Told by his mom
I had been having a fairly uneventful pregnancy until the 36th week, they noticed my uterus wasn't gaining much. I went to my 37 and 38 week check ups and I still hadn't gained much in centimeters, they assumed I'd dropped. I went in for my 39 week check up and still no gain in centimeters. He ordered an ultrasound.
On Monday we went in for our ultrasound. They said the baby was small and there wasn't much fluid. They put us in a room and hooked me up to a fetal monitor. One of the OBs in the practice came and told us the baby was small, but when we asked how small, he wouldn't say and said he'd get our regular doctor. We were really getting scared by this time.
Finally, our Ob came in and explained that our baby was only 5 pounds. There was no chance the due date was off, we all decided that our baby would be best off if born right away because something wasn't functioning properly.
We were sent over to the hospital to have my cervix ripened with prostandglin cream. But the baby's heart rate was slightly accelerated. They gave me an IV bag full of fluid to see if maybe it was because I was dehydrated. After 3 hours in the hospital, the baby's heart rate became normal, and the cream was applied. We were monitored for another hour and sent home to come back the next morning at 7 am.
We arrived at the hospital on Tuesday morning and got ready for induction. After an hour they started the pitocin to induce my labor. Three or four hours later I was having really strong contractions. By 3 or 4 pm I was in strong labor and was dilating a little. They did have to back off the pitocin a few times because the baby wasn't tolerating it too well.
By 10pm that evening, I was having very strong contractions and rocking in my rocking chair doing my breathing when all of a sudden I felt a gush of fluid and looked down to see bright red blood pouring out of me I was really scared. I started to shake, and the nurse brought me back to my bed and went for the doctor. The doctor tried to do an internal, but I was scared and shaking so bad, it was nearly impossible. She explained that what I saw wasn't all blood it was amniotic fluid mixed in with blood, but as a precaution, they sent over someone to draw my blood for a c-section.
After awhile my shaking subsided and Keith's color returned. He looked pretty white after it happened. They had stopped the pitocin, but after determining it was fluid and blood mixed, they started back up again. Around 2 am, I was really losing it, I had been in labor since 8, hard labor since noon and I was really tired. They decided to back off the pitocin and give me a little Nubain to help me sleep. I wasn't keen on the Nubain. Keith refused to leave my side and slept in the chair beside me.
The next morning (Wednesday, 21 1998), after Keith and I took a shower and felt a little bit refreshed they started the pitocin again. By 2 pm I was hyper ventilating, and crying through my contractions. I couldn't concentrate enough to breathe through them. I tried to think of calming things, I tried to focus on the baby, on Keith, on Jackie, but nothing. I was to begging for them to stop. The OB said I could have an epidural to help with the pain. By the time the Anesthesiologist got there, I was cursing at the him. The nurse had to hold me down while the Anesthesiologist started the epidural. After the epidural kicked in I laid down and was calm finally. I was really embarrassed too.
Around 3:30 I felt the urge to push so they did an exam and found I was completely dilated. I stated pushing the baby, but his heart rate was dropping dramatically after each contraction and the doctor had to help get him out with a suction on his head. When he crowned she said to touch his head and we did, just like with Jackie it sent shivers down my spine to finally touch my baby. Within a few minutes he was out, they put him right on my chest.
He was really small, but looked great. His appear score was 8 or 9. I held him for an hour, and nursed him a little They had to bring him over to the warmer and do all the checks on him. They said his blood sugar was low so they were going to bring him to the nursery to check it again. That was the last time I saw him until 10 or 11 the night. He was hypoglycemic.
