Connor’s Birthday
“It’s just normal round ligament pain, maybe a little PSD. You’re only dilated to about a 1.5 or 2. We can draw labs next week to test for pre-eclampsia if you really want. There really isn’t any reason to stop working, just try to take it easy. We will start weekly ultrasounds to measure the fluid levels since they are elevated.” This is what my provider said to me when I came to her for the second time in one week with my concerns of early labor at 33 weeks. I had been experiencing so much pain, discomfort and pressure in my hips and pelvis that I could hardly roll over in bed, let alone walk around. After three births, I knew in my spirit that this was the beginning of the end of this pregnancy, whether my provider wanted to listen to me or not.
Feeling disregarded and discouraged, I went on about my normal routine that week, working full-time as a dental assistant and a Mommy to three other kiddos. That Saturday evening as I lay in bed, I began to have inconsistent contractions. I did all of the usual tricks to get them to subsite to no avail and after timing them for several hours, I decided it was time to take a trip to the hospital especially since I was under the impression that I was leaking amniotic fluid. Brandon was still at work, so I called up my dad to come over and sit with the older three who were already in bed.
When I arrived at the hospital, they strapped me in in the labor and delivery triage to monitor me and baby. I was dilated now to a 2.5 or 3 and the contractions were registering to them more like uterine irritability. Because I was so early, they decided to admit me and administer some medications to try and stall labor. The contractions never stopped but were still very inconsistent. Sometime after Brandon joined me, I was certain my water had broken and sure enough, that little strip of paper turned dark blue indicating the presence of amniotic fluid. Now I definitely wasn’t going home.
The contractions began to intensify and around 5cm dilated, I decided to get an epidural anticipating that this being my fourth, labor would progress extremely quickly. I had a really rough go of it while the epidural was being placed as I was at a teaching hospital and a student was being guided (too slowly) through the entire process. She missed and had to replace the epidural again all while I was hunched over and experiencing contractions off the charts every couple of minutes, tears streaming silently down my face. Then after I began to get relief, my body revolted against the epidural and my blood pressure continued to bottom out every 15-30 minutes for two hours after it was placed. For this reason, if I am blessed with another child, I will be birthing unmedicated.
Unfortunately, things stalled out shortly after my epidural. The attending OB was all for starting Pitocin to keep the ball rolling, but a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor stepped in and said, “Absolutely not. We need to give you two doses of steroids to help strengthen baby’s lungs and we cannot begin any progressive interventions prior to 34 weeks. We will pull the epidural and keep you here until Wednesday when we can start helping things along.” Que all of the stressed out and frustrated tears. I refused to allow them to completely remove my epidural but agreed to pause the drip. About an hour later, the sensation was back in my lower half and the contractions ramped back up with a determined vengeance. They thought that there was no way I was progressing again this quickly however, another cervical exam put me at a solid 7cm dilated now and the epidural was started again.
This whole time, with every position change, sneeze or cough, I was continuing to leak amniotic fluid! Several hours and a shift change later, it was time to push. I always revert inwards towards the end of my labors and during the pushing phase. It feels very primal, and I just allow my body to take control and do what it needs to do to bring this baby (and another TWO WHOLE LITERS of fluid) into the world. Brandon tells me the placenta was as big as the baby and he could hardly cut through the chord it was so thick. After he was born, Connor was immediately whisked off to NICU as he needed help breathing at first and was placed on a ventilator.
My afterbirth experience was just as brutal as the labor and delivery was. The upper half of my uterus was not contracting post birth and I was hemorrhaging quite a bit. I’m still proud of Brandon for standing firm and comforting me while the doctor was literally elbow deep in my uterus performing manual stimulation to contract my uterus and stop the bleeding. That was a new one for me too. Surprisingly I did not need stitches. As soon as I could feel my legs again after the epidural was removed, I was up and going to the restroom and cleaning myself up and getting more comfortable. I was discharged after two days but Connor spent a couple of weeks in NICU, weaning off of IV fluids for blood glucose regulation, gaining weight, fighting jaundice and Brady’s, until they were fully confident that he could come home. I’m certain I drove them all crazy because I refused to leave his side and chose to sleep in the recliner beside him with the curtains drawn so that I could nurse on demand and monitor every change until they allowed us to be discharged. This was absolutely NOT what I was expecting and anticipating from my fourth birth, and it definitely was not my best birth experience. I really want to make sure that my clients are comfortable and confident in advocating for themselves and their baby (with my unwavering support of course!) when they face similar situations of their own. Connor was born 33 weeks and 5 days gestation at 5:53pm on November 8th, 2021, weighing in at 9.1lbs and 19 inches long. He is now the most relaxed, easy going and happy one year old I have every met! Happy Birthday my sweet little squish!