Lauren is getting older
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Updates will come
I am sorry I haven't updated. When I do it will be long. I just want to be out of the hospital and at home with my baby girl. She is a month old today and has only been out of hospital for a total of 8 days. I need to bring her home so that we can make that number a lot larger!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Laurens birth story
A lot has happened in the last 2 weeks so I thought I would start with the post about her birth. As I have more time I will update and slowly get back on track.
Wednesday the 22 I was supposed to be induced. I woke up at 4:30 to go to the bathroom and realised I was having contractions. They weren't bad but they were regular. I went back to bed to sleep till 6 when I had to call the hospital about my induction. When I called they told me to have something to eat and come in at 8:30. We were excited to think that we were going to get our baby girl. I went in and they then told me they were super busy and it probably wouldn't be done. They hooked me up to the monitors just to check me though. I was contracting regularly every 5 minutes but they weren't strong so they told em to go home and if they could do the induction they would call me or if the contractions got worse to come in. The rest of the day I went out walking around the block so many times it got boring. We walked and walked and it didn't work. I decided that I had to try and get some sleep as I had to call the hospital again at 6 to find out if I could go in. I actually slept all night really well. I think this really helped for the 4 days afterwards but more about that later. I woke up and the hospital told me to come in at 7:30 this time. Off we went hoping that the 23rd would finally be our day. I was still having regular contractions but I felt fine and they didn't bother me at all. I got hooked up to the monitors and they decided that because I was having regular contractions they couldn't induce with the gel that they normally use first. I was going to have to be hooked up to the oxytocin. I hadn't wanted an IV but I figured if it was going to make the contractions do something then I would go for it. My doctor did want to break my water at that time too but I was only 1cm so she couldn't do it. I was hooked up to the oxy at 10:30. The contractions never got stronger or closer together no matter how much they upped it on me. You can have up to 20 units and I was there but 2:30 and I felt like the contractions were getting less and less. To the point they had me go for a walk to help them and I thought they went away. My doctor came in at 3 and I was only 2cm but she broke my water then. I have to admit I had no idea how much water there was. The entire bed had to be changed and my doctor had to go and change her clothes cause she had it all over her. After the water was broken everything changed then. They didn't turn down my oxy thinking that it would still be needed. Unfortunately all I needed was for my water to be broken cause with the 2 of them together things got really hard really fast. I was having contractions on top of contractions and the nurses were getting worried cause they couldn't turn the oxy down fast enough. You normally get some time to rest in between each contraction even if it is only to catch your breath but I wasn't even having that. It would have been okay they said if I was ready to push but I wasn't there yet. I did dilate very quickly though by 4 I was at 4cm 5 I was 6 then they checked at 6:45 and I was 7 then at 7:30 I was 10cm. I did have to have morphine at about 5:15. I really didn't want it and kept putting it off but the nurses finally said that I really needed to cause they felt it would help slow the oxy down and I would get a rest break as they seemed to be worried it was to close together. I did try the gas first but it didn't do anything but give me a handle to hold on to. The morphine didn't stop the pains or slow the contractions it just made me feel really loopy and supposedly that helped. Tony was great through out it and just gave me ice chips when I needed them and sat there for when I wanted him. The afternoon nurse wasn't so good and didn't really let me move like i wanted too hooked up to the machine but I didn't totally listen. Then she had a nurse come in to relieve her for her break. She decided to check me at about 7:20. It was then she noticed that I was almost ready to push and that my placenta had started to fall forward over the cervix and it was getting in the way. She actually pushed it back up and then I was fine. This could have been really bad. She also got the doctor paged very quickly although she didn't need to as my doctor had been calling and checking on me all day and walked in about 5 minutes later. Then came the best part for me. They let me push. I have to admit after all the labouring the pushing felt so good. I only had to push for 34 minutes. During this time a lot went on that I didn't notice but Tony did and filled me it. First he was supposed to stay at my head as he didn't want to watch at all. He ended up holding my leg and seeing everything. Part way through the pushing I noticed my doctor get some freezing and then without telling me did an episotomy. I didn't want one and she knew that and she doesn't like doing them so I was a bit surprised but not in a position to ask at that point. What I didn't know was that Laurens heart rate was dropping to below mine but quite a bit. Her cord was wrapped over her shoulder and was being compressed. She wasn't face up or face down like most babies are she was sort of sideways. I also didn't know that they were talking emergency c-section at one point because of the problems. The doctor did the episotomy to try and help give more room first. Her heart rate kept dropping and the doctor asked for the c-section room to be ready. Thank goodness for one nurse at the back of the room that said no and to let me push. I was pushing so well it was faster for me to do that then to prep me for the surgery. Sure enough I pushed as hard as I could when she yelled for em to do it and I did it on my own. The put her on my belly but the nurse from the back of the room grabbed her right away. I knew she wasn't breathing yet and that she was blue. She breathed right away once she was on the warming table though. Her apgar was only 4 at first but then jumped to 9 so there was nothing to worry about there. Tony even went and cut the cord. Although he did chicken out a bit and cut it a bit long but that came in handy later. She was perfect. I was up and showed in less than 2 hours. It would have been sooner but I had to wait for all the stitches to be done. Tony forgot the tip given to him about not turning around from the warming table and turned just in time to see the placenta. Not something her wanted to see! I actually said about an hour after birth that I would defiantly do this again as it really wasn't bad at all. The labour part really was only 5 hours as everything before 3 when my water was broken didn't hurt or do anything to me. Lauren Cassidy was born at 8:04pm. 7lbs 8 oz. 21.5inches long, with reddish blond hair. But that's when everything changed. I knew that babies normally have what is called recovery sleep where they sleep for a couple hours after. Not my little girl she didn't sleep at all. The nurses basically ignored us while we were there and didn't even check me for fundus height or my stitches. They only checked Laurens heart rate twice and her temp twice. Both times they were a little off but they never did tell us this. I thought feeding was going okay just not as often as they wanted it to be. When they weighed her before going home she had dropped down 7% from her birht weight but they said anything under 10% is fine. Then the doctor forgot to come and discharge us. My doctor left for holidays right after delivering Lauren so had left instructions for the doctor covering the maternity clinic to come and do it. The nurses had to call the doctor back once I went to the desk and got mad cause we wanted to go home. We finally went home at 2pm on Saturday the 25th. I will continue the story later as once we got home things got worse. We are better now and finally home again hopefully to never be a patient at Childrens again. The nurses were great and all the NICU staff is great but we have spent enough time there now.
Wednesday the 22 I was supposed to be induced. I woke up at 4:30 to go to the bathroom and realised I was having contractions. They weren't bad but they were regular. I went back to bed to sleep till 6 when I had to call the hospital about my induction. When I called they told me to have something to eat and come in at 8:30. We were excited to think that we were going to get our baby girl. I went in and they then told me they were super busy and it probably wouldn't be done. They hooked me up to the monitors just to check me though. I was contracting regularly every 5 minutes but they weren't strong so they told em to go home and if they could do the induction they would call me or if the contractions got worse to come in. The rest of the day I went out walking around the block so many times it got boring. We walked and walked and it didn't work. I decided that I had to try and get some sleep as I had to call the hospital again at 6 to find out if I could go in. I actually slept all night really well. I think this really helped for the 4 days afterwards but more about that later. I woke up and the hospital told me to come in at 7:30 this time. Off we went hoping that the 23rd would finally be our day. I was still having regular contractions but I felt fine and they didn't bother me at all. I got hooked up to the monitors and they decided that because I was having regular contractions they couldn't induce with the gel that they normally use first. I was going to have to be hooked up to the oxytocin. I hadn't wanted an IV but I figured if it was going to make the contractions do something then I would go for it. My doctor did want to break my water at that time too but I was only 1cm so she couldn't do it. I was hooked up to the oxy at 10:30. The contractions never got stronger or closer together no matter how much they upped it on me. You can have up to 20 units and I was there but 2:30 and I felt like the contractions were getting less and less. To the point they had me go for a walk to help them and I thought they went away. My doctor came in at 3 and I was only 2cm but she broke my water then. I have to admit I had no idea how much water there was. The entire bed had to be changed and my doctor had to go and change her clothes cause she had it all over her. After the water was broken everything changed then. They didn't turn down my oxy thinking that it would still be needed. Unfortunately all I needed was for my water to be broken cause with the 2 of them together things got really hard really fast. I was having contractions on top of contractions and the nurses were getting worried cause they couldn't turn the oxy down fast enough. You normally get some time to rest in between each contraction even if it is only to catch your breath but I wasn't even having that. It would have been okay they said if I was ready to push but I wasn't there yet. I did dilate very quickly though by 4 I was at 4cm 5 I was 6 then they checked at 6:45 and I was 7 then at 7:30 I was 10cm. I did have to have morphine at about 5:15. I really didn't want it and kept putting it off but the nurses finally said that I really needed to cause they felt it would help slow the oxy down and I would get a rest break as they seemed to be worried it was to close together. I did try the gas first but it didn't do anything but give me a handle to hold on to. The morphine didn't stop the pains or slow the contractions it just made me feel really loopy and supposedly that helped. Tony was great through out it and just gave me ice chips when I needed them and sat there for when I wanted him. The afternoon nurse wasn't so good and didn't really let me move like i wanted too hooked up to the machine but I didn't totally listen. Then she had a nurse come in to relieve her for her break. She decided to check me at about 7:20. It was then she noticed that I was almost ready to push and that my placenta had started to fall forward over the cervix and it was getting in the way. She actually pushed it back up and then I was fine. This could have been really bad. She also got the doctor paged very quickly although she didn't need to as my doctor had been calling and checking on me all day and walked in about 5 minutes later. Then came the best part for me. They let me push. I have to admit after all the labouring the pushing felt so good. I only had to push for 34 minutes. During this time a lot went on that I didn't notice but Tony did and filled me it. First he was supposed to stay at my head as he didn't want to watch at all. He ended up holding my leg and seeing everything. Part way through the pushing I noticed my doctor get some freezing and then without telling me did an episotomy. I didn't want one and she knew that and she doesn't like doing them so I was a bit surprised but not in a position to ask at that point. What I didn't know was that Laurens heart rate was dropping to below mine but quite a bit. Her cord was wrapped over her shoulder and was being compressed. She wasn't face up or face down like most babies are she was sort of sideways. I also didn't know that they were talking emergency c-section at one point because of the problems. The doctor did the episotomy to try and help give more room first. Her heart rate kept dropping and the doctor asked for the c-section room to be ready. Thank goodness for one nurse at the back of the room that said no and to let me push. I was pushing so well it was faster for me to do that then to prep me for the surgery. Sure enough I pushed as hard as I could when she yelled for em to do it and I did it on my own. The put her on my belly but the nurse from the back of the room grabbed her right away. I knew she wasn't breathing yet and that she was blue. She breathed right away once she was on the warming table though. Her apgar was only 4 at first but then jumped to 9 so there was nothing to worry about there. Tony even went and cut the cord. Although he did chicken out a bit and cut it a bit long but that came in handy later. She was perfect. I was up and showed in less than 2 hours. It would have been sooner but I had to wait for all the stitches to be done. Tony forgot the tip given to him about not turning around from the warming table and turned just in time to see the placenta. Not something her wanted to see! I actually said about an hour after birth that I would defiantly do this again as it really wasn't bad at all. The labour part really was only 5 hours as everything before 3 when my water was broken didn't hurt or do anything to me. Lauren Cassidy was born at 8:04pm. 7lbs 8 oz. 21.5inches long, with reddish blond hair. But that's when everything changed. I knew that babies normally have what is called recovery sleep where they sleep for a couple hours after. Not my little girl she didn't sleep at all. The nurses basically ignored us while we were there and didn't even check me for fundus height or my stitches. They only checked Laurens heart rate twice and her temp twice. Both times they were a little off but they never did tell us this. I thought feeding was going okay just not as often as they wanted it to be. When they weighed her before going home she had dropped down 7% from her birht weight but they said anything under 10% is fine. Then the doctor forgot to come and discharge us. My doctor left for holidays right after delivering Lauren so had left instructions for the doctor covering the maternity clinic to come and do it. The nurses had to call the doctor back once I went to the desk and got mad cause we wanted to go home. We finally went home at 2pm on Saturday the 25th. I will continue the story later as once we got home things got worse. We are better now and finally home again hopefully to never be a patient at Childrens again. The nurses were great and all the NICU staff is great but we have spent enough time there now.
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