Six years minus one week ago, it was determined that I was developing pre-eclampsia at the end of my pregnancy with Miss Ashlee. It was decided that rather than stick it out til her due date of June 27, the midwife recommended an induction one week early. So six years ago today, James and I checked into Harris Regional Hospital having absolutely no idea what was going to happen, but fully expecting to have a baby that day!
Six years ago we checked in at about 7 am, and settled into our birth room. Our Grand Plan was to have a water birth, and I was advised that if all proceeded normally..... uh-huh.... we would still be able to do that, we were assigned a tub room and everything! Lovely hot-tub looking thing, I was very much looking forward to getting in! We were super excited. That was around 8 am.
Around 9 am, my midwife administered Cytotec, rather than giving a Pitocen drip. This is because I am a big hippie and did not want drugs, especially the kind that necessitated being attached to an I.V. or any tubes.... because there goes the water birth plan, as they would have to attach all kinds of other monitors. No sorry, we are having this baby OUR way. We said.
Around 10:30 or 11 am the Cytotec was doing its job and I was getting contractions. Not the normal kind, where they come and go, but the drug induction kind that come and stay.... and stay.... and stay...
So James and Mom got to sit there in the room for about 7 hours watching me shake and sweat and say NO I'M FINE, I don't need-your-stinking-pain-meds-because-thats-not-a-natural-birth etc.
What the midwife team SHOULD have said was this: Shut up hippie, you cannot have a tub birth we have to get this baby out and it's very unlikely to go to plan!
But they loved me and .... hope springs eternal. Well, the pain was also eternal, and around 7 pm James got me to allow a pain med drip into the back of my right hand. It worked, for about an hour, then the shaking started again. Eventually I ceased understanding the english language when James spoke to me, and he made the excellent Executive Decision to call for an epidural. OH YEAH I forgot to explain.... the Cytotec was giving me continuous contractions but I was not DILATING!! So in other words, it was NOT working....... baby getting squished, not coming out.
After telling the nurse who administered the epidural that I would love her always, and send her christmas cards for the rest of my life, I finally got to relax a little and get excited again at the thought that maybe at some point we would have a baby! This was about 11 pm. On the 21st.
After the epidural was administered the tub birth was officially OUT... and the monitors went ON. BP, pulse, baby monitor strapped to stomach to keep watch on Ashlee's vitals. Her vitals started to raise red flags at the nurses station somewhere around 1:30 AM on the 22nd. Of June. It was still June, I had to ask though.
James and I were beyond exhausted at this point, and now were getting fearful for Ashlee's life. There were whispers of the dreaded Cesarian Section starting around midnight. I ignored this and continuted to watch the monitors and listen to the Ashlee Beeps.....
Somewhere around 2:30 am it became clear Ashlee was not doing well. The pressure of the contractions and the final realization that dilation was NOT going to happen well enough for delivery ... well.... Betsy Swift (love her) finally said Kellie....... it's not going to happen, we need to get her out. We need to do a C-§ (btw only a paralegal would know how to make that symbol on the keyboard, YES it still works!). After bawling and having James insist for the past two hours that it would be perfectly fine to do this... I agreed. That was approximately 2:50 am on the 22nd.
The instant James gave the go-code, I was ALREADY being wheeled to surgery, Dr Modugno and his SWAT team were called in, scrubbed and everyone prepped at the same time..... James stood right there as the emergency C-Section (yes, it was now emergency) was done in seconds and Ashlee was born at 3:28 AM. Covered in blood and screaming and with a cone head from the pressure!! Dr. Modugno asked James if he wanted to cut the cord and he said "NO! Just do your thing and FIX KELLIE! She's out on the table!!" So you can see he was an old hand at the SIMPLE C-section by the time we got to Spa Birth Holly..............
Ashlee is screaming her lungs out and I hear James go over to the table where the fabulous Dr. Toledo is attending to her while yelling that NO ONE is to give this child ANY injections per instructions from the PARENTS (thank you Dr.T for fully supporting that one - No shots before six months!@) and James leaned over Ashlee and said HEL-LOOOOO .... Helloooo........ and the second she heard his voice she quit crying and looked right at him. At which point I bawled because I knew she was ok... James asked if I wanted him to stay with me or go with her.... I said don't leave her for a second. Then I passed out.
A couple hours later I was in the cozy birth room again, and the nurse opened the door with Daddy and Ashlee right behind and I finally got to hold her. That was around 5:30 am. So awesome!! The Three of US.
At around 1 PM on the 22nd, I was sitting on my bed playing with Ashlee when my stunned doctor screeched to a stop in the doorway of my room and informed me I was not supposed to sit like that! I said why not? He said because ITS NOT POSSIBLE after a c-section. Which is about the time we knew recovery would be a snap, and it was. We stayed at the hospital only one night, then drove Ashlee home to Guffeys Gap in the awesome Tahoe through the most outrageously huge thunderstorm we have ever seen in North Carolina. And all was well. The End.
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