What a (scary) Surprise! Birth Story - Part 1

Picking up where we left off..

November 1, 2012

I had my normal weekly check up. I remember my appointment was at 11:30 that day. I gave Chris a hard time because he had only been to three of my appointments and two of those were for my sonograms. The doctor had asked me to get him to come to the appointments within the last few weeks just in case. So, that morning I went and got my breakfast I was craving (a bacon breakfast bowl) and texted Chris and gave him a bit of a hard time and asked again if he could make it to my appointment. But, he said he was busy at work and wouldn't be able to make it.

I headed to my appointment and was in a good mood. I really never left the house when I was pregnant. Due to my allergies, I can't go anywhere alone anyways so when it was an appointment day it was a special treat for me so I was always in a good mood heading to my appointments. I kept going over the things in my head that I needed to talk with the doctor about.

1. I nested quite a bit a few days before Halloween because I heard there was suppose to be a full moon and there is an old wives tale that pregnant women go into labor when there is a full moon.
2. I think because I cleaned the house all in one day and nested pretty hard, I must have over did it because on October 30, 2012 something just didn't feel right. I called to talk with one of the nurses at my doctors office and she said to go into the Labor and Delivery Center at the hospital. Chris rushed home, we loaded the car with the car seat, and all of our bags. We got there, got checked in, they tested to see if my water broke, it came back negative. But, the baby's heartbeat was SUPER fast and they were worried. I had a biophysical sonogram done. Basically, it looks at 4 different things to see if the baby is stressed or if there is something wrong. It came back good. So we were released.
3. On Halloween, Chris picked up my favorite Carrabbas meal and came home and handed out candy because I felt weird. Baby Jayden hadn't been moving all day and my stomach felt weird.

So I told all of these things to my doctor. Asked her if I over did it and if that is why I ended up in L&D the next day. She said probably and measured me and I was already at 4 cm and 95% effaced. I told her he hadn't been moving but his biophysical was good on the 30th. But, she was still concerned. His heart rate was in the lower range but she had the sonogram tech come get me to do another biophysical just in case.

I laid on the table in the dark room as the sonogram tech squeezed the gel on my belly. She moved the wand around my belly and the room was silent. It was heartbreaking, watching the screen and seeing absolutely NO movement. She bounced the wand on my belly, I laid on my side, we did everything and nothing! We tried for a good 20 minutes when she finally said we were done.
She left me in the dark room to go "talk to the doctor" and I felt in my gut that something was wrong. So, I called Chris. I told him that they did another biophysical and that he wasn't moving and that I was waiting on the doctor to come back but I had a bad feeling. As I was on the phone with him and he was trying to calm me down from thinking the worst, the nurse walks in and said "you need to go to the hospital" and I didn't even think to ask what was wrong or why or anything because I was in shock and just wanted to get going.
 I asked if I could go home and get my things because I only lived 10 minutes from the hospital. She agreed that it would be fine and before she finished her sentence I was back on the phone with Chris and headed out the door. He picked up the phone and I said "get home now, we are going to the hospital" and I hung up on him. I feel bad for that now because I am sure he was feeling the same as me and was just as worried and scared and here I am hanging up on him.

I literally did 80mph down the highway trying to keep calm and not cry. I had my mom on speakerphone telling her what was going on and she was trying to keep me calm. I made it home in a record time and grabbed all of my stuff and was running through the house making sure I had everything, even though my bags had been packed for months. I changed my clothes to something more comfortable and Chris finally made it home. We packed the car, and off we went. Still not knowing what was going to happen. Was I going to be hospitalized until the baby was born? Was I being induced? Was I going to have a C-section? I had no idea.

We get to the hospital and go check-in. I felt out of place because here were all of these other pregnant women checking in and they were having contractions and knew what was going on. I wasn't having pains, contractions, or anything and all I knew is that something was wrong with my baby. The way our hospital works is, if it is a normal delivery with no complications and you are past 35 weeks you have your baby in the Labor and Delivery Birth Care Center. If you are having a C-section, being induced, or you have complications you have your baby in the actual hospital. I was not thrilled about having the baby in the actual hospital since I had heard horror stories about the hospital labor and delivery unit. But, I knew I was there for a reason and that they have staff on hand to help with whatever complication I may be having.

We checked in, and during all of this...our new medical insurance had just became effective on November 1st. It was quite funny because for 2 months, Chris had been telling my belly that he couldn't come out until November 1st because that was when our new, and better insurance would be effective. So, we were scrambling trying to get a print out of our temporary insurance card. The nurse asked us why we were there, we told her we had no idea that the doctor told us to come in because something was wrong but we didn't have a clue as to what was wrong and what we were doing. So, they had a nurse come get us and take us to a small room on the other side of the labor and delivery floor. The worst part was the fact there was a rocking chair in the room that had a "In Memory of ---- ----" plate on the chair. It was for a baby that only lived 3 days. There was a picture with an angel over that rocking chair. I felt like I was in the "death" room. It was horrible.

They got all of my information entered into the system, had me dress in a gown, and were in the process of trying to get ahold of my doctor to figure out what was going on. They checked me and I had gained a 1/2 cm. My water hadn't broken yet, and I wasn't on any IV meds. We just waited. They finally got word from the doctor that I was going to be induced. The baby failed the stress test but his heart rate was stable. They were worried the cord might be around his neck and that was why he wasn't moving. But, the couldn't tell enough for me to go through a C-section instead. They brought in the sonogram machine and made sure he was head down.  I also found out that day that I tested positive for the Group B strep. So, that meant I needed to be on antibiotics before labor and that we would have to spend an extra day in the hospital after he was born, no big deal.

It was shift change for the nurses so they waited to give me my IV's until the new nurse came in. She showed up and grabbed everything that was needed and started to prep me for my IV. She couldn't get the IV to go into the top of my arm (like normal patients) so I had to have it placed on the underside of my wrist, let me tell you that is the WORSE place for your IV. Also, she was nervous about putting the IV there and wasn't moving quite fast enough so blood was sprayed, and dripped all over the table. It looked like a murder scene. I think that was the first test for Chris though. I made sure he was ok because if not...he was going to faint during delivery. But, he assured me that he was fine. They hooked the IV of fluid and antibiotics up first and wheeled me to my delivery room.

TO BE CONTINUED....