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Well, 2016 has started off with a bang!! (mostly a birth story)


StaceyinLA
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Sorry this basically just turned into a birth story.

 

We have had a really rough and hectic couple months. My plan was to get dd and her family settled in their new house (we had been doing some updating and helping them unpack all their stuff that came from the navy December 22nd), then focus on dd that was due January 10th (helping her cook/freeze meals, get the baby stuff washed and ready, etc.).  

 

Well, took dd to her appt on the 30th and her BP was pretty elevated. It had been slowly going up, but this had gotten concerning. The midwife sent her home to bed and they were going to do a 24-hr urine test this past Monday to determine if she had pre-eclampsia (the one in office only showed a trace of protein). We were monitoring her pressure at home, and due to the numbers, they decided to have her start collecting urine Friday morning and turn it in Saturday morning, and she was going to see the midwife Saturday at the birth center.

 

Saturday morning she looked better. She had lost a couple pounds of fluid, was feeling better, etc., but by Saturday evening when they did a home check of her BP, it was really bad. They had her go in for monitoring at the hospital. At this point she knows the birth center birth is off the table, but is still hoping to go into labor on her own before her hospital birth.

 

The hospital sent her home after a few hours' monitoring. The baby looked good, and as long as she was lying down, her pressure was great. They just told her to go in Monday to discuss everything with the midwife and backup doctor and a plan would be made at that point. The midwife told her she was probably looking at induction, but they'd hold off as long as they could. At this point she's thinking she was right at 39 weeks.

 

At 8 a.m. Monday the midwife called and told her she had to go straight to the hospital. Her urine came back and her protein was +2200 (they start to get concerned at +500). She headed in for induction. Thankfully, they started with cytotec, and had decided if she could keep the pressure down, they'd hold off on magnesium. After 3 doses of cytotec, her cervix seemed pretty ready, and it was 2-3 cm, so they decided to start pitocin. They started pitocin on the lowest dosage at about 3:20 a.m. Tuesday. By 4:00, dd had asked them to turn it off because she was having contractions so back to back that she couldn't catch her breath in between (this momma was panicking worried about her BP as well, though I didn't say it at the time). The midwife told them to go ahead and stop the pitocin. The contractions spaced out a little, but not much, and within 15 minutes she was a full 10 cm! She panted through a few contractions waiting on the midwife to arrive, and then pushed during 3 contractions and delivered my new granddaughter!

 

The baby cried immediately, and did skin to skin on dd's belly until the cord stopped pulsing (cord too short to get her to the breast). As soon as  the cord was cut, she started nursing and I swear she has nursed almost constantly!

 

I am so thankful that what could've easily deemed a c-section was thoughtfully and carefully managed by her midwife and OB and was able to be a very positive experience considering the issues.

 

She will come home today and still need much rest to allow her BP to continue to get back to normal, but I am so thankful that momma and baby are healthy and well!

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