Born: My Anti-birth Birth Story Part 2
A brief recap from where I left off: On December 21, I went into preterm labor at 26 weeks and 2 days due to a weakened cervix. IAfter putting the contractions on pause, I was whisked to the high risk ward at almost 5 cm dilated, and given several rounds of antibiotics. I was also given procardia, a blood pressure medication that has an important side effect: it prevents contractions.
After a few days in the high risk ward, they decided my blood pressure was too low to continue giving me the procardia as scheduled. I live a healthy lifestyle, and my blood pressure is naturally low. Lying in bed all day, it dropped into the double digits. My father had been visiting us to provide support. That day, his birthday, I started having labor contractions, only I didn't know what they were. They were unlike my first contractions which felt like cramps. My stomach became rock hard. When the pains came, I called for a nurse.
I began contracting every 5-7 minutes, and they immediately performed a sonogram. My baby was out of the breach position, and I was 8 cm dilated. They moved me quickly to L&D and put me on magnesium sulfate again. My OB arrived. I was 9 cm dilated. She demanded another sonogram. My son was breached again. They then moved me to another stretcher to take me back to the operating room.
For some reason, I reacted very badly to the magnesium. En route to the OR, I started having difficulty breathing. Each breath took extraordinary effort and was spaces far apart from the next. The nurses then turned off the magnesium. In the OR, they gave me a spinal tap. After a mild burning sensation, I began to go numb from my shoulders down. My arm hurt from the blood pressure cuff. "Her BP is in the 200s!"
Oxygen! Let's put her on oxygen!"
And then the vomiting. Despite being flat on my back, The stomach-emptying effect of magnesium sulfate presented itself. Flat on my back, unable to turn. My body slowly pushed my half-digested dinner up my throat. Nurses collected it in a bag and wiped my mouth. I made gurgling soundsbecause it was was the only way I could cry. "I know, I know," they spoke soorhingly. "It's just the magnesium. It will be all right."
Once I was prepped, they called my husband in.he was seated by my shoulder. I felt no pain, only a deep kneading and intermittent pulling. Then, "A foot!" My husband tried to crane his head around to watch the birth of his son. "No!" I told him forcibly. "You don't want to look behind the curtain. I am cut wide open. You won't like what you see." Then the nurse exclaimed again, "I see boy parts!" My husband tried to crane his head again and I told him not to again. "You won't forget what you will see and I do not want you to see me cut open like that."
They carried off my son to the other side of the room to wrap him up and weigh him. I heard a cry, and I started sobbing. I had prepared myself that I would not hear it, that he may need resuscitation. That sound is still the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. They carried him over to me. He was so tiny. They took the picture and then took my husband to sign consent forms. My husband accompanied him to the NICU while I was stitched up.
Gabriel was born at 2.8 pounds, 14.5 inches and breathing on his own. His APGAR score was 8.8. He has bruising on his legs because he tried to shift out of the breached position and it took a lot of extra work to get him out. He has good days with a few bad moments, but is very healthy and even advanced for his age.
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