Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Baby Eli's Birth

Life doesn't always go as planned and neither does having a baby. Eli isn't due for another few days, but Eli decided he wanted to come earlier than scheduled. I was able to hold him off for 3 weeks after the first pre-term labor incident by following strict bedrest, but on May 11, 2011 he decided he couldn't wait any longer and made his entrance into the world. He was born at 6:48pm weighing 6lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long.

The journey all started about 11pm the night before. I was just settling down for the night and started having a lot of cramps and pelvic pain. I didn't think anything of them, because I had been going in and out of labor every few days for the last 3 weeks. I decided to wait and see how things progressed before I went to he hopsital. I don't have normal contractions like everyone else, so I wasn't sure if I was actually in labor. Well I didn't sleep all night, and the pain got worse. About 5am it started to get really intense and I finally agreed to let Erik take me to the hospital. The closer to the hospital we got the more apparent it was that I was in labor.

Right when we got to the hospital, my water started to break. They checked me out and started to monitor me. They didn't believe I was in labor when I arrived, but I was 100% sure I was. After a half hour I was still dialated to a 3 and they were going to send me home. I told them that I was pretty sure my water broke and that they should check. I was right, it had broke so they admitted me. They dili dallied around and I finally got my epidural about an hour and a half later. Contractions are not pleasant, so it felt like an eternity waiting for my epidural. They are the worst thing I have ever experienced! After the epidural, My family and Erik's family showed up and hung out with Erik and I while I continued to dialate. I was happy as a clam cause I couldn't feel a thing so we had a great few hours visiting. IT was the best I had felt since I got pregnant and I was loving life at this point.

Once it was time to push,I kicked them all out and started the hard part. I pushed for almost 3 hours and the baby wasn't coming out. It turns out he was turned slightly sideways and couldn't get past my pelvic bone. The nurse called the doctor who came right in and assessed the situation. They did an ultrasound and he was definitely turned. The doctor couldn't get him turned back the right way and told me he had to either try forceps or rush me in for a c-section. He told me if the forceps didn't work then I was going to have to have a c-section immediately since It had been 13 hours since my water broke. This was because the risk of infection was too high at that point. They cleared a path to rush me to the O.R. and had it all prepped. By then the room was filled with about 12 medical professionals. Erik and I were pretty scared at this point. The doctor tried the forceps and after a lot of yanking he managed to get Eli out. His face is all bruised because he was pulled out so quickly. I was so grateful I didn't have to have a c-section though. They handed Eli to Erik and let him hold him after they got him cleaned up.

It took the doctor 45 minutes to stitch up all my lacerations so I had to wait to hold ELi till they were done. It was hard, cause I really wanted to hold my baby. When I finally got to hold him it was so surreal. He was so sweet and tiny. I was exhausted, but glad that Eli was safely here and in my arms. I spent the next two days in the hospital recovering. Erik and I roomed in with the baby and got to spend a lot of time bonding with him. I was pretty ripped up from the forceps and in a lot of pain, so Erik did most of the caring for him, so they got really close. When I felt good enough to sit up and hold him, I would have Erik hand him to me and I would cuddle with him.

The second day they took Eli to the NICU because his bilirubin levels were too high. When I would go to the NICU to feed him, I felt very blessed. He looked very healthy compared to the other babies that were there. After a day in the NICU they discharged us home with a photo therapy light bed for Eli. We had to keep Eli under there for about 4 days until his bilirubin levels came down. I was so grateful they let us take him home instead of keeping him in the NICU.

Since he has been off the lights, he has been really healthy and is gaining weight every day. Ever since we have been home, we have been enjoying our sweet little angel. He is the most adorable baby ever and melts my heart, every time I look at him. I am on the road to recovery and now enjoying life as a new mom. Here are the pictures from the birth.

I just want to mention on a side note, don't ever deliver at Timpanogos Hospital. Overall I had a very bad experience. I didn't see a doctor the first 12 hours at the hospital and one didn't show up till I had been pushing for almost 3 hours and things had turned bad. The nurses were not very supportive of my breastfeeding Eli, and I had to wait 3 hours between pain pills on 2 separate occasions. By the time they got them to me I was in agony and a sobbing mess. We had a bad experience with the pediatrician on call, and the discharge nurse was a complete jerk. I could go on and on, but I will leave it at that.































1 comment:

Trish said...

Wow, well I'm glad you are all okay now. That is too bad about the early labor and all that bed rest! In hindsight, our first baby is always our greatest learning experience I think! I hope that next time goes much, much better and that you'll come to a point where "next time" is something that you are okay with. I know its been hard for me to contemplate but I'm finally coming around. God bless you all! Love, Trish