I laid in bed for a few hours but couldn't sleep - neither could he, I had a few minor contractions and decided we would go to the hospital around 6:00 a.m. When we arrived, they determined that my water had broken and hooked me up to the fetal monitor. The baby was great, but I was not progressing into labor - I wasn't even 1 cm dilated, but was having regular minor contractions. They gave me a form of pitocin (in pill form) which did nothing. In fact it stopped any contractions that I was having. This went on throughout the day and evening. My doctor decided they would inject me with a drug that would stimulate the baby's lung development within 12 hours. So I had the first shot on Wednesday evening and the second one administered after 12 hours on Thursday morning. I had not progressed at all in the past 36 hours and had never dilated, so having my water broken for 36+ hours was beginning to be a problem and a threat of infection.
My doctor and I decided a Cesarean Section was our only option. We scheduled it for 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Our beautiful baby girl Hannah Grace was born at 5:46 p.m. 40 hours after my water had broken. She was a fully developed healthy 7 lb. 1/2 oz. little girl.
I saw her for a few seconds after she was born, when to took her off to the nursery with my husband. I was put back together and was wheeled back to my recovery room. This is when they did the blood sugar test on the baby and determined that she had very low blood sugar. Since I was in another room, I was not aware of what was going on. My husband spent the next few hours in there with doctors and nurses as they continued to check her sugar levels, which weren't improving and hooked her tiny feet and hands up to IV's. They poked her little feet for blood samples every hour so they were completely bruised. We were beside ourselves.
A couple of hours after her birth, my doctor informed me that she needed to be moved to another hospital, one with more urgent care for infants (NICU). She was ambulanced there without me, which was a horrible experience. My husband went with the baby and I was left at the hospital for 24 another hours until they could get me admitted into the new hospital. By that time I was a mess. Her sugar levels were not improving. She continued to be in the NICU where a group of incredible nurses looked after her every minute of the day. After being admitted to the new hospital I was finally able to see the baby and try to nurse her after she was already 30+ hours old. This was very difficult because she had been given many bottles of formula in that time. Those same incredible nurses helped me along and we finally got her to breastfeed, but it was a very stressful and frustrating process.
Finally after 4 days in the NICU, Hannah's blood sugar tested high on 7 consecutive tests - she was able to join me in my hospital room. We spent one more night at the hospital with her in our room and were able to take her home that Sunday.
After being home for a week, the baby and I were napping on the couch. My husband woke me up to find me completely covered in blood. He immediately called 911 and the ambulance and fire truck were dispatched to our house. We figured the blood was coming from the vaginal area, but the medics later determined that my c-section incision had burst a hole. When they pressed on my stomach, blood spurted out of this hole. They bandaged me up and sent me off to the emergency room. My parents took the baby, while we went to the hospital - again! The doctor there stitched me up and told me to see my doctor the next day. That entire night I continued to bleed through the stitch he put in.
