On Thursday, September 25th (3 weeks and 1 day before my due date) I went to the doctor for my regular weekly checkup. All I was expecting was a simple measure (of the belly) and listen (to his heartbeat). However, I tested positive for protein in my urine, and my blood pressure was too high. The doctor told me that I had preeclampsia, needed to go directly to the hospital for more testing, and may have to be induced that day. I was freaked out! My hospital bag wasn’t packed, the house was not in order, and I had not yet prepared my classes to be taken over by someone else. After all, I still had 3 weeks and one day left until my due date. Plus, I always expected to go over my due date like most first time mothers. It was too early!!!!!!!!!!
David met me at the hospital, and for a few hours I was hooked up to machines that monitored my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I had blood work done and more urine tested. Ultimately, the test results came back favorably enough that they sent me home. I was instructed to not return to work, collect urine for 24 hours over the weekend, and return to the doctor on Monday. That weekend, David and I packed the hospital bag and cleaned the house, and I got things in order with work in the event that I would not be returning.
On Monday morning I went back to the doctor. Really, I was expecting that worst case scenario I would be put on bed rest and then induced later that week. However, once again my blood pressure was too high and my urine tested positive for protein. I was sent back to the hospital and told that I would likely be induced that day. At the hospital I was once again hooked up to machines that monitored my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I had more blood work done and yet more urine tested. (Yes, I agree that I have used the word urine too much for a first blog.) This time these tests did not come back so favorably. The urine tested positive for protein and my blood work revealed something fishy (medical term) with my liver. After 3 hours a nurse came in and told me that I was being admitted to labor and delivery. Still in denial, I asked her if that meant that I wasn’t leaving the hospital until I had delivered the baby. She said yes. It was now starting to get very real!
We moved upstairs to a birthing room. I was hooked up to more machines and had an IV put in. David and I were very calm throughout all of this. Freakishly calm. It was all so surreal. We spent a lot of time trying to pick a name. (We thought we still had a few weeks to decide!) We were down to 4 names: Noah, Luke, Evan and Adam. Time was running out! A name needed to be chosen, but we still didn’t know which. We had been calling him "little man" throughout my pregnancy but despite our best efforts had not yet decided on a name.
They started the induction at approximately 6:30pm Monday evening (September 29th). The induction started with a first round of cervidil, which would take 12 hours. That evening David and I got a little sleep, though not much. The next morning I got a second round of cervidil at about 8:30am (but a faster kind that would only take 4 hours). A HUGE blessing in all of this was that my doctor was on call for 24 hours starting at 8:00am that day. The second round of cervidil lead to a third, and by 6:30pm that day we were ready to move to Phase II: the breaking of the water and the start of pitocin. Because of my preeclampsia, I also had to start receiving magnesium sulfate through my IV to prevent seizures. “Mag” - as those in the know refer to it- has the unfortunate side effects of lack of energy, headache, stuffy nose, difficulty breathing, blurred vision, slurred speak, and flushing. Pretty much, you cannot see straight and you feel very tired and weak and everything becomes a blur. The next 48 hours are hard for me to remember correctly, but here’s my attempt!
The pitocin started my contractions. They weren’t bad at first- manageable. As the pitocin levels increased so too did the contractions. After 2 and a half hours of regular and painful contractions, I asked for my epidural. I was proud that I made it that long:) The next few hours are a blur, but I do remember my blood pressure dropping at one point to a level that worried my nurse and led her to call in the doctor. Then, the baby’s heartbeat started to drop dramatically with each contraction. The doctor told us that this was indicative of the umbilical cord being compressed with each contraction. He said that the baby would have to come out in the next 2 hours one way or another. This was extremely scary. Because I was not fully dilated at this point, we couldn’t start pushing. David and I started praying, and I starting really focusing on my body and what was happening. I took a mind over matter approach- the baby was going to come out without a c-section!! We had to prepare for a c-section though, and I had to sign all the necessary paperwork. It was at this point that I started calling him Luke. David and I had both been leaning towards this choice for the past few hours and it just felt right at the moment. I kept talking to Luke, telling him to start moving down faster so we could do this without surgery.
At around 1am the nurse said I could start pushing. It was on! However, yet again there was a setback. The baby’s heart rate was dropping, and the doctor said we’d have to use a suction to speed things along. I’ll spare you all the details of the pushing, but let me tell you three things. First, the epidural didn’t take the pain of the pushing away. WOW! Second, the pushing lasted a little under an hour. Third, seeing little man emerge was simply amazing. Luke David Andrews was born at 2:09am on October 1st! After he was born David cut the cord and Luke was placed on my belly. He was so tiny (he weighed only 5 pounds and 3 ounces at birth) and beautiful and I was in love immediately. He then went to his Dad while the doctor finished up with me. This took a while as there were difficulties with getting the placenta out. Again, I’ll spare you the gory details but let me tell you that this was probably the most painful part of it all.
An hour later I was moved up to ICU, where I would spend the next 36 hours. I spent 24 of these hours on the magnesium. The mag was horrible. I was seeing triple vision at this point. It was hard to think straight, and everything was a blur. I was not able to take care of my baby, and this was the most difficult of all. Every hour the nurse had to come in and check my blood pressure. This made sleeping near impossible. They had Luke in the nursery and would bring him in every three hours for a feeding, but breast feeding while on the mag is extra difficult, and I wasn’t really sure of what was going on around me. One of the hardest things was when the nurses would ask me questions about Luke that I couldn’t answer- like how many diaper changes had been done and how many times he had eaten. I just didn’t know. It was also difficult because I could not get out of bed due to the IV. I was stuck in bed for a total of 72 hours. I hope I never see a hospital bed again.
On Thursday morning the doctor told me I could come off the magnesium. I was so happy! I could finally get out of bed and slowly but surely my triple vision faded. I could now better care for Luke. Unfortunately, the little guy was not doing well. He had dropped down to mere 4 pounds and 10 ounces and had jaundice. Both made him very sleepy, which made feeding him even more difficult. My milk still hadn’t come in, and he wasn’t taking a bottle.
I was moved out of ICU Thursday evening to the regular floor. I was so happy to be going home the next day. However, on Friday morning the pediatrician told us that Luke wouldn’t be released that day due to his low weight and jaundice. He would have to spend another night in the hospital. Plus, he would have to start phototherapy which meant he’d have to be under lights 24 hours a day. (The lights were portable but tricky to use as they had to be against his skin and under his clothes. I had been hooked up to machines for days and now my little Luke was hooked up as well.)
On Friday afternoon my sister Becky arrived. I have never been so happy to see someone in my whole life. Help had arrived!!! Becky was fantastic. (Let me pause here and add that so was David. He was a HUGE support and a great help through it all. He was calm and strong and loving. I simply could not have asked for anything more from him.) Becky and I started Luke on a schedule. I would breastfeed and she would then give him a bottle of formula while I pumped. We were triple teaming him! We spent the next 24 hours working hard to get his weight up and my milk in so we could take him home the next day.
Mission accomplished. Saturday morning the doctor gave Luke clearance to leave. We were finally taking our little man home! The release was conditional on at home care, however, plus a Sunday doctor’s appointment. So, we had a nurse come to the house for 3 days, and Luke had to continue his phototherapy for 3 days. It was so much better at home. I was calmer. Luke was calmer. David was calmer. It was still stressful because we were working so hard to get him off the lights, but it was soooooooo much better than the hospital.
On Monday morning Luke came off the lights. Since then, his eating has gotten better, his color has changed from yellow to pink, and his energy level has increased tremendously. He is a different baby! He looks so much healthier and acts so much livelier. We did what we set out to do- we got him eating and he starting putting weight back on. Today my mom and I took Luke back to the doctor- one week after his birth- and he is back up to his birth weight!!! Our Luke is going to be fine:) He is a beautiful and healthy boy, and we are so blessed that God brought him into our lives. The first week of his life may have been a bumpy ride, but I know how truly blessed we are and despite all the bumps it has been a sweet and precious week filled with a tremendous amount of love for our little man.
David met me at the hospital, and for a few hours I was hooked up to machines that monitored my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I had blood work done and more urine tested. Ultimately, the test results came back favorably enough that they sent me home. I was instructed to not return to work, collect urine for 24 hours over the weekend, and return to the doctor on Monday. That weekend, David and I packed the hospital bag and cleaned the house, and I got things in order with work in the event that I would not be returning.
On Monday morning I went back to the doctor. Really, I was expecting that worst case scenario I would be put on bed rest and then induced later that week. However, once again my blood pressure was too high and my urine tested positive for protein. I was sent back to the hospital and told that I would likely be induced that day. At the hospital I was once again hooked up to machines that monitored my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I had more blood work done and yet more urine tested. (Yes, I agree that I have used the word urine too much for a first blog.) This time these tests did not come back so favorably. The urine tested positive for protein and my blood work revealed something fishy (medical term) with my liver. After 3 hours a nurse came in and told me that I was being admitted to labor and delivery. Still in denial, I asked her if that meant that I wasn’t leaving the hospital until I had delivered the baby. She said yes. It was now starting to get very real!
We moved upstairs to a birthing room. I was hooked up to more machines and had an IV put in. David and I were very calm throughout all of this. Freakishly calm. It was all so surreal. We spent a lot of time trying to pick a name. (We thought we still had a few weeks to decide!) We were down to 4 names: Noah, Luke, Evan and Adam. Time was running out! A name needed to be chosen, but we still didn’t know which. We had been calling him "little man" throughout my pregnancy but despite our best efforts had not yet decided on a name.
They started the induction at approximately 6:30pm Monday evening (September 29th). The induction started with a first round of cervidil, which would take 12 hours. That evening David and I got a little sleep, though not much. The next morning I got a second round of cervidil at about 8:30am (but a faster kind that would only take 4 hours). A HUGE blessing in all of this was that my doctor was on call for 24 hours starting at 8:00am that day. The second round of cervidil lead to a third, and by 6:30pm that day we were ready to move to Phase II: the breaking of the water and the start of pitocin. Because of my preeclampsia, I also had to start receiving magnesium sulfate through my IV to prevent seizures. “Mag” - as those in the know refer to it- has the unfortunate side effects of lack of energy, headache, stuffy nose, difficulty breathing, blurred vision, slurred speak, and flushing. Pretty much, you cannot see straight and you feel very tired and weak and everything becomes a blur. The next 48 hours are hard for me to remember correctly, but here’s my attempt!
The pitocin started my contractions. They weren’t bad at first- manageable. As the pitocin levels increased so too did the contractions. After 2 and a half hours of regular and painful contractions, I asked for my epidural. I was proud that I made it that long:) The next few hours are a blur, but I do remember my blood pressure dropping at one point to a level that worried my nurse and led her to call in the doctor. Then, the baby’s heartbeat started to drop dramatically with each contraction. The doctor told us that this was indicative of the umbilical cord being compressed with each contraction. He said that the baby would have to come out in the next 2 hours one way or another. This was extremely scary. Because I was not fully dilated at this point, we couldn’t start pushing. David and I started praying, and I starting really focusing on my body and what was happening. I took a mind over matter approach- the baby was going to come out without a c-section!! We had to prepare for a c-section though, and I had to sign all the necessary paperwork. It was at this point that I started calling him Luke. David and I had both been leaning towards this choice for the past few hours and it just felt right at the moment. I kept talking to Luke, telling him to start moving down faster so we could do this without surgery.
At around 1am the nurse said I could start pushing. It was on! However, yet again there was a setback. The baby’s heart rate was dropping, and the doctor said we’d have to use a suction to speed things along. I’ll spare you all the details of the pushing, but let me tell you three things. First, the epidural didn’t take the pain of the pushing away. WOW! Second, the pushing lasted a little under an hour. Third, seeing little man emerge was simply amazing. Luke David Andrews was born at 2:09am on October 1st! After he was born David cut the cord and Luke was placed on my belly. He was so tiny (he weighed only 5 pounds and 3 ounces at birth) and beautiful and I was in love immediately. He then went to his Dad while the doctor finished up with me. This took a while as there were difficulties with getting the placenta out. Again, I’ll spare you the gory details but let me tell you that this was probably the most painful part of it all.
An hour later I was moved up to ICU, where I would spend the next 36 hours. I spent 24 of these hours on the magnesium. The mag was horrible. I was seeing triple vision at this point. It was hard to think straight, and everything was a blur. I was not able to take care of my baby, and this was the most difficult of all. Every hour the nurse had to come in and check my blood pressure. This made sleeping near impossible. They had Luke in the nursery and would bring him in every three hours for a feeding, but breast feeding while on the mag is extra difficult, and I wasn’t really sure of what was going on around me. One of the hardest things was when the nurses would ask me questions about Luke that I couldn’t answer- like how many diaper changes had been done and how many times he had eaten. I just didn’t know. It was also difficult because I could not get out of bed due to the IV. I was stuck in bed for a total of 72 hours. I hope I never see a hospital bed again.
On Thursday morning the doctor told me I could come off the magnesium. I was so happy! I could finally get out of bed and slowly but surely my triple vision faded. I could now better care for Luke. Unfortunately, the little guy was not doing well. He had dropped down to mere 4 pounds and 10 ounces and had jaundice. Both made him very sleepy, which made feeding him even more difficult. My milk still hadn’t come in, and he wasn’t taking a bottle.
I was moved out of ICU Thursday evening to the regular floor. I was so happy to be going home the next day. However, on Friday morning the pediatrician told us that Luke wouldn’t be released that day due to his low weight and jaundice. He would have to spend another night in the hospital. Plus, he would have to start phototherapy which meant he’d have to be under lights 24 hours a day. (The lights were portable but tricky to use as they had to be against his skin and under his clothes. I had been hooked up to machines for days and now my little Luke was hooked up as well.)
On Friday afternoon my sister Becky arrived. I have never been so happy to see someone in my whole life. Help had arrived!!! Becky was fantastic. (Let me pause here and add that so was David. He was a HUGE support and a great help through it all. He was calm and strong and loving. I simply could not have asked for anything more from him.) Becky and I started Luke on a schedule. I would breastfeed and she would then give him a bottle of formula while I pumped. We were triple teaming him! We spent the next 24 hours working hard to get his weight up and my milk in so we could take him home the next day.
Mission accomplished. Saturday morning the doctor gave Luke clearance to leave. We were finally taking our little man home! The release was conditional on at home care, however, plus a Sunday doctor’s appointment. So, we had a nurse come to the house for 3 days, and Luke had to continue his phototherapy for 3 days. It was so much better at home. I was calmer. Luke was calmer. David was calmer. It was still stressful because we were working so hard to get him off the lights, but it was soooooooo much better than the hospital.
On Monday morning Luke came off the lights. Since then, his eating has gotten better, his color has changed from yellow to pink, and his energy level has increased tremendously. He is a different baby! He looks so much healthier and acts so much livelier. We did what we set out to do- we got him eating and he starting putting weight back on. Today my mom and I took Luke back to the doctor- one week after his birth- and he is back up to his birth weight!!! Our Luke is going to be fine:) He is a beautiful and healthy boy, and we are so blessed that God brought him into our lives. The first week of his life may have been a bumpy ride, but I know how truly blessed we are and despite all the bumps it has been a sweet and precious week filled with a tremendous amount of love for our little man.
2 comments:
You will be so happy you have this birth story for Luke. Poor Gabrielle........nothing for her. It didn't go as planned for you, but look at the prize.
It's a fantastic prize. I can finally remember his birth without crying! It's true what everyone says... you start to forget the bad parts and only remember the good. Crazy.
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