December 14th/15th/16th, 2008
Sat. (the 14th) came and I was still having ctx., but only every 15 min. or so. Most of them were ok, but there were a few that stopped me in my tracks.
Sun. I woke up and felt 'off'. I just didn't feel well at all and I was really crampy (like AF cramps). I ate a pop tart for breakfast and just laid around on the couch not feeling well. Noon rolled around and I still wasn't feeling very good. The ctx. were about every 15 min. or so, but I felt sick. I had a few pieces of toast for lunch and that was all. I went back to sitting on the couch feeling yucky.
At 2pm the ctx. picked up to every 5 min. apart and were hurting. I took a bath, didn't help. I drank about 80 oz. of water, that didn't help. I got out a heating pad, that didn't help. I couldn't eat dinner at all and I noticed that Ben wasn't moving much. At about 6pm I realized things were NOT getting better but much worse. The ctx. were every 3-5 min. at that point and pretty painful. I called my doc. and they said to go back into L&D to get looked at again. We dropped off Kayla at the sitter and headed into the hospital. When I got there the ctx were every 2-3 min. apart and HORRIBLE! The ctx themselves weren't awful, but the pain at my old scar tissue area was wicked bad. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the lower abdomen or that my uterus was ripping apart. I got checked and my cervix was at 0cm ( the week before it was like a 1.5) and 20% effaced, baby was so high they couldn't even feel him. They started IV fluid and got me something for the nausea (because of the pain I was in I felt sick). After a while the ctx. were every 30sec.-3min. They checked me and I was at a 1. I got meds for the pain and was still having ctx. regularly. They checked me again and I was a 1.5. They knew Ben's lungs weren't ready yet (they were measuring 34weeks gestation) so I would have to be transported 45 min. to Anchorage to the Children's hospital where the only level III NICU in the state is. They asked if I still wanted a VBAC to which I said no. I know I could have gotten an epi. for the pain, but the ctx. weren't that bad (not compared to the other pain). I felt very unsure about the other pain and thought something else was up. The scar tissue pain shouldn't have been like it was and they thought I had a hematoma and adhesion's on the inside where Ben's head was hitting it. So I felt safest doing a c-section.
They called an ambulance, I got loaded up, and I was off to Anchorage. They checked me before we left and I was at 2 cm. They called guardian flight ambulance services. They have all the same equipment that med flight does and have the same 'staff' on board. They have a complete pharmacy and everything needed to deliver a baby on board. The hospital also had to send down my nurse, who brought two more bags with equipment to help in the delivery of a baby. I was dilating quickly enough, they weren't sure we'd make it. There were so many people and so much equipment in the ambulance that there was no room for James to ride with. He followed us down there and later told me the slowest we were going at any point was 80.
I started to feel some weird pressure during ctx. only and the nurse said she needed to check me again. She waited until just after a ctx. and then checked me, I was at a 3 (in just 2 hours). The driver asked if he needed to step it up and I said I was fine, lol..... because like I can control how fast my cervix opens..... riiiiiiiiight. They had to check my bp periodically also. we got about 20 miles outside of town and my bp dropped. It was 80/50 and the two people in back couldn't really believe it. The nurse (Julie) asked how I was feeling and I told her ok, just had a headache. So they checked my bp again right away and it was 60/50. The driver again is asking if he should go faster, and I think at that point, he just did. So, they immediately grab me and roll me onto my side. The baby was laying on a main artery and cutting off my blood supply I guess. After rolling me over, my bp went back up to normal.
We get to Anchorage (in what seemed like no time at all, it couldn't have taken more than 30 min. MAX) and I'm wheeled back to a huge delivery room. The hospital checked me again and I was at a 2 (diff. person checking me), but the baby's head was now 'right there' and I had lots of bloody show. A woman came in and asked me if I still wanted to try the VBAC to which I said no, because I didn't think it was safe for me or baby. They got the team together and got me ready for a c-section. I was taken into the OR and given a spinal. They had 2 OBs there, a neonatologist, and a perinatalogist (the ONLY one in the state!!), plus all the other nurses, some residents, and a ped. The spinal went in fine and they got me all draped. James was brought in just after the drape went up. It was strangely quiet during this c-section.
During my first with Kayla people were talking and it was calm. James sat there holding my hand and we waited. Before I knew it they were sucking out the fluid and the anesth. said the doc. was going to push really hard to get the baby out (and push they did!!). Finally they said 'the baby's here!'
There were no screams or cries. The held him over the drape for half a second and he was the smallest, cutest thing I had ever seen. They took him over to the warmer right away. It was so silent in there you could hear a pin drop. Instead of a pin drop all I could hear was the sound of an oxygen bag being pumped steadily and quickly. The nurses were all around the warmer and they had James stand in my way, so I couldn't see. I didn't need to see, the sound said it all. My baby wasn't breathing. I just laid there in shock praying for him to take a breathe. What seemed like 30 min. passed. After an actual min., he took his first breath and made his first little 'meow'. All the nurses kind of cheered and the tension suddenly died. James got up and was over by Ben (I found out alter he was cutting what was left of the cord). Ben's one min. apgar score was only a 3. I still couldn't see what was going on and just laid there. All the sudden I felt sick. I told them I was going to be sick and they got me a small pail thing and said 'go ahead and throw up.' To which I said, 'WHAT?!?! I'll choke and die!!' LOL SURELY since I was laying down, if I threw up I was going to die. The anesth. put drugs in my IV to help me not get sick, which didn't get in soon enough. It was just bile since I hadn't eaten in over 12 hours, but the anesth. was right there with a suction and I didn't choke.... or die :O)
They brought Ben over for a second (thank God the nausea meds. kicked in, otherwise I would have asked them to take him away!). I got to give him a kiss and tell him I loved him. Then he was off to the NICU, James went with.
I laid there, alone, in silence, while they finished up the surgery. It seemed to be taking FOREVER and I asked how much longer it was going to take. They said they were almost done and that they'd talk to me about it later. That's never a good thing to hear!
I got to recovery and they said that Ben was out of the NICU and in the step down nursery. A little while later, James came in. We chatted about the baby and he asked how I was doing. Then a nurse came in and asked if I knew Ben was back in the NICU. I said no as I held back the tears. James told the nurse he hadn't told me yet because he didn't want to upset me.
Ben had spent 30 min. in the NICU and did fine, so they sent him down to the regular nursery. He had low blood sugar so they tried to give him some formula, where he chocked on it and stopped breathing, so back up to NICU he went. He started to have apnea spells where his oxygen levels dropped as well as his breathing.
When I was able to move my legs, they transferred me to my post-partum room. I was on a morphine pump when I got there. As soon as my pump was emtpy 12 hours after the surgery, I was allowed to walk down to see Ben. I got into the NICU and had to scrub in, just to go see my child. We went to the Intensive care part of the NICU. Ben was in the first bed and he was hooked up to all kinds of machines. It took everything I had not to break down in tears. They let me hold him on my chest for a while. When it was time for us to go, I laid him down, and he stopped breathing. My heart sunk as I watched his lips turn blue. The nurse grabbed him and quickly stimulated him. I went back to my room in shock that my baby was sick.
The next day they moved him to the 'step down' NICU. He was discharged on Friday, Dec. 19th at 12:30pm.
On Tuesday morning the perinatologist came in to see how I was doing. I asked her what had happened during the surgery and what she saw. I said there HAD to be something wrong in there with all the pain I was in. She said that my uterus was bruised from front to back all long my old scar tissue. She said the bruising was very extensive and bad. She also said that the old scar was very thin in some places and had I been allowed to labor any longer, I would have abrupted. She said that had I tried the VBAC, my uterus would have burst open and we would have ended up in an emergency c-section, where Ben and I both may have died. She said that the scar was so bruised and thin that she had to overlap parts or my uterus, just to get it to stitch back together. She said that I should never 'labor' again. I'm very grateful for Dr. Richey. She saved my uterus and gave me the option of having more children some day, should that be what we decide.
I'm doing good and feel great considering what all we've been through the last few days.
I got to the hospital by house around 7:30pm on the 14th. I was in Anchorage by 12:30am on the 15th, and Ben was out by 2:28am.
So, Benjamin David was born at 2:28am, on Dec. 15th. He weighed 6lbs 4oz and is 20 inches long.
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