Since the pregnancy had not gone as desired I'm not sure what made me think any part of labor and delivery would go as planned.
I was supposed to go in at 5:30 in the morning and be given a drug that was part of a trial to induce labor. (Just for knowledge, it was a drug that has been used for years as an induction method. They just changed the way it is administered. Therefore it is going through a trial phase.) I got a call the night before and a nurse told me to call before I came in because they were backed up with deliveries. So at 3:30am I called to check and the nurse said she would call me when they were ready. A little after 6:00am I got the call so we headed in.
Once we got into the labor room and I got hooked up, the first of many complications began. As it just so happens, I was already having contractions. That seems like it would be a good thing. However, because the contractions were being so consistent, they couldn't give me the trial drug to induce labor. Because of the way it's used, if it caused the contractions to come on to fast or too strong, they wouldn't be able to stop it immediately like they could with pitocin. I was told I could either go home and wait to go into active labor on my own or to go ahead and take the pit. As much as I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to wait after getting myself all psyched up for that day. So on pitocin I went.
Contractions got stronger. I could feel them, but they were not painful. I wasn't progressing quickly enough though so they decided to break my water. That was another thing I was hoping to avoid, having that done manually. Oh, well. When they came in to do it, I didn't even know. I thought I was just being cathed, but it was incredibly painful and I didn't understand why. I broke down into tears quickly. It wasn't until I felt the water that I realized what was going on. Afterwards the pain subsided and I returned to normal.
They did insert internal monitors. Again, something I didn't want, but that was required. It wasn't long after they broke the water that the contractions got really bad. I knew I was not going to be able to make it without drugs. I kicked everyone out of the room except for Bryan. I wanted to get the epidural without anyone trying to talk me out of it. I called for the epidural guy (who, by the way, is extremely nice) and asked to get drugged up. There were a few minor complications with that. Didn't get enough numbing stuff the first time and then he hit a blood vessel. Once that was done though I was feeling great! In no longer felt the contractions.
They came to check me later and found out I was fully dilated and completely effaced. They didn't want me to push though. Just told me to chill. Finally around midnight, they decided to have me try pushing. Nothing happened so they came back closer to one. I couldn't feel my legs at all, but they kept wanting me to move a bunch. Was kind of annoying. I kept trying to push, but I couldn't feel anything at all so I had no idea if I was pushing or not. After two hours of the straight pushing, I had given up. I didn't feel like I was making any progress and I just broke into crying after every push.
When I came in, I didn't want a c-section, but at that point it was all I wanted. Luckily, they agreed that it was the best idea, as well. I also knew that if I went in for a c-section that I wanted to have my tubes tied at the same time. When I told the nurse/doctor person this, she refused. She said that the person who signed off on having my tubes tied was only a medical researcher and shouldn't have done that and that it was a decision I had only made two days ago. I informed her that it was not a last minute decision, that my first and only appointment had been two days ago and that's why the consent form had been signed that late. Previously, I had been going to Lisa Ross and they knew long before that I wanted it done. From this point, I had two people telling me all about the regret, the regret, the regret. I HATED being pregnant and had NO intention of doing it again. Maybe some people regret the decision and want a half dozen kids, but that is not for me. The person told me that she would ask the head surgeon because she herself did not feel comfortable tying tubes after someone's first child.
They took me into the surgical room and I heard someone say that the tubes were being done, as well. So I was quite happy to hear that the head surgeon had sided with me. I was kind of out of it at this point. I was awake and had a general sense of what was going on, but felt like it was the craziest medicine head ever.
Bryan came in and they got started. Shortly after, I heard the baby's first cry and couldn't help but smile. They showed him to us. He was huge. Someone said to me, "No wonder you couldn't push him out! He's a toddler!" They took him over to get cleaned up and weighed. He weighed in at 9lbs 15oz, an ounce short of 10lbs. A lot different from the ultrasounds at either place.
They took care of my tubes and then stapled me up and sent me to recovery. I knew that Sylar was in the area next to me, but I couldn't see him because of a curtain. Finally, someone moved it so I could see him. We tried breastfeeding and only got a little milk. He also had no intention of latching onto the breast. They did a blood sugar test on him and found his sugar was extremely low. Since I wasn't producing enough milk, they had to get a bottle of formula and get him eating. Then they rushed him off to the NICU. I was extremely bummed about not being able to have him with me, but I was also exhausted. They took me to a recovery room.
The time after that is kind of a blur now. There was lots of pain, lots of visitors, lots of pills, and very little sleep. I was discharged three days after the c-section and Sylar was able to come home a day after that. He has been doing very well and I'm trying to adjust to motherhood. I'm failing pretty badly at it, but at least I try. That's issues for another blog though.
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