Tuesday evening (Jan 15th) I was at my homeschool mom's group, chatting with friends. Just after talking with a friend about how my water has never broken early, I stopped by the bathroom before driving home and my water broke! So I headed to the car, called the Gent, the doctor, and my mom to give them a heads up, and then called two friends whose water had broken early so they could confirm my suspicions. I got home, checked on all my sleeping kiddos, and finished packing my bag. Nana, Honey, and Poppa came over; Nana stayed with the kids and the rest of us went to the hospital.
The OB ER doctor confirmed that my water had broken (as if it weren't super-obvious by this point . . .) and said I was at 7 cm. I was having some contractions but they weren't painful. We discussed my labor history briefly and he suggested the epidural was optional, he didn't think the shoulder dystocia would be an issue again. I got settled in to my room and met with the doctor on call (other than my regular doctor, she's my favorite, we were blessed in the details of Thomas's birth). She also suggested the epidural was my decision and we could go either way. She wasn't worried about the shoulder dystocia history, either. The Gent and I talked it over and the anesthesiologist came in and answered our questions. I was reassured by the extra medical opinions but decided to go ahead with the epidural as we had originally planned. David's delivery was scary at the end and I did not want even a slight chance of being rushed to the OR and not remembering this baby's birth.
We started the low-dose epidural and baby handled it great. My blood pressure did keep dropping so the nurse kept giving me shots of something through my iv. That kept me from feeling sick or light-headed. As I expected, I didn't like being hooked up to so many tubes and machines and the epidural did slow my labor down. But I wasn't in any pain and it gave me time to get used to the idea that Thomas was coming early and settle my emotions down a bit. His coming early also eliminated the anxiety I was starting to feel over being induced and questioning whether that was the right decision. And I was thankful I was about to have my baby to hold and snuggle. I have always enjoyed the last days of my pregnancies but Thomas's was starting to wear on me. He was so big I just could not get comfortable.
Anyway, about 4am, after a few trial pushes, I was still at 9 1/2 cm. We started a low-dose of Pitocin and I was ready to push shortly thereafter. Thomas was born quickly with no complications at all. Holding him against my chest just after birth was about the most wonderful thing ever. What a gift he is! And how thankful we all are for the chance to have a newborn one more time.
Our time in the hospital went quickly. We enjoyed our visitors, got a little sleep, and went home Thursday at noon. His siblings were so excited to welcome him home!!!! Thomas was nursing well and sleeping well (for a newborn) and his first checkup with the pediatrician Saturday was fine.
When we went to the doctor Monday to check his bilirubin level again, it had shot up over the weekend. The doctor sent us straight to the NICU for jaundice treatment under the blue lights. His being born early (37 weeks and 5 days) and my antibody-E issue were both likely contributing factors. Thankfully our hospital has private NICU rooms and the Gent and I were able to stay with Thomas the whole 48 hours (it seems like so much longer!) we were there. This was our first NICU experience and scary at first. There were so many babies there much sicker and smaller than Thomas, but being sent back to the hospital was emotional and it came on the same day as our first miscarriage nine years ago. The nurses wanted me to leave while they were doing his intake bloodwork and evaluation, and I politely refused. They kept politely asking until I told them my last baby had died and there wasn't anything they were going to do that I couldn't handle. Anyway, Thomas's bilirubin came down fast under the lights and we were back home Wednesday morning. Not quite what we had in mind for his first week of life, but thankful we have excellent medical care readily available. Soon those 48 hours where I was only allowed to hold him for 30 minutes every 3 hours while he nursed will be a distant memory.
Now we are starting to feel settled in at home (again) and are enjoying a calmer start to the second week of Thomas's life. His siblings fight over whose turn it is to hold him. ;) He is one loved little baby!
P.S. Please pray his bilirubin stays down and his weight starts going back up. He is a great nurser but only being allowed to nurse every 3 hours for a while threw him off a bit. Trying to get back on track now.
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