16.5.18

Everett's Birth Story

I have been meaning to type this up for a couple of weeks, and now I finally have found the time. So, for your reading enjoyment, here is Everett's birth story.

On Tuesday, April 24th, I woke up around 3 AM with contractions. These seemed different than my Braxton Hicks contractions had been - lower down in my abdomen - and they were relatively regular, about ten minutes apart. I called my midwife to let her know, and at about 4 AM, I called Adam to let him know. Adam was working out of town about two and a half hours away, and since my labors have tended to go very quickly once they get going, I wanted to give him time to get home. The contractions were very manageable, not too strong, but still different than they had been. Adam got home around 6:30, and things were about the same, although the contractions had gotten closer together. I don't remember when my midwife, Erika, came, or what time we called my doula, Megan, but they both arrived and we sent the kids to my mother-in-law's to wait for their little sibling to arrive. Once Erika arrived, she determined that the baby was turned around, and suggested I lay down to get him in a better position. So I laid down for about an hour or so, and he turned around nicely. During this time, contractions were still relatively regular, but had not gotten closer together. Normally, when labor gets going, I feel like moving, especially walking around; but this time, I didn't really feel like doing anything in particular. I tried walking around outside with Megan, I tried doing lunges on the stairs, because I was thinking, let's get this show on the road. But nothing was really making labor progress. I had this nagging feeling that it was all a false alarm, and that it wasn't going to happen today, even though Adam had driven home from work, and Erika and Megan were there. I was starting to feel stressed, and I pulled Adam aside in our room and started crying and saying, what if it's not going to be today? After a little while, Erika and Megan came in and Erika said she could tell I was feeling stressed, and that she and Megan were going to leave but stay in the area, to give me some space. I snuggled with Adam for at least an hour, just resting and trying to relax. All during this time, I was still having contractions, but they became even more irregular. That night, Erika came back and checked my vitals. I had a bit of a temperature and I think the baby's heartbeat was a little faster than it should have been, so she was concerned I was dehydrated. I drank a LOT of water and electrolyte drinks, and maybe some juice, I don't remember, but I got my temp down and baby's heartbeat back to normal, so she said I really needed to be intentional about staying hydrated. She stayed through most of the night, and eventually checked to see if my water had broken (it hadn't) and if I was dilated at all (I was between 3-4 cm, but that doesn't necessarily mean much, especially with a fourth baby). Since my contractions were still very irregular, Erika decided to go, but said to call if anything changed, or even if I just felt like I needed her to come back. My contractions died off and there was not much more to report.

The next day, Wednesday, was a normal day. I had a few random contractions, but nothing worth timing and nothing serious enough to warrant me taking any effort to manage. So I was feeling pretty frustrated because I had basically a full day of labor on Tuesday and nothing came of it. Adam was staying home in case things did start up again, but nothing did.

Thursday, the 26th, seemed to be another normal day. My mom and stepdad were at the house, we had a normal morning, with a few random contractions, much as before. In the early afternoon, we all went for a walk out to our field to show my mom and stepdad our new barn. We got back to the house and a woman from our church brought some meals over for us to put in the freezer for after the baby was born, but while we were talking with her in our kitchen, I felt pretty tired (abnormally tired) and it felt like I had pulled a muscle in my lower right abdomen. I didn't think much of it, since I had been walking, but as soon as she left, I went and laid down for a nap. Adam took the kids to do a couple of errands in town, and my mom and stepdad were at the house with me. Around 4, I woke up from my nap feeling like my water was about to break, so I started to rush to the bathroom (as much as a 9-months-pregnant-woman can rush) and I said to my mom, "Something is definitely happening." I got to the bathroom and instead of clear amniotic fluid or even urine, there was just blood. Mostly liquid blood, but a few clots of blood as well. And I thought, this can't be good. I am probably going to need a c-section. My mom called Erika, and sent her a picture of the blood, and Erika said we should call 911. I called Adam right after and told him to come home right away and drop off the kids, because we had called an ambulance. He got home about ten minutes later, and shortly after that, the EMTs arrived. I had laid down in  bed after calling the ambulance, so they came in my room and were asking basic questions. They got a wheelchair to get me out of the house (I didn't trust myself to walk down the front stairs) and loaded me into the ambulance. Before they left, they started an IV (I don't remember if they actually gave me saline, or just did an IV lock thing where it's ready in case the doctors need it). And I remember telling Adam that if I needed a c-section, I was going to do it. The EMTs did not have any fetal monitoring equipment, so I was almost entirely focused on trying to feel any little movement from the baby to make sure he was still ok, and telling everyone anytime I felt a movement or a contraction. They didn't use the lights and siren, which was reassuring to me, because I thought, well, it can't really be that bad if we are just driving normally, right? My mom was following behind us in our van and met us at the hospital. My contractions were getting more regular at this point, but still very mild and completely manageable. Erika, Hannah (my other midwife), and Megan all met us at the hospital and came up to the room with us. One of the nurses started to give me an IV, and Adam and I were asking things like, "What is that for? Do I need that?" and the nurse said, "The doctor will decide that" and Adam said, "No, my wife will decide that." (He goes into super protective mode at the hospital.) The OB on duty was someone I had not met before, Dr. Torres. He said he needed to check and see if he could see why I was bleeding and if it was stopping. Thankfully, they put on an external monitor so I could hear the baby's heartbeat. That is really what got me through, listening over everything to his little heartbeat still going strong. Once he checked, he saw that the bleeding was not stopping or getting darker, and said that the most likely reasons I was bleeding would be cause for a c-section, or if I had been dilated enough, he said he could have tried breaking my water to see if I could push Baby out in time. But since I was still only dilated about 4 cm, there was no time to try a vaginal birth. After I said, yes, let's do the c-section, things started moving very quickly. I talked to nurses and the anesthesiologist (by the way, I just spelled that right the first time! haha), signed paperwork, talked over the major possible problems that could happen, etc. And during the whole time at the hospital, and possibly the ambulance, I don't remember now, I was shaking quite a lot. If I was able to really focus, I could sometimes stop for a short time, but for most of the time leading up to the c-section, my whole body was just shaking. Megan prayed with me, and then they wheeled me into the operating room and told me what I would need to do and what would happen. They gave me a spinal and laid me down right away to let it spread evenly. Since I didn't know what is normal or what to expect in this situation, and because I was somewhat nervous, I was saying everything that I felt was happening out loud. "Ok, I can't feel my legs anymore. Now my stomach feels weird but I can still feel it." And I remember my head being really uncomfortable with the pillow they had, until my constant asking if they could adjust my pillow drove them to get me something else that worked better (I think it was a folded up blanket or something). The anesthesiologist gave me a "preview" of what would happen, telling me that I wouldn't be able to feel anything as far as pain, but I would feel pressure about three different times during the surgery. They had a curtain up so I couldn't see anything, and once I was numb and everything else was ready, they let Adam come in and hold my hand, sitting next to my head. The first part happened very quickly - once I was ready, getting Baby out only took a few minutes. Dr. Torres held him up quickly and said, "It's a boy," and then handed him off to the pediatrician to be checked over. They were concerned that he might not be ok since they weren't sure what was going on with me. Adam went over to be with him and then the long part of the surgery began - closing everything up. Once the pediatrician (actually the one I  have taken the kids to in the past) checked him out and said he was good, they brought him over to me. I asked if I could do skin to skin, and one nurse seemed hesitant, but another one said, "Oh yes, we can do that," and she laid him on my chest and scooted down the curtain a bit to give us room. The nurse who was at my other shoulder during the whole surgery said that they were moving toward doing more skin-to-skin after c-sections at their hospital, but that was the first one she had been in on. Baby was beautiful and I was, above all else, so thankful that he was ok, and he just enjoyed laying there on my chest. Once the doctor was done with all of the closing up, they gave Baby to Adam and they met me back in my room. He said the surgery was a "textbook" surgery, and that I had a partial placenta abruption, where the placenta detaches (in my case, only partially) before the baby is born. One of the nurses said that the umbilical cord was thick and healthy looking, and she thinks that is part of why he was still ok even though the placenta was starting to detach. And the doctor and my midwives both said that most of the time, when there is a placental abruption, the outcome is not good, but Baby and I both turned out fine. He started breastfeeding like a champ once we were back in the room. We didn't decide on his name until Saturday (we had two names we both liked), but we eventually agreed to name him Everett Royal. He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. Royal is Adam's middle name and Adam's maternal grandfather's first name. Everett is a name we just liked, but it also means "Strong/brave as a wild boar," which I thought was fitting, since we had a scary labor but he made it through strong and healthy.

So many things show me that God was taking care of us during this stressful labor. Even though I had a "wasted" day of labor on Tuesday, if I hadn't, Adam would have missed the birth. No lights and siren in the ambulance helped calm my nerves, even though they probably should have used the lights and siren. Even so, we got to the hospital and into surgery with enough time to keep us both alive and healthy and safe. The surgery went well and I am recovering well, although as I said at the hospital, recovering from a c-section will be a new adventure. Both the OB and my midwives think I should still be able to have (or at least attempt to have) a subsequent vaginal birth (VBAC - Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) if I give my body time to heal. And while part of me was very scared thinking, what if this happens again, should I even think about having any more kids? The other part of me is holding my sweet, sweet snuggly newborn and thinking, this can't be my last baby. So we will see. In the meantime, I am loving my wonderful boy and am so thankful for my family and friends who have been an enormous help to me.