As The Story Goes- Part 2

Addie isn't very happy here!

My wonderful friend/nurse Shellie!

I am really sorry that I am just now finishing the story. I rarely get on the computer lately and I always find that there is stuff to do. But... I fear that I am starting to forget stuff about my day of labor- so I really want to finish the story!!

Alright- so I was starting to feel the pressure with every contraction. I could feel my lower abdomen tightening and I could feel pressure on my sacrum. Shellie (my nurse) was turning me quite often (I can't remember if it was hourly or every 2 hours)to make sure the baby didn't come down crooked. Shellie had started pitocin on me pretty early in the morning because after the epidural my contractions started to slow down a bit. She was slowly titrating the pitocin up. The highest I got was 12/hr. Everything was going great thus far. My family was all there pretty much and I wasn't too uncomfortable at this point. And Addie was still doing great.. until about 11am. Shellie came in to turn me to my left side. When she did this she started to mess with my monitor around my belly quite a bit- I didn't think this was weird because that sucker always fell off. Then someone came over the intercom and asked Shellie if she needed any help. Shell said "No, I think its picking up moms heart rate". I don't know much about labor and delivery- just a little from nursing school... but I knew something was probably wrong. The nurse on the intercom stayed on for a sec and then said "Call me if you need help". Its nice that they all watch out for each other! So after that Shellie finally was able to pick up Addies heart rate for sure and YIKES it was in the lower 60s. Shellie hit the call button and asked for a nurse to come in and place a fetal scalp probe. She then put me flat on my back, turned off my pitocin, started a fluid bolus and started me on oxygen. Luckily Shellie is a great nurse and was able to stay calm- because that really helped me not freak out. Addies heart rate came back up finally (slowly but surely) and Shellie told her she couldn't do that again. LOL. After Shellie left the room my mom asked me if that scared me and I started to cry. I didn't realize in the moment how scary it was- but afterward I felt it. Its scary because if anything went wrong- she is inside of me and we couldn't get to her immediately. However, Shellie did a good job of making me feel better and assured me everything was fine. After that anytime Shell would try to turn me Addie would drop her heart rate. I had to continue wearing oxygen for the rest of the day...I'm not going to lie- it sucked. It was a face mask! But oh well- I would do anything to keep Addie safe. I got in trouble a couple times for letting it just sit around my neck (well.. not in trouble, but I was asked to put it back on. LOL) So for the rest of the day I was mostly stuck laying on my back. Sometimes I would try to sit my bed up and Addie would always drop her heart rate. I would frequently hit my stomach and tell her to stop (sometimes it worked!). Shellie would always turn back on the pitocin and then end up having to stop it again and give me another fluid bolus. Dr.Adams came in a couple times and would always say I wasn't as dilated as the nurses would- he sure is stingy! But he continued to be optimistic and let me continue to labor as long as I would continue dilating. Shellie stayed in pretty close contact with him. When I was first admitted he had told Shellie to place a mint on my pillow and give Joey as much demerol as he wanted- LOL... I love him! Ok sorry- back to the story. Well the time kept tickin away and I was very slowly but surely dilating. At one point I felt like I was going to poop (such a horrible feeling!) so I called Shell in and she checked me and I was only a 7. Blah! As the day progressed my body was getting so worn out from the pressure of contractions and being unable to move very much. My back was starting to ache and I had a headache from being so hungry and worn out... I was physically and emotionally exhausted! Everyone kept asking if they should leave to give me quite time to rest and I kept telling them no. It didn't matter if people were there or not- I wasn't going to sleep. I was able to take cat naps here and there, but quality sleep wasn't on the agenda. And that's fine... it was only one day of my life! Around 6ish I was close to 9cm dilated so Shell and another nurse turned me on my stomach/left side and contorted my legs... it was suppose to help me finish dilating. They were ever so gentle to not upset Addie and have her drop her HR. She dropped a little, but then recovered just fine. Finally around 7:45 I was a 10 and fully effaced! YAY!!!! I started pushing and Dr.Adams had warned me that it would probably take around 2 hours to push her out. You guys- I had practiced pushing almost my whole life- I was PUMPED! I was also however having a horrible back ache from the 100 hours of laying on my back. So between contractions Shellie would rub my back- what an amazing nurse/friend!!! I pushed for 15 minutes and then Dr.Adams said he was going to leave for a bit and would come back in 30 minutes to see how much progressed I had made. Joey, Shellie and another nurse Shellie stayed to continue to help me push. Joey and Shellie (number 2) held my legs as I pushed. I was told that I was a "very good pusher" Yay! I had practiced and was hoping I would do a good job! Being told I was a good pusher is one of the best compliments I could have ever received!! :) Well... Dr.Adams came back and NOPE, nothing had happened. He then said he would be back in another 30 minutes and see what would happen. During this time Shellie tried everything possible with me. Dr.Adams had them turn my epidural way down so I could feel when to push (they didn't have to do that... I knew when I was having a contraction anyway- I actually would tell them when I needed to push before the contraction showed up on the monitor). So I could move my legs fairly well- they had me squat and push, they had me hold a towel and pull while pushing... nothing was working. Dr.Adams came back in- notta! Addie still hadn't moved. He let me push another 15 minutes and then said it was time to throw in the towel. He thought a c-section was in order and I certainly believed him after 1.5 hours of pushing and absolutely no progress. They had already taken out my catheter so they had to put it back in- I was SO swollen that they had some difficulties... but got it done. The nurse anesthetist was there and they were just waiting on the anesthesiologist. I didn't go back to have my c-section until after 9:30pm. I was shaking so bad- the nurse anesthesis said it was just from my body being so worn out and all the medications. Because I was shaking so bad the freakin blood pressure cuff kept airing up because it couldn't get a good reading. I was tired, worn out, hungry (I kept talking about what I was going to eat after I pushed Addie out while I was pushing), and emotional. I was in no mood for this stupid cuff- it was hurting my arm and I wanted to break it. I even said a few choice swear words about this dumb blood pressure cuff. So Im in the OR and they are starting to clean me off and I can feel it. I tell the nurse anesthetist and she continues to load me with meds in my epidural. She had me wait just a bit and then asked if I could feel it- I could feel it on the left side.. Oh crap. She talked to the anesthesiologist (who is a jerk!) and he said that if I don't get numb then they were going to have to put me under and Joey would have to leave. She continues to give me stuff and I continue feeling sensation on the left side of my stomach... so they kick Joey out. That sucked! I wanted my husband there to see Adrianna be born and to hold my hand. Shellie quickly moved in and held my hand and tried to make me feel better. Luckily the anesthetist was great and just kept trying to get me numb- mission accomplished. I was numb enough down low that they didn't have to put me under. It was definitely a different feeling on the left side than the left- but it didn't hurt and thats all that counted. They had to find Joey because they had already kicked him out of the OR. Finally it was time to get my baby out! Dr.Adams moved quickly and before I knew it (10:37pm) Adrianna was born. It was the weirdest feeling ever! The beautiful baby I had been growing was finally here and we were spatted. We had been together for close to 10 months- it was weird to have her out of me. She was PO'd!! She was sore and hungry. Joey went over and took pics of her and they started sewing me up. Because I had so much pitocin my uterus didn't think it would be fun to contact back down. Dr.Adams had to massage it and they gave me an IM injection to help it go back down. I also had a JP drain to help get some of the fluid out that didn't want to drain on its own. Crazy huh! So Im all sewn shut and ... the needle count is off. WHAT! I heard Dr.Adams say that I needed an abdominal x-ray because of the needle count and I said "Aww dang it". He laughed and assured me that the needle isn't in me.. they think they know what happened (someone just put an extra tally on the board), but they have to check to be sure. It took FOREVER for them to come do the x-ray. The nurse anesthetist kept asking me if I was feeling sick to my stomach and I kept saying no and then BAM- here comes nausea. I got sick a couple times. Then Joey brought over Addie, we took some pics and then I said "Can you take her, I have to throw up". I was laying flat on my back so it was quite the obstacle to get sick! Joey was holding Addie and trying to keep her calm. She was sore from the long labor and pushing so he found that rubbing her legs and feet kept her calm. By now it was after midnight and I asked Dr.Adams to let my family know everything was ok. They had been in the waiting room since 7:45! I finally get back to my room and get to hold my beautiful baby girl! She was absolutely perfect!! I also breastfed her for the first time- she was HUNGRY and did GREAT! I was so proud of her! My family came back to the room around 1:15ish, everyone held her and then went home- it had been a really long day for everyone! Although the day was crazy long and nothing went according to plan- I would do it over in a minute! I loved it!