The Big Day!!! (A Blast from the Past)

Tenley's Birthday!!
     So, of course with your first baby, you have a lot of false alarms. We had 3. Only 1 of them were in the middle of the night. I did end up being admitted with one of them becuase I was having true contractions at 35 weeks. Turns out, I was extremely dehydrated and had to get fluids to stop the contractions. All was good though and we were released later that morning at 7:30.
     Monday, November 29th, I had my 38 week check up. I was finally dilated 1 full cm and Tenley's head was low. We decided right then and there with my AMAZING Dr. that we would go ahead and induce labor at 39 weeks, which would be that next Tuesday morning, The 7th. See, I had Gestational Diabetes (diabetes only caused by pregnancy that only some women get) and T was measuring ahead and projected to be at least a 9 lb baby. Babys born to mothers with GD have a greater risk of getting stuck in the birth canal due to shoulder dystocia. (sp?) That is basically, when the shoulders of the baby get stuck in the canal due to the baby being large. In that situation, its an EMERGENCY C-Section. We had even prepared for a c-section, which I really didn't want, but of course would do if that was what was best for T. So, we left the Dr. that day thinking we would be seeing our baby girl in the next week or so!!                                                            
     Well, T had other plans. On Wednesday, Dec. 1st, she decided to stir things up a little bit. I woke up that morning with cramping and contractions. I just thought I was a little dehydrated because that was what it was the last time. I decided to just lay down on the couch, time my contractions, and chug a huge jug of water. My contractions were kinda all over the place. They were every 15-30 minutes, so I knew it wasn't time to call the Dr. just yet. Our sweet Black Lab, Tucker could sense it though. He followed me around everywhere that day. That's a little weird for Tucker to do. He follows my husband around like that but not me. I continued to rest all day and waited for my husband to come home to make a game plan. When he got home we decided to just keep resting and wait till my contractions were closer before we called the Dr.
     Tuesday, Dec. 2nd I woke up EARLY that morning with more painful cramping and contractions. I had a lot of pressure in my pelvis and my bottom. This time, my contractions were coming every 10 mintues and they were getting stronger and stronger. We decided that my husband should go into work and we would see how I felt around lunch time. See, this had happened 3 times before, so we just wanted to give it some time to see if I really was in labor. As the morning we on, I finished packing up everything for the hospital and my contractions continued to get worse and worse. I called my husband and told him to come on home because I thought this was really it!!! My contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes and I was hurting so bad, I couldn't take it anymore!! It felt like an elephant was sitting on my pelvis. I had so much pressure in my lower back too!!! I called the Dr. at 11 and they told me to go on it to labor and delivery (St. Vincents). We arrived at 12 and went right to triog where they measured my cervix and hooked me up to monitors to detect T's heartbeat and my contractions. The nurse measured me at 3 cm and my contractions were every 5 min!! They then admitted me and I was rolled into my AMAZING room.
     My family started arriving soon after I was put in my LDR room. My Dr. came up to check me (4cm) and broke my water. Thats when it got crazy. When she broke my water, my husband immediatley said "WHAT IS THAT!!!" It was full of Meconium, which means T was stressed and had a bowel movement in my tummy. She immediatly had NICU on stand by. They came to my room and explained to me that once they delivered her, they would have to do some fast work on her to try to keep her from aspirating the meconium into her lungs. That terrified me!!
     Time went on and I was in SO much pain. I got my epidural and was a happy camper. But not long after the Dr. checked me and gave me the epidural, I started feeling a LOT of pressure. My awesome RN, Terri, checked me and I was at 7cm. They upped my epidural and all was good again. 15 minutes later they checked me again and it was GO TIME!!!! I was a full 10 cm at somewhere around 4:50! My Dr. came in quick and I was off to pushing away. I was so nauseaus, so I would push, then throw up, push, then throw up again. It was rough. As I would push, I would lose a lot of blood and everything started getting fuzzy and voices started sounding very distant. Lights looked super blurry and my mom and my husband kept asking me if I was ok. I was losing too much blood. I kept hearing my Dr. tell the nurse to give her my stats. They gave me some oxygen and I was ready to go. It gave me such an energy boost. They called in the NICU team and I realized then that I needed to get this baby out or we would be headed to the O.R. I had been pushing for and hour and her head was still just crowned. We weren't really getting anywhere and I losing too much blood. My mom gave me this look, kinda like she was so helpless cause she couldn't help me and she said "You have to get this baby out, Lauren, you have to get her out now!" I knew that was a very serious statement. I pushed harder than I even thought I could, and there she was!! She was born into this crazy world at 6:04 pm!! BUT she wasn't really moving or crying. They put her up on my chest and started aspirating her and rubbing on her with the blankets and cut her cord. Brett wasn't able to because they were having to work too fast. They ran her over to the bed with the heating lamps and all of the equipment and immediatly started pumping her stomach. They got so much meconium out of her tummy. They said that she must have been in it for a while. Her heartbeat was a little fast as well. I wasn't able to hold her or anything until they got it regulated. Oh, and I forgot to mention she was screaming by this point!! Which was an amazing sound considering I was scared to death that she was sick or something. With her heartbeat too fast they weren't able to give her a bath or anything. She basically had to just lay there alone. They did weigh and measure her and everything though. She was 7.11 lbs and 21.5 in long. They said she didn't need to be any bigger.
    Meanwhile, I was being sewed up by the Dr. for probably about an hour. I would like to know how many sutures they had to use. I had 4th degree tear, which is the worst possible tear to get while giving birth. (TMI???) This stuff is interesting to me, so sorry if it grosses anyone out but a 4th degree tear is basically ripping from one end to the other. That is the reason for all of my blood loss. And there was nothing my Dr. could do. She could cut me because I was so badly torn on the inside that I would have been wide open if she would have given me an episiotimy. EWWWWWWW!!!!
     Finally they were finished with me and my friends and family were allowed in my room. And after a while, I was finally able to hold my sweet baby girl. That didn't last for long though. Soon after everyone left, they decided to admit her into the NICU. This just killed me. It broke my heart. See, her heartbeat just wasn't where is should be at this point. It was still a little too fast. And they were concerned that she might have bacteria in her tummy due to having so much meconium inside of her when they pumped her tummy. So, there we were, Brett and I were all alone and so sad that our baby girl could't be with us.
     We would have to wait for NICU visiting hours to go and see T. So, at 11:30 that night, we went down to see her. Brett had to wheel me in a wheel chair because I was unable to walk. They had to leave my cathater in for longer than usual too because I was in such bad shape. Visiting her in the NICU was horrible. It was so sad to see all of those sick babies in there and parents unable to hold their babies. It broke my heart. T was just in there for minor reasons. Nothing life threatening. We could hold her and love on her, unlike most parents. When we got back to the room that night I lost it. I cried and cried cause I couldn't be down there with her. Brett had to remind me of how blessed we were to have a healthy baby . He put everything in perspective. I ended up being discharged that Sat, the 4th of Dec. T, not so much. She was having to stay in the NICU. Well, I was NOT going to leave that hospital without her so, we got to stay in the NICU family room. Since, she was going to be discharged that next day, Sunday the 5th, they let us stay in the NICU with her in a special room. It was our very 1st night with her and we were terrified!! We did it tho!! We made it our 1st night with her and survived!! Sunday, Dec. 5th, we brought her home!!
     We were welcomed home by our parents and brothers and sisters!! It was so cool to walk through the door with Tenley and take her to the room we had worked so hard on for her. And Tucker did amazing with her. He fell in love with his little sister and has been so protective over her ever since.
     Early Thursday, Dec. 16th, I woke up around 1 am with terrible cramping and pain in my uterus. I sat up in the bed and immediatly started gushing blood. I ran to the bathroom and found what I though was an organ in my pants.  I continued to gush blood and started getting dizzy like I was going to pass out. Thankfully, my sister lives next door and she came over right away to watch T while Brett, rushed me to the hospital. Well the whole car ride I just knew I was going to die. I knew my organs or uterus had fallen out and that was the end for me. I was losing blood and cramping SO bad. We get to the ER and they send me to Ultrasound. There they found 5-6 more blood clots 6cm in size each, hanging out in my uterus. I was admitted to the hospital and my Dr. gave me meds to contract my uterus to get the clots out.  I was finally discharged on Friday the 17th. Everything got back to normal slowly over the next few weeks. See, when my placenta was delivered, my uterus formed a scab so the blood just pooled up and colleted in my uterus. I was basically bleeding internally. Scary! Well, thats my labor and delivery story. A lot was cut out to shorten the story as much as I could. It was such a cool expierence and I can't wait to do it again!!