Ayden's sweet birth story.
My husband and I have been talking about having a second child,
I'd be for sure and he'd get cold feet, then he'd be for sure and
I'd get cold feet (this went on for about 3 years). Allot of the reason
we went back and forth so much was because of my health. I have an
illness called Systemic Lupus which has made "symptomatic" everyday.
With our first child I did not have this. Lupus can cause problems
in mom and baby, so we were just so unsure if we could handle the
emotion of miscarrying or a stillborn. Well for some crazy reason
in the beginning of September of 2003 I told my husband I was not
going to start my new pack of birth control pills that this was it...and
he was all for it. I found out I was pregnant 01 October 2003. I cannot
explain the joy we felt from that news.
The pregnancy was rough from the beginning. I got very sick and
was always vomiting. I managed somehow to weather the aches/pains
of the Lupus and also deal with the additional symptoms and fatigue
of pregnancy while working full time. When I was 8 weeks along I had
a stroke due to the Lupus and was hospitalized for a little while.
I cannot explain how worried we were that this may have affected our
little one's health. That early they could only tell that there was
a tiny beating heart. I recovered very quickly and fully. As some
time went on, we could tell baby was growing as it was supposed to.
This only alleviated some of our fears since I had still so far to
go before they could really tell. I was sick with vomiting and diarrhea
all of the time. I was so small and losing weight. At 20 weeks we
found out from ultrasound that not only did our baby look healthy
and was just the right size for how far along I was, but the baby
gave no doubt that it was a boy! At 30 weeks I went into preterm labor
and was put on meds and bedrest. By 32 weeks the Lupus had effected
the way my stomach and digestive tract so much that I could only drink
"Boost" (it's like Ensure), and eat pudding and soup. By the end of
32 weeks, I couldn't even keep that down so I was hospitalized to
try to control the Lupus affecting my digestion. All of the medications/IV's/blood
draws and such did not help. They decided to induce me at the 1st
day of my 35th week while our baby boy was still healthy.
On 19 May 2004, the pill "Cytotec" was inserted into my cervix. By
1100 that morning I was having contractions. A little while later
they had started Pitocin in my IV. I was having contractions, and
over the course of the day they kept getting stronger. Around 1100
that night, I was STILL only dilated 2 cm (what in the world have
these contractions been accomplishing this whole time then!!!), I
was tired and the Pitocin contractions were kicking my butt. I finally
asked for some pain medicine that made me feel a little sleepy and
took only a little of the pain away.
My sleepy feeling lasted about 20 minutes and then it was full-tilt-boogey
back to the pain again. I told the nurse this and she said I couldn't
have anything else for 2 more hours. The Dr. said she didn't want
to do an epidural until I was about 4 cm. By 0300 in the morning I
felt so much pain the contractions were coming every minute, so I
thought for sure it was close to pushing time. I asked to be checked
and found out I was STILL ONLY 2 CM!
I cried (I'm not a crier or yeller when in pain, I just get really
quiet and try to deal with it internally). I had been in labor for
16 hours and I was only 2 cm. There was a new Dr. on and she said
if I wanted I could have the epidural even though I was only 2cm.
I gladly took it. So by about 0400, I finally got an epidural and
felt great relief. At 0700 in the morning the new Dr. and nursing
staff came in and checked me...still at 2cm. I was tired, my mom and
husband were getting antsy. By 1100, my water broke and the baby's
heart rate was dropping (but not too dangerously so) with every contraction.
Also, by this time the epidural had dislodged and was no longer working.
At 1230, I was checked again at my insistence because of pain and
pressure, I was still only 2cm. My mother and husband decided to step
out for a breather. They were gone maybe 10 minutes and I got this
overwhelming feeling to get them back there so I called hubby's cell
phone and told him I knew the time was very near. He said he was in
the store. I told him to not pick up another item, but to pay for
his stuff and come directly back to the room.
My mom and hubby came back into the room just as the nurse did. (this
is only 10 minutes after being checked and being at 2cm) I had to
convince the nurse that I needed to be checked, because this baby
was ready. She was not buying it, and instead said she'd get the anesthesiologist
back in to fix my epidural to make me more comfortable. Luckily at
that time the Dr. came in and maybe she sensed my urgency when I was
saying "Look, if it's time to push, lets get going and forget the
epidural!" The Dr. checked me and was astonished that I was at 10cm
and baby's head already pushed the cervical "lip" away. So the room
was set up quickly and by 1308 my baby boy was peeing all over the
staff. I just thought it was amazing that I went from 2cm to my baby
being born in less than 40 minutes. I pushed for maybe 3-4 minutes.
By the time they let me push, I wasn't playing around! On 20 MAY 2004
(30 hours after the start of induced labor) Ayden James was born at
5lb 10 oz and 18 1/2" long.
He was a nice healthy weight and his apgars were good, but he started
showing signs of breathing problems right away. They let me hold him
for a couple of seconds and took him away. The next time I seen him
was a few hours later they let us go to the NICU and he was intubated
with the tube that goes down into the throat with the machine that
pushes air into your lungs. It broke my heart to see him like that.
With the hospital's hard work, we were able to bring our perfect boy
home. We got home in the evening, and right before dawn that next
day I woke up hemorrhaging. I was on blood thinners because of the
Lupus, and just bled and bled. As I was rushed out of my house to
be put in an ambulance (the floors looking like there was a mass murder
that had happened there), I didn't even have the time to give my new
son and my 8 year old daughter a kiss goodbye. I spent that day in
and out of consciousness, in surgery and getting blood transfusions.
There was a lobe of the placenta that was left in my uterus that caused
the hemorrhage.
When I was strong enough to go home, I felt I was "useless" in taking
care of my kids. Until my blood levels built back up better, I could
barely get out of bed, let alone take care of a newborn, an 8 year
old or 2 dogs! Thank God for my wonderful husband who was my back
bone through everything. It was a very trying time and I went through
allot to have my son. God has indeed blessed me. Ayden is healthy
and should have no long term or permanent problems from his lung immaturity
or premature birth. And the truth is, I look at him and he looks at
me, and I would go through every bit of that again and 10 times more
for him!
|