We got home and had some dinner - which I only partially enjoyed - and then we decided to watch some TV. Mind you, I'm still having contractions at this point and they are getting gradually stronger. By 9:30pm they were lasting about 1.5 - 2minutes and were 3 - 3.5 minutes apart. I called Triage and asked them they're opinion and was told "we have to tell you to come in". So I called the next best person, my Mom, she said to wait until they were 3 minutes apart and then go in. By 10:00p they were 3 minutes apart and had been for the last half an hour. I texted my brother and asked him to come over and stay with the dogs (it was all of 15* outside) and texted my mom that we were headed back to the hospital. My brother arrived and we took off - we got admitted into triage at 10:57pm (Brett had to wear a visitor's badge and it had the time on it). They measured me and I was a "tight" 1cm dilated. The nurse gave us the impression that the Doctor (my doctor is on call remember) would probably send us back home - to which I again started to cry. She came back in though and said the Doctor had decided to admit us because I had already been in labor all day - so we would work to get things moving along. We were told we were going to be admitted at 12:00a 1/31/2013 - we were actually admitted at 2:00a 1/31/2013. We later found out that there were A LOT of babies being born that night. Brett said 4 babies were delivered while we were there. At 3:00a Doctor came in to try and break my water - all I can tell you is that I have NEVER been in pain like the pain I felt when she tried to break my water. The attempt to break my water was unsuccessful and Doctor stated she was having difficulty reaching the "bag of waters". She ordered an epidural and pitocin and stated she would come back and try to break my water again. At 3:30a I was given the epidural and the pitocin was started - I went numb pretty quick. Some time between 5 and 6 Doctor came back in to try and break my water again - this time she was successful, however she still had problems reaching my "bag of waters" and our baby's head. Doctor came back in at 10:00a and checked me and I had dilated to 3cm however it was a "tight" 3cm and she was still having trouble reaching baby's head. She told us she could either do a c-section or we could "wait out the day" and she'd be back in the afternoon to recheck me and we could decide at that time. We decided to "wait out the day" just to relieve any future doubt about whether or not a natural delivery could have happened. At 2:00p the nurse came in and checked me and I was still a "tight" 3cm - Doctor came in and also checked me and stated she felt at this point a C-Section would be the best option for all of us. She explained she could think of 3 or 4 other patients she had ever had that she had to do a C-Section because of Arrested Descent (failure to enter the birth canal). She explained that while doing the C-Section she would try to determine the reason for the Arrested Descent. And so - they began to prep me for surgery. I forgot to mention that I had already thrown up at this point. Part of the prep process includes drinking this NASTY tart fruity drink thing - well it lasted all of 15 minutes (maybe) in my system before I was vomiting. I was actually vomiting on my way to the OR. They got me into the OR and started prepping me for surgery. Brett was allowed to come in and join me and then they did what they do and our sweet Baby Girl entered the world. Brett had the pleasure of announcing that she was a girl. I had started crying the minute he entered the OR and didn't stop. I remember saying "I knew it was a girl" and I heard the Doctor say "you knew?" They got her all cleaned off and weighed, etc, and then I got to hold her for a brief period of time. Then, Brett and Caitlynn left the room and they stitched me up and readied me for recovery. We learned that my tail bone is curved in such a fashion that a baby cannot enter the birth canal - so any future children will also come via CSection, but I won't go through 36 hours first.
Once I got to recovery I threw up two or three more times and was pretty groggy. Brett had texted my mom a photo of Caitlynn almost immediately following her arrival. My parents decided to come see us in recovery and my brother joined them. They all cooed over her and her full head of hair. Our little one joined us at 3:57pm on 1/31/2013, weighing 6lbs 12oz, and 19.5 inches long. If you had asked me I'd have told you it was night time - but I hadn't been outside since 10:56pm the day before - and at this point I hadn't eaten anything since 6:30p the night before either. Brett gave Caitlynn her first bath and then our guests left and our new family of three went up to the Postpartum ward.
We got into our room and were greeted by a very nice nurse and PCA (Personal Care Assistant). It was about 7:00p by the time we finally got up to Postpartum. I hadn't yet tried to feed Caitlynn because of all the commotion of recovery so that was one of the first things I tried to do in our room. I was pretty out of it and could hardly keep my eyes open, but I knew I was hungry. They brought me some crackers, salad, and jello. I ate some of the jello and some of the salad. I was on a morphine drip and just trying to recover.
I stayed at the hospital until 2/3/2013. On Friday (2/1/2013) I just did a lot of sleeping and trying to feed Caitlynn and just recuperate. On Friday they also got me up and to the bathroom - and then they took the morphine drip off and removed all my IVs. I got up a few times on my own. Thursday night we were spoiled with how well Caitlynn slept - on Friday night she did a whole lot of crying. Brett and I spent five hours trying to figure out how to calm her - and at 4:00a I asked the nurse to please take her to the nursery so we could please get some sleep. On Saturday we decided to utilize the nap time they give you from 1:30p - 3:30p when no one is allowed to visit so you can sleep just to make up for the lack of sleep from the night before. On Saturday night there was more crying - and Miss Caitlynn got so angry she overheated herself and had a temperature of 102* - needless to say that FREAKED us out. They checked her temp initially at 10:30p and then again at 12:30a (they took her to the nursery for us at 11:00p) and at 12:30a her temp was down to 99.? When she came back to us at 1:30a the nurse had given her another bath and had said she was needing to be held a lot. She finally fell asleep after eating some. That morning her temp was back down to 98.9. The pediatrician came in to see her and discharged her from the hospital - she agreed her temperature spike was from overheating. During her stay Caitlynn passed her hearing test, got her first shot (Hep B), and got her heels pricked twice. The doctor came in to check my sutures and also approved me for discharge. They removed my staples and then we were ready to head home.
We arrived home and slowly put things away and just got readjusted to being at home. We had my mom come over a couple hours after we got home and help us with the dog-baby introduction. They all did really well. Spot and Bailey both sniffed her and accepted her without question. Wyatt is still a bit unsure of her, but he is slowly warming up and coming closer to her. We are working to reassure them they have not been replaced and that she is just another member of our family. Super Bowl was on Sunday so my parents came over to "watch" the Super Bowl with her - really they came over to watch her, and we all started to adjust to this new dynamic. I will update later with how week 1 has gone - needless to say it has been quite the adjustment and we are slowly figuring it out.
Here are some photos as well
Until Next Time~
~Sam~
No comments:
Post a Comment