EDD: 6/6/19

Wednesday, June 12, 2019 (40 weeks 6 days) I was awoken at 2:30am with contractions. I laid awake timing them. They were too painful to sleep anyways, nothing consistent. About 6:00am I was finally able to doze off and slept til 8:00am. I got up and got ready for the day still having contractions, still nothing consistent time wise. They varied between 5 and 20 minutes apart. I tried to call my doctor’s office three times between 11:00am and 12:00pm but never could get through. They close for lunch from 12:00pm-1:00pm so I decided to try for a nap and I’d call again later. I woke up from my nap around 2:30pm and called again. The nurse was in a meeting but I told them what was going on and they spoke to the Physician’s Assistant and she suggested that I go to the hospital to get checked since I live an hour away. So my hubby and I finished up some stuff around the house and got Our 5 year old ready to go to A friend’s house. Got Her dropped off and started making our way to The hospital. We got to the hospital and checked into triage about 4:15pm. They got me hooked up. Contractions were 4 minutes apart and painful. I was 2-3cm dilated 70% effaced and she could feel the baby’s head. Normally they would watch me an hour or two and see if I’m progressing and if not send me home. The nurse said since I would be 41 weeks at midnight and they can’t anyone home that far along, they’d keep me no matter what. There were no rooms available so we were waiting in triage. My goal was to attempt a VBAC. They don’t give epidurals til you’re at least 4cm. So I was talking to the nurse as she’s getting things ready to move me to Labor and Delivery. She said based on her experience, my contractions, and where I’m at, I probably wouldn’t have the baby til Friday. Ummm... excuse me?!? That’s unacceptable. ha So I asked if I decided I wanted a repeat C-Section, could I do that. She said of course. I asked when I could have it. She said tonight. Well alright, let’s do that. So they switched gears to get me ready for a repeat C-Section after the 7:00pm shift change. They prep me ready. They get Miguel ready. 7:48pm they walk us back to the OR. They put my hubby in a waiting area so they can get me ready. They walk me into the OR and put me in a position to do the spinal. The anesthesiologist thought he had it, laid me down. Nope. I could feel everything. They put me back in the position and he tried again. Then he tried an epidural. Nothing. He went and got a colleague to try. The new anesthesiologist tried a spinal and an epidural. Nothing. They brought in a third anesthesiologist. He tried a spinal. Nothing. They had all been working on me for about an hour. (Sorry all the momma’s waiting for their epidural, I had all the anesthesiologists) So my original anesthesiologist said my only option is to be put to sleep. Okay, since I don’t have a choice. Your husband can’t be in here. WHAT?!? What about pictures and seeing the birth? The pediatric nurse volunteered to take pictures for me but my hubby could not be in there. They asked me if I wanted to see him before going under. I said No because I didn’t want to cry. They start getting me and everything ready for the surgery. The doctor starts marking lines. The anesthesiologist laid an oxygen mask loosely on my face to get more air in my lungs. Then someone else steps up and holds it my face. I’m very claustrophobic and I said I can’t breathe and I think I went to pull the mask off. I felt like I was suffocating. That’s the last thing I remember. I was out. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery with this baby next to me, my husband, nurse, and anesthesiologist. The first thing I said was “I’m in so much pain! And my throat hurts” over and over. I couldn’t open my eyes. I was so tired and in so much pain. They got my IV hooked up to pain meds and I was waiting for them to start working. In recovery the nurse told my husband that being in pain was the first thing I said in the OR when they brought me back. I remember none of that. After my time in recovery, we were wheeled to our room. This is all a bit fuzzy. I know I slept a lot. I had a bad headache. The next morning, Thursday, June 13th, when the daytime nurse came to check me, I told her I felt fine except for the bad headache and I kept throwing up. She sent an anesthesiologist into my room to talk to me about a spinal headache. Then she left and another anesthesiologist came to talk to me about it and give me some options of an epidural blood patch or I could try and let it go away on its own and lay flat on my back and drink caffeine. Okay. Well let’s try caffeine and letting it go away on its own. So enjoying my new baby was extremely difficult with this migraine type headache and my pain was at an 11. Got some rest that night. Woke up, Friday, June 14th, feeling tons better. Got all my tubes out, my IV out, my headache was very dull. OB number one thinks I can be discharged. OB number 2 thinks I can be discharged. Woohoo. Pending baby’s tests maybe we can go home early. I finally get to shower. Best shower ever. However, after my shower my massive migraine started coming back with a vengeance. I tell my nurse. Thankfully Baby isn’t released to be discharged because they want her to finish her blood sugar checks since she weighed so much at birth. They bring in another anesthesiologist to speak to me. He gave me the same options except he said if I want the procedure a radiologist needs to do it with the help of an x-ray not an anesthesiologist. Okay. I’ll wait and see if it goes away on its own. I learned quickly how to care for a newborn laying on my back so my headache would stay away. I suffered through the headache all Friday and Friday night. Saturday, June 15th, I again tell my nurse about my headache and that I want to speak to the radiologist because this headache is incapacitating me and I’m glad I didn’t get discharged early. Baby got her hearing test and they were finally able to get an intervention radiologist and get my procedure of an epidural blood patch set up. I can have the procedure, go through recovery and still get discharged. The epidural spinal patch procedure wasn’t bad. Went well. We are finally discharged to head home. My hubby was the best husband ever taking care of me and baby. The procedure worked immediately and was the best decision.

It’s a good thing I opted for a c-section at the last minute because 1) she was 9 pounds 2) she pooped in the womb and would have ingested it by Friday. 3) she rolled over and was sunny side up.