Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Liam's Birth Story

I’ve been putting this off, as I don’t really feel like sitting down to write it all (i.e. I should be sleeping, since Liam is!), but since time is gradually floating by and the details are becoming hazy, I suppose its best to do it before I lose any more details.


My OB appointment with Dr. Clinton on Friday, the 21st was pretty uneventful. My cervix was still closed and high, and it was surmised that the baby’s head was probably too big for my pelvis – thus, not dropping and not putting any pressure on the cervix to open. I scheduled an ultrasound for Monday, the 24th, to determine the size of the baby, and at my appointment with Dr. Kelsey on Tuesday the 25th we would either schedule an induction or, depending on the size of the baby, a c-section. I also thought to myself that maybe the procedure I had done on my cervix over 10 years ago was causing some issues – I had a LOOP procedure to remove pre-cancerous cells. It healed well, but I always wondered if the scar tissue would cause any problems down the road……


Saturday evening, September 22 – Pat and I had plans to meet with my cousins Will & Amber at Leona’s in Des Plaines, to have dinner with our other cousins Gina & Jav (and Justo & Liz too) before they headed out to see George Lopez in Rosemont. It was like any other night really. I was feeling fine, ready to have the baby, but knowing that I hadn’t made any progress in the dilation or dropping department I resigned to the fact that it probably wasn’t going to happen any time soon.


We had a great dinner (despite waiting FOR ever for Gina & Co. – wrong directions, lateness, etc.) and headed home sometime around 8:00PM ish. I don’t recall doing much (this is where the details are fuzzy), just relaxing and such, and we went to bed somewhere around 11PM. I do remember Pat telling me “you know, if you had to go into labor tomorrow, would be a good day because the Lions are playing on Network TV”……Ironic, no?


I couldn’t get to sleep (which at that point in the pregnancy, was par for the course) so I got up shortly after midnight to go to the bathroom (again, very normal). Except that I couldn’t stop peeing. It went on forever! Then I realized it was probably my water breaking! I calmly called the doctor’s office (without waking Pat) and explained the situation – no contractions, no symptoms, just possibly broken water. Dr. Clinton was on call – I had just seen her on Friday. She said I could just see what my body does and wait it out at home, or I could go into the hospital – either way it would end up with Pitocin to start labor. Being the kind of person who gets relatively freaked out about medical issues, I opted just to go to the hospital right away.


It was at the point after I called the Dr’s answering service, but before she called back that I woke Pat up and let him know what was going on. I was shaking at that point, scared of what was going to happen, anxious that it was actually happening! After talking to the doctor we got up and got dressed, emptied the dishwasher, got the kitties some food and water, grabbed the hospital bag and were on our way. I didn’t call my parents right away, because even though I was already pretty sure about my water breaking, I wanted verification from the hospital….


We checked in sometime shortly after 1:00AM on Sunday, September 23rd. Yes, my water had indeed broken – yes, we were starting Pitocin right away to start the contractions. I did pretty well – I could feel them, but didn’t need any pain medications.


They started to get relatively strong at around 5:00AM, when I started seriously discussing my options with my nurse. We all knew, since we were starting from scratch, it was going to be a long labor. I didn’t want to slow things down or be stuck in a bed for longer than I had to with an epidural, so I decided to hold off on that for a while. Pat and I walked the halls, I took a nice shower – I was still holding my own. Then they hit. WOW. Holy intense batman……I just can’t even explain the pain. I figured since I couldn’t even have a contraction without crying and bawling my way through it, that it was time for the epidural. I finally got one sometime after 9:30 AM, and sighed sweet sweet relief!! My mom and dad arrived sometime around noon-ish or so - and by that time I was a pretty happy camper!


At that point, I was still not dilated much, and still really high, but after the epidural I was progressing at an OK clip. I made it to 6, and they could feel the head, but it still wasn’t down far enough. At about 12:00AM on September 24th, about 24 hours after my water broke, Dr. Clinton finally ceded I wasn’t progressing enough on my own, baby’s head was swelling, my temperature was beginning to increase – it was finally time for a cesarean.


After that it was kind of a blur,....Mom & Dad waited in the family waiting room, Pat was issued scrubs and I was whisked into the operating room. It was cold and sterile, as it should be, and I was quite nervous – mostly expressed in the form of the shakes….I did manage to calm down a bit after Pat came into the OR – his calm, kind eyes always seem to have that effect on me. Baby was born at 1:17AM on Monday, September 24th – with a nice big cone head from being stuck in my pelvis for so long – but still as beautiful and perfect as could be. The doctor announced it was a boy by saying “Well, looks like you finally broke my streak” – she had delivered 9 little girls
prior to Liam.


The parts I recall most about the surgery is after Liam was born, they were closing me back up and apparently my bowels were popping out all over the place, and somehow, despite the epidural and drugs, I could feel it. Not pressure, PAIN. The anesthesiologists were great though, and took care of me, and it didn’t last that long. They were smart asses, which I could definitely appreciate! Also, I recall the doctors being kind of mean to the residents…just like in the movies :)


Then, finally, they placed that sweet little boy on my chest, and wheeled me out to recovery.

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