I went to sleep on Sunday June 1, 2014 being 38 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Somewhere between 12-3am I felt a little (TMI) wetness. I thought it might be a little urine or discharge. I went to the bathroom and when I wiped the toilet paper had what looked like really concentrated urine. It was super yellow! I figured I should probably start drinking more water! I went back to bed and fell asleep. A while later I felt the feeling again. This time I decided to ignore it, I was so sleepy! Sometimes between 4-430 am I felt the feeling again, only this time there was the unmistakable feeling of much more fluid. I KNEW this time that it was in fact my water. I did a hop skip and a jump to the bathroom, water started to come down my legs. I sat on the toilet and the big gush came. I sat until I felt it was safe to get up. When I wiped, the paper was more yellow this time but almost with a tint of green. When I saw the toilet water, I knew there was a problem. It was totally green! Almost black! Being a nurse I knew this meant there was meconium in the water and I should get ready to go to the hospital. I hoped into the shower and went to get my Doppler and the phone. I checked baby's heart beat then called the hospital. I told them my water was discoloured and that I was Step positive so I was going to come in.
I woke up DH and told him there was a problem and that my water broke. We got the bags together and I woke up my oldest son to let him know we were leaving. Dh and I were on our way to the hospital!! In the car I felt the very first contractions. Only I didn't know it was a contraction as I was nervous and thought it was just my body reacting. When we got to the hospital they got me to change into a gown and give a urine sample. Ugh my sample did not look good. It was like a cup of army green mud water, it was definitely gross. Nobody checked this right away, I left it in the bathroom. They had me on the monitor and we talked about what lead to this. They had me put on oxygen and turn onto my side as the baby seemed to be in a little distress. Ling on my right side seemed to ease this, and baby looked better on the monitor. I told them baby was breech so they should test to find out if she turned. My blood pressure was super high!!! After 20-30 mins, someone finally looked at the urine sample and this is where everything started to go fast. When they seen how green it was, they called the on-call OB right away. In a matter of 10 mins there was several doctors and nurses in the room, poor dh got pushed to the back. The OB laid it out straight, baby was still breech, my blood pressure was high, baby was having some late D cells, there was a lot of meconium and MOST shocking, I was already 5cm dilated!!! For these reasons he wanted to do an emergency C-Section right away before the labour progressed, or the baby went into further distress. At this point I was feeling contractions but they weren't too bad. I told Dwight to start calling people, my dad would be the one to pick up the boys for school. He tried calling my mom too, but there was no answer so we left messages. We had planned for my sister to come in the delivery room but we told them it would be a C-section so she probably wouldn't make it.
It all happened quick and next thing I knew we were in the OR. They did the spinal and at this point I was having very painful contractions!! I always wondered how far dilated I was, I imagine I was near birth because of how quick and painful the contractions got in such a short time. While they were setting up, 2 nurses decided to get into a little spat. Being a nurse myself I was laughing on the inside, nurses CAN be evil bitches, just like any other women. I didn't take it to heart because in a way I "get" it but come onnnnnnnnnnn, I'm trying to bring a person into the world here. The evil one kept telling the other one that she should just leave, I found it weird that no one else interrupted them. FINALLY someone said to stop. Soon the staff was ready and they let DH in and he came to sit by my head. I was feeling so nauseated and kept getting the worst heartburn I ever had!! That anesthesiologist was a miracle worker cause he could take the nausea away almost instantly. A paediatrician was there in case the baby had problems and she told me not to get upset if the baby didn't cry at first cause she probably wouldn't. A few minutes later my precious baby came out. It was at 7:01am on Monday, June 2, 2104 and the first thing I asked is if she was a girl for sure. And she was!!! <3 Just like they said, she didn't cry at first. They took her and she was having a little trouble breathing but she looked good. She was a whopping 8lbs 2oz and 19.5in long. They wrapped her up and brought her to me so I could see her and give her a kiss. They said she would need to go to the NICU right away and she would be put on CPAP.
I told DH he should go with her, I just wanted to know she wouldn't be alone and she would be okay. They worked on me then I went to recovery. It was weird being on that side, im usually not the patient. I was only there a short time, then I went to my room on the maternity floor. It seemed like an eternity!!!!!!!! Dh was gone for soooooo long and I didn't have my phone so I had no choice but to wait for him, or some news. I couldn't walk at all yet as I was still completely numb. He finally came!!!!! Turns out he went to get a bite to eat, I wasn't mad though, it was quite the morning!! He also went and bought baby her first teddy bear <3 He said she looked good and she was in an isolate for now. My major regret is that there are no photos of that experience. There wasn't enough time and things were crazy. Dh took a selfie while waiting to be let into the OR BUT they took our stuff including our phones so when the time came to take pics we had no camera or phone :( our belongings ended up in our room. I did receive an update, baby was doing well and would be off CPAP later today!!
My mom and sister showed up not to long after that and we sat in my room for what felt like forever. I started to get feeling in my legs and I was super anxious to go see the baby. When the nurses approved, I was finally able to go see her. Standing for the first time was weird. It was like a horror movie, the second I gained my footing a huge gush of blood came our and splattered all over the floor, It was scary, it was like concentrated red scary blood. After getting cleaned up my mom, sister and dh pushed me down to the NICU. We got to see and hold and take pics of her <3 <3 By the time we went down, she was off the machines and only had an IV. they told us she was having some blood sugar issues so would be on IV until it resolved. Here is some of her first pics:
We went back to my room and my mom left shortly after. I started to experience more pain as my anesthesia wore off. They did bring the baby to my room, and said I could try nursing later that night. The boys and my dad came to visit.
The next 3 days are a blur, they brought the baby to me every 3 hours to try and feed, they felt it was more comfortable then going down to the NICU which it was. We had visitors on and off but I was alone most of the time. Dh still had to go to work as he started a new job recently, he missed one day.
We finally decided on a name, we called her Shanley Marie Joan. Marie was Dhs grandma and Joan was my grandma. Shanley had absolutely no complication from the large amount of meconium in her sac and we were so grateful for this. She did however continue to have blood sugar problems. I was also having milk supply issues and my milk wouldn't come in despite feeding every 3 hours. I was discharged from hospital on Wednesday but Shanley had to stay. Her blood sugar continued to go up and down for days. So for days and days I traveled to and from hospital to feed her. We lived close enough that I could do this but it was tiring plus I was still recovering from surgery. The weekend came and they had no plans to let her come home :( it was sad and hard and I got super exhausted. FINALLY on Sunday we got to take this precious girl home!
So that's the story of baby girl <3 Here is one last pic set, this is her newborn shoot photos which we had done almost as soon as she was out of the hospital <3
