Part Three: Welcoming Baby Girl
I had my 39 week ultrasound (Wednesday) to check baby girl’s position…baby was head down…Obviously I was elated as that meant I was eligible to try for a VBAC. However, the amniotic fluid levels looked low. I already had my NST (non-stress test) scheduled for the following day (Thursday) so my OB scheduled another appointment for me to recheck the levels the day after that (Friday) as apparently the levels fluctuate a lot not to mentions baby’s size and position can obscure results.
I went to the NST on Thursday. It was so strange being 39 weeks pregnant on the labor and delivery floor and not having a baby. In fact, after I parked the car in the parking lot, three people stopped to congratulate me (they all thought I was having a baby).
Well, baby passed the NST after a cup of juice.
As an aside I was still working full time. Friday came, I ate breakfast, and went to work. My work load was quite light since I had been working fervently the last few weeks to be sure everything time-sensitive was completed incase baby made an early appearance.
I headed out a little after lunch to my appointment making a mental plan to grab lunch and stop at the post office on my way back to the office. As I waited in the office, I looked over the websites full of baby names, sending a few to my husband. Surprisingly, I found one, I most certainly overlooked the first 10000000000 times I had looked at this website. Better yet, the website listed the name as Polish in origin. My husband and I are both Polish. The name meant flower. I kinda liked it.
As the nurse called my name, I quickly sent a text to my already annoyed husband and suggested it. More surprisingly, he also liked it. Hmmm…contender.
Well, the OB came in and was reassuring that the levels would improve and that I could return to work after a quick check. My weight was great. My blood pressure great. No protein in the urine. She asked me to lean back on the bed and powered up the machine. My stomach growled…thoughts of lunch bounced around my head.
Well, I could tell pretty quickly that the levels must not have improved. My doctor had me move positions, pressed the wand around my belly, tried the wand in different angles on my belly, she kept clicking and clicking and clicking. I could hear baby’s heart beat and feel baby moving, so I knew the baby was okay. I was panicking inside regardless.
Verdict: My fluid levels were still quite low…borderline worrisome.
Since we were going into a weekend, the OB said she recommended we have a c-section sooner rather than later…aka in just a few short hours. I was certainly shocked. I asked about my dream VBAC. Well, inducing was out of the question because of my prior c-section and due to the low levels of fluids. The OB said we could try to wait for labor to start on its own (if it started on its own, I showed zero signs of any progress) and that we would have to monitor the levels closely. If the levels decreased anymore it would be an emergency c-section. I was scared. I also was alone as my husband was at work. This was supposed to be a quick appointment.
I trust my OB. She is fantastic. So after working all morning, I had to skip lunch. I drove home to tell my husband, “so, guess what hunny…we are having a baby…today…in, like, 4 hours.”
The bags were packed (for weeks). I showered. I called my in laws and my mom and told them the plan. I was scheduled at 7pm. So that’s 12 hours without eating….awake. I was starving. I was nervous. I was HANGRY…(hungry + angry).
We needed someone to watch our son while we went to the hospital. I didn’t feel like it was right to pick his parent or my mother, I didn’t want to pick or deal with the drama or the fall out of picking. I also wanted it to be just my husband, me, and our baby…for just a moment, the only moment where we could be just the three of us. Well, that plan didn’t go over well, parents were still upset that we requested them not to come that first night.
In hindsight, I am happy we didn’t choose though. It wouldn’t have been fair, and I didn’t want to have to explain my choice.
Also, it was a rough evening. Nothing went right, the nurses seemed like they were confused, at one point I got so worked up I almost ripped my IV out and said let’s do this another time. They didn’t have any of the tools or items in the room, there were two nurses who literally asked me the same questions and when I told them another nurse did it already, they looked confused only to realize the chart was already completed.
I felt so worried. I needed my husband to sit there, to hold my hand, to reassure me, to keep me calm. He never got involved, he let me handle the nurses; He never told me to calm down, he never told me to relax. He was exactly what I needed in that moment. Too many prying eyes in the labor and delivery suite as they prepped me for surgery would’ve made it so much worse.
My surgery was supposed to start around 630pm… the OB was running late (totally understandable she has a lot of patients), so they didn’t start until closer to 8. Once in the surgery suite, I was alone until they placed spinal block. When they did, they could bring my husband in. Well. they tried to place the spinal block six times before it finally went where it was supposed to go.
Surgery was quite uneventful. It took longer than it did with my son. Everyone took their time. After surgery, I was rolled into recovery, it was just hubby and me and our new baby. Since there was no rush to satisfy anxiously awaiting grandparents, Jeff and the baby never left my side until the baby went for her first bath. (The nurses forgot to put a diaper on her and she poo’ed everywhere) But we got to enjoy every second.
I was hungry, and the nurse said I could try ice chips. If I handled the ice chips, she would see about crackers. I inhaled the delicious ice chips (hospital ice is amazing).
Sadly, the room they put us in was tiny, it had only one bed. So my husband couldn’t stay with me. I didn’t sleep at all because I was all by myself only four hours post-surgery. I felt abandoned. Not to mention STARVING and the evening nurse went home. I was also itchy…very, very itchy.
Life of A Mama: Unfiltered 