My Labor Story

I wanted to document my labor story because I know I will forget details as the days pass by. Tuesday, September 7 I had my scheduled 38 week appointment. Glenn and I went in that morning for my 8:15 appointment hoping it wouldn't take long because I needed to get on into work. I met with Judy, one of the nurse practitioners in the office. We were going over all the usual stuff and she was asking me how I was feeling and if there were any concerns or questions I had. I mentioned to her that the Friday before, September 3, I had started getting sick again. I was sick until 18 weeks into the pregnancy, and although the sickness stopped, I really didn't feel well the whole pregnancy. However, she said that sometimes towards the end of the pregnancy, sickness can come back. Then I mentioned to her that for a couple of weeks my hands and feet had been itching really bad. It was so bad it was waking me up in the middle of the night and keeping me from sleeping. This combined with the reoccurring sickness concerned her, so she made a call to Dr. Clark, the doctor on call at the time. Dr. Clark was kind enough to come over to the office from the hospital, so I wouldn't be charged for a hospital visit! We talked through my symptoms again, and he told me that it sounded like a condition called cholestasis. He explained it to me as a condition in which your liver starts functioning improperly, putting off toxic enzymes that can be deadly to the baby. Because I was 38 weeks, he felt I was far enough along to go ahead and induce labor.

Glenn and I already had our hospital bags packed and in the car from a trip we had taken the previous week, so we were able to head straight over to the hospital. We set up our home for the next 4 days in room 306. Mom got there shortly after we did. The first thing they did was start the IV in my hand, and I must say that out of the whole labor and delivery process, that was the worst part!! I don't like needles but I usually do okay with them. When they were putting the IV in my hand, it slipped out causing blood to go everywhere and making me get very lightheaded (which happens easily anyway). My heart rate dropped, causing Colin's heart rate to drop and they monitored me closely for a while after that.

At 10 am they moved me back to labor and delivery room 4 and they started the pitocin. Only 2 people are allowed back in the delivery rooms so our family took turns all day. The pitocin worked well, causing me to start having contractions immediately. The contractions really were not bad at all. In fact, they had to tell me when I was having them because I couldn't hardly feel them. I dialated about a centimeter an hour, so at 2 pm they stopped the pitocin hoping the contractions would continue on their own. Dr. McCarter was kind enough to come in even though she wasn't working and wasn't on call. She checked me at about 5 pm and I was at about 6 cm. She had a meeting at her son's school that she had to go to, so she advised me if I wanted to get an epidural that I should do that before she left. That way if anything crazy happened she would be there. So they called for the anesthesiologist, and boy was she quick! I couldn't even get out of the bed to use the restroom one last time before she was already in the room! I was nervous about the epidural but it was something that I wanted. I just didn't think I could go through the delivery without it. She stuck me the first time and I had a shooting pain down my right leg. She tried again. The second stick still was causing a stinging pain down my right side. At this point, I began to get very nervous. Thankfully, the third stick worked! I didn't feel pain down either side and it felt "even" for lack of a better word. Let me tell you, that thing worked! I was numb for my toes all the way up to my chest. I couldn't feel a thing! Dr. McCarter left and came back around 8 pm. When she came back, I was at 7 cm. She broke my water hoping that would speed up the process. She gave me about two and a half more hours, but I never moved. I stayed at 7 cm. She was concerned that I should not go long after breaking my water with the condition of my liver. So, at about 10:30 they started prepping me for a c-section. I'm not going to lie - I was petrified! I really didn't want to have a c-section, but I trusted Dr. McCarter and her opinion. They made me drink this really nasty stuff that was supposed to help me not get sick. They rolled me back to the operating room. I felt so helpless. They were moving me from the bed to the operating table, hooking all these things up to me. Glenn couldn't come back until they had everything ready, so I was by myself for a little while. Before Glenn could make it back to the OR, I had already started getting sick. That was miserable because I was laying down and it's hard to throw up when you're laying down. Glenn finally was able to come back, I started feeling a little better, and the c-section began. I was nervous about being able to feel the cut, but I didn't feel a thing. Dr. McCarter talked me through the whole thing, telling me what she was doing. She told me that when they went to pull Colin out, I was going to feel a lot of pressure - it was going to feel like an elephant was sitting on my chest. However, I don't remember feeling any pressure like that. It wasn't bad at all. I remember hearing Colin cry for the first time. It was the best sound I've ever heard! Glenn stood up to take a picture the same time they were cutting the cord, and blood squirted everywhere - all over the camera, all over Glenn! They cleaned Colin off and brought him over so I could see him. I cried. A lot. Happy tears though! Glenn and Colin left for the nursery, while Dr. McCarter finished up with me. I started not feeling good again so the anesthesiologist gave me some medicine. Well that medicine knocked me out! Colin was born at 11:02 pm and I didn't wake up in the recover room until 1:00 am. I was still struggling to keep my eyes open, but they wheeled me out so that I could get Colin and nurse him.
Holding him for the first time is something I will never forget. I cried some more. I was just so happy after going through the first miscarriage and the scare early in this pregnancy, to finally have him in my arms. Nursing him for the first time was hard but such an awesome time. I was still half knocked out and could barely keep my eyes open, but it was still such an incredible moment between Colin and I.

Because I was on so much medicine, Colin stayed the night in the nursery and the nurse brought him to me when it was time to feed him. I wanted to keep him in the room, but it really helped me to get some sleep and let some of the medicine wear off. Wednesday was a blur. I slept almost the whole day thanks to the naseau medicine and the morphine. They woke me up to feed him and that's about all I did. Wednesday evening I got out of the bed for the first time since Tuesday morning. That was painful! Thursday was much better! I was actually able to stay awake and finally got to spend some time with Colin. Because of the liver condition, someone from the lab came twice a day while I was in the hospital to draw my blood. On Friday they finally started to go back down and I was able to go home.

Although things didn't go as planned and I ended up having a c-section, we still feel like we had a great experience. All of our nurses were so nice and helpful. Dr. McCarter was awesome, as usual. Most importantly, we are thankful that we have a healthy baby boy!