The birth of Brock (VERY LONG)
I've edited my original post to add my post labour complication as I was completly unaware that this could be related to labour. But as one of my friends from belly belly has also had the same thing happen to her, I thought it worth while telling so thers can be aware that it CAN hapen.
LABOUR
As many of you would know I was scheduled to work right up to two days before my due date. I ended up telling my supervisor that I was going to take Friday off sick. That having been said I forgot to clean my personal stuff out of my desk on Thursday so I ended up going into work about 11 on Friday, July 2nd. I'd felt a bit 'odd' all that morning but didn't really think anything of it. I kept having to go to the toilet as I felt wet, but was sure I wasn't peeing myself. That having been said I kept telling myself it was just some extra mucous down there and not my waters.
Had a good chat and laugh with everyone at work, then went to my last hypno-birthing class. It was a private one that I had sceduled for just before the birth. At the end of the session the Doctor (who use to be a practicing obstetrition) looked at me and said that she'd not be surprised if it was only hours not days till I went into labour. This was at about 3:30. I headed home, but stopped to get some groceries on the way. Then stopped at the feed store and got some horse, pig and bird feed, then proceeded home. It wasn't until I was at the feed store and felt myself leaking almost the entire time I was there that it clicked in my head that my waters might be leaking (probably about 4:30). Got home, DH was there, called him into the bedroom as I didn't want my mum to hear and told him that I thought my waters were leaking and that we should call the hospital after we go out and feed up the animals (still didn't really click in my head that I was in labour, despite the leaking water and contractions, that I now realise I had been having for most of the day. Thankfully DH had his head screwed on straight and said NO to going out and feeding up the animals and made me call the hospital. They of course told me to come straight in, wear a pad, and bring my bag as it was likely I'd be staying overnight in the hospital. So I went and fed the dogs and then told mum that I was going into hospital as I was pretty sure my waters were leaking. Then proceeded to tell her how to take care of all my animals while I was in hospital for the next 30 mintues while both she and DH were trying to shoo me out the door.
DH finally gets me out of the house and to his horror I insisted on driving to the hospital. So he very anxiously got in the passenger seat and watched me like a hawk while I drove first to the petrol station to fill the vehicle up with fuel, then to an ATM to get some cash (after all you never know what you might need cash for whilst in labour :doh: ) and then FINALLy to the hospital. We got there at about 6ish.
We were taken straight into an exam room. Nice MW 1 gave me an internal. It wasn't pleasant, but it didn't particularly hurt. Said I was only 1cm dialated, but because my waters were leaking I had to stay overnight and if my contractions didn't rev up by the morning the doctor would break my waters (at this point they assumed it was my hind waters leaking) and we'd go from there. So off to another room I went. DH was told that he could go home if he wanted and to be back by 6 as the doctor would be there between 6:30 and 7 to kick things off. Got fed some tea, then they brought me some panadeine forte and sleeping tablets. Thankfully DH asked what they were as I'm allergic to codeine :o so the panadeine forte were taken away and replaced with just regular panadol. I was told to take the sleeping tablets as they'd most likely slow the contractions down and let me get some rest. Me being the stubborn person that I am, didn't like the idea of my 'contractions being slowed down' I wanted my baby to come sooner rather then later, so I didn't take the sleeping tablets. DH decided to time my contractions for me before he made a decision on whether he was going home or not. I later dubbed them my regular, irregular contractions. They were mostly 5 minutes apart and would last about 45 seconds. Then they'd get closer together until they'd be about 2 minutes apart for 5 or so contractions, they they'd ease off to about 10 minutes apart for one or two then be back to five minutes again for about an hour. Then they whole shorter longer cycle would start again. DH decided that he'd rather stay the night with me, so he grabbed and extra pillow and slept on the floor, as I dozed on and off every 15 minutes or so until morning.
5:50 am July 3rd and mean MW 1 came to get me. Took me into the birthing suit and proceeded to check where baby's head was. She jammed her fingers into my abdomen so hard I thought they were going to come out the other side. DH said my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. That was BY FAR more painful then any contraction I'd had to that point. When I asked her to be more careful she came back with "obviously if you think that hurts you're not going to deal to well with labour. You should have thought about the pain before you got pregnant" :WTF: I was about to give her a good old piece of my mind but she was saved by my doctor coming in. I'd only ever seen him during the week in his work wear. Being the weekend he was casual and I remember thinking WOW what a body! Talk about muscles! DH even commented on his arm mucles after he left (After the birth the midwife told us that he does body builing and some competitions) He went in to break my waters only to find that there were no membranes there at all for him to break. It was my forewaters that had been leaking but the babies head was so far into my pelvis that they didn't do the typical forewater 'gush'. Having discovered that he said I'd need to go on a drip as the contractions had to come more regular as my body didn't appear that it was going to give me regular contractions on it's own. I was also told I'd need an antibiotica as my waters head been leaking for over 12 hours at this point and I was in risk of getting an infection. So IV went in, was hooked up to the drip and then things REALLY kicked off! Almost straight away my contractions went from annoying and every five minutes to 3-4, 60 seconds long in 10 minutes and PAINFUL! Then mean MW 1 told me because I was on a drip that I needed constant monitoring and I wasn't able to get off the bed. So I spent the next hour writing in pain on the bed trying desperately and unsuccessfully to find some position which was more bearable. Then nice MW 2 came in. Bless her. She was coming in to give the other MW a chance to have a break. She was so lovely. As soon as Mean MW 1 left she asked me why I was on the bed. I told her I had been told I couldn't get off. She said nonesense. I couldn't go far from the bed while hooked up but I could go anywhere the cords would reach. I jumped off that bed so quickly I nearly fell off. What a relief. I never imagined that just standing up could make such a difference. DH brought me over a birthing ball and there I bounced for I don't know how long. I begged nice MW 1 to stay, to not let the other MW back in the room. She ducked out for about 5 minutes then came back and said she'd be with me for the rest of my labour (little did any of us know how long I'd be in there at that point.
At about 11 Mean MW 2 came in. Told me I needed to get back on the bed so they could do an internal and assess my progress. I asked her if I could wait till after my next contraction which I knew was only a few seconds away and she got really nasty with me "They'll always be another contraction. Stop wasting my time and GET ON THE BED NOW!" DH, Have I mentioned how fabulous he was through this whole thing? Took acception to they way she spoke to me and not so kindly told her not to speak to his wife that way and to get out of my room and not come back. Nice MW 2 did my internal. only 3cm dialated. That's when I started to vomit. Then she disappeared again and came back with a portable monitor. No one told me they had portable ones! She strapped it on me and told me to get in the shower. I don't know how long I was in there for. Leaning on DH through the contractions with him encouraging me the entire time. Telling me how good I was doing and that it was nearly done, then getting me a drink between them or a jellybean. I honestly don't think I could have done it without him. At about noon the pain started to get too much and I asked for the gas. Sucked on that through each contraction until nearly 2. Then nice MW2 asked if she could do another internal as her shift was nearly up and she wanted to know how far along I was because she'd stay past her shift with me if I was nearly there. Her face just dropped when she felt my cervix. I was only 3-4 cm dialated. I'd hardly progressed at all. She called the doctor and he said to give me another dose of antibiotics and that he'd be in at 4 to assess me but it sounded like I might need a c-section. My heart just fell. The one thing I was more terrified of then anything else was needing a c-section. DH told me to ignore them all, that I was doing fine and I was strong and he had faith that I coudl deliver our baby. I was so tired. I asked for them to call in an anesthatist that I wanted an epidural. He got there almost immediately and ended up giving me a partial epi. They turned the drip off before he got there but my body must have kicked in by that stage because the contractions didn't ease off at all. It was excruciating curling up for him and not moving through the contractions while he put the epi in. But when it was in. What releif! All the contraction pain was gone from my right side and I could only feel a bit of pain on my left. Could still move both my legs.
Shift change happened about that time and I was so relieved to find that nice MW1 from the night before was taking over from nice MW2. Then within about 15 minutes of the epi I got an uncontrolable urge to push. Nice MW 1 did an internal and I was 7-8cm dialated :o I went from 3-4 to 7-8 in literally about 30 minutes. But she told me I couldn't push that I wasn't dialated enough. THAT was when the REAL pain started. I thought the contractions before were bad but the pain of NOT pushing when my entire body was telling/making me push was excruciating. I can't even imagine what it would have been like without the partial epi. The urge to push but not being able to went on for over an hour. With each contractons the urge to push got more and I started talking/yelling to myself, "Don't push don't push, please don't push no no no I can't push yet" Sometimes it would work, other times I just couldn't help it, the urge to push I just couldn't overcome it and I'd push and babies heart rate would drop. Nice MW 1 did another internal and I was 9cm dialated. But she said my cervix was caught between my pelvic bone and the babies head and that she needed to push it back or the baby wouldn't be able to make it out. SO on the next contraction she pushed the babies head back and used her fingers to push my cervix back out of the way. Then she told me to push. I pushed and pushed but the baby didn't move. That's when the doctor came in. They did an ultrasound all my amniotic fluid was gone it had leaked out through the course of my labour I had no waters left. I heard them talking c-section again. Something about it being nearly impossible to vaginally birth dry. I begged the doctor to give me a chance to birth my baby vaginally. I started to cry That's when DH started to get emotional for me because he knew how petrified I was of having a c-section. The doctor said to have any chance at all of delivering my baby vaginally that he'd need to use a vaccuum and that I only had one chance, as in one contraction to get him moving because his heart rate was dropping (I looked at it was only 67). I told him I could do it, to just give me a chance. So he got the vaccuum. Put some local anasthetic in, attached it to babies head and waited for the next contraction. When it came he told me to push. I don't think I've ever concentrated on doing something so much in my life. I pushed as hard as I could. I told myself I wasn't going to stop pushing till I felt my baby move and I didn't care if I passed out trying. Nice MW 1 was telling me to take a breath and start pushing again, but I was scared that if I stopped pushing that the baby would slip back in because I'd felt him start to move. I was also watching the Doctor pull. I didn't realise they pulled that hard for a vaccuum extraction, I didn't realise the thin little connection between the cap and the handle could take that much pressure. Every muscle in the doctors arms were bulging with his veins sticking up. DH said the doctor was pulling so hard he was worried that he'd pop the babies head of :lol: I thought I'm going to push for as long as he's pulling. Then I felt the burning as his head started to crown. I remember seeing the surprised look from both the doctor and the midwife as they saw his head start to come out. Then my contraction stopped. I remember wondering if he was out far enough. Or if the doctor would push me back in and take me to the operating theatre for a cesar. I was thinking surely he won't push him back. Then the doctor was talking to me. He said I was going to tear and probably badly. But if he gave me an episiotomy he could direct where the tearing would happen so it woudl avoid my anus. I remember asking him if he was going to push the baby back and take me in for a cesar. He said no, that I'd done amasing and that the baby was coming out but I needed to tell him if it was ok to to an episiotomy. I said he could do anyting he wanted to me so long as my baby came out safe and I didn't have to have a c-section. I remember DH stroking my hair and telling me how proud he was of me. He was cryingk, he said later it was because he was so releived for me that I didn't need a c-section and because he could see bubs head and it was so amasing. So the doctor cut me and then the next contraction came. He told me to push as hard this time as I did the last time and I did. Then bubs head was out and he told me to stop pushing. Then another contraction came and he told me I still couldn't push yet. DH told me after that it was because the cord was wrapped around the babies neck and the doctor was untangling it. Then I could push again and with the tiniest little push the baby just flew out. The doctor put him straight onto my chest. But he didn't cry. He didn't turn pink, he didn't breath. The doctor cut the umbilical cord. He couldn't apologise enough to DH after for not letting him cut it. Neither one of us cared, we just wanted our baby healthy. They took him from my chest. I could see him and he was all purple and not moving or breathing. I was crying, DH was crying. There were about 5 people around my baby. I kept asking if he was okay, but no one was answering me. I couldn't see what they were doing to him. They told me after that they needed to clear his lungs and that he needed oxygen. Then I heard his cry. Not much of one, just a little and relief just flooded through me. The doctor brought him back to me and put him back on my chest. He was so perfect with his little eyes staring at me. It wasn't until that point I realised we didn't know if the baby was a boy or girl yet. I asked the doctor and he said to look for myself. So I did. A little boy! Brock. I cuddled him and nice MW1 helped me breast feed him for the first time while the doctor stitched me up.
Brock was born at 4:41pm 3 July
weight: 3545g (7lb13oz)
Head: 35cm
Length: 50cm
Apgars 7 and 9
POST LABOUR COMPLICATION
I started spotting the Saturday morning B turned 7 weeks. Thought great....AF....just my luck. I was hoping she'd hold off for a bit longer since I was breast feeding. Saturday night started to get some mild cramping. Didn't think anything of it.
Sunday the cramping got worse, but I just assumed it was worse period pains and that since I hadn't had a period for a while I just wasn't use to them. They got quite bad by Monday morning. DH told me to call the doctor....but I didn't listen By the time he got home Monday they were pretty bad and he MADE me call the doctor. I got an appointment for the next day at 10.
Put B down for the night and I was in heaps of pain. Took me ages to get into bed because it hurt so much and finally get to sleep. Think I fell asleep about 10:30. Woke up at 11:30 in excruciating pain. Worse then what I went through when I was in labour. Plus I was freezing and had uncontrollable shivers. Looked over at DH and he didn't have any covers on. That's when I decided things weren't right (that's me...Dr. T the brain scientist ) Woke DH and told him I needed to go to hospital. He got up, got dressed, stocked the nappy bag. Got B strapped in the capsule and into the car. By that time I'd just made it out of bed I was in so much pain. Took me ages longer to get dressed.
Got to emergency, took me about 10 minutes to walk the 100m from the car to the entrance. Told the nurse I had severe abdominal pains. She was less then helpful until she found out I had given birth just 7 weeks earlier. I was straight in when she found that out. Took my temp was 38.9...that got them moving.
Got into emergency. They put a cannula in...after 4 attempts.....vomited....got given maxalon.....vomited again. Was curled up in a little ball whimpering in pain. B needed a feed...was barely able to feed him. They wanted to give me morphene, but I refused until I found out if it was safe while breast feeding. Made them send up someone from maternity. This is when I found out the first half of my interesting fact 1. Morphene AND oxycodone are both considered breastfeeding friendly....go figure. So this is where I entered lala land and B joined me about 2 hours later. Wasn't happy with the fact he was high and told myself I wasn't having any more morphene or other drugs that would affect him.
Don't remember too much. Had heaps of tests done. DH and B went home about 4 (I had a few feeds of EBM frozen...thankfully). Got brought to the surgical ward about 9. Had been able to express about 160 ml. EBM came with me and got put in surgical ward fridge which was not locked. Was told I had to have surgery as I had either one of two things:
A. Appendicitis
B. Abcessed fallopian tube and ovary.
Either way it/they needed to be removed as I was septic and would die. (way to be melodramatic). called DH to bring in some more milk.
Wasn't too happy with the tube ovary scenario, but didn't really have much choice. DH and B got back to hospital with freind (to look after B while I was in surgery as DH had a job he HAD to do as it was a reno) about 10 minutes before I got wheeled off to be prepped for surgery.
Got wheeled out. Was asked if I knew what was happening. and to tell them in my own words. Was I happy with this. NO to the tube and ovary thing but didn't ahve much choice so told them to do what they needed to so. Signed all the forms. Stared at the light in the ceiling...then I was in recovery.
It was my appendix...thankfully. It had burst Monday night...probably when I woke up in excruciating pain with the shivers. My abdomen was filled with pus and my appendix had gone gangrenous (as in had gangrene...not sure if I spelled that right). Was pretty close to dying because I'd gone septic and was told my milk might dry up.
Got back to my room and saw a tin of formula. I saw RED. Went off at my friend for givign him "that S@!t" there was EMB in the fridge. She said she went to get it and it wasn't there. Called her a liar, continued to go off at her. That's when the lactation consultant came in. Heard what I was yelling about and this is when I learned fact 2. She asked if the fridge was locked. we both said no. She said it had probably been stolen as there is a MASSIVE black market for EBM and it fetches VERY high prices. Apparently cancer patients use it as they think it has healing properties. So somewhere there is a cancer patient who was recently high on my morphene laced EBM.
So my poor boy had to have two feeds of formula. Didn't agree with him much. He got constipated and had tummy pains for about 3 days.
I refused more morphene as I didn't want B to be high and asked if I coudl alternate between panadol and neurophen instead (one or the other every two hours). But no...apparently neurophen is not breast feeding friendly (but morphene and oxycodone are...go figure).
I later found out that the public hospital just doesn't know what it's talking about and I could have had neurophen.
So I was in quite a bit of pain...well A LOT of pain, but would rather that then have B high.
Surgeon came in on Wed. That's when he told me that apparently appendicitis is quite common post labour. Something to do with all the hormone changes in the body that make condition just right....go figure. It's also more common when seasons change from summer to fall and winter to spring.
The birth of Brock (VERY LONG)
Hunny what an amazing story. I had tears and goosebumps and all sorts of emotions! Way to go DH handling that MW. Can't believe you got two shockers!! I wanted to slap them for you.
You are an amazing woman to birth Brock the way you did. Well done for believing in yourself and not giving up.
Big hugs. Thank you for sharing with us. :hug:
