Now presenting....the mischief maker! And he's adorable...
He's here! He's really here! :-) This little one who was so determined to arrive early did and with great fanfare I might add.
On March 13th at about Noon I was finally feeling so horrible (had a headache and terrible knife like pain in my stomach - not labour) that I called the midwife and they wanted to meet me in the hospital. Once I arrived there and between more vomitting they thought I might have pancreatitis and were going to transfer me to a different hospital for a surgery consult. The hospital I was in was a Women's and Children's hospital and they deal only in OB and children's issues. Well after a few more of the tests came back (and after I had been there about 7 hours) they found that I was in fact having kidney and liver failure as a result of pre-eclampsia brought on by the pregnancy.
That was it - they were going to induce me (part of me said yippee! I don't have to do this anymore and part of me said I'm only 34 weeks). The only way to cure pre-eclampsia was to give birth and since I had been in labour on and off for the past 6 weeks anyway they thought it best if he was born. They hooked me up to an iv and loaded me up with mag sulfate to stop any seizures, maxaran to stop the vomitting and then finally oxytocin (pitocin) to bring on full labour. I was already dilated 2-3 on my own so at least I was partially started. By the time they had started to actually induce me it was about 9:20am on March 14th and they broke my water as well. They had to give me increasingly higher doses of the oxytocin because normally mag sulfate is used to stop labour and the two meds were in a bit of competition I guess. All I cared about was that my head hurt so bad I wanted someone to shoot me. Labour pains, what labour pains? Someone hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 and I need it fixed now! LOL
By 11:30-12 I still hadn't progressed much but they realized my waters had somehow re-sealed so they broke them again. Then by 3:30 I was 6cm and an hour later I was fully dilated and Joshua was born with maybe 2 pushes and 2 grunts at 4:34pm. It really was an easy delivery and most of all my headache went away! Yes, I was actually so happy that was the first thing I said "My headache is gone! Thank God!". Fo a 34 week baby Joshua weighed in quite well at 6lbs 6oz and was 19 1/2" long. There was a little heart scare at first but after a team of cardiologists checked him out they pronounced him fine. He was then given back to me for rooming in. I was in love.
We were then at the hospital for 9 days trying to get Joshua back up to his birth weight and take care of his jaundice and me to bring down my blood pressure and make sure all my organs and everything were headed back to normal. Other than being jaundiced and losing 14% of his birth weight too quickly Joshua is absolutely perfect for being born at 34 weeks. He's beautiful. The 9 days at the hospital was not ideal but now looking back on it I find it funny how desperate I was at the end to leave. I was practically hysterical - let me out of here.
Ahhh to be home now is so wonderful and it feels like everything else over the last 6-7 months was a dream. Hasn't Joshua always been here and been adorable! Haven't we always been a family of 5? Speaking of which my little man is speaking to me now and I think he's hungry. Hmm, I guess I can do some blogs on breastfeeding next - that is always a joy! :-)
Thank you all for the wonderful emails and posts I've received over this difficult pregnancy. I think I'm almost sane again now and I'm sure you are all glad. I know my husband is!!
posted @ 9:04 AM
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