Our Story Part 1

I have tried writing this post many times. I would getting going a ways and then delete or get frustrated because I didn’t even know where to start. Some really good friends and acquaintances have written their stories in parts and aha! That was it! I needed to break it up into parts.

I am sure I have told these stories many times and with varying detail. Sometimes I don’t like to go into great detail and sometimes I do. It also depends on the audience. I am sure some will enjoy this and some will roll their eyes. To each their own. I have been inspired to tell the things I have been through. Not to be a victim because I don’t see myself as that, but to maybe help someone, somewhere going through the same things.

The Beginning

Right after we were married we became pregnant right away with our first child. No it wasn’t planned but yes it was supposed to happen.

Through-out the pregnancy I was sick, right up to my delivery. I only gained 12 lbs and that was with losing some weight. Connor was almost 8 lbs so really most of it was him. That just left 4 lbs for everything else.

I had to quit my job I was so sick and no one really understood that. They really didn’t know why I had to quit my job. I was at one point told I was weak because I quit. Having to run and throw up in between customers was getting to be too much, along with not having the energy to do anything. I continued to throw up most of the pregnancy. It made eating really hard.

On the day of delivery ( I was a 7 when I got to the hospital) I was so dehydrated they had a hard time getting an IV started. By the time I was an 8 or 9 they got the epidural in finally.

The whole time I was there they kept looking at me funny and would repetitively ask me what my normal blood pressure and heart rate was. They continued to watch my numbers.

Connor was posterior, meaning his face was turned the wrong way. He was head down but turned wrong. So he has to be shifted which isn’t too comfortable. I was only in labor with him for 5 hrs. But that was the only easy part.

My epidural (just like any numbing agent or any medication that should knock me out) wore off really fast. They offered another shot of the epidural just as I was pushing and agreed to it. Bad idea…

Instantly I started to feel even weaker. I rolled my head over to the machine keeping track of my heart rate and blood pressure. I watched as my heart rate and pressure plummeted. As I watched I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t nervous. After all I was in a hospital, in a bed, hooked up to IVs, surrounded by a medical team. Plus I felt a warm, wonderful peace that everything would be ok. I watched the numbers 80, 70, 40, 30…

Frantic, they quickly gave me a shot in my IV. Immediately my heart rate shot up. It felt as though I was running a marathon but just laying there in a bed. With that situation taken care of I could now push.

Problem #3. Connor was now stuck part way. Turns out his head was 16 inches around and did not cone. His head came out as round as a c-section baby’s head. Everyone thought he was born by c-section after he was born. In order for him to be born I had to get what is called a 4th degree episiotomy. And even then other tools has to be used.

As soon as he was born they didn’t call his birth time. They were working with him. He was in respiratory distress and had to go to the special care nursery. I got two seconds with him and he was rushed off.

He ended up in what is called an oxygen hood, on oxygen and a little IV was placed in his hand. He had to stay in the nursery the first two nights and couldn’t be moved out. Poor little guy!

When they tried to transport me out of my delivery room, I kept passing out. Smelling salts are disgusting. I have the unfortunate experience to know that now. I was not able to see Connor until the next day and even that was an adventure. I finally stopped passing out long enough to go down to the special care nursery and see him.

I was in the hospital for 3 days and he had to be there two more than I was. It was hard to leave without a baby after going through all of that. But he got better at the hospital long enough to go home. We got to go home long enough to find out he was immunodeficient.

To be Continued…