On July 2nd Trent and I went in for my weekly visit hoping for good news that they might induce me. When he checked me I was at 3.5 cm and was still just soft. But when they checked my blood pressure it was high. Because of Heidi's preeclampsia with Haylee they wanted to induce me. I think that my doctor just wanted any excuse to induce me and I was totally okay with that.
We were admitted into labor and delivery around 4:00pm. They began the induction process. Things were going really smooth. It took me a while to get a hold of my mom. As soon as I did she came to the hospital. This gave Trent the time to run home and get our hospital bag (I purposely did not put it in the car because I didn't want to jinx us.) While he was gone the doctor came in and broke my water. This was the weirdest feeling. I felt like I was peeing my pants and continued to feel that way for the next 5 days but we'll get to that later. I was contracting ever 4-5 minutes or so and was progressing smoothly. I wanted to wait for Trent to return to receive my epidural. My mom says I was able to really feel the pains of labor because I waited so long.
Trent finally returned and the gave me an epidural and things were going fabulous. I was continuing to contract and was almost completely dilated and effaced. The epidural was strong enough so they called in the doctor and he up the dose. When in reality he gave me a full second dose, which I did not need. This caused the craziest feeling, I was paralyzed from my chest down. It was so painful. I was compulsively shaking. They turned of my epidural completely and it took about an hour for it to begin to wear off. When it wore off I could feel my chest and body again. At about 9 I was complete so I started pushing. By this time I had a fever and was starting to struggle. I pushed on and off until 1:00am or so, when my doctor came in and said my pelvis wasn't expanding and he recommended a c-section. I just wanted to get Eli here safe and sound so I said lets do it. In the operating room I was compulsively shaking because of my fever and nerves. It was uncontrollable and so painful! The gave my an epidural block and I couldn't feel anything from my waist down. But my arms and head were shaking so hard and I couldn't keep my eyes open. Trent and my mom stood at my head trying to calm me and hold my arms still. I was so grateful for their support.
During the c-section the doctor found that baby Eli was so deep from me pushing so long that he had to go lower than normal as he went lower to pull him out it tore my uterus and ripped into my cervix. He stitched it up and things were great! Eli arrived at 2:42am and came out he screamed, which was they most amazing sound. They held him up for me to see and I only had a glimpse because I still could barely open my eyes. Trent was able to go over and take picture of them weighing him and measuring him while the doctors finished sewing me up. He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. His head measured 37 cm. My mom said most babies heads are 34 cm. No wonder he wouldn't come out vaginally! Trent finally brought Eli over to show him to me. He was so tiny and so perfect. When I was all closed up they laid Eli on my chest and rolled us back into the labor and delivery recovery room.
We came out to the recovery room and I was still shaking. Eli immediately wanted to nurse. So we nursed him and then got prepared to go up stairs. They noticed I was bleeding more than normal but it slowed so they sent us up stairs! At this time my mom left because she was suppose to be back to work at 6:00am.
We got upstairs and check in. The nurses began going thru a whole bunch of safety protocol. I was feeling really funny and assumed that my blood sugar levels were low because I was dizzy. I finally stopped the nurse and said, " I think I am going to black out." She asked the CNA what my blood pressure was and it was 70's over 30's. They checked it again and again and again thinking the machine was broken. They finally did it manually and it had dropped to 68/23. SO SO SCARY!! I watched the color completely drain from my hands. In the moment I didn't realize that I could be dying. They finally checked my pad and I was losing blood quickly. The first set of nurses did nothing! I had around 12 nurses in the room literally just staring at me not knowing what to do. Little did I know the doctor had ordered me blood but the nurse forgot to order it. The nurses were not sure what to do or how to handle the emergency situation.
My mom returned to work and checked in her first patient when she ran into the doctor on call who said, "I am so sorry about your daughter, I have ordered blood for her." My mom had no idea anything was wrong. She went to the desk and told them to find someone to watch her patient she was leaving. Mean while I was watching Trent's and he was so caring standing by my side trying to help in anyway he can. He says he had Eli but I don't remember Eli being returned to us yet.
Finally 2 hours after discovering the bleeding the doctors came in. My mom was with them. My mom immediately started massaging my stomach and uterus (which I guess the nurses should have been doing the whole time). She could feel that something was wrong. I had so many people pushing on my abdomen I have never been so sore. It hurt for days after.
When the blood arrived my mom put in a second IV for me and started the one side while another nurse started the other side. The gave me 2 units of blood at this time. I added up the number of units of blood I had lost that they were writing on the board, by this time I had lost at least 4 quarts. There are only about 6 quarts of blood in the body about 7-9 in a pregnant woman. That means I lost more than half my blood supply. That is not including what I lost in surgery. I was still continuing to bleed.
My doctor said that they might have to take me back into surgery. We wanted to wait so that Trent and my dad or father in-law could give me a blessing. Trent was texting his parents telling them to get there ASAP. Not telling them why because he was so nervous. But my doctor said there was not enough time and that he would help give the blessing. So Dr. Kaelbere anointed my head and Trent gave me a wonderful blessing. He blessed me that surgery, if needed, would go great. When he finished the doctor said to Trent that he didn't think surgery was going to be needed. After the blessing the doctors stepped out in the hallway. Looking back I realize now that the blessing was from our Father in Heaven. It seemed to clear the doctors heads. When they came back in it was like they immediately knew what to do. They told me they were going to put a balloon up in my uterus and create a compression that would stay in for 24 hours. Before putting the balloon in the doctor went in and stripped my uterus of thousands of blood clots.This was so so painful! I have never screamed so hard in my life. They weren't sure if my stitches had reopened or if I was hem-ridging. So they put in the balloon that when filled it created pressure to stop all the bleeding. It worked the bleeding slowed. It was in for the full 24 hours. During this time they told me I couldn't eat or have any fluids just in case I needed to go into surgery. I was starving and hadn't eaten anything since Cafe Rio lunch the day before which I threw up just before the c-section. I begged and begged for at least some ice chips and they finally gave into that. I never knew that ice could be so heavenly.
I was finally able to hold my little Eli and see him. He was amazing! I tried and tried to breast feed him after all the trauma and it wasn't working. We tried so many different things to try and get him to eat. I think we were both so traumatized that it just was going to work at that time. Family and friends began to visit. It was amazing the support we felt from all of them. I am so grateful for all the prayers that were in my behalf. I am so grateful for my amazing husband who stayed by my side and was so level headed. I am so grateful for my mom who was there for me emotionally and to help with all the crazy medical needs.
For the next 24 hours they checked my vitals every 15 minutes. My blood pressure began to come up again but was still very low for days. My hematocrit stayed in the teens or low 20's for the next few days. It is suppose to be 42. I had 2 more bags of blood.
After the 24 hours they began to deflate the balloon. They doctor deflated the first 30 cc. Every thing looked good and I wasn't bleeding. They slowly deflated it every half hour. Until it was empty and they pulled it out. I was so glad the nightmare was ending.
Eli is the best baby ever and I am so grateful he is here safe and sound. We spent the next 5 days in the hospital. The forth of July was a new adventure watching the fireworks from our window with an amazing view. The doctor on call helped our nurse reserve us a special room so we could see them.
I have definitely been much better. This recovering is a long process! They safe my blood levels won't be completely normal for 4 months. I am sad that I had such a horrible experience with my babies birth and the post op nurses. I wish that they had been trained more on how to handle and emergency situation. Don't get me wrong I had some amazing nurses but there were a lot of things that went wrong that should not have.
Needless to say it was a living nightmare! That I did not eat at all, not even water!
But things are fabulous now! Eli is 6 weeks old and an awesome eater, like a champ!
Thank you everyone for your support and love.
Thank you Mom for being there and saving me multiple times emotionally and physically!
THANK YOU TRENT for being so amazing through it all. I could not ask for a better husband. I love you with all my heart!
I actually do believe it was a miracle from God that I did not have to go back into surgery and that I am still here! I had my doctor and husband give me a blessing and within minutes the doctors seemed to have clearer minds and went strait into action and ended up with the balloon thing instead of surgery. I am so grateful to a loving and merciful Heavenly Father!
PICTURES OF ELI TO COME!!
