The contractions started coming quickly and I knew I would soon deliver this tiny baby. My husband was sleeping on the pull-out chair in the corner and a nurse was periodically checking on me. Once it became clear that things were truly happening, the nurse asked about an epidural. I told her it had been in my original birth plan but I was expecting a full-term baby so no longer knew what I wanted. She told me she would call the anesthesiologist for a consult as it would take some time for him to arrive anyway. Instead he came almost immediately and told me to sit up and get into position for the epidural. I was still confused but did as he suggested. It seemed to take forever and the only words that were muttered was whether I had a spinal curvature as he was struggling to get it in. I had never been told I had one...
Once the epidural was in I just lay there and waited. Time passed and I went from closing my eyes to staring at the ceiling to chatting with the nurses. My husband was standing next to me early on but I sent him back to get some rest as there was nothing he could do, and nothing really happening, at least that I could feel. When I was next checked I was 8 cm. dilated and things started to move. I was introduced to a number of different professionals that would be looking after the baby once he arrived, but they all just blended together to me. Once I was fully dilated I was told to start pushing. The problem was, I literally couldn't feel anything so had no urge to push. My husband was back beside me, and two nurses were trying to help me push things along. The OB came in to check on the progress regularly but I wasn't getting very far with the pushing, as hard as I was trying to figure out how to do it with no feeling. The first OB's night shift ended early the next morning and I was introduced to the next OB. She in turn introduced me to the resident that was with her. The OB quickly lessened the epidural and increased the oxytocin so I could start feeling the pressure. I still did not have an urge to push but the contractions became almost unbearable. It took four hours of pushing before the little boy finally popped out.
I was worried that he would fit in the palm of my hand but he actually looked like a normal baby, just mini size. I only got to see him for a second before they whisked him over to have him checked out prior to taking him to the NICU. I didn't know or understand anything that was going on, but I did hear him cry so I knew he was at least alive...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Labour Begins
I was going to be very prepared for the labour and delivery of my first child. I was planning to take a month off of work prior to the due date and during that time I would get the nursery set-up, prepare my bags for the hospital, and read everything I could about how to be a parent. Never would I have guessed that prior to my prenatal classes even being done, I would be in the position that I was.
As I'm sure is the case with everyone, you can't imagine what delivering a baby is going to be like. I didn't know if I would scream, pass out, cry, or be relatively okay during the process. I was pretty sure I would get an epidural but even that was thrown out the window knowing my baby was going to be much smaller than I had expected. I had so many questions but did not know what or who to ask. As I lay on a hospital bed in an unfamiliar city wearing nothing but a pale blue gown, I felt completely unprepared.
As I'm sure is the case with everyone, you can't imagine what delivering a baby is going to be like. I didn't know if I would scream, pass out, cry, or be relatively okay during the process. I was pretty sure I would get an epidural but even that was thrown out the window knowing my baby was going to be much smaller than I had expected. I had so many questions but did not know what or who to ask. As I lay on a hospital bed in an unfamiliar city wearing nothing but a pale blue gown, I felt completely unprepared.
Friday, October 29, 2010
And so the premature journey began...
I wasn't even 31 weeks and my water broke.
That afternoon, prior to leaving for a scheduled doctor's appointment, I had thrown a load of laundry in the wash, grabbed a granola bar for the road, and kissed my dog on her head, reassuring her that I would soon be back. I jumped in my car and zipped to the office, only a few minutes away. Everything was going great with the pregnancy, especially after a nauseous first trimester. However, there had been some mild bleeding over the weekend that I asked the doctor to take a look at.
Midway through the exam, the doctor raised her head and looked at me strangely. As she got up and looked at some sort of strip, she asked if I had just felt a gush of fluid. I hadn't, but was suddenly very scared as the doctor started to look worried. She told me my water may have broke and asked that I return to the waiting room while she contacted the OB-GYN on-call.
I sat in the waiting room amongst a number of young families. A small boy sat next to me and was trying desperately to get my attention but I could not bring myself to look at him. I had been expecting a boy. I had no idea what it meant if my water had broke, it wasn't covered in my prenatal class. Do I lose the baby? Does the baby end up with severe disabilities? Are they able to stop the delivery process? I sat and waited and could see the doctor at the end of the hall talking on the phone. She then called me up to the desk and told me to go to the hospital in order to have everything checked. Since I had leaked fluid earlier they were optimistic that everything would be okay and the pregnancy would carry on as it was. So I drove myself to the hospital. I wasn't able to reach any of my family so somehow I managed to drive there, find a parking spot, get through admissions, and make it to the maternity ward amidst a stream of tears.
The ward nurses told me they didn't know I was coming in. So one of them reluctantly took me to a 3-bed room and had me sit next to a bed. I have no memory of how long I sat there but eventually a resident came by to tell me the doctor would eventually be by as well. I was then hooked up on some machines. The OB came at some point and casually checked to see what was going on. He then looked at me with similar eyes to the doctor a couple of hours earlier and told me they would check but it looked very possible that my water had actually broke.
The next several hours are a blur. At some point my dad, my husband, my mom, and my brother came. We were told my water had broke and I would be transferred by air ambulance to another hospital that were able to take pre-32 week babies. I had a steroid injection to open up my babies lungs in case I did go into early labour, and was hooked up on an IV to prevent against infection. My dad took my husband to get some clothes, take back the car, and get the dog. And then my husband and I left by ambulance and drove and flew 3-4 hours to get to another hospital.
We arrived at about midnight and the nurse put her hand on my stomach. She asked if I could feel the contractions, which of course I could, but I said I couldn't. I was not ready to deliver my little baby and all I wanted to do was sleep.
That afternoon, prior to leaving for a scheduled doctor's appointment, I had thrown a load of laundry in the wash, grabbed a granola bar for the road, and kissed my dog on her head, reassuring her that I would soon be back. I jumped in my car and zipped to the office, only a few minutes away. Everything was going great with the pregnancy, especially after a nauseous first trimester. However, there had been some mild bleeding over the weekend that I asked the doctor to take a look at.
Midway through the exam, the doctor raised her head and looked at me strangely. As she got up and looked at some sort of strip, she asked if I had just felt a gush of fluid. I hadn't, but was suddenly very scared as the doctor started to look worried. She told me my water may have broke and asked that I return to the waiting room while she contacted the OB-GYN on-call.
I sat in the waiting room amongst a number of young families. A small boy sat next to me and was trying desperately to get my attention but I could not bring myself to look at him. I had been expecting a boy. I had no idea what it meant if my water had broke, it wasn't covered in my prenatal class. Do I lose the baby? Does the baby end up with severe disabilities? Are they able to stop the delivery process? I sat and waited and could see the doctor at the end of the hall talking on the phone. She then called me up to the desk and told me to go to the hospital in order to have everything checked. Since I had leaked fluid earlier they were optimistic that everything would be okay and the pregnancy would carry on as it was. So I drove myself to the hospital. I wasn't able to reach any of my family so somehow I managed to drive there, find a parking spot, get through admissions, and make it to the maternity ward amidst a stream of tears.
The ward nurses told me they didn't know I was coming in. So one of them reluctantly took me to a 3-bed room and had me sit next to a bed. I have no memory of how long I sat there but eventually a resident came by to tell me the doctor would eventually be by as well. I was then hooked up on some machines. The OB came at some point and casually checked to see what was going on. He then looked at me with similar eyes to the doctor a couple of hours earlier and told me they would check but it looked very possible that my water had actually broke.
The next several hours are a blur. At some point my dad, my husband, my mom, and my brother came. We were told my water had broke and I would be transferred by air ambulance to another hospital that were able to take pre-32 week babies. I had a steroid injection to open up my babies lungs in case I did go into early labour, and was hooked up on an IV to prevent against infection. My dad took my husband to get some clothes, take back the car, and get the dog. And then my husband and I left by ambulance and drove and flew 3-4 hours to get to another hospital.
We arrived at about midnight and the nurse put her hand on my stomach. She asked if I could feel the contractions, which of course I could, but I said I couldn't. I was not ready to deliver my little baby and all I wanted to do was sleep.
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