Denise's Story: Part 1

www.bocabirthservices.com

August 12, 2013 - it was one day past my due date and I was at the OB office. I was very swollen and my blood pressure was high but not too concerning yet, when they stripped my membranes and asked if I was ready to "have this baby today." I was about to cry of joy because I was 40 weeks, it was summer, and I was so ready to be done! So my husband and I go home, get out things together, I eat a soup (silly food at the time but was too excited to eat a real meal) and drove to Baptist. We called my mom and my sister and texted our friends. Because I had strep B, they wanted me to have the antibiotic early, so they were giving me the antibiotic when I arrived. They said I was about 2 cm dilated. It was 6 pm when I was in the hospital bed. During the course of the night, they gave me 2 vaginal suppositories to soften my cervix. I hated that part, and still cringe at the thought. The nurse even told me, "if you can't handle this, you might as well have a c section". I swear she jinxed me. 

The next morning at 8 am, they started pitocin. My blood pressure was not getting much better and they kept warning me to relax or I was going to end up with a c section. Throughout the day, I was slowly starting to dilate more and have a softer cervix. At 2 pm, one NP from my doctors office came to break my water. She almost gave up, until I sat up and broke it myself. It was very painful. Then after that, I got the epidural - which I had agreed to get from the start. I should've said to give that to me first, but as a first time laborer, I had no idea. Fast forward to 11 pm Tuesday night. I have now been sitting in the hospital for 29 hours and was finally at 10 cm dilated. My stomach hunger pains were worse than my contractions. I was so hungry - all I wanted was a vanilla milkshake. I was not allowed to eat or drink anything this entire time. At 11, I start pushing. I did 1 push, and the nurses told me, "stop! I can see the head! The doctor is still in a c section!" So I stopped. It was awful. After that, I lost all my energy and could not push correctly anymore. By 11:45, I was screaming, "Just help me please! Just give me a c section! Just get him out!" And I was crying and on the verge of passing out. They wheeled me quickly to the operating room. It was freezing in there. I was barely aware of what was happening. Finally, my son was born at 12:25 am on August 14, 2013 - a Wednesday morning. I was so tired and shivering from the epidural. My husband had to calm me down. I didn't get skin to skin with my baby. I didn't really even see him. The first words out of the doctors mouth were, "He did caca," and I was terrified he swallowed the meconium.  Luckily, he didn't. They wheeled him into the nursery right after a quick picture with my husband and I. He apparently was in a side position in my belly - which was why I couldn't push him out, and he was under distress. His blood sugar was low and they said he was breathing too quickly. They didn't let me breastfeed him. I was so tired I had no idea what was going on at that point. 

10 hours later, at 10 am, they finally wheeled him into our room. I cried when I first held him. It seemed so surreal. I was there almost a week. I got discharged on Saturday afternoon. 

A week then went by. I was at the doctor for my postpartum visit. I was still very swollen. My blood pressure was concerning. After they had me leave a urine sample, they told me I had to go back to the hospital. I cried. They said I had post-pre-eclampsia. I had no idea that could happen. I was there a couple hours and my blood pressure would not go down. They finally sent me home with a prescription for medicine and I had to take it for 6 weeks. Luckily it did not stop me from nursing. I was able to get off the meds and recover from the traumatic birth experience. 

*to have your birth story featured on Boca Birth, email it to bocabirth@gmail.com