OK.. maybe needed is the wrong word...let's say used.
This is the whole story.. is you don't want to read about the pre-term labor skip down to the third paragraph...
Brixton’s story actually started about three weeks before he was born. On I Sunday,October 4, 2009, I started having frequent contractions. I had been having occassional contractions for a couple weeks, but these were different. Not painful at all, but there were a lot of them. Nate and I headed to church and in the short drive I had three. I had already called the doctor and when we got to church the on call called me back and said I should probably go get checked out. We went to Mercy for monitoring. Still no pain, but the nurses were very concerned because I was only at 32 weeks. They gave me a shot of Brethyne to stop contractions, and then gave me a steroid shot for Brixton’s lung development. After a couple hours they checked me and were surprised I was dialated to a three and 60-70 percent affaced. They went ahead and sent me home saying if I had any contractions that hurt to come back. The next morning I called my doctor and they had me go back because I had a few stronger contractions overnight. They checked me again and said I was at a four. They immediately admitted me and moved me up to labor and delivery where I would spend 7 hours on a drug they called Mag. I had to lay flat and could only get up to go to the bathroom. The nurse told me to be ready to “barf my brains out.” Fortunately, I never threw up. I was only extremely hot and nauseous. My doctor came in and said I could eat when they stopped the medicine but they wanted to keep me there for monitoring and I may have to go on bedrest. They also gave me a second steroid shot for Brixton’s lungs. I spent until Wednesday in the hospital. That morning my doctor wanted me up moving around to see how my body would react. My contractions seemed to have stopped so they said I could go home. The best part was my doctor said I could go ahead and go back to work as long as I took it easy. He knew I really wanted a natural birth and that laying around for the next few weeks wouldn’t help me as far as that was concerned.
I stayed on a couple of prescriptions to keep me from going into labor for the next week and a half. On Sunday, October 18, 2009, Dr. Goff said I could stop the medication and that if I went into labor he wouldn’t stop it again. Brixton had been measuring big in all my ultrasounds so he felt that combined with the fact I had already had the steroid shots for his lungs was enough to believe Brixton would survive without any serious problems if he came early. So, I stopped the medicine. For the next week I had contractions pretty much every 6-8 minutes. They were uncomfortable, but never so strong that I couldn’t talk or keep going through them. The doctor and nurses told me that once they started hurting I needed to get to the hospital because they didn’t want me to have the baby along the side of the highway. After all, I made it to four centimeters basically without even feeling anything except a little pressure.
Saturday, October 24, 2009, I was having stronger contractions than I had the previous days. Nate and I went ahead and went to our “Baby Bootcamp” class (learning to care for a newborn).
This was our practice baby.
This is the last pregnant picture of me taken at home.
They continued to get stronger. We went for a walk around our neighborhood to see if anything would change. That afternoon we took a nap. When we woke up they felt a lot stronger and it was getting harder to keep walking around. After some debate, and a few contractions at three minutes apart, we decided to go back to the hospital. They monitored me and were probably going to let me leave because I was still a four, but they checked and I was at 90 percent (I was at 80 when we got there). They had me walk around some and then checked again and I was at 100 percent. They admitted me and we moved upstairs at about 9:30 Saturday night. We had planned for a natural birth so made sure the nursing staff new. We were so blessed to have the nurses we had. Our first LD nurse was Jessica. She was so excited that we were wanting to do natural. We spent the rest of the night in an hourly routine. They had to monitor me for 15 minutes each hour. So, each hour started with the monitoring. I did some exercises on the birthing ball for about 15 minutes. Then we would walk the halls of the hospital for 15-20 minutes. And then we would do some other exercises that Nate had printed off the Internet. Around two Sunday morning they gave me a pill that would lessen the contractions pain so I could sleep for a little while. The pill wore off pretty quickly, I maybe got 20 minutes of sleep. I ended up stalling at a seven. They had offered hours earlier to break my water but we refused. We decided that would be ok now, but they checked me and when they did Brixton’s head would float up. I had extra amnionic fluid through the whole pregnancy which Dr. Goff and Jessica said would make breaking my water risky. If they broke it and he floated up his cord could float our which would mean instant C-section. So we waited. They had me pump to stimulate stronger more frequent contractions. It really seemed to work. However, I just couldn’t get past a seven.
At 9:00 on Sunday, Dr. Goff came in and said what they could do is poke a hole in my water bag, that would help plant Brixton’s head on my cervix and then it may break the rest of the way on its own. However, when he checked he said Brixton’s head was down enough they could break it without any problem. So they did at 9:30. The change was immediate. The next contraction was so much stronger than any of the others I had had so far. With in two contractions I was at an eight. I found it incredibly hard to focus for the next couple of hours. It seemed everything I had done to prepare went out the window. They told me to tell them when I was ready to push and as soon as they asked I said I was. By this time we had a new nurse, Heather. Heather helped Nate out by telling him different things he could do to help me. I ended up pushing for about 30-45 minutes. Dr. Goff was in there for almost the whole time after breaking my water. Between him, Heather and Nate I made it through. Nate said at about 11:30 Dr. Goff looked at Heather and said I had a good 30 or 45 minutes of pushing left.
Then at 11:41 a.m., on Sunday, October 25, 2009, Brixton was born.
They considered him 5 weeks early. They layed him on my tummy and I don’t remember much except thinking he was very purple. They asked Nate if he wanted to cut the cord. He had always said he didn’t want to, but when they asked he said he wanted to. They took Brixton to the other side of the room to clean him up.
This is my doctor with Brixton.
I tore in what Dr. Goff described as a “Y.” So, while Brixton was cleaned up I was sewed up. They gave me a shot of local anesthesia but I’m pretty sure I still felt most of the stitching. They had a NICU team on hand because he was early. Once I was cleaned up they let me hold him and let our family come look at him.
They then took him away because his body temperature was too low and his breathing was accelerated. Eventually, they did bring him back. His temperature had regulated and so had his breathing. The pediatrician later told us that based on all the checks she does he appears to have been a 37 week baby not at almost 35 week baby. He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inces long.
After he was born I ended up passing out the first three times out of bed. Poor Nate had to catch me everytime. The first time I made it to the bathroom and then told the nurse I was going to pass out. I woke up in bed with an oxygen mask on and several nurses all around me. The next time, I made it to the bathroom, used the bathroom and then passed out. And then Monday morning, I made it to the bathroom, used the bathroom and made it almost all the way back to my bed and then passed out. By Monday morning, after breakfast, I was doing a little better and finally made it to the bathroom and back to my bed without passing out.
We stayed at the hospital through Wednesday and then went home.
I wouldn’t change a thing. Sure, it hurt but that’s ok. I believe God made my body capable of carrying and delivering a baby. I spent a lot of time in prayer leading up to Brixton's birth simply asking God for the strength to have him without an epidural. Even though in the heat of the moment I doubted my decision I know God gave me the strength to make it through.. and that He helped my body to slowly progress a good portion of the way without me feeling any pain.
Now, after it was all over Nate said the other two girls in the hall that day likely asked for an epidural once they heard me screaming. Oh well.
1 comment:
OUCH. But Congrats!!
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