Baby G's birth story - Part 1

So much of what happened with Baby G's birth happened before the actual labor started, so I'm going to do Part 1 which is what happened before he was born, and Part 2 the actual birth. And turns out it's pretty lengthy... sorry about that! I've made the major points large if you want to just skim through... this is mostly for my own record.

I've already written about a lot of what happened in the few weeks before he was born. I wrote here about how at 33 weeks I woke up two nights in a row with contractions. The second night they were every 3 minutes and it really scared me, enough to get me down to the hospital and to have the betamethasone shots that mature the baby's lungs. I had my husband give me a priesthood blessing when we got home and he said some very comforting things in that blessing. Afterwards he said that he didn't say this in the blessing because he wasn't sure if it was just what he was thinking in his head or if he was prompted to say it, but that he really thought that the baby would be coming early. What was strange was after that incident, I didn't have any other problems with contractions. I was taking it easy, but I felt silly because the problem seemed to disappear. I was sure that it was just a fluke and that the baby would probably be overdue after all those dramatics.

But I couldn't put the nagging feeling aside that even though I felt fine now, that the baby would be coming early. I even started having some strange experiences where I felt like there was a presence around me all the time, just standing behind my left shoulder. I tried to explain this to my friends at playgroup but I'm sure I just sounded like I had lost my mind and I was a crazy person. I told them that I felt like something was going to happen because I could feel people hanging around me. Yes, I realize that sounds nutty. It was almost like they were helping me get ready, reminding me of things I needed to get done. Nagging me so to speak. I told Trent one night that I thought that maybe I was going to die, and these people were here because they were going to take me to the other side. I've never had an experience like that where it lasted so long and I could feel a presence around me so strong. So I started getting things together around my house. I got out all the baby clothes and put them away. I charged my camera battery and cleared a bunch of pictures off my camera. I took the picture in front of the shed that I'd been wanting to take for months. I got things in order.

Then there was the drama of my doctor feeling like I would not have a fair trial of labor at the hospital that she worked at and wanted me to switch hospitals and doctors at the last minute. Talk about stress. She and I were both trying to find a doctor that would take me on at that point. The only place I was able to find that would even give me an appointment was a group of midwives that delivered at the other hospital. So I made an appointment with them for Wednesday, July 31st. I was really sad about this, I really love my doctor and I trusted her. But if she felt this was best, I was going to do it. It also really affirmed to me that I was 100% wanting to have a natural VBAC, I was no longer on the fence about this. And I wanted that more than to stick with my doctor and chance delivering at her hospital.

Then Wednesday, July 31st when I was 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant... I woke up and had been bleeding a lot. Crap. What is going on now? (That morning I really felt like I needed to get up and get my hospital bag packed, but I didn't listen. I really wish I would have!) I've bled on and off for this whole pregnancy but nothing since about 22 weeks pregnant. And nothing like what I woke up to that morning. I debated on what I should do... I had an appointment that afternoon with the midwife group, but I felt funny about going to that and saying, by the way I'm bleeding a lot. So I called my doctor on her cell phone and said, "Look, I know that you want me to switch hospitals, but I'm having this problem and I really feel like I should get checked out." She agreed and had me come right up to her office. She examined me and didn't feel good about the amount I was bleeding. She wanted me to have an ultrasound done by the perinatologist to see if they could find a source of the bleeding. So she sent me over to labor and delivery to be monitored and have some labs drawn until they could get me in for an ultrasound. Also, when I came in for the appointment my blood pressure was high. It had not been high for my whole pregnancy, so that was a little concerning as well.

Turns out they were too busy, and they couldn't see me that day. But they wouldn't let me go home and come back the next day for the appointment, they wanted me to stay over night so I could be monitored and then go to the appointment the next day. I was pretty frustrated at this. I did not want to pay a hospital bill for an overnight stay when I wasn't even having the baby! But I stayed, and had the most uncomfortable night ever sleeping in one of the labor and delivery beds. Oh it was horrible. At some point during the night they told me that my labs had come back abnormal. My platelet count was really low. The normal low range was 150 and mine was 86. So for some reason my blood wasn't doing so great.

The next morning we had my ultrasound appointment and they couldn't find a source for the bleeding. They just had to assume it was because I had a placental abruption somewhere. But with my high blood pressure, and low platelet count they felt like it would probably be best for me to have the baby soon. He also gave me clearance to have a VBAC, which was really important because now I was at the hospital that was implementing these crazy rules for VBAC's and probably wouldn't give me a fair trial at labor. But having clearance from him gave me a foot in the door to be able to do it. I think at this point they suspected that I had HELLP syndrome, but they didn't tell me that at all.

After my doctor talked to the perinatologist about what he thought she came into my room and we talked about inducing my labor that day. I was really nervous about being induced... we've all heard that having Pitocin to induce when you are going natural is an awful thing, so I was worried about that. They also don't like to give Pitocin when you've had a prior C-section because it can increase your risk of a uterine rupture. So we decided the best option was to have her break my water. One thing that made this a great choice was that my body was already progressing. She checked me and I was now dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced, so we weren't starting from square one.

There was one little catch here that came up when we were talking about induction. That was that since my platelet count was so low (it had dropped to 70 at this point) they would not allow me to have a C-section due to too much blood loss. Not only that, they would not let me have an epidural due to the possibility of bleeding into my spine. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! I say that because I was shocked that the tables had turned to being completely what I wanted! My doctor wanted me to have an epidural placed in case I couldn't handle the natural labor, just as an option. So she had the anesthesiologist come into the room and they discussed in front of me this dilemma that was at hand. He said absolutely no way would he place an epidural. The risk was too great. She wanted to see if they could give me a platelet transfusion so that I could have the option, which is something they had never done before... the answer was no.

I laid on the bed watching the two of them go back and forth, trying to figure out a way that I could get an epidural, and I felt the most comforting calm come over me. I had been prepared for this. For years I have felt like I needed to prepare for a natural delivery. I always thought it was so I could have a successful VBAC... but really I felt so strongly at that moment that Heavenly Father knew all along that I would face this one day, and I needed to be prepared. I can't even imagine being told that I had no other option than a natural delivery if I had been planning on an epidural or a repeat C-section. Seriously... I would have freaked out! But instead I felt totally calm, I knew that I could do this. I had been preparing for months and months for a natural delivery and now was the time. I was going to do it!

As fate would have it, my in laws were on their way up to Bear Lake for our family reunion and stopped by the hospital so that my husband and father in law could give me a priesthood blessing before labor started. It was a beautiful blessing, and as soon as it was over my doctor came in to break my water. It was go time.

Coming soon in Part 2 - Labor and what happened afterwards...