Kingdom Twindom +1

I talked with Kiersten, my midwife, for a little while last night. She said, in response to my last cliffhanger post, “I can’t wait until you get your computer fixed!” I laughed and said, “But you already know what happened!”

So I figured, if she’s that interested in the gory details, even though she witnessed them first hand, some of you might be politely waiting on pins as well.

Like I said, the birth was just perfect. I’m not going to lie, the contractions from about 9 cm through the delivery were positively mind-splitting. At first, I really didn’t know how I was going to push through them. But they showed me the crown of his little (15 in.) head in a mirror, and my desire to get that baby out of my belly and onto my chest finally took over. They even had to slow me down to avoid tearing. I think he was born about ten minutes from that point.

After the delivery, I was blissful. He was perfect, I felt great, and we all just sat around and stared at him. I took bets on his weight and we all talked about what cousin or sibling he looked the most like.

I delivered the placenta about twenty minutes after the birth. As far as I am aware, my uterus seemed to firm up right away. One of the midwives would check me every five minutes or so and, if you’ve had a baby you’ll know what I mean by, “mash away at my uterus.” I really hate that part!:) But instead of getting increasingly firmer, it seemed to be getting more and more “boggy”. One of the midwives (Joan) swept my cervical opening to check for retained placenta, and I’m pretty sure I yelled out louder at that point than I had during the entire birth. The blood that was released was estimated at 1.5 liters. I immediately felt faint and shaky, and Kiersten ran to call 911. I don’t remember feeling scared until the paramedics arrived. The midwives gave me a shot to help firm my uterus, started an IV, and put me on oxygen. From my perspective, the mood in the room was still calm and peaceful, although Kiersten has informed me that was not at all reality. They sure had me fooled though, professional through and through.

My first time on an ambulance gurney was bizarre and scary, and it’s not an experience that I’d care to repeat any time soon. I was dizzy and barely conscious, and I felt like I was hoisted twenty feet into the air.

Once in the ER, the doctor on call did another sweep through my cervical opening. She announced what she was going to do before she began, and I just started to scream and cry. I’ll blame my little fit on the loss of blood, but I was not happy. At. All. Then, she said that she needed to do another more invasive sweep, but that she would try to get some drugs through my IV in time. I tried to announce that they had not taken affect, but that didn’t seem to matter. Something about stopping extreme blood loss being more important that sparing me pain. Whatever.

In no time at all, I was being wheeled to recovery. I guess the drugs had finally taken effect, because even my memories of the the faces in the room are veiled and blurry. But I do know who was there, and I am so grateful to each and every one of them. I remember my doctor hugging my midwives and everyone breathing a heavy sigh of relief. And I also remember the final blood loss being estimated at over two liters. I had a very graphic fantasy of a coke bottle full of blood, and I started to feel faint again. Then I slept for at least two or three hours.

I couldn’t sit up straight for about nine hours, but while lying down I felt good, and I had even started to get some color back by dawn. I was given the option of not receiving any blood, but I was also assured that my recovery would be a long, anemic road. I took two units and was released around seven o’clock that same evening!

I’m sure you all want to know, but I’m still not exactly sure what the problem was. I know I had retained some membrane that was finally recovered on the third (possibly fourth) sweep. But, basically, I just kept hearing that I had a “floppy” uterus. Considering how much it’s been stretched, and three times in the past four years, I guess that makes sense…but it’s still scary.

I do not regret having a vbac in the birthing center. If anything, my faith in midwives has only been proved. It was so nice to hear the doctor commend them saying, “Well done.” and “Thanks for leaving me with so little to do!” I feel certain that I was able to have the birth I wanted and still be in the best possible hands.

He was born just after midnight on Thursday morning, and by Friday evening I was ready to go out to eat for my thirtieth birthday! I’m taking it easy besides a few brief outings; but, after giving birth, it’s a nasty chest cold that is really taking me down. The older kids all have it, too, so please remember us in your prayers (especially if you’re up in the middle of the night!).

More, just as soon as I can!

I have so much that I want to remember; so if this gets really long, I might need to write it in pieces.

But first of all, how fun to open my e-mail this morning and see all the well wishes! Thank you!

If you follow me on Twitter, you were probably pretty sure about what was happening yesterday. I received a call on Wednesday afternoon from one of my midwives. My liver profile had come back with borderline results. Nothing very concerning, but just one more thing that might have landed me in the hospital for a cesarean. She suggested that I come right in for a check and a sweep. I was pretty worried that I still hadn’t dilated and a sweep wouldn’t even be possible. But on faith, I decided to call Papa Bear back from the one day of work he had found this week, and we headed off to Taos leaving the kids at home with my mom.

On the way there I said, “If she’s able to sweep, I want to go out to dinner and walk around Wal-Mart before heading home…just to wait and see.”

“OK.” he answered. “Where do you want to eat?”

Now, I really wanted sushi, but I figured he knew that, so I left the decision up to him.

“It doesn’t matter to me. Where do you want to go?” I said in my best lying voice.

“Ummm…I’m really in the mood for Outback Pizza.”

“Oh.”

“Well, where do you want to go?”

“No, Outback is fine.”

I started to dread going into labor with a belly full of pizza, and I almost insisted on sushi. But then I remembered reading about Italian restaurants who claim to induce labor. I assumed it had something to do with the Oregano and Basil, and since Outback has a wonderful fresh herb dressing. I thought that just might be God.

_________

I was dilated to three cm when she checked me at 4:00 pm. She did a pretty invasive sweep, and we all crossed our fingers.

_________

We arrived at the restaurant sometime around five. I ordered a salad with extra dressing and a slice of Basil Pesto pizza. Almost as soon as we left the birthing center I began to have contractions, but during dinner they grew stronger and came much closer together.

After finishing our meal, we left the restaurant and headed to Wal-Mart…