This is the birth story of my first child. My son, Jackson Thomas was due on April 25, 2001. On Monday, April 9th, 2001 I went in for my regular scheduled doctor appointment. My blood pressure was taken and it was 146/98. My normal was 110-120/70-80, so for me this was very high. The doctor asked was I still working and I told her that I was. I figured since I am a Legal Secretary it wouldn't hurt me to continue to work up until my son's birth. The doctor informed me that I would not be returning to work until after delivery. I fought her a little on the subject but then realized that she knew best, so I agreed. I was then hooked up to the fetal monitor to check the baby and he was absolutly fine. I was told to go straight home and lay down, not to do anything and to come back in at 11:30 on Tuesday morning to have the BP checked again. My BP was checked again before leaving and it was 156/100.
When I went back in on Tuesday morning, the BP was not any better and I was told that my doctor was in emergency surgery and that the nurse would call me when the doctor returned to come back in. At 1:50 p.m. that afternoon the nurse called and said to be at the hospital at 5:00 p.m. for an induction. I don't remember much of what she said after that because I was in such shock. I thought that I had 2 more weeks to prepare. I called my husband at work and told him the news and he came right home. At 5:00 p.m. we were admitted into the hospital. At 7:30 p.m. I was checked for dialation and was opened just a little. At that time gel was administered to my cervix to soften it. At 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the gel was removed and at 6:00 a.m. the pitocin was started. The doctor came in at 9:00 a.m. to break my water, but I was still not dialated enough to do this. I was having minor contractions, but it all felt like menstrual cramps, nothing bad. At 1:50 p.m. the doctor came back in and I was dialated to 1 cm. She went ahead and broke my water. To me, this was the worst part of the whole experience. Because I was only dialated to 1 cm, she had to do this 3 times to break my water. (Very painful). As soon as my water was broke, the contractions came fast and hard. I was having them every 2 1/2 minutes and they were lasting about a minute each. At 3:30 p.m. I was dialated to a 3. I was told that I could have the epidural at any time then. I opted to go ahead and have it at that time. After the epidural, I felt very good!!! The only bad part about the epidural was that it made me shake very badly. Sometimes I couldn't even talk I was shaking so bad. I was checked again at 7:00 and was still at a 3. By this point, I was getting very tired and HUNGRY!!! My BP was being checked every 30 minutes to keep it monitored. At 10:00 p.m. I was still only at a 3 and my BP was rising every time it was taken. The nurse told my husband that we were going to have to do something quick, because my BP was very high and my temperature was at 100.3. The nurse called my doctor and she said to prep me for an emergency c-section.
The nurse came back in at 10:15 p.m. and told me what was about to happen and I got very nervous. It was 10:50 p.m. when I was taken in to the operating room and our son was born at 11:03 p.m. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. He weighed 6lbs, 13 oz and was 20 inches long. My whole experience was pretty good. I was very pleased with my doctor, nurses and the hospital. I just hope that my next experience will be as good.
Good luck to all of those who are expecting.
- Sandy
