June 3rd, 2009.
I was ordered to Mease Countryside Hospital at 5:30 PM to start my induction process. They wanted to make sure to deliver her while she was still healthy enough inside the womb to be healthy enough on the outside. My mom and I came home from the doctors office at around 3:30PM to grab our bags, make phone calls, etc. We only live 5 minutes away from Mease, so we had plenty of time to get things in order. I had been hoping that Rhonda's prediction would hold true because I was SO sick of being pregnant, but I wasn't exactly prepared for her to be right.
After I finished double checking everything I had packed and unpacked and repacked, we finally left. Mom and I got settled in to my L&D room, Dr. Marks arrived just in time to put in the cervadil. This fun piece of goo covered plastic get inserted just under the cervix to help it ripen and get ready for delivery. The medicine gets to sit and work its magic for 12 hours.
June 4th, 2009.
Come 6 o'clock in the morning, they removed the cervadil and started to pitocin to start the contractions coming. Dr. Marks arrived around 9AM to check me, but alas, no progress had been made. I started out on 2mL/hr of the pitocin to be bumped up 2mL/hour every 30 minutes. It wasn't before too long I was maxed out on the drugs. Mid afternoon, there was still no changes. My cervix had thinned out, but there was no dilatation. Dr. Marks informed me that the game plan was to stop the pitocin at 6PM (12 hours of the drugs) and attempt to insert a Foley bulb (catheter) to help me dilate that evening. Little did I know what fun I was in for...
8 o'clock that night, here comes Dr. Marks with a speculum and Foley bulb in hand. I was barely dilated, completely uncomfortable from the pitocin induced contractions, and just realized what was exactly about to happen. Speculum inserted: check. Pain level through the roof: check. What this procedure actually entailed was this: taking a catheter tube and forcing the tubing through a hole that is barely big enough. The end of this tube is inserted into the cervix and stays in the small space between the back of the cervix and the baby's head. They fill the end of the tube/bulb with fluid. 35cc's to be exact. You see, it is designed to work by the baby's head compresses the fluid filled bulb to make it be squeezed through the too small opening to originally came through. By the morning, I should be 3cm dilated. No matter how gently or not so gently I may describe what was actually being done, I promise, it does NO justice to how incredibly painful and uncomfortable it actually was. I was at wits end by the time he was finished. 50 cc's of Demerol was barely enough to calm me down and get me to stop shaking. At least it was over. Now I just had to wait until morning...
Now, let me tell you about how awkward and inconvenient night time is while you are hooked up to numerous tubes. Every time I had to pee, I was forced to attempt to wake my mom up so she might unplug the monitors and arrange the cords around my neck, unplug the IV machine, I had to roll myself out of bed, waddle to the bathroom, pee into a collection hat, hoping all the while not to pull the catheter out. Mind you, this went on every 50 minutes... all night long.
June 5th, 2009.
As the nurse came in, I was already waking at a mere 6AM. Wondering why the catheter line was slack, she gently pulled on it and it came out! Now I just needed to wait to be checked by Dr. Marks. Another round of pitocin was in order to start the day. By 8AM it was determined that I had actually dilated to 3cm. The hopes were that baby Skylar would be here by 5 o'clock that evening! I was promised an epidural by the time I hit 4 cm if needed, and it was indeed needed. Right after the epidural, Skylar's heart beat dropped. They rushed around to get it back up. After 4 minutes, her heart beat came back up and was stable again. By 10am, I was 5-6cm dilated and the epidural was wonderful. It all seemed to be working! Everyone was getting anxious, but none more than me.
The afternoon seemed to take forever. 4 out of 5 grandparents were present along with my cousin. At around 2, the nurse checked me. No progress. Still 5-6cm. The nurse said she would inform the doctor and let him make a decision. Dr. Marks comes storming into my room at 3:00-3:15PM letting me know that I am going in for a C-Section by 4 o'clock. 10 minutes later, they come in and tell me we're not waiting, I am having the section now. Oh shit. The epidural was starting to not work on the right side of my body, I'm heading into major surgery, and I want to throw up.
They slide me onto the table. My stomach was prepped with iodine, and they start pumping more epidural medication into my spine. Anxiety levels were beyond controllable at this point. I was shaking, tears were running down my face for no reason, and I could still feel what was going on. Dr. Marks finally came rushing in and started doing pinch tests... I could still feel it. They had to put me completely under for the surgery. They told me my mom couldn't come in since I wouldn't be awake. Lights out.
I started waking up as I was rounding the corner into my new post-partum room. I remember being nauseous and in a lot of pain. As they wheeled me into the room, they ushered everyone out. I was informed that she was born at 4:35PM on June 5th, 2009. Skylar Grace was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lbs and 13oz. I saw her and I could barely believe she was mine. My mom was holding her while the nurse checked my bleeding. It was out of control. Since the epidural meds didn't work, right after surgery I was in unbelievable pain. She nurse had to manually massage my uterus to get the bleeding under control. I started shaking and I wanted to scream but I couldn't due to the breathing apparatus previously shoved down my throat. It took another 50 cc's of Demerol to get the shaking to subside before they started the Morphine drip. Relief was in sight. I had my baby girl sitting in my moms arms just across the room. This is what it was all about.
I was ordered to Mease Countryside Hospital at 5:30 PM to start my induction process. They wanted to make sure to deliver her while she was still healthy enough inside the womb to be healthy enough on the outside. My mom and I came home from the doctors office at around 3:30PM to grab our bags, make phone calls, etc. We only live 5 minutes away from Mease, so we had plenty of time to get things in order. I had been hoping that Rhonda's prediction would hold true because I was SO sick of being pregnant, but I wasn't exactly prepared for her to be right.
After I finished double checking everything I had packed and unpacked and repacked, we finally left. Mom and I got settled in to my L&D room, Dr. Marks arrived just in time to put in the cervadil. This fun piece of goo covered plastic get inserted just under the cervix to help it ripen and get ready for delivery. The medicine gets to sit and work its magic for 12 hours.
June 4th, 2009.
Come 6 o'clock in the morning, they removed the cervadil and started to pitocin to start the contractions coming. Dr. Marks arrived around 9AM to check me, but alas, no progress had been made. I started out on 2mL/hr of the pitocin to be bumped up 2mL/hour every 30 minutes. It wasn't before too long I was maxed out on the drugs. Mid afternoon, there was still no changes. My cervix had thinned out, but there was no dilatation. Dr. Marks informed me that the game plan was to stop the pitocin at 6PM (12 hours of the drugs) and attempt to insert a Foley bulb (catheter) to help me dilate that evening. Little did I know what fun I was in for...
8 o'clock that night, here comes Dr. Marks with a speculum and Foley bulb in hand. I was barely dilated, completely uncomfortable from the pitocin induced contractions, and just realized what was exactly about to happen. Speculum inserted: check. Pain level through the roof: check. What this procedure actually entailed was this: taking a catheter tube and forcing the tubing through a hole that is barely big enough. The end of this tube is inserted into the cervix and stays in the small space between the back of the cervix and the baby's head. They fill the end of the tube/bulb with fluid. 35cc's to be exact. You see, it is designed to work by the baby's head compresses the fluid filled bulb to make it be squeezed through the too small opening to originally came through. By the morning, I should be 3cm dilated. No matter how gently or not so gently I may describe what was actually being done, I promise, it does NO justice to how incredibly painful and uncomfortable it actually was. I was at wits end by the time he was finished. 50 cc's of Demerol was barely enough to calm me down and get me to stop shaking. At least it was over. Now I just had to wait until morning...
Now, let me tell you about how awkward and inconvenient night time is while you are hooked up to numerous tubes. Every time I had to pee, I was forced to attempt to wake my mom up so she might unplug the monitors and arrange the cords around my neck, unplug the IV machine, I had to roll myself out of bed, waddle to the bathroom, pee into a collection hat, hoping all the while not to pull the catheter out. Mind you, this went on every 50 minutes... all night long.
June 5th, 2009.
As the nurse came in, I was already waking at a mere 6AM. Wondering why the catheter line was slack, she gently pulled on it and it came out! Now I just needed to wait to be checked by Dr. Marks. Another round of pitocin was in order to start the day. By 8AM it was determined that I had actually dilated to 3cm. The hopes were that baby Skylar would be here by 5 o'clock that evening! I was promised an epidural by the time I hit 4 cm if needed, and it was indeed needed. Right after the epidural, Skylar's heart beat dropped. They rushed around to get it back up. After 4 minutes, her heart beat came back up and was stable again. By 10am, I was 5-6cm dilated and the epidural was wonderful. It all seemed to be working! Everyone was getting anxious, but none more than me.
The afternoon seemed to take forever. 4 out of 5 grandparents were present along with my cousin. At around 2, the nurse checked me. No progress. Still 5-6cm. The nurse said she would inform the doctor and let him make a decision. Dr. Marks comes storming into my room at 3:00-3:15PM letting me know that I am going in for a C-Section by 4 o'clock. 10 minutes later, they come in and tell me we're not waiting, I am having the section now. Oh shit. The epidural was starting to not work on the right side of my body, I'm heading into major surgery, and I want to throw up.
They slide me onto the table. My stomach was prepped with iodine, and they start pumping more epidural medication into my spine. Anxiety levels were beyond controllable at this point. I was shaking, tears were running down my face for no reason, and I could still feel what was going on. Dr. Marks finally came rushing in and started doing pinch tests... I could still feel it. They had to put me completely under for the surgery. They told me my mom couldn't come in since I wouldn't be awake. Lights out.
I started waking up as I was rounding the corner into my new post-partum room. I remember being nauseous and in a lot of pain. As they wheeled me into the room, they ushered everyone out. I was informed that she was born at 4:35PM on June 5th, 2009. Skylar Grace was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lbs and 13oz. I saw her and I could barely believe she was mine. My mom was holding her while the nurse checked my bleeding. It was out of control. Since the epidural meds didn't work, right after surgery I was in unbelievable pain. She nurse had to manually massage my uterus to get the bleeding under control. I started shaking and I wanted to scream but I couldn't due to the breathing apparatus previously shoved down my throat. It took another 50 cc's of Demerol to get the shaking to subside before they started the Morphine drip. Relief was in sight. I had my baby girl sitting in my moms arms just across the room. This is what it was all about.
