Lessons Learned in Recovery

I’ll be honest, my birth experience wasn’t as traumatic as some people. Yes, I was induced and stuck in a hospital bed with an IV for over 48 hours. Yes, my son came out sideways and ripped me six ways to Sunday. Yes, it took over an hour for the doctor to repair the damage. But was it that bad? Well…let’s talk about that.

There are a few things I haven’t shared yet about my delivery.

First, I went into my delivery knowing I would be in a teaching hospital, which is all well and good, but I don’t think anyone could anticipate what that really means without going through that themselves.

Second, as opposed to most vaginal deliveries, I got to spend an extra day in the L&D ward before going to the Mother-Baby Unit. It gave me time to compare the two units.

Third, I got lucky and not only spent an extra day in L&D, I got stuck an extra day in the Mother-Baby Unit, so I really had the opportunity to get some fun perspectives on the two groups of staff.

So with no further ado, let me share some fun lessons I learned from my labor and delivery experience.

• In a teaching hospital, just say no to students. I don’t mean say no to whatever a student asks you. When I was admitted, they asked me if I was okay having students come in and use my L&D for teaching moments, I stupidly said yes. I had no idea this meant my door would go from revolving to being blown off the hinges with the people coming through to take care of me and my son. I had physician’s assistant students, nursing students, and student and resident doctors coming in and out of my room, all with a list of repetitive questions that got very tiring at 5 and 6 am after being up all night. So, if you like repetitive questions and a door that seems to never shut, feel free to allow students in your room.
• If you allow students, expect your delivery to be a feature-length attraction. I can’t tell you how many people were in my room when I delivered, and probably half of them were students of one variety or another. With my mom and husband in the room, it became extremely crowded very quickly. I know I had my OB, two labor nurses, a pediatric nurse, a physician’s assistant, and two or four nursing students.
• Forget your modesty at the door. Everyone says it, so I’m really just echoing it. It was surprising how quickly I lost my modesty and didn’t care. The most amusing moment was when a resident came into my room one morning to find me nursing. He turned beet red and almost turned away, but I told him I could stay. He did, but he was noticeably attempting not to stare at my boobs.
• Day shift is better than night shift. I’m sure this isn’t always true, and some nurses might disagree with me. However, my experience was that the night shift nurses (specifically in our Mother-Baby Unit) were less than stellar. In fact, one night was so bad I wound up crying my eyes out because no one would come take my son to relieve me after I’d been attempting nursing for over an hour. I hit the call button twice, talked to four different staff members, and waited well over an hour before a nurse came to take my son back to the nursery so I could attempt to get a little sleep before they brought him back in two hours.
• Charge nurses are your best friend. Following the awful night in the Mother-Baby Unit, the charge nurse came in to see how things were going for me. When she asked, I almost broke down in tears and admitted what had happened that night while apologizing because I was exhausted. She immediately told me she would change my nurse and make sure I got some sleep the following night. And she was true to her word. I had a new nurse who took my son to care for him that night and only brought him in when I was ready to handle him. It was glorious.
• Hospital staff are pretty awesome. Seriously. I mean this. Yes, doctors and nurses are huge, and I adored my doctor and labor nurse. But I also adored the sweet lady who came and delivered my meals to me. She was seriously the sweetest, and I loved being able to tell her that we’d finally been discharged to go home. She seemed so happy for us. I really appreciated her kindness, and she even brought us an extra cup to take home, which we used and still use to get in enough water. It’s people like her who help your stay in a hospital be a little nicer.
• A hospital is not a hotel. Our hospital advertised their Mother-Baby Unit rooms as being hotel-like. It’s a nice thought, but it simply isn’t true. Hospital beds, no matter how you put it, are uncomfortable, especially after several nights in them. Hospitals have that same smell no matter how you try to mask it. And there are always strange noises in hospitals. The good thing is that they are wonderful places to be when you need medical help, and the ones that staff well really do amazing work. So even if our hospital was not a hotel, it was still a good hospital to stay in for having to deliver a baby.

I still have more to say, but my son is asleep. The presidential debate is on. And it’s time for me to watch the circus while I work on my newest hobby of book folding. I’ll share a little more about my recovery from delivery and subsequent hospital visits in the coming posts!

– RaeNezL

Birthing a Baby (Part 3)

Well, let’s see if we can wrap this story up, shall we?

I delivered Emmeric on Thursday, June 2nd, and we’re going to dive into that day now to see what all happened.

I woke up pretty early on Thursday. I’ll admit I didn’t sleep much (if any) that night anyway due to being hooked up to so many machines and having an IV and catheter to contend with. The Cervadil they used to thin out my cervix was removed around 5 or 6 am. At this point, it’s all rather fuzzy for me about what time things happened. My mom came back to the hospital to be with me shortly after the Cervadil was removed and they got the Pitocin ready for my induction.

She relieved Daniel so he could go get some breakfast since he’d stayed with me all night. The nurse I had that morning was the same nurse who did our original hospital tour, and I was so grateful to have her as my labor nurse. In fact, when she did our hospital tour, I left the tour telling Daniel and later my mom that I wanted her to be my labor nurse if possible. When she walked in, I was so happy to see her, and it turns out she was not only a nurse but also a doula.

Now I’ll admit that I wanted my mom with me because she’s a retired L&D nurse as well as a doula, but I was ready to take all the help I could get since I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. I was swollen to the point you couldn’t tell if I ever had ankles to begin with, and the swelling had moved up my legs to my calves at this point. All the fluids being pumped through me made me feel bigger than ever, and I weighed more than I’d ever weighed in my entire life.

My doctor (we’ll call him Dr. F) came in and told me how things were going to proceed. He advised me we’d start the Pitocin and see how that went. I wasn’t very dilated, maybe 3 cm, so he wanted to make sure we got enough to get labor started before he checked on my water. My mom kept an eye on the Pitocin and later told me they never really gave me a high dose of it, and in fact, they only increased the dose once if I remember right.

Dr. F came back later and broke my waters manually. It was quick, and he did it around 10 am. At that point I was exhausted and starving. Thankfully my nurse was kind enough to bring me water with lots of ice even though it technically wasn’t allowed. I started feeling the labor pains shortly after my water broke, and it was definitely one of the stranger feelings I’ve ever felt. I had no idea, but apparently I was dealing with a lot of back labor, and that’s typically some of the worst labor pains you can have. To be honest, it didn’t feel all that terrible. I was in pain, but it was livable.

Eventually I asked for my epidural. And that was an ordeal. Daniel left the room so mom and my nurse could support me while the anesthesiologist got me set up. I don’t know how long it took, but it felt like forever. It had to be at least 15-20 minutes because it wasn’t working properly. He kept having to fix things on the epidural, and then once it was finally inserted, the medicine only worked from my waist down and on the left side of my stomach. I could still feel the labor pains in the right side of my stomach and back, which was pretty awful.

The pains were coming faster and faster, and my nurse told me her other patient was about to pop as well. She left to work with her other patient, and I waited a good 45 minutes before anyone returned to check on me. When someone did arrive, it was a different nurse as mine was in with her other patient. The new nurse did a check and told me it was time to go into labor because the only thing holding my son inside me was the catheter balloon!

Things got moving very quickly after that.

The doctor came in with about 7 or 8 different people. Some of them were students of one type or another, one was my labor nurse, one was the baby nurse, one was the physician’s assistant. In addition, my mom and Daniel were there helping out. Modesty was certainly a thing of the past.

I was settled on the bed, sitting up with my legs hiked up as high as they would go. I had people all around staring down at me. Daniel held one of my feet while mom stood next to my head and helped me with my breathing. At this point, I knew my son was coming out sideways rather than how he should be, and I was just hoping for an easy delivery.

When we started pushing, it went very fast. I pushed for maybe 15 minutes through 5 contractions before Emmeric came out. The only downside to the fast delivery was the immense amount of tearing! But when he was here, it was amazing. They laid him on my chest for some skin-to-skin time, and mom, Daniel, and I just stared in awe of this baby we’d created.

Following the delivery, it took over an hour to get me all stitched up and ready to relax with my newborn. Emmeric was born at 3:12 pm, and Dr. F didn’t finish patching me up until around 5:00. My mom was telling me later how surprised she was by all the amounts of things he used to patch me up and how much blood I’d lost because it seemed similar to a c-section rather than a vaginal delivery.

My recovery that day was definitely slow. Shortly after they began leaving us alone for some time with Emmeric, I started feeling very dizzy and light-headed while holding him. I told Daniel to grab him and call the nurse because I was so afraid I would pass out. I was told it was only because I’d lost so much blood and that I shouldn’t worry, but it did freak me out a bit.

Emmeric was beautiful. I was so happy to have this tiny baby boy in my arms. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz. and was 19.5 inches long at delivery. We struggled to breastfeed while we were in the hospital and saw two different lactation consultants for help. But that’s really a story for another post.

Next time I’ll share more about my recovery and my advice for new moms and pregnant ladies about going to the hospital for labor and delivery.

– RaeNezL

Birthing a Baby (Part 2)

So you’re going to have a baby…there are some things you should know.

Everyone always dreams of what it will be like to have their baby delivered. I know I did. Some women want to have an all-natural, non-medicated, all-the-frills labor and delivery in the comfort of home. Some women want to be knocked out, sliced open, and wake up to a baby. And some women are somewhere in between those extremes.

I was definitely somewhere in the middle.

I wanted to give birth in the hospital, labor at home as much as possible before coming in, have the option of doing an epidural or not, and giving birth vaginally. Nothing too difficult, right?

One thing we did before delivery was take a birthing class. I really recommend this because I got so much out of our class. We took the class through our hospital, and it was taught by a nurse and a doula, which was pretty neat. Of course, they were very pro natural birth with a side of “get the baby out safely,” which I appreciated.

Toward the end of our 4-week class, we had the opportunity to play a little game. It went like this: Every couple was asked to take a pile of cards and lay them out with their choice for L&D facing up. An example would be a two-sided card that read “Epidural” and “No Epidural” on either side. There were probably 30 or so of the cards with all kinds of choices to make. We did that, and then we were told to start taking cards away in relation to an imaginary amount of time in labor (for example: 4 hours in labor, remove 4 cards). Essentially we had to remove all but our top four cards to show what we absolutely would not give up. This was to give us an idea of what things we should definitely include in our birth plans.

For all of our classmates, there was some amount of cards that related to the labor and delivery part of delivery remaining when it was all said and done. Some chose “no epidural,” some chose “no induction,” some chose other similar types of cards. Daniel and I? Nope, not even a bit.

Our cards all related to post-delivery in some way, with the one exception being “Healthy baby.” I had already figured my labor wouldn’t be typical because of my trending toward preeclampsia, so I was willing to give up anything in order to get our son here safely and be able to breastfeed him.

Fast forward a couple weeks.

I went in for my 38 week check. My blood pressure had reached a dangerous point of about 150/90, and the OB decided it was time for our baby to come out in order to keep us both safe. I was told I could go home and pack a bag and to come back after grabbing a bag of clothes and essentials. At this time I was all alone, so it was terrifying and exciting to know our son would be on his way in a very short amount of time. The OB told me I would be induced, which wasn’t ideal, and that I would have to be on magnesium to avoid the potential for seizures. I nodded, not really understanding what this would look like, still in a hazy bubble of thinking things might work out favorably for me and my birth plan.

If you’ve had a baby, you’re probably thinking the same thing I am. Oh, you naive thing!

I went home, already in contact with my mother, Daniel, and one of my best friends. I managed to get home and hop in the shower because I wanted to look a little clean for my child’s birth. By the time I was out of the shower, Daniel and my friend had shown up to help out. Between the three of us, we made a small lunch, packed bags for all of us, and cleaned my kitchen. Yes, we cleaned the kitchen before we went to have the baby.

My parents met us at the hospital, and we got set up in a room bypassing triage as they already knew we were coming. It only took a very short amount of time before I was undressed, in a gown, and getting hooked up to machines. And that’s when I found out that being on magnesium meant not only having an IV hooked up to me but also having a catheter and being unable to get out of bed. Needless to say, I was not happy.

The interesting thing about magnesium? It’s used for two things in the L&D unit. If you are in preterm labor, doctors will often use magnesium to slow or stop your labor. That’s right. It’s used to stop labor. If you are preeclamptic, it’s used to prevent seizures during labor and delivery. It’s a bit contrary to what you’d think its use would be, but that’s what it does.

So I got hooked up to an IV, got a catheter inserted, and got some magnesium pumping through my system. If I ever wanted to know how it feels to have steam come out my ears, I’m pretty sure that having magnesium piped through my veins is the closest I would come to understanding. The instant heat of the magnesium went from the top of my head all the way down to the tips of my toes.

A lot of people will tell you pregnant women get hot and to bring a jacket to a delivery room. This is doubly true if said pregnant woman is on magnesium. I had the air cranked to alleviate some of the heat I felt. And I truly thought someone should be able to see steam coming out of my ears and mouth.

Most women don’t get a catheter until they have an epidural, which must be nice because the numbness keeps them from feeling it get inserted. Not so me. I felt every bit of it, and it was not pleasant being inserted. Afterward? It was great! I didn’t care a bit about having nurses come to check the bags and dump them. I didn’t care that my body was just eliminating without my needing to actually do anything. I just laid back in my lovely (read: awfully uncomfortable) hospital bed and let the nurses do their thing.

Now one of the things that happened to me was that I had to be induced, but I also needed to be dilated first. So they inserted something called Cervadil into my vagina. This was less unpleasant than the catheter but still not fantastic. The Cervadil was used to get my cervix to start thinning out. Unfortunately when you use this stuff, you have to be on it 12 hours before you can actually get the party started.

So we got to the hospital in the afternoon on Wednesday, June 1st. I had the Cervadil in place by 5 pm. From the time I got to the hospital, I wasn’t allowed to eat anything or drink anything. I ended up just laying in the bed for those first 12-14 hours or so with very little to do to take my mind off being in an uncomfortable bed.

Daniel stayed with me that night. My parents went home with plans to come back early the next morning. And that was the start of my labor and delivery experience. I’ll be sharing the rest of the story in another post, so stay tuned!

– RaeNezL

Birthing a Baby (Part 1)

I want to share a little about our birth story because I think it’s worth sharing, and honestly, it’s rather cathartic to write all of this out. So with no further ado, let me share a few details of our story and how we got into labor.

First things first, throughout my pregnancy, I had a problem with my blood pressure spiking. At first it would just be a little higher than the OB liked, and he made sure to watch it as we continued along. Now I’ll be honest, I didn’t show very quickly, and even when I did show, I never really “popped” the way so many of my friends did.

I did, however, develop preeclampsia, which you hear a lot about when you’re pregnant but never really know what to do about it. Preeclampsia can affect almost anyone and is extremely common in first pregnancies, so it isn’t a huge deal. What doctors look out for, though, are signs that you’re going from preeclampsia to full-on eclampsia. What does that mean, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

If you get pregnant and become eclamptic, you could suffer from seizures. This could escalate, and you could eventually die as a result of this. That’s right: seizures and death. Sounds pleasant, right?

So let’s fast forward to the last few weeks of my pregnancy. My blood pressure has steadily risen to the point my OB gets a little more antsy. At one point, my blood pressure came back high and I had protein in my urine (another sign of preeclampsia), which was the first time it had come back positive for protein in my urine. I was sent home with a jug and a “hat” to pee in and save for 12 hours and bring back the next day.

Let me just say, it isn’t easy to tote around a jug of pee in a cooler with you to work all day. It’s even harder to find a good time to jump in the bathroom during work to pee in a hat and pour it in your jug of urine.

I took my jug back to the doctor’s office the next morning and was not surprised when my blood pressure came back even more elevated. Can you really expect it to go down when they’re so worried about it? I mean, really. I was surprised, however, when they decided I needed to go to the hospital’s labor and delivery unit for monitoring. I was told to take the orders along with my lovely jug of urine over to L&D because they weren’t sure if they’d have to induce me.

Talk about panic.

This was before my last baby shower, before we transformed our extra bedroom into a nursery (still unused except for diaper changes), before we’d gotten all the things we needed for our baby, and definitely before we had installed our carseat!

I spent a rather grueling few hours cooped up in a bed in admitting in the L&D unit. I learned how uncomfortable the beds were then. (Little did I know how much I’d learn to hate those beds!) And they had me hooked up to both the baby monitor and the blood pressure monitor just to be safe. Several hours of monitoring later, they told me I was okay to go home.

Of course, it wasn’t long after that my blood pressure spiked to 150/90.

And then we were thrown into the chaos of a two-week early delivery at 38 weeks. But that’s a story for another post!

– RaeNezL