Well the time between Feb 14th and 18th seemed to drag on forever. As I mentioned previously, everyone expected me to be back in the hospital sometime on Monday, Feb 14th. Over the next few days, I wasn't in the mood for much of anything. My mom was due to fly in at the end of the week to help and Ryan was leaving in 10 days and there was still no baby. With each random contraction, I was praying for labor to start. His eviction notice was set for Wednesday, Feb 16th, but since I had waited this long I thought I would give him one more chance to come on his own terms. I changed my inducement date from Wednesday to Friday which was 42 weeks and the end of the road. Finally on Thursday afternoon as I was wrapping up a few things at work, I started having contractions about 7 minutes apart. By 7pm they were four minutes apart and we called in the neighbors again, so that we could head to the hospital. Since I still feeling pretty good and didn't feel like being hooked up to monitoring machines yet, we hung out in the waiting room watching Discovery channel until 10pm before officially checking in. I was at 6cm and contractions were 3 minutes apart. I got a great doctor who was willing to let me labor with minimal medical intervention, she just wanted to monitor me and the baby for 20 minutes before letting me wander the halls. 
However, right at the end of that 20 minutes things start to look bad. The next 20 minutes were a blur! (Ryan can provide medical terminology.) The baby's heart rate started to drop after contractions, a sign of stress. They had me change positions and gave me oxygen but that didn't help. Since, I was now at 9cm, they broke my water to see they they could speed up my labor and get the baby out. The baby had pooped in the water, another sign of stress. My contractions were becoming more intense. I had a six minute long contraction, which the baby did not tolerate well. They gave me medicine to halt my contractions but it didn't make a difference, so they took me to the operating room to perform a c-section. I was pretty worried and in a lot of pain at this point. There were so many doctors and nurses, Ryan couldn't be at my side. In the operating room, the baby's heart rate improved briefly, and the doctors seemed to stand around forever deciding what to do. Mind you, I didn't have an epidural or any other pain meds. Previously, all my pain was in my back, but it had now moved to my front. I told them I needed to push. They said don't! I was 10cm, but baby's head and shoulders were still not rotated into the normal position, he was still having heart rate issues and drinking poopy fluid, and with continuous lower abdominal pain they were really worried that my uterus was starting to tear. Ryan was kicked out the operating room and they put me under general anesthesia, and within 4 minutes Gabriel Victor Knight was born at 12:02am, 18 February 2011. He weighed 7lbs 7ozs and was 21 inches.
I woke up awhile later in a lot of pain but with all my organs intact. However, my baby was in the NICU for not looking or breathing so well at birth. Ryan had a chance to be with him and take some pictures, but I didn't get to see him until about 12 hours later when I could get up and move. I couldn't allowed to hold him the first time I visited, which was probably best, because I was still very groggy and could barely keep my eyes open. It took everything out of me just to walk down the hall and back.
I was a surreal experience not to have my baby with me from the start. The NICU would call me and I would walk down the hall to feed him. Thank goodness, Gabriel's NICU stay only lasted 36 hours and then he was allowed to room with me. From there things started to get better.
However, right at the end of that 20 minutes things start to look bad. The next 20 minutes were a blur! (Ryan can provide medical terminology.) The baby's heart rate started to drop after contractions, a sign of stress. They had me change positions and gave me oxygen but that didn't help. Since, I was now at 9cm, they broke my water to see they they could speed up my labor and get the baby out. The baby had pooped in the water, another sign of stress. My contractions were becoming more intense. I had a six minute long contraction, which the baby did not tolerate well. They gave me medicine to halt my contractions but it didn't make a difference, so they took me to the operating room to perform a c-section. I was pretty worried and in a lot of pain at this point. There were so many doctors and nurses, Ryan couldn't be at my side. In the operating room, the baby's heart rate improved briefly, and the doctors seemed to stand around forever deciding what to do. Mind you, I didn't have an epidural or any other pain meds. Previously, all my pain was in my back, but it had now moved to my front. I told them I needed to push. They said don't! I was 10cm, but baby's head and shoulders were still not rotated into the normal position, he was still having heart rate issues and drinking poopy fluid, and with continuous lower abdominal pain they were really worried that my uterus was starting to tear. Ryan was kicked out the operating room and they put me under general anesthesia, and within 4 minutes Gabriel Victor Knight was born at 12:02am, 18 February 2011. He weighed 7lbs 7ozs and was 21 inches.
I woke up awhile later in a lot of pain but with all my organs intact. However, my baby was in the NICU for not looking or breathing so well at birth. Ryan had a chance to be with him and take some pictures, but I didn't get to see him until about 12 hours later when I could get up and move. I couldn't allowed to hold him the first time I visited, which was probably best, because I was still very groggy and could barely keep my eyes open. It took everything out of me just to walk down the hall and back. 
I was a surreal experience not to have my baby with me from the start. The NICU would call me and I would walk down the hall to feed him. Thank goodness, Gabriel's NICU stay only lasted 36 hours and then he was allowed to room with me. From there things started to get better.
1 comment:
Wow! What a scary experience that must have been. We are all so relieved that you and Gabriel are okay. And he sure is a cutie!
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