The Birth of Amelia: Part 1

Wow! It's certainly been awhile, huh? Just let me clear some of the tumbleweeds and dust around here and we'll get back on track!

Obviously, I've been away for awhile. Why you ask? Because I birthed a human exactly 3 weeks ago today. She's pretty much the most perfect little thing I've ever laid eyes on. And even though we're fighting sleep deprivation and are probably covered in more formula than I care to admit, we're pretty darn happy here.

I wanted to be able to come to my little corner of the world here and share her birth story before I forget it. I feel like there are already details that are beginning to slip away, and I don't want to let that happen. So grab some popcorn or cookies, get comfy and come along with me to the distant time of 21 days ago.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014

I had been having those "fake" contractions for a few days now and was getting annoyed that every single time I thought something was happening...it would stop. SO FRUSTRATING. I know I still had a few weeks to go, so my impatience was pretty premature, but dang it, I felt like a moose and was scared to death since all I could think about was how this whole labor and delivery thing was going to go down. My RSD, which had been under pretty good control since the 2nd trimester, was coming back with a vengeance. I was having incredible difficulty walking again, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions and say it was linked to the impending birth of the little one. I sucked it up, no pain meds, and just figured at one point, we'd be able to get it taken care of. I had an appointment with my OB and MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) that day, so I figured I would ask about the strange sensations I was having both RSD-Related and pregnancy related. My appointment was at 1:20 and was to begin with a Non-Stress Test, and at that point, there was really no reason for him to be there since the test consisted of me sitting in a recliner with a drink just listening to the baby's heartbeat. Since the next part was an ultrasound followed by actually meeting with the OB, we figured he would leave work at the regular time and join me soon after.

I got to my appointment and was ushered back to the NST (Non-Stress Test) room. I got hooked up to all the machines and got comfortable. The tests take about 20 minutes, and Amelia had always done REALLY well on these. They essentially monitor the heart beat of the baby and the mom and any contractions you may be having. They ordered these tests since I have tachycardia and because Amelia was a tiny little baby. She was only in the 11th percentile, so they wanted to be on the safe side.

Our Room

Not long after the test began, I could tell something was a little different. I wasn't feeling the baby move around as much, but I figured that was pretty normal since she was running out of space in there. But they weren't seeing the accelerations and deceleration they had seen in my previous tests. Once I hit my 20 minute mark, they decided to have me stay on longer to see if they could catch any trends. At this point, I was getting kinda freaked out. I called hubby at work and let him know what was going on. He left work immediately, and we began texting so he could get a play-by-play on what was going on while he was on his way.

My nurse finally felt like she saw enough of what she needed to see and had me walk next door for my ultrasound. Now, this is a pretty simple ultrasound (not the kind where you get print outs of the baby's face and everything) where they are simply looking at baby's position, the heart, and how much amniotic fluid is around the baby. Again, this had never been an issue before, so I wasn't really nervous.

The tech came in and we talked (she and I had become chums over the last few weeks since I was in so often due to my "high risk" status.) She sort of got quiet mid way through and I started to become uneasy. I could tell something was different. The heart was fine, and she was still in a good position, so I had no idea what could possibly be wrong. Hubby was still about 10 minutes away, so that was adding to my nervousness.

The tech calmly began with "Well, Mrs. B, your fluid had decreased significantly since last week. You had 13.5 last week and are only at 2.7 now. The fluid levels are in the places we want it to be, but I'm going to need to talk to the doctor. The baby is going to need to come out early."

Hubby's ID...nice, huh? ;) 

Now, remember, I'm alone at this point. I couldn't really think clearly at that point, so all I could muster was "Oh. Okay." The tech rushed out and I sat in the dimly lit room by myself for about 5 minutes. You could've told me I had been in there for hours though, and I would've believed you. The tech came in again and said she gave the report to the OB on call and just wanted to get a few more measurements. Finally, Hubby walked into the room. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see that handsome man of mine in my life. I had been texting him what was going on, but of course since I didn't quite know myself, he had a lot of questions. He and the tech began talking and she went over what she had told me before. I was crying at this point, so I'm sure Hubby's panic levels were through the roof. When the tech got to the part about baby needing to come early, he had the presence of mind to ask the question I should've asked in the first place: "How much earlier?" The answer caught us totally off guard. "Like, today." Hubby and I looked at one another, and I'm pretty sure it was a miracle that we both didn't immediately pass out.

The OB came in (one of the nicest women I've ever met!) and explained a little more about what was going on. Just like every other organ in our bodies, the placenta has a kind of shelf-life. It's meant to only be a temporary organ, and sometimes it just clocks out sooner than 40 weeks. Mine had given up the ghost at about 38 weeks and 3 days. It wasn't out of the ordinary, and it simply meant the little one was going to be meeting us sooner than we had anticipated. It hit us that Hubby and I had 2 cars here (since he came from work) and that I hadn't fully packed my hospital bag since this was simply an OB appointment. We asked if we had time to go home and prepare and the doctor let us know she was comfortable with that, but that we should really be to the hospital within an hour and half or so.

Come on in! This was "home" for the night! 

Half in shock, we left, got into our cars and drove home to grab the ipads, chargers, and take care of the dogs before we got into the car and drove back to the hospital. I was holding it together much better than I thought I would've. I kept telling Hubby I was way more nervous about the IV and epidural. We were greeted right away (they knew we were coming so they had my room set up and everything) and we got settled into the room where we would be meeting our daughter.

Our nurse was SUPER nice. She explained everything to us and gave us the best time-table she could. She mentioned that most new moms being induced took an average of 2 days to be dilated enough to begin pushing. That was not welcome news. I have never been in a hospital over night, and I was really not looking forward to this. They got my IV in (for real, that was awful. My RSD had spread into my arms and hands during pregnancy, so while IVs are never fun for anyone, it was especially difficult.)

Hubby and I just settled in and watched tv. There wasn't a ton we could do at this point except sit and wait. A steady stream of doctors, nurses and other staff came in and somewhere along the way, the cardiology department ordered telemetry (a constant heart monitor that would be watched from a different floor in the hospital.) There were bells, alarms, and all kinds of cords and monitors filling the next few hours. They began the pitocin (which I had desperately wanted to avoid...oh well) and I began having contractions, even though I couldn't feel them.

At about 11pm or so, I was starting to get uncomfortable. The contractions weren't terrible, but with each one, the RSD would get worse. It was like someone was tazing my nerves each time, and I finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and call in my request for the epidural. The anesthesia team came in, and luckily knew a lot about RSD and were quick to ask the right questions and prepare the materials for the procedure.

Soon this would be full of a baby! 

I was petrified. I knew this was going to be bad. This was probably the thing I was most scared about. I've had plenty of nerve blocks, but they are all done while I'm under anesthesia. At this point, I was shaking violently. They told me it was likely a combination of nerves, hormones and pain.

So, for anyone who's never had one of these, let me lay it out for you. Hubby was asked to put on a hair net thing and a mask and sit right in front of me. I couldn't hold his hands, all I could do was look at him. Meanwhile, they raised my hospital bed as far as it could possibly go. I had to sit up, move to the side of the bed and roll my back and try to relax my back muscles as much as possible. They scrubbed everything down and told me exactly what would happen at each step. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. First came the shot of Lidocaine. Then lots of tears. The burning in my back was intense. Next they told me that the needle with the catheter would go in. While I can imagine it would've been much worse without the Lidocaine, there's no way around it: it hurts. The "pressure" they tell you that you're going to feel is more like a damn needle going into your back. At the same time, it was like they had found a direct line to the nerves in my leg. I guess it was a good thing in a way. My left leg was hurting so bad that I couldn't spend too much time concentrating on my back. All the while Hubby looked like he was ready to jump out of his own skin. He was so clearly upset that he couldn't do anything to help. After the catheter was in and my entire back was taped up to high heaven, the lovely anesthesiologist gave me the magic button. The medicine began almost instantly and I couldn't feel any pain at all. I had definitely made the right choice to get this thing.

The last thing the doctor mentioned before the left my room was that the epidural has a kind of trickle down effect. If I had pain more on one side of my body than the other, I should lay on that side and give it a few minutes. The epidural would kind of seep into that side and I'd get more relief. Now, I didn't really think too much about it at the time, but that will play into how things go down the road...

Throughout the remainder of the evening there was a steady stream of medical professionals coming in what seemed like ever 20 minutes. My blood pressure dropped significantly, so the alarms were going off almost constantly. My heart rate jumped like crazy, so the people monitoring my heart on the 7th floor of the hospital called down to ensure someone was checking on me. It was insane. There is absolutely no such thing as a good night's sleep while in the hospital.

And so ends the night before things got crazy. Thanks for sticking with me. I'll post next about the big day...hopefully you'll join me! :)