. So she reached in and started to turn her. Both the doc and Lynn said I was having to push a little longer because she was face up. While I was pushing I was 100% sure my epidural had worn off. I could feel every contraction and everything that went with pushing. DH was so awesome. He would put ice in my mouth in between pushes, he kept a cool cloth on my head and kept it cool, he held my leg, he kept encouraging me when I was getting tired.
So we kept on pushing! And as she got lower the more pain I felt. I also felt burning as she came down. Eventually I heard the nurse say, “Look at all that hair!” She had me stop pushing and called for the doc. All of the sudden 12 people showed up in our room. There was a team of people for the baby from the NICU and there were people there for me. I knew she was just about out because DH started saying, “Look at all of that hair!!!” I could feel her crowing…. The infamous “RING OF FIRE” is real my friends! But I kept on pushing… I was determined to meet our baby. Then in a blur she was out and on my chest. Art 9:18 pm on Wednesday June 19, 2013 our daughter entered into this world. Now I have said all of my life that I wanted any baby I birthed to be cleaned off before they were given to me after birth. But after all this I was so happy to see her. She didn’t make any noise and I was worried. I rubbed on her and in about 30 seconds she let out a cry. I couldn’t stop looking at her. She was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. DH cut her cord. The NICU staff stepped in and put her on the warmer to work on her. My doc continued to work on me. I delivered the placenta. My doc said I had 1 superficial tear and put in 2 stiches as a precaution. The staff brought her back to me for skin to skin and an attempt at breast feeding. So I got to sit with her for about 45 minutes and then DH went with her to the NICU.
DH came back from the NICU about 30 minutes later. He said everything looked good expcept her blood sugar was low. The nurse stated that low blood sugar is often comon with babies who are born early or who have diabetic mothers. Well this little pumpkin had both. So he said they were going to feed her to bring it up. Also because she was born early breast feeding would be an issue because she would have a hard time with her sucking reflex. So we were given the option of supplementing with donor breast milk or formula. After some discussion we decided to go with the donor breastmilk. They tried the donor breast milk and her sugars were still low so they switched to formula. That helped and her blood sugar levels went up,
I was cleaned up and they switched our room.
By the time we got into our new room it was after midnight. As soon as we got in the room I told the nurse I wanted to go to the NICU to see my baby. So I was taken to the NICU. She was awake. Her nurse was about to give her a bath. But she stopped and gave her to me so we could have some skin to skin time. I stayed for about 45 minutes to an hour. I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept in about 48 hours and I was falling asleep holding her. So I called the nurse over and she put her back in her crib. I was taken back to our room so I could finally get some sleep. The plan was to bring her to the room at 3 so I could try to feed her but her burse said that if I let her stay in there they would just feed her and then bring her to the room for her 6am feeding and then she would just stay with us after that if her sugar levels were ok. Even though I didn’t go to bed until about 1:30 am I still woke up at 3… but I went back to sleep and woke up 2 minutes before they brought her in for her 6 am feeding. And she was able to stay in the room with us for the rest of the day!
I still can’t believe I’m a mom…. I look at her in total awe. She has her daddy wrapped around her tiny pinky already. During my pregnancy I already had the attitude of whatever will happen will happen and to try not to force things. Some of you may know I was a high risk pregnancy because of my Type II diabetes. I lost about 30 pounds during my first 2 trimesters. I had a threatned abortion at 8 weeks and almost lost her. I had morning sickness pretty much the entire time. I had to accept that I would be induced pretty early on. I know a lot of people have the notion of let a baby come whenever they are ready. But because there was a serious risk of her being born still born then I rather deliver her a week early and have her here than let her come whenever and risk her not being here.
But that ended up not being an issue because she decided that she needed to come NOW… totally didn’t expect her to be here already but I can’t imagine her not being here. I love her so much!
She’s doing great. She passed her car seat test last night. She’s currently under a light right now because her billi rueben (I never know how to spell that) level was a little elevated and so they are treating her with a UV light. She’s eating her formula. She’s latched onto the breast and is able to suck a little. But because of her age she’s not able to get it down just yet. So we’re working on it. Plus it will take a few days for my milk to come in anyway. I pump after she eats.
So ladies it is my honor to introduce you to the newest member of our family Layla Sakari (pronounced suh-car-ee)…
Sorry this was so long and I jumped around…. started writing this last night at midnight and finished just now between feedings, diaper changes and sleeping.
Hopefully we’ll be released from the hospital today. Thanks for taking the time to read our story.
