Happy Birthday H-Man! A birth story
3:54 PM Posted In Birth Story , H-Man , Life Tidbits , Pregnancy Edit This 1 Comment »
The date was October 14th and I was just about 35 weeks pregnant with my first baby boy. I had a great pregnancy up to this point (minus the morning-noon-and-night sickness that had me incapacitated for 2 months). In the week leading up to this day though, I had been feeling a bit different...off. That day, I decided to satisfy my craving for Coffee Crisp and headed to Walmart to buy some Hallowe'en candy. CO and I headed to the baby section at the back to have a look around. As soon as we got back there I felt winded and dizzy. I went into the shoe section to sit on one of their chairs. For whatever reason, I decided that maybe I should make my way to the pharmacy to have my blood pressure checked at the little machine they have back there. It took me a while, but I made it back there.
When I sat at the machine and saw my results I was a little shocked. My blood pressure was something like 140/111 and by the guide on the machine, that was high. SO took me home and I called my Mom at work to tell her and ask her what she thought. (She worked in a doctors office for 20 some odd years so she's seen just about everything). She wasn't sure so she came home and looked online to see what she could find. At this point, I was feeling better and thinking that maybe it was just a panic attack since I used to get those often. My Mom insisted we go to the hospital anyways...so we did.
When we got to the hospital, I went right up to L&D (cause thankfully I had gone to preregister at the hospital THAT VERY MORNING) and told them my situation at Walmart and how high my blood pressure was when I checked it at the machine. The L&D nurse laughed at me, "You don't know how many scared pregnant women we get in here because they check their BP on those stupid machine. They are not accurate". I gave my Mom a dirty look...I knew we shouldn't have come!! She said she'd check me out just to make me feel better...so we went into a room and I peed in a cup and sat down to have my BP checked. She was right it was NOT accurate. It was HIGHER than the machine at Walmart read! That combined with the amount of protein in my urine meant, induction...tonight. I was shocked. I remember sitting on the bed nodding to the doctor as she told me this but not really realizing what was about to happen. I WAS HAVING MY BABY!!!
I called SO to tell him and he headed up to the hospital to join me. I received my first gel application that night, at about 9PM. Nothing really happened. The next morning, my bitch of an OB showed up in my room and made me cry and then gave me a second application of the gel. This was at about 10PM. Almost immediately, I started feeling mild cramping/contracting AND I had to take a poop. I told the doctor and she told me I didn't have to, it was just the gel and made me cry again. (She is an awful woman.) My Mom verbally assaulted her, and she left. As soon as she was gone, I went and had a poop:)
Anywho, the contractions started almost immediately after that. I was scared and unprepared (at barely 35 weeks pregnant) and was not dealing well at ALL with the situation. My nurse was concerned I was working myself up too much, so she gave me Demerol. That didn't help anything. Now, not only was I scared and in pain but I felt like I was drunk AND hungover all at the same time. I spent the next hour or two alternating between yelling weird random things, barfing and passing out.
Once I was 6 or 7 CM they decided that I could get an epidural. I don't remember much after the Demerol but I do remember getting the epidural and the way it felt going into my spine. And then I remember being numb and relaxed. I slept for 30 minutes. While I napped, Corey went downstairs to grab a coffee from Timmies. By the time he got back, I was in stirrups and ready to push. It was shortly after 4Pm when I started pushing. I remember only 2 things about the pushing stage: one was getting shit by my nurse that I wasn't pushing (Umm...can't feel half of my body lady AND I am pretty high at the moment, forgive me for not following your drills to a tee) and the second thing was SO in the back of the room, sipping on his coffee with a big smile on his face.
At 4:58 PM on October 15th my tiny baby boy was born weighing 5lb 4 oz. My first words were "Oh. My. God" as I could not believe I had just given birth to my baby. Then I said "Is he alright". He started to cry and I started to cry too. Corey cut the cord and they checked him out, and finally I got to see him. He was so tiny and beautiful.
The happiness of his birth was short lived when they took him away to the nursery and began testing and checking me. For 3 days after the birth of my baby boy I saw him only a handful of times. I was kept in a darkened room and was not allowed to do anything, not even crochet H-Man's baby blanket. On day 4, I was allowed to feed him and kept him in my room for an hour here and there. By day 6, I was going insane. I was starting to feel symptoms of my anxiety and begged someone to just let me go home...I would feel better once I was home. On day 6, I got in shit by my OB again because I didn't want to take MORE drugs (it was just a Gravol, but I already felt like I was taking too many drugs). as punishment she didn't come to see me for 2 more days, and thus, I was not able to be discharged. I spent 2 days dressed and ready to go but no one showed up.
Finally, on October 23, I was discharged from the hospital. Still feeling like crap, but not willing to admit that to anyone. As soon as he and I were officially discharged and his alarm bracelet was cut off i BAILED out of the hospital. They wanted to push me down in a damn wheelchair...but I just wanted out of there. I RAN down a back stair case and SO was right behind me with baby and my Mom followed in the rear. We busted open a door and there was my Dad's car waiting outside to take us home.
It was such a relief to get home and actually get time with my new baby. He was already 9 days old and I felt like I barely knew him yet. The first couple of days home were harder since my BP was still high and I was dizzy and tired, but I had plenty of help. H-Man was also a very laid back baby, so it made caring for him that much easier.
I can't believe that was 5 years ago! It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny newborn...but in some ways it feels like he's been in my life forever...maybe cause i can't imagine it without him.
Happy Birthday H my tiny angel~
When I sat at the machine and saw my results I was a little shocked. My blood pressure was something like 140/111 and by the guide on the machine, that was high. SO took me home and I called my Mom at work to tell her and ask her what she thought. (She worked in a doctors office for 20 some odd years so she's seen just about everything). She wasn't sure so she came home and looked online to see what she could find. At this point, I was feeling better and thinking that maybe it was just a panic attack since I used to get those often. My Mom insisted we go to the hospital anyways...so we did.
When we got to the hospital, I went right up to L&D (cause thankfully I had gone to preregister at the hospital THAT VERY MORNING) and told them my situation at Walmart and how high my blood pressure was when I checked it at the machine. The L&D nurse laughed at me, "You don't know how many scared pregnant women we get in here because they check their BP on those stupid machine. They are not accurate". I gave my Mom a dirty look...I knew we shouldn't have come!! She said she'd check me out just to make me feel better...so we went into a room and I peed in a cup and sat down to have my BP checked. She was right it was NOT accurate. It was HIGHER than the machine at Walmart read! That combined with the amount of protein in my urine meant, induction...tonight. I was shocked. I remember sitting on the bed nodding to the doctor as she told me this but not really realizing what was about to happen. I WAS HAVING MY BABY!!!
I called SO to tell him and he headed up to the hospital to join me. I received my first gel application that night, at about 9PM. Nothing really happened. The next morning, my bitch of an OB showed up in my room and made me cry and then gave me a second application of the gel. This was at about 10PM. Almost immediately, I started feeling mild cramping/contracting AND I had to take a poop. I told the doctor and she told me I didn't have to, it was just the gel and made me cry again. (She is an awful woman.) My Mom verbally assaulted her, and she left. As soon as she was gone, I went and had a poop:)
Anywho, the contractions started almost immediately after that. I was scared and unprepared (at barely 35 weeks pregnant) and was not dealing well at ALL with the situation. My nurse was concerned I was working myself up too much, so she gave me Demerol. That didn't help anything. Now, not only was I scared and in pain but I felt like I was drunk AND hungover all at the same time. I spent the next hour or two alternating between yelling weird random things, barfing and passing out.
Once I was 6 or 7 CM they decided that I could get an epidural. I don't remember much after the Demerol but I do remember getting the epidural and the way it felt going into my spine. And then I remember being numb and relaxed. I slept for 30 minutes. While I napped, Corey went downstairs to grab a coffee from Timmies. By the time he got back, I was in stirrups and ready to push. It was shortly after 4Pm when I started pushing. I remember only 2 things about the pushing stage: one was getting shit by my nurse that I wasn't pushing (Umm...can't feel half of my body lady AND I am pretty high at the moment, forgive me for not following your drills to a tee) and the second thing was SO in the back of the room, sipping on his coffee with a big smile on his face.
At 4:58 PM on October 15th my tiny baby boy was born weighing 5lb 4 oz. My first words were "Oh. My. God" as I could not believe I had just given birth to my baby. Then I said "Is he alright". He started to cry and I started to cry too. Corey cut the cord and they checked him out, and finally I got to see him. He was so tiny and beautiful.
The happiness of his birth was short lived when they took him away to the nursery and began testing and checking me. For 3 days after the birth of my baby boy I saw him only a handful of times. I was kept in a darkened room and was not allowed to do anything, not even crochet H-Man's baby blanket. On day 4, I was allowed to feed him and kept him in my room for an hour here and there. By day 6, I was going insane. I was starting to feel symptoms of my anxiety and begged someone to just let me go home...I would feel better once I was home. On day 6, I got in shit by my OB again because I didn't want to take MORE drugs (it was just a Gravol, but I already felt like I was taking too many drugs). as punishment she didn't come to see me for 2 more days, and thus, I was not able to be discharged. I spent 2 days dressed and ready to go but no one showed up.
Finally, on October 23, I was discharged from the hospital. Still feeling like crap, but not willing to admit that to anyone. As soon as he and I were officially discharged and his alarm bracelet was cut off i BAILED out of the hospital. They wanted to push me down in a damn wheelchair...but I just wanted out of there. I RAN down a back stair case and SO was right behind me with baby and my Mom followed in the rear. We busted open a door and there was my Dad's car waiting outside to take us home.
It was such a relief to get home and actually get time with my new baby. He was already 9 days old and I felt like I barely knew him yet. The first couple of days home were harder since my BP was still high and I was dizzy and tired, but I had plenty of help. H-Man was also a very laid back baby, so it made caring for him that much easier.
I can't believe that was 5 years ago! It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny newborn...but in some ways it feels like he's been in my life forever...maybe cause i can't imagine it without him.
Happy Birthday H my tiny angel~
1 comments:
Thank you for sharing that story. I'm nowhere near the stage in my life where I have to consider pregnancy options but I'm already deciding that if possible I want to have a home birth.
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