Parkers LONG birthstory!

***edit to original post, forgot to leave out that during the c-section we discovered Parker was sunny side up, so that may have been why pushing was getting no where!*****

Parker’s Birth Story
(warning, I don’t leave out much!)

On Saturday November 21, opening day of rifle deer hunting season, I felt really off. Basically from my hips down I felt so weak and achy- sort of that flu like weak muscle feeling- but just my hips down. Chris was 1.5 hours away hunting, and all I could muster was diaper changes, food and the basics for 23 month old Brayden. After my nap (and Brady’s) at about 4pm I felt something odd and wondered if my water had broke. I investigated but couldn’t tell. So I laid back down a bit, then got back up and there was more of a gush of fluid and I knew my water had broke. Brady had just gotten up from his nap and he wanted to snuggle- but I was in freakout mode not sure what to do first. Of course, I called chris and said “I am not fooling, my water just broke”. He said he was on his way. I called a neighbor who came and got Brady right away, then I could think. My stuff was ready, Chris’s wasn’t, and Brady was mostly ready. Shortly my SIL and her husband were over and helping me function, in no time we were on our way to the hospital where Chris would meet us.

Once there around 6pm, they checked me in, hooked me up to monitors, and verified that my membranes had ruptured. While driving to the hospital some contractions had started. Around 7:30 pm my cervix was checked and was less then 1cm. Because I previously had a c-section and was planning to have a v-bac (vaginal birth after cesarean) they wanted me to progress as much as possible on my own without pitocin (which induces contractions). So, thru the night I walked, and walked, and walked. The nurses let me walk for 45 minutes, then hook back up to the moniters for 15-20 minutes, then walk again. Chris walked a couple rounds with me, but mostly slept.

At 4am, my cervix was checked again- just over 1cm. Pitocin was started, and around 8am regular 2-4 minute contractions were finally happening. (at no point did I ever have regular consistant intervals of contractions, there would be a few 2 minutes apart and then a break for 4 minutes, then a few 2 minutes apart).

Somewhere around noon I couldn’t think of anything but the pain. So we tried Nubane (sp). That worked for less then 30minutes. Did nothing for the pain, but I was able to concentrate on thinking about something other then the pain for that little bit of time. Shortly after that wore off I decided it was time to get checked and think about an epidural because I didn’t think I could handle the pain for much longer. Chris was getting frustrated because I would ask him to do something, like press on my hip- then yell for him to stop because it hurt.

1:45pm, epi was in place and I was 5-6cm’s! Yay for progress! Shortly after the epi, we had to stop the pitocin because my blood pressure dropped, and babies heart rate dropped. (this is where things halted with the birth of Brady, his heart rate never completely recovered so we couldn’t start the pitocin- so Chris and I were worried that there would be no chance for a v-bac) Both of us recovered quickly and pitocin was started again. During the entire, lengthy labor/delivery this was the only point that the babies heart rate dropped. Chris and I both napped in comfort for a few hours letting the contractions do their thing.

6pm- checked again- 10cm! fully dilated! Howver baby still needed to drop a bit more, since I was comfy and contractions were moving baby down (and baby doing perfect) we let the contractions drop the baby rather then pushing to drop the baby. Chris and I napped some more.

8pm- started pushing, baby had dropped. With each contraction baby would start dropping into the birth canal but then would go back up between contractions. We tried this bar thing that allowed me to pull myself forward- things looked better, but not great. After 2 hours the Dr. wanted us to call it. She said I was trying hard but she really didn’t think this was going to end in a v-bac. Prior to her coming in, the nurses and I wanted to try one more position. Since the epi had worn off already, so the Dr. agreed to 15 more minutes. So, this was me on my knees pushing- letting gravity help. Dr. was there, and let me push for 45 more minutes because it appeared I was making good progress. It was SO painful, different then the pain for the previous pushing, so I too thought there was progress. Finally there came a point were I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was giving it 200%, and it just wasn’t happening. (plus there are extra risks involved with a v-bac) Sure, there were some tears because I was really hopeful to not have a c-sections, but I knew we tried hard. By this point the contractions were horrid, and I was angry at them because I didn’t need them anymore! I pushed thru them until the epi man returned (the contractions were manageable when pushing), and in seconds I was numb again.

In no time I was wheeled into the OR. An extra nurse was called in to help get baby out as he/she was so low from the pushing. My epi man was fabulous. I vomited once during the c-section and he doped me up, he even gave me something for the shakes. At 11:36 baby was out, and we found out that it is a BOY! Chris took him back to get cleaned up, he weighed 7lbs 2.5 ounces and was 18.25” long. A head full of black hair. I got to see him briefly before they took Chris and him back. We were so excited for another boy!

They went to the recovery room to take care of baby, and I should have returned in about 30 minutes from being stitched up. However, during the pushing I tore my cervix and uterus up to my previous c-section scar (just above the pubic bone). So, it’s a good thing I didn’t keep pushing. So, after the baby was out- the epi man gave me this fabulous drug that relaxed me and helped me sleep! I think it lasted for an hour or more- it was so nice to sleep thru all that stitching (2 hours before I returned to recovery room). Chris was worried about me taking so long, but soon found out the details. While they were stitching I started feeling things again, so they injected the epi w/ more numbing drugs. My Blood pressure started dropping again, but epi man was on top of things.

Finally back to recovery to see my boys! I am numb from my shoulders down! I manage to hold my son, but just a few seconds since I am so numb. Then because baby had been born about 3 hours ago they wanted me to nurse right away. OK…. Arms numb… boobs numb…. LOL. Chris and the nurse helped sit me up, one held baby, one held the boob. About this time I turn white and feel like I am going to pass out. Blood pressure dropped again. 30 minutes later I am no better, still white and feeling off- I don’t really remember much about this time besides trying to decide what to do. I wanted to nurse my baby and not give him formula, but agreed with Chris and nurse that it was taking too long to come out of this and un-numb. So Chris fed baby formula w/ a dropper.

Finally, somewhere around 4am, I was ready to nurse baby and really meet him.

We struggled with his name. If it was a girl, we knew she would be Delaney Lynn. We agreed on Parker quickly, but not a middle name. When he was a couple days old, we agreed on Chase because it means Huntsman.

Parker and I were both monitered closely in the hospital because my water had broke so long before baby had been born. At first ped’s thought he might have a bacterial infections because his white blood cells where high. It took 3 days to get results from his blood tests. In the meantime he was given antibiotics just in case he did have an infection.

As soon as we found out the results of his tests, negative, we went home! Finally Brady got to meet his little brother and see his mommy for the first time in 5 days. We went home the night before Thanksgiving (11/25). Brady had a hard time not seeing mom for so long, and because of H1N1 he couldn’t come to the hospital.