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Warren Peace Born 6/23/18

Mariah • Tue, Jul 17

I’m finally posting our birth story, it’s long and in depth so enjoy. Pictures and descriptions at the end.

On 6/23/18 I woke up at 3:20 a.m. thinking I had to pee. Because of previous pregnancies I was sleeping with a pillow between my legs in case my water broke (better the pillow than my bed). I noticed the pillow was a bit damp but it was a warm night so I just assumed I’d been sweating and set it aside. I got up and went to the bathroom but felt off when I returned to bed so I decided to stay up for about 20 more minutes just in case. As I turned over to get comfortable I feel a huge pop and immediately I grabbed my crotch and ran to the bathroom hoping not to make a huge mess (so much for the pillow). Sure enough my water had broken and it was pouring all over my floor in my bathroom. I yelled at my husband to wake up so we could get ready to go, he brought me my phone and a pull up (regular pass do not hold enough for broken water) so I could get dressed and call the babysitter. I hadn’t gotten the results of my GBS test yet so I knew we needed to head in immediately just in case I needed antibiotics. As soon as the babysitter arrived we left for the hospital (who I had already called to let them know I was on my way and that I would need to be admitted so they could pull up my chart). We already had everything in the car (thank god) all I had to do was install Warren’s car seat.

Upon arriving at the hospital I had to sign a couple things and they brought me a wheelchair as the pressure was already getting to me and walking was difficult. I get to the Family Birthing Unit and sure enough they confirm my water had broke. They got me hooked up to the monitors, sent off for labs, and called my doctor. Around 7:30 a.m. my doctor shows up, and I haven’t been contracting, at all, so with that, my water being broke, my medical history, and the fact that I went into labor on her ONLY day off in months (imagine that) she asked me if I was okay with her inducing me to make sure she could be the one to deliver me. I said yes, so she got me set up and called the anesthesiologist to come do my epidural (as I had already voiced that I had no intention of going aû natural lol).

They get the Pitocin started (and subsequently cranked it up every time they could, I was at 4 to begin with and 16 when I started pushing 🤣) and the anesthesiologist comes in, his name was Scott and he was amazing. They put my epidural in and away we went. I started contracting regularly, dilated quickly, but Warren stayed high. They figured out that I had two bags of water so went ahead and popped the second one and then I was at 9 cm. At 9 he was still not engaged but I could feel the pressure. My doctor checked me and I told her I thought if I pushed I could get him to engage if she was okay with me trying. She was, I pushed, and he crowned. They broke down everything quickly and turned off my epidural. In 3 minutes from him crowning, 6 pushes and 2 contractions later he was born (9:29 a.m.). My perfect little boy was finally here (and no cone head because he spent so little time in the birth canal).

Now the scary part. As soon as he was born my husband turned white, he cut the cord and I could tell something was wrong but I was trying not to look or worry about anything other than Warren. They tried to deliver my placenta for over 30 minutes and my epidural was wearing off fast, but I was hemorrhaging and the placenta refused to budge. My doctor eventually made the call to manually remove it before any more damage was done, but that was an ordeal in and of itself. I handed my son to my husband, I knew something was wrong and I wanted my husband distracted with our son not freaking out about me. I was hemorrhaging fast and my doctor had to reach inside my uterus to manually remove the placenta from my uterus. The pain was worse than labor has ever been, it felt like she was ripping out my insides, and by now the epidural was mostly worn off (I had lost so much blood at this point that the drugs were already almost completely out of my system) so I could feel every movement she made. When she finally got it out she looked at me, arm covered in blood from fingertips to shoulder and told me something was severely wrong with my placenta and that she needed to send it off immediately.

Luckily, my doctor is amazingly thorough and got all of it. The manipulation of my uterus helped it contract more and the bleeding slowed to a dull creek instead of a raging riverbed. They gave me back my son and he immediately latched onto the boob. We stayed in the hospital for 3 days since I needed antibiotics and Warren was still technically a preemie (born at 36 weeks 1 day). I had to cave and do pain management but everything worked out and we were released. He’s now 23 days old and was back to his birth weight before 2 weeks.

Even though I received antibiotics in the hospital I ended up with an infection in my Uterus that I’m still fighting. It really is no joke so if any of you ladies feel off after having your babies call your obgyn.

All in all the hospital did amazing with us, but my doctor and I know how close I came to not being around anymore. No one can argue with the fact that having another child would probably kill me so I will be getting sterilized as soon as I heal. Until then, no hanky panky unfortunately.

Warren is doing well and the other two children are warming up to him. He eats and sleeps well and is a relatively chill kid only crying for diaper changes and boobs. We’ve been fishing and lounging since he’s been born and he’s been amazing.