Saturday, November 05, 2005

My Son's Birth Story - Pregnancy and Delivery

My husband graduated from DeVry University October 2002. I was exactly 36 weeks. From about 16 weeks on I had continuous back pain right at my hips. It always felt like something was out of place, like my hips and back were out of alignment. I woke up the morning of the graduation to start getting ready for the ceremony; I sensed that something was different. I had a little bit of adominal pain and finally decided that the baby had turned overnight. That day I discovered how strong-willed and determined and head-strong my son was and would be later. He had turned breech.

I called my doctors office and talked with the nurse, explained to her that I really thought the baby was breech and wasn't 36 weeks a little late for that to happen? She told me that I had nothing to worry about that if the baby was breech that its more than likely that he would turn again before his due date. For weeks I dealt with the uncomfortable feeling of a head been shoved up under my ribs, and his feet dancing on my left hipbone. I couldn't breath and was constanting trying to push his head out of my ribs.

I went in for my 39 week checkup and the baby was still breech. He had stayed that way since 36 weeks, never moved. I had been trying to ask the doctor if she noticed if the baby was not normally positioned for weeks. She said she thought the baby was head down, and that there was nothing I should be concerned about. At this checkup she did a check and decided that there was a body part at the bottom that WAS NOT the head and scheduled me for an immediate ultrasound.

The ultrasound was later that day and had confirmed my suspicion for the past three weeks. The baby was breech. Not only was he breech he was quite big. Ultrasound size estimates aren't always accurate, but they guessed that he was 8 pounds 14 ounces a week before my due date. the sac was starting to break down, and the vernix was coming off. These are all signs that the baby is ready to be born.

Months before my husband graduated he had been offered and had accepted a job in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rather than trying to move a month before the baby was born and try to get all the insurance and doctor stuff worked out we decided to stay in Phoenix till Thanksgiving weekend. He would start his job on December 2nd. Our families were coming down to see the new baby, celebrate Thanksgiving at my husbands grandparents house, and help us move.

The ultrasound was performed on a Monday. My due date was a week from the next day, Tuesday November 26th. Thanksgiving was a week from that Thursday on November 28th. My husbands family was arriving that Saturday, November 23rd. On Wednesday November 20th, I went in to see the doctor again. She said we could wait till I went into Labor, and try to do a version. I informed her of our plans to move the following week. She thought I was crazy but understood our urgency. She suggested a new method. Her twin sister was a chiropractor and had lots of success with the webster technique(there is more info about it here and here.) I told her I was willing to try anything.

My Doctors twin sister had her chiropractic office in the same medical complex as my doctor. Later that same Wednesday afternoon we went to her office. After giving me a full adjustment she performed the webster technique. Really all it involved was putting pressure on a specific nerve in the left hip area. This is supposed to make the baby uncomfortable and want to move. Immediately after this procedure we went back to my apartment where I was supposed to lay on my back with my feet elevated above my head for 10 minute exactly. This was believed to make it easier for the baby to turn.

Later that afternoon I was still very concerned about our time schedule. I needed at least a week to recover a little before moving to Albuquerque. I called the doctors office and talked with her about having a scheduled c-section. She suggested waiting a little longer, or possibly trying the webster technique again. I was all for that but still wanted it scheduled just in case. I hung up with the doctor, the nurse called the hospital and scheduled an operating room for Friday November 22nd at 8am for my c-section.

Thursday November 21st I woke up, and nothing had changed. I went to the chiropractor again. She adjusted me, and performed the webster technique again. I went home and put my feet up (literally) for another 10 minutes. We spent the rest of the day walking around the mall trying to induce labor. We went to bed knowing the next day our son would be born by cesarean section. My theory is no matter how long I had waited I probably wouldn't have gone into labor on my own. The baby wasn't putting any pressure on the cervix to even cause labor to start.

Friday morning we woke up at 4:00am to be at the hospital by 5am. Got checked in and then they prepped me for surgery. They asked me if I wanted a spinal or an epidural. They explained the differences to me. A spinal made you numb from the chest down where an epidural was only from the waist down. A spinal only lasts for 30-45 minutes where an epidural lasts from 45-60 minutes. A spinal is stronger. You can't move anything. I was so scared of feeling anything I chose the spinal.


At 7:45am or so I was wheeled into the operating room. The surgery began at 8am. Once the doctor had me open she reached in to pull my baby out. I don't think he was in the position she was expecting him to be in, because I remember she let out a gasp and said "oops I just grabbed his balls". He had bruised balls for three weeks after his birth. I remember her really tugging on him and really pushing on me to try and get him out. I believe the inner layers of muscle tore farther than she had cut on the left side of my incision because he was so jammed in there. Even now I have little jabs of pain at the left side of my incision. The doctor commented that she had never worked this hard on a c-section before. She was perspiring. At 8:30am he was born. The doctor commented that he was really big. He was so jammed in there, and had been in that position for so long one side of his head was lower than the other. My ribs had run right along the middle of his head and had forced one side lower than the other. I freaked out inside, thinking I was going to have a mutated boy. As soon as they layed him down on the infant table to get him cleaned up he peed. He sent a huge arc flying onto the floor. Everyone laughed. He measured 9 pounds, 1 ounce, 21 inches long. He was then taken to the nursery to have his blood sugar levels tested. There is always a chance with larger babies that they can have high blood sugar.


As the doctor was closing she felt something that seemed weird to her and asked her assistant to look as well. She told me that she thought I had a heart-shaped pelvis. (whatever that meant). She said that she thought I might have a tough time laboring and delivering in the future, if I tried for a vbac. That freaked me out a little. As soon as I had scheduled the c-section that wednesday I knew my next baby would be delivered V-bac. While I was laying there waiting to be able to hold my baby I noticed an aching type pain developing in my shoulders and neck. I asked the anethesiologist and he said there were air bubbles trapped inside that floated up to my shoulders. He mercifully gave me more pain medication.

They wheeled me back to the room where I spent 3 days in the hospital really drugged up. My husband made phone calls to close friends and family. Our immediate family where on their way down to Arizona. Our best friends came to the hospital and visited. We were pretty much the only patients on the floor and the nurses took very good care of us. We rented and watched a few movies in my room. My husband slept in the room every night. The food (once I was able to eat solids) was very good.

The only thing kinda wierd was getting used to the nurses as they changed shifts. Some nurses gave me pain meds every 6 hours on clockwork, they believed it was better to give the next dose before the last dose wore off so I wouldn't feel any pain. Other nurses(old school) said they worried that I would become addicted and would only give me meds if I asked for it. By that point I was crying with pain. I was encouraged to walk only a few hours after the surgery. I felt like I was going to tear open and my insides would burst out. I had horrible pains from the air bubbles trapped inside. It cause the aches in my shoulders but also horrible abdominal pain.

When my baby and I were released, my husband took me home to our apartment. Which happened to be on the 3rd floor. That was the longest flight of stairs I had ever climbed. I don't remember much else until my husbands family arrived. I remember trying to get up in the middle of the night when my baby cried, and crying myself because it was so hard. My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were so sweet. They fell in love with my son immediately. The next day my parents arrived. The day before Thanksgiving my mom drove me to my doctors appointment to have my staples removed, and then to my son's very first checkup. I had planned on putting some clothes together for myself and the baby as my husband, my dad and my in-laws would be packing up our apartment while I was gone. I had gotten a bag together for the baby but nothing for me yet. When I returned to the apartment everything was completely packed. I had to wear the same underwear for the next three days. There was no way I could get to my dresser as it was in the back of the u-haul trailer. I burst into tears. It had been my first day out since the delivery and just riding in the car was exhausting.

Thursday was Thanksgiving day. Everyone went to my husbands grandparents house in Tempe. It was a wonderful day but it was bitter-sweet. It would be the last day we would spend in Phoenix. Our best friends came to dinner. My mother-in-law was worried that my baby had a bit of jaundice. With her second son she got in big trouble by the doctor, and her baby had to be readmitted. My son was put in the sunshine while we ate dinner. (When my daughter was born the jaundice was taken very seriously, I was sent home with a billiblanket. I think if it wasn't for the fact that I had moved so quickly after he was born he would have probably needed one too. I swear he was worse than she was).
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 11/05/2005 07:45:00 PM :: 1 Comments:

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