Thursday, September 10, 2009

Jackson's birth story....finally!

Jackson's due date was Sunday August 2nd.
Starting at 37 weeks I was 2 cm and 70% effaced. At that appointment and the next 2 my Dr. stripped my membranes, which did NOTHING! On Monday August 3rd, 1 day over due, I went to appointment and I was sooo ready to be done. I was still 2cm/70% and my Dr. said he was willing to wait until the end of the week to induce me. (ahh!) But I said, "it's my little girl's birthday on Thursday and my husband has to go out of town next Tuesday, is there anyway we can do it sooner?" He said ok, and went and checked the Labor and Delivery schedule. Wednesday was really full so he said, "how about tomorrow?" Of course I agreed! But, my dr. wasn't going to be available to deliver me until after 10pm. I really wanted him to deliver Jackson, and I thought there was no way it would take until 10pm, so I was ok with a different Dr. delivering.
That night Labor and Delivery called me and said I was the 4th induction and that they would call me in the am when they were ready for me to come, and that if they hadn't called by 9:00 to call them. So we got up and were ready to go by 7:00. Cody's mom came to get Londyn at 7:30. And then we waited. 9:00 came and no one had called so I called them. They said it would be another hour. So at 10:15 they called again and said they weren't ready and didn't know when they would be. So at 11:00 my mom and Cody and I left with all our stuff and went to Paradise Bakery. (thank goodness we did, or I would have been starving-and it was delicious!) After lunch they STILL hadn't called! So, I called them! And they said I could come between 1:30 and 2:00. To kill time we went and ordered Londyn a Cinderella cake for her birthday and then we walked around the costco right by the hospital. And at 1:25 we headed over.
By 2:00pm they had me in my room with my IV started. ( I had the best nurse! Her IV skills were awesome!) They started the pitocin at 2 units. (that's the lowest and 20units is the highest) Every 30 min. they upped the pitocin by 2. The contractions started and were about every 4-5 min., but they weren't very strong and didn't hurt at all. By 5:00pm my pit was up to 8 units and my Dr. called and said to break my water. So the resident did that (such a weird feeling!! There was a ton of water!) Then they turned the pit up to 10 and wow, the contractions really got going! At 6:00pm I was 4cm and the contractions were about every 3 minutes and were really starting to hurt. But I kinda liked it! They were finally hurting so that had to mean progress! My nurse came in and asked if I wanted my epidural. At 1st I said no, but she said the anesthesiologist was about to go to a c-section and wouldn't be able to do it for another 45 minutes if I didn't get it then. So I reluctantly said yes. He came in and had me lay curled up on my side (which was kinda weird since I sat up w/ Londyn's). He was an older guy and my nurse said he was one of their best. I was still nervous about getting it! Just the thought of that giant needle going into my spine! He said I should only feel 2 or 3 more contractions. Well.....45 min. later I was still in pain. So he had to take it out and red0 it. (ahhh!) But, it started to work! At 7:00 the nurses had shift change and I went from super awesome nurse to super ditsy nurse. She really didn't know what she was doing. About 8:00pm I started to feel a lot of pain in my lower abdomen, but my legs were still totally numb. I kept pushing the button to deliver more medicine to my epidural, but it wasn't helping and then I noticed my bed was wet under my right arm. Lame-o nurse came in the check and some how the tubing for my epidural had come disconnected. The anesthesiologist came back in and re-connected it and gave me some stronger medicine. But, after that it all went downhill....
From 8:15pm-10:00pm I was in the most horrifying pain. It was aweful. For about an hour I was able to get through the contractions by squeezing Cody's had and breathing. They turned my pitocin off to try and give me a break. But by 9:00 the contractions were even stronger and coming on their own every minute and a half and lasting a minute. I thought I was going to die! It was only hurting in my lower abdomen near my previous incision, but it was some seriously bad pain. It felt like my incision was bout to rip open! At 9:15 the nurse gave me s shot of medicine to stop the contractions, but... it didn't work! They kept coming. That's when I couldn't take it anymore. I was crying and begging Cody to help me and make it stop. I can't even describe how bad the pain was. and the fact that I only had 30 -45 seconds between the contractions made it worse. The resident's didn't know what to do, and my nurse definitely didn't know what to do! So at 10:00pm they said since they couldn't get my epidural to work they didn't think they were going to be able to get my pain under control and thought it would be best to do a c-section. I really really didn't want another c-section, but at that point I wanted nothing more than a c-section and to have that awful night be over with! 10:15pm they rolled me back to the OR. And my Dr had just gotten there, and as I rolled by him I said, Please help me Dr. Esplin, I hurt so bad! He assured me it would be over soon.
So then the same anesthesiologist had me lay down to give me a spinal block. Yeah....it didn't work either. So he had me sit up and straddle the skinny OR table while my legs were still completely numb and gave me another one! It didn't work either! Ahhh! He poked my stomach with a needle and I could still feel it. So they did a 3rd one. By that point I thought I was going to die. Finally they just put me out with general and had to intubate me. Once again, I missed the birth of my child! He was born at 11:26pm ( i have no idea what went on between 10:45 and 11:26 ???). And around 2:00am I finally woke up and met my baby! It was such a weird feeling. But he was healthy and we were both safe and I was so grateful for that. later that morning the anesthesiologist came to see me and told me he had never seen anything like that. Who knows, maybe somethings wrong with my wiring! I had to be knocked out for Londyn's c-section too because I felt it when they started cutting. Weird! So needless to say, I'm a little nervous about the delivery of my next baby. Shoot, maybe they'll just plan on knocking me out! Sad! Anyway, sorry it's so long, but I wanted to write down the story before I forgot.

9 comments:

Malerie said...

that is no fun!
my epidural didn't take either... it sucks when you think you'll be out of pain, and the pain just worsens!!! I never got it re-done, the guy had 4 emergency c-sections in a row. Luckily, it only lasted a few hours before the delivery!

Hopefully the next one you won't get knocked out! :)

Caprene said...

if it makes you feel any better, should I ever have kids, I can't have an epidural or spinal block or anything in my back because of a previous mishap during a procedure. So at least you're not alone...

Tammi said...

You poor thing! That is horrible! I had that horrible pain part for 20 minutes and literally wanted Rydel to stuff a pillow over my face and end it for me. I cant imagine what you went through. You did good though cause Jackson is beautiful!!

Amy said...

'Brave' and 'strong' don't even begin to describe what you are.

Tiffany said...

WOW!!! I love hearing birth stories. Thanks for sharing. Yours beats them all. I don't think I would have been able to do that!

The Caple Crew said...

wow that's crazy! I had no idea you were knocked out on for Londyn too! Well, hey, at least everything turned out fine! Did you recover quickly? I recovered faster the 2nd time around.
They had me lay on my side when they were doing the epidural for Ryanne and my left side was WAY more numb!

LDA said...

I'm hurting just reading your story...glad he's here and healthy!

Team Box! said...

what a story!! My Dr. was Dr. jackson, and Esplin on call too, I LOVE him!!
He's such a cutie you guys!

Troy & Emily said...

wow crazy times! Glad everyone's okay. You are probably having difficulty because you have amazing kids coming to this world. Trials in all things that are good. You guys are the best and we wish you luck in your new neighborhood. Let us know when you get settled where you are. We'd love to stop by.
-Emily, Troy and Sophronia =)