Scared... 3rd Pregnancy... Last C-Section didn't go so well... TMI?
I found out last week that we are expecting again (total surprise) and my biggest concern is that my last c-section didn't go well afterwards and all that history is back in New Zealand. We had a meeting with the hospital after EVERYTHING had happened and they put together a plan "just in case" I was to become pregnant again. Basically I was to have a double dose of antibiotics, have the c-section planned way before due date to reduce risk of going into labour (my birth channel is the wrong shape for natural birth) and I can't remember what else was decided but what happens if the doctors here or hospital what ever happens doesn't read the notes in the way that they were written... or things aren't taken as seriously.... or perhaps I'm just not informed... the care here is so different from NZ, I've only ever had one midwife for the whole of my pregnancy... what if I get lost in the system???
This is my birth story from my son's birth....
I think it was Friday when I finally realised that I had three sleeps left till I’d get to see my little man and that he wasn’t going to come any sooner, I’d just have to wait.
My mum and sister arrived from Australia Friday afternoon and around 11pm I went to bed and slept really well, only waking twice for the toilet the last one being at 6.00am, I went straight back to sleep and woke with a gush of warm water that just kept coming and coming. I jumped out of bed causing my partner Josh to wake and told him that my water just broke, he jumped up and starting panicking thinking that the baby was just going to pop out right then and there, I told him to strip the bed (a new bed and all) and hand me a towel... well his dressing gown was all that was around so I stood over that slightly shocked with what had just happened. I made my way to the bathroom and sat on the toilet for a bit before jumping in the shower. Josh walked in and asked what we were going to do. I told him that after the shower I would wake Mum (my sister had gone out the night before) then ring my midwife.
The call to my midwife seemed a little strange as she said she would have breakfast and a shower first and meet me at the hospital in two hours. TWO HOURS??? I had no idea on how to fill in the time without dripping water everywhere... I first thought I’d sit on the toilet and read a book but felt stupid, so I ripped off the water proof sheet off the baby’s cot and covered one of the kitchen chairs with that and a couple of towels and started to time the contractions and fill time in on the boards. Contractions were 5 minutes apart but I had no idea how long they were lasting as I kept on forgetting to turn the contraction timer off.
Finally got in the car at 10am contractions getting stronger and proving to be all in my back and drove to the hospital with a hand towel between my legs and I waddled into the hospital. I saw the midwife and explained the above and that my waters were still leaking, she decided not to check my waters but to put me on the monitor to see the contractions, unfortunately due to my size and the fact they were all in my back the monitor wasn’t showing the true strength of each one.
After some wait, around 1.30pm they finally got me ready and took me down to the operating room. Signed all the paper work and then they took me in.
Once the spinal block & epidural was completed apparently I went deadly white and my heart missed a few beats and 90 seconds later after I was given some form of medication my heart went back into regular rhythm. Ethan James Rack was born at 2.03pm weighing 9 pound, and 51cm’s long.
We went home 5 days later and my pain wasn’t totally under control, breastfeeding was coming along, it appeared a lot easier than my first son, however I still had a lot of difficulty with the latching on my left breast. I had my mum and my sister around, and they were due to leave on the Monday.
Over the course of the weekend I couldn’t understand the amount of sweating or pain I was in, my bowels hadn’t moved since I was in hospital, but due to being discharged I put it down to the effects of the C-section.
Sunday night I went to bed after spending a heap of time on the toilet trying to move my bowels and rubbed my hands over my stomach, I felt an apple sized lump over my fresh c-section scar and mentioned it to my partner saying that I would ring my midwife in the morning.
Morning came and my stomach was in so much pain, I put this down to constipation as I didn’t feel sick, I didn’t even think about checking the lump I’d found the night before. I was reduced to tear and rang my midwife. She told me to go to the emergency room at the local hospital and see if they could help with the constipation.
They treated the constipation when I first arrived and said I had an infection from the c-section. I was transfer to the maternity ward, and then later transferred to the hospital in which I had had my c-section. Over the course of those 5 hours my lump didn’t just double in size, it was more like 6 times the size it was when I felt it the night before. My skin had a rash all over my stomach and I had one blister. This grew and grew until my third operation when they cut away all the dead skin and the affected area.
It turned out I had a Staph Infection and Cellulitis, this then turned into Necrotizing Fasciitis. I was very sick and in hospital for another 15 days, two more operations on my stomach, more heart issues in my last operation, huge courses of a range of antibiotics and ALOT of different medications, I’ve never taken so many drugs, this affected my breast milk and my son received a fair share of these drugs, but luckily he also received the immunity I was building against these bugs. My milk almost disappeared and it still hasn’t recovered, we are on half breast half formula. I haven’t got nearly as much energy I had before the infection or pregnancy and I’m constantly feeling the side effects from what I’ve been through, my blood pressure drops constantly, my body goes though stages of not being able to digest food properly, I still have an open wound where my c-section scar should be, they say another 3 weeks before it closes. I’ve had two more courses of antibiotics since I left the hospital due to other infections.
But all in all... I have a beautiful son who I’m most proud of and made this horrible and scary experience worth it.
