I found out I was pregnant on 1/25/12. It seemed like too good to be true. We had been trying for almost a year. I was really early and I was scared that it wasn't true. Finally went to the clinic on 1/30 and it was confirmed! I was going to be a mommy again!
I was desperate to know the baby's sex so I went to a place in Columbus and paid for an early gender scan. On 4/11/12 I found out it was another BOY! I was so surprised and excited. I was sure I was having a girl. John and I decided his name would be Dexter.
After a lot of searching I had found a doctor who would allow me to try a VBAC. I wasn't a fan of his bedside manner, which was horrible, but I was willing to deal with anything to get my vbac. At my 36 week appointment I was already dilated to a three. He told me to let him know if I started having a lot of contractions. On 9/18 I went in for my weekly appointment. I was going to be 38 weeks on Thursday. Just as the doctor was about to leave the room he said "so Sept 30th right?" I stared at him for a moment "huh?" He told me he thought he had scheduled my induction for the 30th. When I shook my head he had his nurses call Aultman and schedule it. I was in shock. Induction? For a VBAC!? WHAT!? I was so shocked I didn't know what to do or say. It was all over the websites and information I had read, NEVER induce for a VBAC! I was terrified. I asked my T&C girls for their advice. Everyone was as shocked as I was. I had no idea what I was going to do, and I only had 12 days to decide. That night I had contractions all night that kept waking me up. The next day, Wednesday I was contracting all day. They were pretty consistent all day long and I was having bloody show. I texted my sister Debbie and kept her updated. Finally when John got home and the contractions were still coming Debbie called me. She told me to get my bag because she was coming to take me to get checked out. I didn't want to go. I was convinced it was false labor, or braxton hicks. I didn't go into labor on my own with Calvin, I was sure I couldn't be in labor at 38 weeks! I called my OB to let him know I was going in.
We arrived at Aultman at about 6pm. I told them I was having contractions, so they took me into a room and hooked me up to a monitor. They asked me all the usual questions about previous births etc. I was hooked up to the machine for around an hour when a doctor came in to check to see if I was dilated. He checked me and looked surprised. He said I was at a 5 and my water was bulging. He said "I will go get ready and we will take you back." For some reason that wording confused me. I blurted out "I'm doing a vbac." He looked surprised and said "Oh, hold on I will go call your doctor" He left the room for a few minutes. When he came back he told me that my doctor was on his way and that they were going to move me to a room. I was so shocked, and excited! My baby was coming, and I didn't have to be induced!
I got into a room around 8pm. I gave my L&D nurse my birth plan. She read it over and talked to me about each thing. She said we would need to go over it with my doctor. When the doctor arrived around 8:30 he went over my birth plan. I wanted as few interventions as possible. No pitocin, no breaking my water etc. He said "we aren't doing this without pitocin. I have a meeting in the morning, I'm not staying here all night." He told me if I didn't agree to the pitocin and breaking my water that he would leave. He said "good luck finding someone that will do a vbac, I have a 99.9% success rate." He chewed me out. He told me I was blind-siding him with a birth plan, and setting up "road blocks" for him. When he left the room he told me he would be in at 11 to break my water. I was so upset, but I was determined I could do this despite him being an ass.
6:45 I was 6cm and -1 station. Eating a popsicle
10:30 they came in and set up the table to break my water
The doctor broke my water, which was extremely painful. Contractions immediately picked up and became very painful. He had a medical student try to insert an internal monitor. She tried for a long time, causing a lot of severe pain. Another doctor took over and inserted the internal monitor. By this time I was crying in pain, and asked for an epidural. I cried for quite awhile until they finally came in to do the epi. I got the epi, and my blood pressure immediately crashed. The nurse gave me meds to bring my blood pressure back up.
12:45 at 8cm, had an epi but still in pain
I started pushing at around 1:30 am. Dexter was born at 2:14am on 9/20/12!
He was put on my chest immediately. I cried and cried as did Mommaw and Debbie. I just held him for a long time. A nurse came in and weighed and measured him. She did most of his evals while he was still on my chest. He was 7lb 8oz, 19.5in with apgars of 9 and 9. He got all cleaned up and they put one of my cloth diapers on him.
I tried several times to nurse him but he kept pushing his tongue forward and refusing to eat. He was very content and quiet. I assumed he was just sleepy or laid back. I had several nurses and lactation consultants try to help. They tried every trick they could think of but he still wasn't nursing. I put him in his bed and laid down to get a little sleep. Around 10am I woke up to him making a choking noise. He was puking up foamy fluid, and A LOT of it. I scooped him up and turned him over and yelled at my sister to get a nurse. He soaked his bed, his blankets, my bed, and my gown. Debbie ran out into the hall yelling for a nurse. They all laughed at her. They told her it was normal. A nurse came in and I showed her how he had soaked everything. She said that happens a lot with quick deliveries they can have a lot of fluid built up. She said that once it all cleared out he would probably want to eat. She said to go ahead and try to nurse him because he may eat after getting rid of some of the excess fluid. I tried again to nurse him. Again, he refused to eat. By this point he was 8 hours old and still had not had a bowel movement.
A lactation consultant came in and I told her everything that was going on. She saw one of the blankets Dexter had vomited on and told me to leave it out and she was going to send the on-call pediatrician in to look at it.
I waited for awhile and the doctor hadn't come. So I asked my sister to turn the lights down a bit. I put a pillow under my arm and cradled Dexter. I wanted to try to get a little sleep, I had been awake for about 24 hours. The on-call pediatrician came in. He turned the lights on and saw that I was holding Dexter while I napped. He snapped at me "Do not hold him while you sleep." He picked up Dexter's blanket that was covered in green vomit, barely looked at it, and said "this is normal." Then he looked at me and angrily said "put him in the crib" and stormed out of the room. I was too scared to put him down, I ignored him, and cradled my baby.
We had a couple visitors. Sarah and Greg came, and a friend of Debbie's from work, Mai.
The rest of the day I kept trying to nurse him, he continued to refuse and to vomit. The vomit looked like meconium, he still hadn't had a bowel movement. I told every nurse I saw, every doctor, every lactation consultant. When he still wouldn't eat a lactation consultant brought me a pump. She told me to go ahead and pump to make sure my supply would come in. I got about 10ml of colostrum. They told me to try to feed it to him, but he wouldn't eat. A lactation consultant came in. I told her what was going on. She took Dexter and put the bottle in his mouth. She moved it up and down, and he reluctantly ate. As soon as she was done and he had ate it all he puked all over her. Her whole outfit was covered. She said "this isn't normal, I'm going to go find the doctor." She handed him back to me and assured me that she would find someone right away.
Mommaw and Norm were on their way to the hospital with Calvin by this point and grandma Walter was there.
Around 6:00 they finally came and got him to look him over. They thought maybe he had swallowed meconium, but my water was clear when it was broken. They decided to do an xray. They said his bowels were not sounding the same on one side as the other, which meant they could be twisted. When the xray came back it showed that he had a blockage.
Mommaw, Norm and Calvin had arrived just in time for them to come in and tell me that they were going to transport him to Akron Children's and he would need surgery. They brought him in so that we could see him briefly. I held him and let Calvin kiss him, and we told him goodbye. They took him to the nicu to prepare him for transport. We waited for what seemed like forever. Grandma Walter went home, and I promised to call her with news. Mommaw and Norm needed to get Calvin home so we went down to the nicu so they could say goodbye. When we got to the nicu, Dexter was in an insolette. He had an iv, a drainage tube in his nose, and a heart monitor.
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| Meeting his brother |
After Mommaw and Norm took Calvin home Debbie waited with me for them to let us know if he had been transferred. When the team arrived they put him in a huge transport isolette and wheeled him in to see me. I got to stick my hand in and tell him goodbye. They gave me an info pack from Akron Children's and told me that the doctor would call me when they knew anything. They left, Debbie left, and I waited for news.
I got up every 2 hours to pump that first night. Around 2:15am I got a phone call. They were just getting ready to take him back for surgery. He was exactly 24 hours old. The surgeon said he had a twist in his bowel, called malrotation. He said the best case scenario would be he untwists it and we just watch for reoccurance for the rest of his life. The worst case scenario would be if some of the bowel had died and he would need a bag, and possibly future surgeries. I was numb, and in total shock. I thanked him and hung up.
Around 4:15 his surgeon called back. He said he had done the Ladd's procedure on Dex. He had been twisted and also had a gap in his bowel. He said both had been fixed and he had lost very minimal bowel. He said Dexter would be in the nicu for a few weeks. He assured me that I could call the nicu any time for updates and that they would call me if anything changed. His official diagnosis was Malrotation and Jejunal Atresia.
I was discharged the next day and went straight up to the hospital to see him. More posts about our nicu journey to come later.
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