Immediately I'm hooked up to a monitor and told I'm having contractions 2-3 minutes apart. What?! Apparently I wasn't even feeling some of them. We go through my medical history as they don't have any information on me and my OB office wouldn't release my information and chart until the following day. Strike one against my OB doctors.
The triage nurses and doctor on call (Dr. AJ) were very surprised to learn that I hadn't been hospitalized for fluids and hydration following an infection I had in late June (strike two against my OB docs). They felt I was likely dehydrated not only from that infection but also from being in the sun all week on vacation. No worries, we'll hook you up to some fluids and this will all stop. At least that's what they thought. They also gave me a drug called terbutaline to help stop the contractions. I wasn't dilated at all (from what they could tell, I wasn't a very cooperative patient) but they thought I had thinned out a little.
At this point we were moved to a labor and delivery room, I was given a hot pack for my back and finally got to eat some food. The terbutaline definitely felt like it was working as I thought the contractions had mostly stopped. I think I was given some painkiller for my back pain and Adam and I both dozed off for a few hours.
That evening comes and we decide to catch up on some episodes of Big Brother. I was told that I was still having contractions, some weak and some strong and that I should mark the ones I was feeling. We got through one or maybe two episodes of our show with me marking contractions every once in awhile, but by the final episode I was in some intense pain. We didn't finish the episode or even start the final one we had planned to watch because I just couldn't focus on it. This is where I start to forget how things progressed but all I know is that it escalated quickly. It was about 9 pm.
I was told that the terbutaline didn't work and that they were going to try a stronger drug that had less desirable side effects associated with it. They were going to try Magnesium which would make me feel really hot, like my skin was crawling and just very uncomfortable in general. The worst part was they said I would be on it for 24 hours and have to stay in the hospital for at least three days to monitor me. What? We went from being told I was likely dehydrated and just needed some fluids, we'll keep you overnight to you're stuck here and going to be miserable. Also, I couldn't get up to use the bathroom while on the Mag so they were going to insert a catheter. Great.
I don't even remember them pushing the Mag into my IV but suddenly it got hot. So so hot. Off came the gown, the a/c was cranked in my room and ice packs were placed all over me. Still, I was hot. Awful hot. Then they decide to try to get this catheter in me. Should have done it before I was totally miserable because I couldn't relax and it was terribly uncomfortable and then "oops, it's in the wrong hole." SERIOUSLY? Who are these people?! They had to do it again. Success, it's in but catheters are NOT comfortable for the first 45 minutes or so. Constant burning.
Around this point I suddenly felt a gush like I had peed or something, but I knew I hadn't. My first thought was maybe my water broke but I looked down and there was some blood. Not a whole lot, but enough to freak me and Adam out. The nurse was quite calm and reassured me it was likely from being checked earlier in the day, which I believed. Time went on and more gushing sensation, more blood. More panic. I tell Adam to call my parents and tell them they should probably come up. They arrived about 11 pm.
The nurse was starting to seem a little stressed, especially since she had to help deliver a baby next door since the doctor showed up too late, but still didn't seem to be overly worried about the blood. She had called other nurses in and informed my doctor, but they were just watching me closely.
And the pain. Oh my god. Contractions are for real. I remember telling them they had to give me something for pain, wasn't there anything they could give me for the pain?! Apparently they did give me something that was supposed to help me sleep a little so I dozed in and out of sleep, waking up constantly to the contractions and with a box fan blowing on me because I was still SO HOT. Meanwhile, Adam was freezing to death sleeping in my igloo room. My parents were given the room across the hall to get some sleep in.
The hours go by and I wake up and feel something's not right. "Adam, something just came out of me." We look and there's a huge clot of blood that had come out. Adam said he ran down the hall looking for our nurse, he was so scared. I was so disoriented and tired and in pain that I don't remember it very well but this got the nurse's attention. This happened a couple times, some worse than others and at about 6 am the doctor came in to talk with me. "The drugs didn't work, you're about a centimeter dilated, you're going to have this baby in this hospital today. Probably in six to eight hours."
I was so uncomfortable, emotionally and physically exhausted and had a sense that something was not right because of the bleeding and clots that I told him I wanted a c-section. I also knew that I could not tolerate whatever was happening to me for six to eight more hours. I was drained. I know some moms do it for longer but I just couldn't. I was later told that since my body truly was going in to labor, the magnesium and my body were fighting each other likely causing more discomfort than I should have been in. Good to know because I was in some serious pain. Luckily, he agreed right away to my request for a c-section and said that I would have the surgery in an hour at 7:30 am.
I was shocked. I can't remember if I cried right away or if I was happy this ordeal would be over with but what a strange feeling. I wasn't supposed to meet our son for 10 more weeks, we weren't ready, and I was just told that I was going to see him in one hour. I knew deep down that he was going to be OK, that babies born at 31 weeks have some issues but in general are fine in the grand scheme of things. Let's have this baby.
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