I had been going for daily NST and to have my membranes stripped since the 21st. Not too much was happening though and my Dr. scheduled my section for the Friday. I was ok with it, but really wanted to know that babe was ready so I was hoping to atleast go into labour before Friday.
Thankfully at around 2am on the 24th I woke with pretty strong contractions. I knew these were the real ones, not the "practice" ones I'd been having for 3 weeks on and off. I'm not really sure how I knew they were real, I just did. So I thought I better try to get some rest. I slept for about an hour, and woke again, this time they were closer, so I decided to time them for an hour....well they were 5-8 min apart. I really wanted to make sure that I was progressing before going to the hospital, so I kept timing them and watching the clock. They got to be 5 min about for an hour so at 430, I woke Mike up and told him that we should think about going to the hospital. I don't think he believed me, but I couldn't blame him, I'd been telling him, tonights the night for about a week and a half.
So we got up, I got dressed and had a yogurt and some juice and got the bag etc....My mil got up when she heard us and asked if we were going...we told her we were, so she went in with Evelyn, who was thankfully still sleeping. I called the hospital and off we went.
We got there around 6am....and got hooked up to the monitor. Contractions were still coming, although more like 8 minutes apart now, instead of 5 minutes, but still just as strong. I was happy that things were progressing and I knew that even if I ended up with a section, that babe was ready to come out. I also figured that the dr would break my water for me since things were progressing. The monitor showed that babe was doing fine. Around 8 am, Dr came in and was happy to see me in labour...he was really into VBAC's and was very supportive in helping me to try to get there. He checked me and I was around 3 cm, so he asked if I wanted my water broke...I said sure! When he did so, there was merconium (sp?) he said it was very light, so we'd just watch how things went and see what happens. He wanted me to stay on the monitor for a hour and see how things go and then I could get off and walk around. He said he'd be back around noon to check in.
I was worried about the merconium...even though it was light, it still worried me.
The contractions didn't really pick up once my water was broken, and they actually slowed down to every 10 minutes or so...they were strong still, but I thought they'd get really strong and closer. No such luck.
But dh and I and my nurse were all still thinking that things would get going soon. Well the only part of Yanic's birth that really bothers me (especially now that I've had time to think about it) is the Maternity co-ordinater lady that came in. She just rubbed me the wrong way and really made me feel like I was on some kind of clock (no one else ever made me feel like that!). To top it off she had no bedside manner and would come in and look at the monitor strip. My nurse didn't really care for her either and when she commented on a couple decels in babes heart rate, my nurse said that they were fine and during contractions, and went right back up afterwards. I should mention that my nurse, Betty was an older lady and had been in maternity forever.
Well needless to say the co-ordinater called the Dr that was overseeing my Dr (my Dr is fresh out of school) about the decels, so he wanted me to stay on the monitor & checked me I was 3/4. He said they'd see how things went and watch the babe closely cause of the merconium, the fact that I was a VBAC and the fact that my uterus was thin (something dr noticed the day before). He called my dr to tell him what was happening. Next thing I know my dr is at the hospital to see what was up.
While he was with me I had a couple really strong contractions, and babes heart rate decel and stayed down for a bit, then went back up. So he went out to talk to other Dr and they both came in to tell me they thought we should go ahead and do the section, for all the reasons I already mentioned and because if they waited and something happened and I needed to be sectioned ASAP, they wouldn't have the OR to do it in, as someone was suppose to be going to have surgery at noon. This was around 11. I was scheduled for a section Friday, so I had already accepted the fact that it was probably going to happen that way. But still it was sad. I agreed and they left to let the OR know so they could postpone the other surgery and get stuff rolling.
When they left, I broke down....Mike was great. I was scared for the baby and I was sad I wouldnt' get to VBAC. Then something happened that still makes me laugh. I said to Mike in between tears that I could breath better without the oxygen mask...he looked at it, shook his head and connected it to the tank. I started laughing my ass off!! Why something so stupid was so funny I'll never know, but man did it make me feel better. Seems they forgot to connect it in their hurry to give it to me when babes heartrate decelled. And to make matters more funny, I was still connected to the monitor, so when I laughed the thing would make all kinds of noises and of course wouldn't work correctly. It was too funny.
So my nurse came in and started getting me ready for everything, then the stupid coordinator came in to see how she could help. I should have told her to leave, but I didn't. Then she says she'd put my cathader in....let's just say, she should stick to co-ordinating. It must have taken her 20 minutes and she was not too gentle. The pace that the nurses and everyone were runnign around made me nervous too, I finally stopped Betty and asked her if they were hurrying cause they were worried about the babe. She said yes and no....the main reason for the hurry is that they pushed back another surgery to do the section, and they wanted to get babe out sooner rather then later. We then had a nice talk about the dr's and how long she's been a nurse etc.
So we got wheeled down to the OR and the nurses there were so nice. They were there when I had Evy too, so that was cool. They even remembered her (cause of the knot in her cord). Of course the worst thing about being wheeled down and getting the spinal ready were that the contractions seemed to be coming fast and harder now. I remember that with Evy too...it seemed like as soon as we decide to do the section, things get going and all I wanted was for them to stop at this point. The anestegiolist (sp?) had a med student with him, so he was explaining everything as he was going along, and it took forever. I must have had 5 strong contractions waiting for him to even start. The nurses were great again. Of course every time I"d have a contraction, I'd leak fluids that were merconium stained, so by the time he was done, he'd been mucused (as he put it...made me laugh again) and I felt like I was sitting in a lake!
So they got things frozen, and Mike came in and held my hand. It didn't take long to get Yanic out and man did he make an apperance. The first thing the Dr said was look at that. When I asked what, he said that my uterus was soo thin, that the baby was looking up at them with his eyes wide open and they could see it through my uterus! Cool eh?? I wish I had a camera! Not that I was in a position to take a picture, but Mike could have. He thinks that would be a weird picture. Then when they got Yanic out at Noon, all they could keep saying was he's so big, look how big he is, he's like a little sumo wrestler etc...and Yanic just wailed. It was so nice to hear that...well to hear that he was ok. They asked what we were naming him and when we said the name, the Dr doing the section knew it was after a hockey player. So he started talking about how when Yanic was in the NHL, he'd tell him that he delivered him and how'd he'd be a great defensemen being that big.
They talked quite a bit, thankfully to me too.
They brought Yanic over for Mike to hold and for me to touch and see. I couldn't believe how much he looked like Evelyn. He was big and stopped crying for a bit. Then Betty took the babe up to the maternity ward to weigh him etc (they don't have that stuff in the OR ~ small town hospital) and told Mike to come up when they were done with me. I was thankful for that. When we had Evy, Mike went up with her and I was alone. I was glad that he stayed with me, especially considering that I was shivering so bad. I felt like I was freezing, something I didn't experience with Evelyn. It seemed to take longer for them to sew me back up too. I found out later that it took them a bit to get the bleeding under control when my scar tissue was from my first section. Betty called down from the maternity ward to tell us that Yanic weighed 10 pounds 6 oz, so that got the dr's talking again. Once they were done, I had to go to recovery until I could move my toes and Mike headed up to see Yanic.
The nurse in recovery let me go up early, I couldn't move my toes, but I could move my leg. And someone had come looking for the bed I was on, seems it wasn't suppose to leave the maternity floor. So the nurse told her if she wanted the bed she had to take me too. When we got up there, I could hear Yanic crying and thought if they have him in the nursery I'll be pissed. He was in the nursery, but Daddy was there rocking him in the rocking chair. I guess the poor little guy cried the whole time we were getting stitched up and the whole time I was in recovery.
Once they got me into my room, Mike came in and Yanic latched on like a champ. He is so sweet.
Unfortunately, due to the SARS crap, Evelyn was not allowed into the hospital. So it was a long 3 days (I made them let me go in 3, they wanted to keep me 5) in the hospital. Mike came up everyday. Yanic was a great nurser, but a wailer at night. I figure now it was probably because he was hungry, sure he was getting colostrum etc...but because of the section, I was only fed broth/liquids for 2 days, how are you suppose to get your milk going on that?? By the 2nd day I could feel that my milk was coming in though so I was not too worried about him.
Unfortunately the dr didn't share my relaxed, wait the milk will come attitude. He tried to tell me to suppliment on the second day cause Yanic was down to 8 pounds something...and had lost more then the 10% they usually lose. I questioned him as to how he could lose so much when he was latched on 24/7. Then he said that he was actually questioning the birth weight, but unfortunately they had to go by the birth weight recorded. He thought that Yanic didn't feel like a 10lb babe when born, and my nurse (Jen) also commented that Yanic must be long cause he didn't look like a 10lb babe (although she didnt' see him until the 2nd day), he wasn't overly long though. Jen went to bat for me too though, she told the dr I wouldn't want to supplement, and even took Yanic to weigh him on the ER scale (which turned out to not be working properly). I told the dr that I would not be supplimenting, that I could feel my milk coming in and that we'd play it by ear. Thank god I had done research on breastfeeding and had successfully bf Evelyn and that my dr was only 30 and fresh out of school, he backed right off and said that we'd see what he weighed that night and go from there.
Needless to say (and to cut this story short), he had gained 2 oz that night, and gained again before we left the next day. He was back up to 10lbs (I think he was that big) 5 days later and was 11lbs 6 oz a week after that.
All and all, I'm happy that he is here and he's healthy. I don't have regrets with having a section (I wish the co-ordinater wasn't involved) and am happy with the nurses and dr's at the hospital.
Yanic is such a sweet little babe, and to see him and Evelyn together melts my heart.
Thankfully at around 2am on the 24th I woke with pretty strong contractions. I knew these were the real ones, not the "practice" ones I'd been having for 3 weeks on and off. I'm not really sure how I knew they were real, I just did. So I thought I better try to get some rest. I slept for about an hour, and woke again, this time they were closer, so I decided to time them for an hour....well they were 5-8 min apart. I really wanted to make sure that I was progressing before going to the hospital, so I kept timing them and watching the clock. They got to be 5 min about for an hour so at 430, I woke Mike up and told him that we should think about going to the hospital. I don't think he believed me, but I couldn't blame him, I'd been telling him, tonights the night for about a week and a half.
So we got up, I got dressed and had a yogurt and some juice and got the bag etc....My mil got up when she heard us and asked if we were going...we told her we were, so she went in with Evelyn, who was thankfully still sleeping. I called the hospital and off we went.
We got there around 6am....and got hooked up to the monitor. Contractions were still coming, although more like 8 minutes apart now, instead of 5 minutes, but still just as strong. I was happy that things were progressing and I knew that even if I ended up with a section, that babe was ready to come out. I also figured that the dr would break my water for me since things were progressing. The monitor showed that babe was doing fine. Around 8 am, Dr came in and was happy to see me in labour...he was really into VBAC's and was very supportive in helping me to try to get there. He checked me and I was around 3 cm, so he asked if I wanted my water broke...I said sure! When he did so, there was merconium (sp?) he said it was very light, so we'd just watch how things went and see what happens. He wanted me to stay on the monitor for a hour and see how things go and then I could get off and walk around. He said he'd be back around noon to check in.
I was worried about the merconium...even though it was light, it still worried me.
The contractions didn't really pick up once my water was broken, and they actually slowed down to every 10 minutes or so...they were strong still, but I thought they'd get really strong and closer. No such luck.
But dh and I and my nurse were all still thinking that things would get going soon. Well the only part of Yanic's birth that really bothers me (especially now that I've had time to think about it) is the Maternity co-ordinater lady that came in. She just rubbed me the wrong way and really made me feel like I was on some kind of clock (no one else ever made me feel like that!). To top it off she had no bedside manner and would come in and look at the monitor strip. My nurse didn't really care for her either and when she commented on a couple decels in babes heart rate, my nurse said that they were fine and during contractions, and went right back up afterwards. I should mention that my nurse, Betty was an older lady and had been in maternity forever.
Well needless to say the co-ordinater called the Dr that was overseeing my Dr (my Dr is fresh out of school) about the decels, so he wanted me to stay on the monitor & checked me I was 3/4. He said they'd see how things went and watch the babe closely cause of the merconium, the fact that I was a VBAC and the fact that my uterus was thin (something dr noticed the day before). He called my dr to tell him what was happening. Next thing I know my dr is at the hospital to see what was up.
While he was with me I had a couple really strong contractions, and babes heart rate decel and stayed down for a bit, then went back up. So he went out to talk to other Dr and they both came in to tell me they thought we should go ahead and do the section, for all the reasons I already mentioned and because if they waited and something happened and I needed to be sectioned ASAP, they wouldn't have the OR to do it in, as someone was suppose to be going to have surgery at noon. This was around 11. I was scheduled for a section Friday, so I had already accepted the fact that it was probably going to happen that way. But still it was sad. I agreed and they left to let the OR know so they could postpone the other surgery and get stuff rolling.
When they left, I broke down....Mike was great. I was scared for the baby and I was sad I wouldnt' get to VBAC. Then something happened that still makes me laugh. I said to Mike in between tears that I could breath better without the oxygen mask...he looked at it, shook his head and connected it to the tank. I started laughing my ass off!! Why something so stupid was so funny I'll never know, but man did it make me feel better. Seems they forgot to connect it in their hurry to give it to me when babes heartrate decelled. And to make matters more funny, I was still connected to the monitor, so when I laughed the thing would make all kinds of noises and of course wouldn't work correctly. It was too funny.
So my nurse came in and started getting me ready for everything, then the stupid coordinator came in to see how she could help. I should have told her to leave, but I didn't. Then she says she'd put my cathader in....let's just say, she should stick to co-ordinating. It must have taken her 20 minutes and she was not too gentle. The pace that the nurses and everyone were runnign around made me nervous too, I finally stopped Betty and asked her if they were hurrying cause they were worried about the babe. She said yes and no....the main reason for the hurry is that they pushed back another surgery to do the section, and they wanted to get babe out sooner rather then later. We then had a nice talk about the dr's and how long she's been a nurse etc.
So we got wheeled down to the OR and the nurses there were so nice. They were there when I had Evy too, so that was cool. They even remembered her (cause of the knot in her cord). Of course the worst thing about being wheeled down and getting the spinal ready were that the contractions seemed to be coming fast and harder now. I remember that with Evy too...it seemed like as soon as we decide to do the section, things get going and all I wanted was for them to stop at this point. The anestegiolist (sp?) had a med student with him, so he was explaining everything as he was going along, and it took forever. I must have had 5 strong contractions waiting for him to even start. The nurses were great again. Of course every time I"d have a contraction, I'd leak fluids that were merconium stained, so by the time he was done, he'd been mucused (as he put it...made me laugh again) and I felt like I was sitting in a lake!
So they got things frozen, and Mike came in and held my hand. It didn't take long to get Yanic out and man did he make an apperance. The first thing the Dr said was look at that. When I asked what, he said that my uterus was soo thin, that the baby was looking up at them with his eyes wide open and they could see it through my uterus! Cool eh?? I wish I had a camera! Not that I was in a position to take a picture, but Mike could have. He thinks that would be a weird picture. Then when they got Yanic out at Noon, all they could keep saying was he's so big, look how big he is, he's like a little sumo wrestler etc...and Yanic just wailed. It was so nice to hear that...well to hear that he was ok. They asked what we were naming him and when we said the name, the Dr doing the section knew it was after a hockey player. So he started talking about how when Yanic was in the NHL, he'd tell him that he delivered him and how'd he'd be a great defensemen being that big.
They talked quite a bit, thankfully to me too.
They brought Yanic over for Mike to hold and for me to touch and see. I couldn't believe how much he looked like Evelyn. He was big and stopped crying for a bit. Then Betty took the babe up to the maternity ward to weigh him etc (they don't have that stuff in the OR ~ small town hospital) and told Mike to come up when they were done with me. I was thankful for that. When we had Evy, Mike went up with her and I was alone. I was glad that he stayed with me, especially considering that I was shivering so bad. I felt like I was freezing, something I didn't experience with Evelyn. It seemed to take longer for them to sew me back up too. I found out later that it took them a bit to get the bleeding under control when my scar tissue was from my first section. Betty called down from the maternity ward to tell us that Yanic weighed 10 pounds 6 oz, so that got the dr's talking again. Once they were done, I had to go to recovery until I could move my toes and Mike headed up to see Yanic.
The nurse in recovery let me go up early, I couldn't move my toes, but I could move my leg. And someone had come looking for the bed I was on, seems it wasn't suppose to leave the maternity floor. So the nurse told her if she wanted the bed she had to take me too. When we got up there, I could hear Yanic crying and thought if they have him in the nursery I'll be pissed. He was in the nursery, but Daddy was there rocking him in the rocking chair. I guess the poor little guy cried the whole time we were getting stitched up and the whole time I was in recovery.
Once they got me into my room, Mike came in and Yanic latched on like a champ. He is so sweet.
Unfortunately, due to the SARS crap, Evelyn was not allowed into the hospital. So it was a long 3 days (I made them let me go in 3, they wanted to keep me 5) in the hospital. Mike came up everyday. Yanic was a great nurser, but a wailer at night. I figure now it was probably because he was hungry, sure he was getting colostrum etc...but because of the section, I was only fed broth/liquids for 2 days, how are you suppose to get your milk going on that?? By the 2nd day I could feel that my milk was coming in though so I was not too worried about him.
Unfortunately the dr didn't share my relaxed, wait the milk will come attitude. He tried to tell me to suppliment on the second day cause Yanic was down to 8 pounds something...and had lost more then the 10% they usually lose. I questioned him as to how he could lose so much when he was latched on 24/7. Then he said that he was actually questioning the birth weight, but unfortunately they had to go by the birth weight recorded. He thought that Yanic didn't feel like a 10lb babe when born, and my nurse (Jen) also commented that Yanic must be long cause he didn't look like a 10lb babe (although she didnt' see him until the 2nd day), he wasn't overly long though. Jen went to bat for me too though, she told the dr I wouldn't want to supplement, and even took Yanic to weigh him on the ER scale (which turned out to not be working properly). I told the dr that I would not be supplimenting, that I could feel my milk coming in and that we'd play it by ear. Thank god I had done research on breastfeeding and had successfully bf Evelyn and that my dr was only 30 and fresh out of school, he backed right off and said that we'd see what he weighed that night and go from there.
Needless to say (and to cut this story short), he had gained 2 oz that night, and gained again before we left the next day. He was back up to 10lbs (I think he was that big) 5 days later and was 11lbs 6 oz a week after that.
All and all, I'm happy that he is here and he's healthy. I don't have regrets with having a section (I wish the co-ordinater wasn't involved) and am happy with the nurses and dr's at the hospital.
Yanic is such a sweet little babe, and to see him and Evelyn together melts my heart.
