 | Diary Navigation:
|
July 13, 2003
Here goes nothing.. I warn everyone that this is a LONG entry compared to my other ones!
On June 12th I went in to Labor and Delivery because I had been having some really heavy bloody discharge that morning and I felt crampy. The DR on call decided to check me and I was 5 cm dilated and 75% effaced and baby was a -2. I was contracting regularly but didn't really feel any pain. They decided to admit me and I called Donny at work and told him to come to the hospital. I walked around for an hour or so while I waited for one of the new birthing suites to be available. Donny got to the hospital and I was taken back to my room where they put in a Hep lock instead of an IV and I got hooked up to the monitor. The DR explained that they would do nothing to stop the labor but they would not augment by breaking my water, starting pitocin, etc., since I was only 35wks pregnant.
Contractions were regular but not painful and when I walked they seemed to pick up but after a few hours they seemed to slow down and go away.
DR checked my cervix and in 4hrs I had gone from 5 cm to 6 cm and 75% to 90% effaced, so I really was not in labor since the contractions decided to go away.
Later that night after endless walking the DR checked me again and there was NO change and I wasn't really contracting anymore, so he offered to give me something to sleep and I was out. The next morning the DR came in and explained that they wanted to transfer me to the antepartum unit and stay there until I went into labor since I was what they called advanced dilation and there was no telling when I would go into labor.
I explained that I wanted to go home since it could be days/weeks until he decided to make his appearance and staying in the hospital for an extended period of time was unrealistic. So, the DR said that the only way they would release me was if I signed out against medical advice. after talking to Donny I decided that I would go ahead and sign out and go home where I could be comfortable. She came back in and said that the staff DR's wanted to do an Amnio to check lung maturity and if the results came back that hislungs were mature then they would break my water. If they weren't mature I said I would stay in the hospital. So, she and a team of about 4 DR's came in and did the Amnio which didn't hurt at all, just felt strange and the needle was LONG.
After a few hours of sleeping (the drugs they gave me the night before really made me groggy) the results came back that his lungs were mature (no duh since I had several rounds of steroid shots to mature his lungs when I was in the hospital for preterm labor in May). So at 1:40ish she started some pitocin to get me contracting before she broke the water..about 30 minutes later she came in and checked me and I was still 6 cm and 90% and baby was-2. She broke my water at 2:10pm and at first not a lot came out but after a few minutes it started gushing out. My contractions started to become uncomfortable and they offered me an epidural (Actually they had been offering since I was admitted) and I declined. About twenty minutes later the contractions started to hurt and I knew I was making progress..the only thing that helped with the pain was to sit on a giant red birthing ball. My back was hurting and I started to O a lot and then I started to ask for a intratheical (like an epi but a one time shot)..the nurse told me that I had to have a whole bag of IV fluid first. Donny held my hand and I kept Oohing and the DR came in and he took one look at me and decided to check me, the nurse said I had just been checked less than 40min ago and he said she has that look on her face I had better check on her..I wanted to kiss him for saying that. He checked me and said I was 7 cm and 100% effaced and baby was at a +1 station! The contractions really picked up form there and I remember feeling the urge to sit up straight and try and find a comfortable position, but the pain was so intense. I started to feel a lot of pressure so the nurse checked me and said I was still the same (this was only about 4min after the DR checked me). At this point I had the most intense gut wrenching contraction that rendered me speechless and the nurse decided to check me again. She pronounced me complete and I felt the urge to push, so I started to push and she told me to stop. At this point she ran to the door and yelled for the DR, who came in right away. I started pushing and while he was getting his gown on he delivered Hayden at 3:03pm only 57min of active labor.
I immediately started to cry and couldn't believe how much hair he had and how different he looked from his big brother.
Dr.Chen told me I had better camp out at the hospital next time or Donny would be delivering the baby. The Pediatrician made his way to the room to check out Hayden and gave him 9/9 apgars..excellent for a preemie! At this time I started trying to push out the placenta but it seemed to "stick" so the DR tried to pull on it a bit to get it to come out but all that did was partially detach the cord. I felt another contraction and my placenta came out but it sort of rolled out backwards, and I noticed that it was small. Dr.Chen explained that it was small because I was only 35 weeks and it was fine. Things seemed fine for a minute and then the real chaos began. All of a sudden blood started to gush out of me and the DR had to stick his arm in me to get out the pieces of placenta and blood clots that had retained. This did not stop the bleeding and I asked him for something for pain like Tylenol with codeine..Anesthesia came in and he gave me something through my IV that made me really woozy. The DR apparently could not stop the bleeding and he asked the nurse to start another IV in my right hand so they could have access for a transfusion, they called blood bank and had the blood on standby and I basically stopped breathing reliably from the drugs, so they put me on oxygen. Dr.Chen told me he wanted to take me to the OR and go ahead and put me under so he could get a better idea of why I was bleeding out.
Things started to get really fuzzy at this point. He then found a laceration on my cervix that was bleeding, so he stitched it up and the bleeding slowed down. I guess that was the main source of the hemorrhage so thank GOD I didn't have to go to the OR.
After a few hours of monitoring they sent me downstairs to the postpartum ward and they ended up putting a catheter in my bladder since I was so swollen from all the trauma of the DR trying to stop the bleeding etc. I got down to my room and was so tired I couldn't stay awake so the nurse took Hayden for me so I could get some sleep.
The next few days were pretty rough, they took out the catheter the next day and I tried to shower but almost passed out. I was so wiped out that I really couldn't hold Hayden for long periods of time without feeling woozy. I guess my blood count dropped so low the DR's asked me if I wanted a transfusion, which I declined unless absolutely necessary.
We made a deal that if my count stabilized then I wouldn't have to have one and by the next day it did.
This pretty much sums it up.
I am in total amazement how quickly time flies, Hayden is now a month old and is so precious. It melts my heart when I see Avery try and comfort his brother or give him kisses. The pregnancy flew by and I was so worried for so long how I would be able to parent two children, but now that Hayden is here things seemed to have just fallen into place. I want to savor every moment of his newborn stage. It is so much better the second time around since I am so much more relaxed with him.
Hayden is now taking about 3oz per feeding and breastfeeding 2-3 per day, mainly in the middle of the night. He is about 6 1/2lbs and his preemie clothes are starting to fit well and I suspect he will grow out of them soon.
I know I have not kept a very interesting diary, and the time to write witty and clever entries was just not there, so i doubt that I will keep a baby diary..but I might keep a moms today diary sometime in the future. I hope those people who did read my diary enjoyed it and I wish everyone well.
Take care....
Thanks for reading, Corinn and Hayden 6/13/03
 | |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
