my super rare birth story!
So, my birth story is certainly not what I'd expected in the least, but it's what I got, so I may as well share it!
For starters, I was due the 14th of November, and my stubborn little girl decided she was going to hang on inside. I was eventually scheduled for induction for the 21st unless things changed. I had been sitting at a 1 with the ability to stretch to two since 37 weeks. I tried every safe self induction technique, all of which failed to do anything. I was a day away from my induction date, and figured that's just how it was going to go...my hubby and I stayed up late till about 1:30,had sex, and enjoyed some time together on our last alone day.i woke up needing to pee at about 3:40, and hand a hard time getting out of bed. I stood up and a gush of liquid came out! I stood there in awe for a minute, then went to the bathroom to clean up. It kept leaking more and more, and wasn't completely clear🤔 I woke my husband up, and grabbed my phone to call l&d. Since it wasn't clear, and I wasn't feeling baby, they told me to come right in. Not what I was planning since I wasn't even contracting yet, but better safe than sorry. I got there and they confirmed it was my water, and that it had merconium in it...uh oh. They admitted me, and decided they would not check till absolutely necessary. Contractions started almost immediately without pitocin (I wanted to wait to start pitocin till my mom had made the drive over if possible). I was starving, so they let me have a small meal, and then wanted to start pitocin so I could hurry along and avoid infection. I labored completely in my back for hours and hours, and was in so much pain, hadn't slept, and hadn't eaten...I finally asked about the epidural (which had been my plan all along), and they said they would be happy to start it. I had been contracting for about 8 hours at about 3-6 minutes apart. Unfortunately the contractions were not regular, and I would have three back to back to back, each lasting 2 minutes, then not again for 4 minutes. This signaled baby was posterior😣 The anesthesia team got in quickly, and started everything up. I was doing fine, then out of nowhere I got super light headed, my body dropped really low, and my eyeballs were rolling back. This was all before meds were even administered. They got it under control, and put the medicine in. I instantly felt it on my right side, and eventually started moving to my left. I asked if it was normal to be numb in my right arm, and they figured it was asleep from the bp cuff and laying on it weird. Then it started getting worse, and my eye started swelling and dropping. Within. Minutes I had at least 5 docs in the room, and hey were paging neuro....the only things it pointed to were stroke and Bell's palsy which was terrifying. Then, my ob remembered an extremely rare but harmless reaction she had seen once ever, mind you this is at university of Michigan hospital, so huge... (and none of the nurses or other doctors or my mom who also works at a huge hospital and had never seen it)... it turns out that between the training person that administered the epi, and my anatomy, the medicine started traveling up instead of down causing limpness, trouble speaking, and uneven pupils. There were only 7 case studies to reference, and luckily that's what it was-Horner's syndrome. They took the epi out, and everything started coming back to normal...including contractions. They started spacing out, and I was making no progress at all...they suggested trying the epi again so I could get some rest since I was going on 19 hours, and would likely need much more. I decided to try it (there was absolutely NO distress for baby the whole time, and no harm in trying again for either of us...just the risk that it wouldn't work). Head of anesthesia did it this time, and it actually worked! I fell asleep and George painlessly laboring;) I finally started making progress, and was at a 5. Baby still wouldn't drop past -1 though. I got checked again several hours later and was at an 8, then at a 9, and then it stopped progressing. As we came up on 36 hours since membrane rupture and about 4 hours stuck at 9, they came in and said they strongly suggest c-section due to baby not dropping, me not progressing, and baby starting to show distress. I agreed, and just before leaving to the or realized my epidural plug came unscrewed. It had apparently been it for awhile, and no one knew what it came in contact with, so they insisted on replacing it...a third time! I was still numb and trying to sit still for an epi and struggling, but luckily it went smoothly. My hubby was by my side the whole time, so that was very helpful. I didn't get skin to skin immediately because I was profusely shaking from the meds, but hubby held her all the way up to me so I could see and feel her without holding/dropping her.
It was the most bizarre, unexpected, painful experience in the world, and yet it's ALL worth it the second I got to hold my precious baby girl! Thanks for reading this crazy long story!
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