I don't remember all the details of BG's birth story... many of it is very fuzzy... many of it is clouded by pain, drugs, and or just plain sleepiness... but here it goes.
On Sunday the 24th, our church had a couples bowling night. We had just really started going to this new church and Jeff and I thought it'd be a good idea to go and just have fellowship with some of the other couples and hopefully make some new friends.
Everyone thought it was crazy that I was going to bowl, but I didn't want to miss out on the fun, and part of me wanted to be that crazy woman who bowled at 39 weeks pregnant.
Whether or not that was the catalyst that made me go into labor, we'll never be sure of, but sure enough, a few hours later, I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I was washing my hands when all of a sudden I felt a whoosh, and my legs were wet, and I was dripping onto the bathroom floor.
Oh what? TMI? Well, if that's too much for you, you might want to stop reading now.
At that moment in time I thought to myself. Thank god it was on the bathroom tile and not our bed, or sofa, or carpet. Because that would have been gross.
Anyway, Jeff and I had a birth plan where we were going to labor as much as possible at home before heading into the hospital. So we called the doctor that was on call, and let them know that my water had broken, and they said to come in if/when the contractions got more consistent and closer together.
So we waited. I cleaned the bathroom floor. I tried to sleep, but couldn't. Decided to finally pack our hospital bag, and actually write out the birth plan, (oops - procrastination!). We watched TV, took a couple of walks up and down our street, and timed each and every contraction. 10 minutes apart, 12 minutes apart, 5 minutes, 3 minute, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. There was no rhyme or reason to them. We ate food, watched more TV, and called a few people to let them know my labor had started.
Finally, 12 hours after my water broke, at 3pm, the doctor called us and said.. hey, what's going on? Why don't you come in and get checked out. If everything looks fine, we'll just send you home.
So we got into the car, and drove right on over to the hospital, and got checked out.
The contractions weren't too bad, and actually seemed to have stopped a bit, so I assumed that they would tell me everything looked a-okay and to go home and rest.
Little did I know that they would tell me 1) I had Preeclampsia and 2) I had gestational diabetes.
1) Throughout my pregnancy my blood pressure and urine samples were completely normal. But the last doctor's visit I had before my water broke, the nurse who took my vitals noted that my blood pressure was high and that I had a high amount of protein in my urine. Instead of being concerned, she asked if I was stressed, and/or if I had been drinking enough water. I told her yes, I was stressed, and yes, I could be drinking more water, but hadn't that day. So she wrote it off as nothing and sent me home. If I had gone to my regular doctor, she probably would have noted that my "swelling" was worse than normal, and would have had more tests done... Who knows... but that week, I was going through my rounds of the different doctors on staff who may end up working on the shift when I go to deliver my baby. But instead, this doctor didn't even really look at the results of the blood pressure/urine, and the nurse just sent me home.
2) I took multiple gestational diabetes tests during my pregnancy. I took both the one hour and the three hour tests. I got pricked and my blood got drawn so many times that I thought I was going to need a blood transfusion. (This may be a slight exaggeration). But the results came back and my doctor told me I was free and clear. Later, during my follow up exam after I had BG, she would tell me I was actually on the fence, but instead of telling that to me when I was pregnant where I could have changed my diet or something to try to make sure I didn't become full blown gestational diabetic, she chose to tell me I was free in clear leading me to believe I could eat whatever I wanted.
So, once I got to the hospital, and they learned these things, they admitted me right away and told me that I couldn't go home.
The view from my Labor and Delivery room.
Not only that, but because of the preeclampsia, I needed to get hooked up to an IV and magnesium so that I wouldn't go into seizures.
There goes the birth plan.
Basically, my birth plan was simple. Avoid a C-Section at all possible costs. So that meant, no drugs, no medical interference.... I wanted to be able to walk around, and use gravity to help get the Baby down and out. I wanted to be able to sit on my yoga ball and bounce around if things got too hard. I wanted to be able to use my doula and have her help me through the pain.
But that was all thrown out the window as soon as they uttered the words preeclampsia. I asked for an hour, praying that within the hour my labor would progress and I wouldn't need the magnesium, but unfortunately no. So they hooked me up to the mag, and we waited. My contractions got worse and worse, but they also started to get further apart. My labor wasn't progressing at all.
Hours later, they tell me that they need to hook me up to the pitocin because my labor had practically stopped. I had been sitting pretty, watching TV, hanging out with Jeff, my cousin and my doula... And the pain wasn't so bad, I thought I was going to coast right along.
But they told me that since my labor had practically stopped itself, they would need to hook me up to the pitocin to start it back up again. So they hooked me up and asked if i wanted an epidural. But in my head, the pitocin was going to work like magic and I was going to give birth to BG at any moment, so I declined.
Approximately 12 hours later, after many many horrible, horrible contractions, screaming my head off, I relented. I just needed to be able to breathe. I needed to be able to think clearly. This obviously wasn't working.
So onto the epidural I went. And the world was still not right. I was one of those cases where the epidural only took to half of my body. So I had to lie on the opposite side of my body so that the medicine could work it's way down. At which point I was finally able to sleep. Sleep.. Wonderful sleep.
more tomorrow.....
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