I have to go back and catch up, thanks for all the congrats. . .
This is wayyyyy overdue, feel free to skip it. . . .
Here is the birth story:
On Wednesday October 14 at about 5 am I had what I thought was a leak of fluid. I went to the birth center and the strip tested positive for amniotic fluid. They had me go have a good breakfast and then come back (we chose Dennys). We returned to the Birth Center, and I stayed there and sent Dennis to work (he was only working until 1pm). I was at 1.5 cms. They had me walk a lot until noon, and checked me and nothing, so they started me on the breast pump and I was getting some contractions. After we had lunch they decided that maybe it was a high leak and not an actual tear in the sac down low (because they could still feel the bag of water around the babys head. They did a fern test and it was negative for amniotic fluid, so they decided that it wasnt my water braking after all. I went home showered and then headed to the hospital or a biophysical ultrasound baby scored 8 out of 8, and fluid was at 17 (should be between 5 and 20 he expected Id be around 10 being at almost 40 weeks). So I went home and got a good nights sleep (minus all the potty breaks). I also took it easy the next morning.
I tried to stay in bed as much as possible, but started getting some contractions in the morning (got nervous and decided to lay in bed some more, because Dennis had to work until 9pm that night). I guess I panicked that it may finally be time, even though days before I couldnt wait for it to be time. The contractions got regular around 1/2pm they were 15 minutes apart then. They got closer and closer as the day went on. Round 6pm I took a long hot shower to relieve some of the pain, the contractions were 5-7 minutes apart then. Around 8/9pm I sent Dennis a text message that I was having pretty regular contractions, that he didnt need to leave early or rush, but that he should come home as soon as the class he was teaching let out. Dennis didnt get home until 10pm that night and by then they were 3-5 minutes apart, I tried to ignore them as much as possible during dinner (but I didnt get much food down, my mother-in-law had cooked and I think she thought I didnt like her cooking, it was a good picadillo (Cuban beef dish) but it was hard to eat when in so much pain. I continued to try to ignore the contractions as much as possible during Greys anatomy and Private Practice, but at 11pm we headed out to the Maternity Center because they had been 3-5 minutes apart for over an hour.
We arrived at the Miami Maternity Center before midnight. I was 3cm dilated, 80% effaced and baby was at 0 station. They usually do not keep you until you are 4cm dilated, but they decided to have me stick around for at least a couple hours to see if things were progressing, especially since my blood pressure was a little high (140/90) and so was my temperature (100). They had me pick out a movie (I chose Bog Daddy) and they put it in. I cuddled some in bed with Dennis, tried to get some rest, but really couldnt. My BP did go down a little bit, according to the midwife that was short lived only until my mom arrived. My mom and grandmother arrived around 1am (the 15th was my moms birthday). I spent the whole night with contractions walking a bit both inside the birth center and outside, got in the hot tub, tried to sleep, etc. It was very painful, but I was doing ok, especially in the water. The hot tub was HEAVEN. I didnt have them turn on the jets, but just the warm water and the buoyancy was heavenly.
I was starting to think that I wasnt going to be able without pain medication and started getting worried. The midwives were great in getting me through my contractions, but it was much more pain than I imagined it would be. Worse than my cancer pain back when I was searching for a diagnosis, and I thought that was horrible. My BP and temperature were a bit high again, which was a concern. They stayed that way and when my water broke at 4am there was meconium. That scared me a lot and with the midwives support we got transferred to the hospital (North Shore, in Miami). To some extent I am saddened that we went everything went totally different than I had planned at that point, although I am happy and grateful that both the baby and I are healthy.
We arrived at North Shore some time before 5am. The walk from the ER to the Labor and Delivery floor was tough. I was surprised they didnt offer a wheelchair. I had to keep stopping for contractions. Upon arrival I was given room 304, and a great nurse, although check in was a pain. I was 5cm when I got there. After all the check in formalities (blood, IV, give a urine sample, give us all your health history, etc.) the doctor decided to give me magnesium for the BP and wanted to start me on pitocin since the baby was low and thought I would go fast. They offered me pain medication at that point and said I should get an epidural. I was so exhausted at this point I went with it. It was around 9am when the anesthesiologists finally came, and apparently I got the worst of the three, he stuck me 11 times and NO LUCK he kept hitting the bone! It was super hard to sit still during all my contractions for about an hour while he kept messing up. The nurse offered to get him the ultrasound machine to be able to see better, but he didnt accept, he was hesitant. Finally he allowed another anesthesiologist to try and he got it n the first shot, but they decided only to put a ¼ dose of meds in. So at 10 am after being in labor for 20 hours I had some short lived pain relief. They started the pitocin. Hen the doctor came in he did the longest exam EVER I asked him to stop because the pain meds had worn away and it was just too painful. He said there was a lot of meconium and for the babys safety suggested a c-section, at that point I wanted to wait it out some. He also suggested maybe the baby was too big for me I said that argument wouldnt work on me, I had only gained 5 lbs the whole pregnancy and at the ultrasound on Wednesday the tech said she was between 7-8 lbs. Plus the midwives had warned me theyd try that because I am overweight but I took care of myself during the pregnancy. But they had someone else come and basically told me if the baby aspirated it she could die. Around the same time, the anesthesiologist gave me a full does of pain meds and the babys heart rate dropped to the 60s for about a minute that was VERY scary. So at their insistence and for fear of harming the baby I agreed to the c-section. That part went very quickly. At 12:13 pm Isabel made her dramatic entrance to the world and she was STILL pooping even as they were wiping her down. She was smaller than we expected/imagined and thank God she did not aspirate any meconium. We got to hold her until they were ready to finish the surgery and then I had Dennis go with her to the Nursery. I was taken to recovery. As soon as she got hungry they brought her to me and I got to nurse her for the first time, right there in recovery. As soon as she was born and all was well my BP was low for me staying around 115-120/60-70 until the day I left the hospital. I have some doubts of whether or not I should have said ok to the c-section. A lot of days I wish I had waited a little to see if the pitocin dilated me fast enough to push her out but in the end all I prayed for the whole pregnancy was a healthy baby (and my health) and that is exactly what I got.
The spinal tap headache started almost immediately but they were controlling the pain with some shots. So two days later (the 18th) the baby and I went home. Things got progressively worse until I couldnt stand the pain just to sit up to nurse Isabel. On October 23rd I went to urgent care and they told me to go back to where I delivered, so I decided Id go in the morning. The 24th I fed the baby, showered and headed over to North Shore, I arrived around 11 am. It wasnt until 9pm that an anesthesiologist came in to do a blood patch, he poked me another 16 times to get the space. In the end it didnt work, so Sunday the 27th I went to Baptist Hospital (my favorite hospital in Miami) and they did a CT scan. They told me there was barely any of the needed fluid around my brain and that was why I was in so much pain. They admitted me to the hospital and at 4pm the next day, Monday, they did a successful blood patch under fluoroscope. Everyone there was amazed at home many times I had been poked! They counted 16 scabs at that point. The doctor said he had NEVER seen anything like it. Since it was under fluoroscope he got it in the first try. I started to feel better almost immediately, but it took a few days to feel back to normal in that respect. Thankfully we are well now, just the normal struggles of being sleepless and with breastfeeding.
We are hoping to find a doctor that would be willing to attempt a VBAC for the next time. But that isn'r on the radar yet
Keep us posted!!
