I was on call that weekend and had been at the hospital on Saturday for a few hours that morning with no issue. Jacob had suggested the night before that I book a prenatal massage to help relieve some of the amazing discomfort I had started experiencing. I booked the massage for Saturday late afternoon and was really looking forward to it. After coming home from my short shift at the hospital around 3pm, I started having contraction like feelings that wouldn't go away. I tried timing them but they never lasted longer than a few seconds only a few times an hour. According to the ever reliable Google, Braxton Hicks contractions can mimic real contractions late in pregnancy but will go away if you relax (read: get a massage). I went to the massage and really enjoyed it----granted it didn't make the contraction like pain go away but rather made it worse. I got home and Jacob suggested I call the after hours line at the doctors office and let them know what was going on. Our doctor told us at our appointment the previous Wednesday after we found out that Avery continued to be breech that if I started experiencing contraction like pain that I needed to call immediately because of my "breech presentation". So, like a good patient, I called. The on call nurse asked some questions and then told me that the doctor would be calling me very shortly. She wasn't lying- the doctor called back within 2 minutes. After talking with her, she suggested that we come in and get checked as it sounded like I was, in fact, going into labor. Jacob and I didn't necessarily believe this as we just threw some items into a bag and called it packed as our hospital bag. We also just put the car seat in the car as an afterthought- just in case.
We got to the hospital and were admitted directly to the labor and delivery floor. After getting hooked up to the monitor, our nurse told us that I was showing an "agitated uterus". My immediate thought was "duh...could have told you that..." The doctor's plan was to give a bag or so of fluid to make the semi contractions stop and send us on our way. As the fluid starting flowing my pain started to increase. Not only did the fluid not stop the contractions, it sent me into full blown regular contractions every 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. The only problem was that I wasn't dilating along with the contractions. Apparently the definition of labor is contractions AND dilation. Not one or the other.
I tried my derndest to breathe through the contractions but the back labor proved to be more than I could handle and I got the drugs. Let me tell you- that first one made the ceiling look like it was waving at me. It was a crazy feeling. At this point, we've been in the hospital for 6 hours and had made no progress other than the introduction of pain meds. The doctor suggested I get up and try to walk around thinking that would stop the contractions or start dilation to justify a c-section--the dilemma being that no one was comfortable sending me home with uncontrollable pain and no one was comfortable giving the go for a c-section on a patient who was only dilated to 1 cm and had been for 8 hours. So off we go, IV pole and all with the intention of walking miles around the L&D floor. We made it a lap and a half before I had to stop because of the pain. I literally thought about crawling back to the room because I thought my back and abdominal muscles wouldn't support my upper body enough to walk. I ponied up some strength, mostly out of desire to not have a "code down" called on my behalf, and made it back to the room. As the nurse was hooking me back up to the monitors she suggested I lay on my left side to try and relieve some of the pain and pressure while we waited on the doctor to come back and check me and make the next game plan. The nurse made note that it looked like Avery's heart rate started to drop as I was contracting indicating she was in distress. This sent off all kinds of bells, whistles, and alarms which got the doctor in our room really fast. I remember her saying, "Well, Avery decided it for us. C-section- now." The next few minutes are a blur of nurses, other doctors, techs, and fear.
Jacob had already called my parents around 6am to let them know what was going on. They decided around 8 or so that they would go ahead and head south- just in case. Jacob started making numerous calls, texts, etc letting everyone know that Avery would be here today- 3 weeks early.
I don't remember a lot about the procedure itself but I do remember a few things:
- The spinal block was absolutely the most over-hyped as painful thing ever. Given I had just gone through 16 hours total of back labor, the spinal was a walk in the park.
-Jacob wore what I can only describe as a painters uniform onesie. :)
-The bag of fluids from my innards broke and liquid went all over the floor. After everyone laughed, they said "well that's never happened before". I said, "Leave it to me to be memorable"
-When they got to Avery, I heard everyone say, "Whoa- that's tight". Avery's cord was wrapped around her neck - twice - and pretty tight.
-I panicked when she didn't cry right away. They didn't even raise her over the shield so I could see her because she was a dark shade of purple from the cord around her neck and the NICU nurses rushed her to the warming table to work on getting her breathing.
-Official time of birth- 11:03am. 30 minutes exactly after I was wheeled into the operating room.
-I asked the doctor if she wanted take a few extra pounds out while she was in there. :)
She is so beautiful! Your birth story is so amazing! You did great! I can't wait to see more of you guys this summer!
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