So, I left off with the birth of Turtle. With her pregnancy I learned of inductions. It sounded pretty great. Ask the doctor to start your labor for you with no risks or complications. For much of the last trimester my little turtle had her foot stuck up inside my rib and was causing a lot of pain and a bruised feeling. So nearing the end, I asked my doctor about being induced. She explained she couldn't do it before 41 weeks in case anything happened she needed to say she had a medical reason for the induction. (Should have been my 'red flag' that I should look into it further, but I was due on 1/1 and excited to meet my baby as well as "done" being pregnant!) I let the hype of complaining about pregnancy really cloud any enjoyment I should have been getting from my pregnancies.
I couldn't sleep the whole night before. I showed up for my induction at the time I was given and even though I was told to fast, they still administered an enema. (For those that don't know...they squirt a liquid up your bum hole, make you squeeze your cheeks and hold it in as long as possible, and when you can't anymore you EXPLODE on the toilet. Humiliating and disgusting!) I had many other things put in and on me. I was told I was already having contractions that I just wasn't feeling (which means I probably would have gone into labor on my own within the next day or so). I was there for 2 hours before the doctor even came in and broke my water. Lots of walking later the doctor decided to administer pitocin...which immediately had me BEGGING for the amazing epidural. Let me tell you, pitocin contractions are no joke!! Imagine a drug so strong it can cause your muscles to contract without your help. Once I made that choice, I was confined to my bed, once again on my back to sleep through much of the rest of my labor. Wake up, push baby out, watch as they take her away from me to do all their checks. I was trying to see her, but hubby, my mom, & nurses were all gathered around the warmer while I heard whispering "we need to tell her". At this point I start freaking out. Well, my baby had what they thought at the time was club foot. After many specialists visits, braces, & therapy we discovered it was actually they way she had folded herself in the womb. Her foot was flat up against her leg because she had crossed her feet. By her first birthday, all was fine and she was able to walk as normal. I was able to try to nurse her before we had any of my visitors come in to see her, and she latched right out & nursed like a champ. I only made it about 4-6 months nursing her. I went back to work & started pumping, but even though my work provided a room to do this in, there was a schedule and you were only allowed to pump for so long. Pumping moms know, it can sometimes take awhile. I did not know my rights, and they harassed me about taking too many unpaid breaks for pumping. So I let her finish out the stash at the sitter and we quit, happy we had made it work for that long.
For Monkey's birth I was determined to not be induced. I had started to learn a little more. I learned that having an induction increases your chances of a c-section. With Turtle I had her a few hours before they were going to have the "talk" with me. In between these births, my best friend had gotten her doctor to agree to induce her around 37-38 weeks because she would be losing her insurance. The baby was clearly not ready, and my friend ended up with a cesarean section. That was NOT going to be me. I was still reading my "what to expect" book like a Bible. With my first baby...we will call him a surprise, after him I got the mirena iud for about 2 years, never even got a period after getting it out and ended up pregnant. I had such a great experience with the iud the first time, I decided to get it again. This time for the full 5 years allowed. We were expecting to just get pregnant again right away. We tried for 11 months! When I finally got that positive test, I vowed I would not complain this time around. I would enjoy and soak in every bit of this pregnancy. I had come across so many who would have loved to have kids of their own and were struggling, it was an insult to them to complain about something they could never experience.
I spotted at the beginning of Monkey's pregnancy, and because I was concerned the doctor did an internal ultrasound to verify there was a little bean in there with a beating heart. The rest of the pregnancy was uneventful for the most part. I was always excruciatingly hot and I would go from not hungry to starving in 10 seconds flat and if I didn't eat immediately, I would be nauseous. He is the same out as he was in. He came out knowing what he wanted, and if he didn't get it right away he threw a fit! So back to the pregnancy, about 2/3 done I did the dreaded glucose test. I have a bad gag reflex so forcing myself to drink something I don't want with a time limit to finish it...let's just say is not something I look forward to. For the first time ever, I failed the 1 hr glucose test. Actually, I was borderline and the doctor decided to make me do the 3 hr one to be sure. This one came back that I indeed had gestational diabetes (GD). I met with a dietitian and learned how to control it with a better diet. My numbers were fine the rest of my pregnancy and when comparing them to my step-dad who recently was diagnosed with diabetes himself...the numbers i was expected to maintain as a pregnant woman were far below the numbers he had to maintain. I went in for my 40 week appointment and I was sick with a respiratory infection. My doctor informed me that because of the GD she insisted on inducing me on my due date. That had been her plan when I showed up that day, but because I was under the weather she wanted to give me a few days to 'kick it' because she was afraid I wouldn't the energy to make it through. I came back 3 days later and because you can't really take much while pregnant, I had developed bronchitis instead.
I once again showed up to all the same actions that were taken with Turtle's induction. However when the nurse tried to put the IV in she couldn't...3 times. She called in someone from the iv department to come up and do it. They were able to, but also made me bleed ALL OVER! It was on me, my bed, the floor, her scrubs, her shoes, etc. I again was told i was already having contractions. The doctor again waited a few hours before coming to break my water. This time, however, I was not permitted to walk to help things progress. I was told that they needed to keep the baby on the monitor and that he/she (this time we didn't find out) wasn't cooperating. I have degenerative disc disorder, which never bothered me until sometime in between these 2 pregnancies. I have discs in my spine gone so it is bone rubbing on bone down near my tailbone. I cannot lay on my back, or really in any position for too long or it hurts A LOT. The rest of this labor was a blur at the beginning in the order things were done. I was told the baby needed an internal monitor because even though they tried me in all these positions, they couldnt keep baby on monitor. I was given pitocin again, but this time I wanted to try to hold off as long as possible for the epidural. I started getting intense contractions one on top of another...as in no break in between them. They ended up turning the pitocin off because it was making the contractions ineffective. I know I finally asked for the epidural and because of my back trauma I kept flinching just with him putting the iodine on. He wouldn't let my husband be with me, who probably would have given me that comfort I needed to stay still and instead kept yelling at me to stay still. After it was in I was told could take up to 15 minutes for it to work. Well, I waited and waited and nothing got better. I received no relief. The nurse paged the anesthesiologist over & over, but he never came back. She ended up increasing the medication herself as high as she was allowed. I did finally start to feel numb...from my knees to my toes! I felt every bit of the rest of my labor, even though I was falling asleep from exhaustion in between contractions. I kept calling the nurse in to tell her I felt ready to push, but was told over and over again that I was a 10, but I still had a cervical lip there and my doctor will not allow me to push while that is there. After so many times of calling her, she felt bad for me and wanted to help, so during a contraction I pushed and she physically moved that lip out of the way. After this we were able to call the doctor to come. Now, I love my doctor, but she is episiotomy happy. She told me to stop pushing (because she was going to cut me). Now remember, I had bronchitis, which had already caused to throw up during the labor...in the little boat and all over the bed and floor again. Well, this time it caused me to cough...out popped baby. Clearly, I needed to be cut, right?
Once again, baby whisked away to the warmer. Well, the hospital was going through some changes. In the 6 six years since my last baby they now had a photographer on call, who made it known to me she was called away from her daughter's sleepover, etc making me feel guilty she was there with me. So they decided to bathe baby before letting me try to nurse. They took so long and still had not bathed him, that they 'allowed' me to leave recovery to watch it as well. Then I was told it was time to go to my room. I am talking having a baby around 11pm and not able to try nursing him until 4am when I got in my room. We had our struggles and fought and cried with nipple shields, pumping, supplementing with formula, etc for 5 weeks before throwing in the towel. I was devastated. It was shortly after this I learned I have fast letdown, which was the cause of him screaming shortly after latching on, that I was waiting until he cried to nurse which is the last hunger sign, I had oversupply which could have been corrected...but I found this stuff out when I found the support from local mom groups on facebook and found La Leche League. I tried to re-lactate around 4-5 months, but it was too much of a struggle for me & my little guy and I just wasn't mentally strong enough. I decided to take this time to learn everything I could about breastfeeding as well as natural birth...because even though I had an epidural I still felt everything and realized it was not nearly as bad as I thought and I found out I could do it. No more taking chances of the risks that come along with getting an epidural!
Again, such a long post...I am being paged now by Turkey & Monkey so i will end this extremely long post. I have one more birth story for you. It is my favorite so it will be long, I know that already. It is beautiful and it helped me realize my true passion in life.
Until next time,
Zookeeper
No comments:
Post a Comment