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July 26, 2001
Well hello everyone. Congrats to all who have entered the world or gotten a + test since I was here last! So much has happened around here.
It all started June 26. I had an appointment for an u/s to check her weight. My blood pressure was a little high and I had developed pitting edema. We really didn't think much of it since I had been this swollen for about two weeks. The tech did the u/s and Aubrey still measured big and her weight was guessed at 7 lbs. 15 oz. I was able to go to the bathroom and when I came back the nurse made me lay down and then a little later came back to check my blood pressure again. It was really high this time and I had protein in my urine. So off to the hospital I was sent. I checked in at 12 noon. I would not leave until July 2 at noon.
Hello bed rest (on my sides) for four days. I had two 24 hour urine tests done and when the second one still came back high (on June 29), my doctor decided to induce. During this time I was strapped to the dopplar and the toco. To go to the bathroom I had to call the nurse - in fact to do just about everything I had to call a nurse. Let me just say that I had no modesty left at the end which made giving birth easy. The birthing center was incredibly busy my whole stay - and short staffed. In the middle of the night I would hear another woman giving birth and just wish it was me. My doctor was trying to wait until I reached 37 weeks to induce and Aubrey was born one day shy of it.
I hate needles and IVs so when it came time to start the Pitocin I got really nervous. Of course the fact that my hands were so swollen that the nurse had to use a tiny vein in my wrist didn't help. Thankfully it was my favorite nurse and she did a wonderful job. That got under way between 3 and 3:30 PM. My doctor came in at 6 and broke my water. My husband got completely grossed out! Then things started to get fun. It didn't hit me as fast as I thought it would but when it hit IT HIT! I wanted to do it without medication and I think I might have made it if I hadn't had to lay on my sides the whole time. At about 10 I couldn't stand it anymore and I asked what I could have besides an epidural. The nurse told me I could have 1mg of Stadol(?) every two hours but she would have to check me first. I was two to three and at about 10:30 I got my meds.
I must break here and say that my husband was a trooper through all this. He rubbed my back until his hands were cramping and held a hot pack on it for the rest of the time. All this on not much sleep. The poor guy was so worried the whole time he didn't sleep well. That and the fact that the chair he had to sleep in wasn't meant to be used for four days straight. He was the only one in the room with me and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He hated seeing me in so much pain but he didn't say anything about medication until I asked about it.
The medication took the edge off but I was still breathing through the contractions and definitely feeling them! It started to wear off about midnight and I asked about getting some more. She checked me and I was three to four. Of course I was laying there thinking that there was no way I was going to make it if that was all I was dilated. I was so tired I wanted to give up right then and there. Of course I couldn't. She finally got around to giving the medicine again at about 12:45 AM. Remember, busy and short handed, oh what a joy! That dose helped me relax. I was feeling like I was going to vomit and I knew that if I did my husband would be right behind me so I was trying really hard to not breath hard through the contractions because that made the feeling worse. I actually don't remember much for awhile. I was sort of resting and tuning out everything so I could make it through and not puke. My husband tells me I breathed through every contraction but all I remember is the peaks. I don't remember any other part of them so I thought I was sleeping in between them.
At about 1:45 I "woke up" and had to go to the bathroom BAD. The nurse that came in the take me off the monitors tells me not to push if I feel like it. Well, I didn't feel like it until she said that. I went to the bathroom and managed to not push and when I got back in bed the feeling was stronger. I told them I felt like pushing and to humor me they checked me and I was 9. A couple more contractions and I was pushing. I was just as shocked as they were. At first I was still under the drugs and not really pushing when I should so I didn't make much progress for the first 1/2 hour. Then I got in the swing of things. Of course, she was just a little big for my pelvis so she got stuck for awhile. I felt like I pushed forever before the doctor finally came in and suited up. I didn't think I could push anymore, I was so tired. I knew after that first 1/2 hour my legs would never be the same! My poor husband didn't want any part of the delivery but since he was helping hold one of my legs he had no choice. She started to tear me so the doctor stopped me and cut and according to my husband Aubrey kind of flew out. At 4:05 AM my angel entered the world. After two of the hardest hours of my life I finally had my little girl. As I sit here typing this I am crying because it feels like it was just a week ago.
The placenta didn't want to deliver and I had excessive bleeding but at about 5 AM we called the families and let them know . I couldn't imagine the pain I had for a few days but I recovered quite quickly. I had a doctor's appointment at two weeks post-partum and I couldn't wait to get on the scales. When I got pregnant I weighed 144 and the day I went into the hospital I weighed 186. At my doctor's appointment I weighed 141! I swelled up so much that every day the swelling went down a little more I felt like a new person. I forgot what I looked like before I was that big and so it is with great joy that I look in the mirror every day. That is the first time I have EVER said that!
Well, there it is. Sorry it took so long to write but with my husband back at work after one week I haven't been doing so well. Things are on the up swing so lets hope it stays that way.
Cherylyn and Aubrey 6/30/01
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