Submitted by ChildFun Mama Suzanne
My second pregnancy was nothing textbook! At 6 weeks I spontaneously started to hemorrhage. You may ask how much, let me just tell you….when I got to the doctor’s office his first words were, I am afraid I have to tell you you have miscarried.
Then upon further examination he found no Products of Conception, so he sent me right over to the hospital to have a sonogram. At the hospital, not only did they find I still had the sac in my uterus, they also found a heart tone. I was ordered immediate bed rest. After 3 weeks the bleeding had completely subsided and I was brought in for another sonogram. At that point I was told the baby had a 5% chance of being born alive.
After a normal next couple of weeks, I was allowed to return to work (FDC). Only to have my 21 year-old cousin infect me with 5ths disease. For the next 22 weeks I had a sonogram every 2 weeks to insure the fetus was not anemic from the infection. We found out it was a boy.
We made it through that trial just to find what the doctor thought to be a hernia! After seeing the specialist, I was cleared! Just the muscles inflamed.
So here it comes down to the wire, if you read my other story you know I had a c-section, but we decided to try VBAC. The doctor said the incision was the right kind so I was psyched! After being given a 5% chance we were elated to know this baby was going to be born. Oct. 27 at 11pm as I was coming back to bed after peeing! My water broke, nice big gush! This was 2 weeks early but everything was ok! When we arrived at the hospital and they did the checking etc. they told me I was only 2 cms and I wasn’t having any consistent contractions. They let me go the night to see if I would progress on my own.
So at 7am the Doctor tells me they are going to induce me. Great, figured I would be outta there in no time, and the nurse told me that Pitocin really doesn’t make contractions harder just faster! (I WOULD LIKE TO STRANGLE HER NOW!) So about 15 mins later, wham, the contractions hit. I made it to about 11am without asking for any pain medication. A miracle of its own if you ask me! At that point they gave a combination of drugs that didn’t do much expect make me completely out of it! The pain didn’t subside at all! Every two minutes I was up saying ouch it hurts it hurts, then I would fall back asleep! Not that two minutes could be considered sleep. Finally at 3, I begged for an epidural. They checked me again and said we will ask the doctor. I was only 4 cms dilated, and they didn’t want to slow the labor anymore. The doctor okayed it! Thank God! For those of you who don’t know what Pitocin does, not only does it increase the contractions, it does intensify them! , and to top it off, you have to remain hooked up to the monitor at all times! So no strolling to ease the labor, no sitting in the chair, nada, just in the bed!
At 3:30 I received the epidural, how I managed to stay still for the procedure is beyond me, they hooked it up so it stayed in case they had to do a C-section! Ah, some needed rest! At 5:45 I told the nurse I was felling pressure down there. She checked and sure enough, it was time to push. To make a LONG story a little shorter, after an hour and a half of pushing, my son was born at 7:16pm on Oct. 28th, 1997. The cord was wrapped around his neck and he was slightly blue, but he was ALIVE! They didn’t let me hold him, but he was being taken care of right in the same room, so I was happy about that. That meant he wasn’t in any real danger.
Now back to me, you thought I was done, right? Wrong. My placenta was not coming! My doctor was doing all he could, and by this time my epidural had completely worn off. He was pushing his full weight on my abdomen, and let me tell you, this was no fun. Finally, after 15 minutes he asked the anesthesiologist to put more stuff in the epidural line. At this point my mother began to worry because the line was opened full blast and cold stuff was running through my body and I began to shake uncontrollably! Still he couldn’t get it. At 7:45 the doctor was starting to panic, he told the nurses to get the blood warmer down stat, my blood pressure was dropping, down to 80 over something, he said if it went any lower they were doing a C-section (yes, just for the placenta after having a VBAC for my son!) The anesthesiologist chimed in and suggested using nitroglycerin to relax the muscles! What a life saver. At 8:00 my placenta was delivered, accompanied by the worst headache ! I have ever had! After all this, I was allowed to see my son who weighed a measly 6lbs 13 oz. and he was still as long as my daughter (21 1/2 ins.).
Now I told you in my daughter story I would tell you why it was determined she was so weirdly positioned, and also why my second pregnancy had the complications. When my son was 10mos old I became pregnant with twins, but I miscarried 10 weeks, and the reason for all the problems was determined. I have a bicornuate uterus. Meaning I have a double uterus. The doctors told me it was a miracle I have two healthy children, so I Thank God for that!
