L&D Details

On Friday November 20th another doctor in our practice came to visit me. I had been doing the suppositories for 3 nights, and they where causing me some serious discomfort. I talked to the doctor about it, and he suggested that I take an oral pill. The oral pill was suppose to do the same thing, only not cause so much cramping. He said he would get it approved by my doctor and then go from there. He also suggested that instead of taking it at night, I take it during the afternoon. After taking the pill they need to monitor me and the baby for a few hours, to see if the pill has taken any affect.

That afternoon I took the pill and felt nothing. I had been having a few continual contractions, but nothing to write home about. One of my nurses said that it's affect usually comes hours later, if it will have one. I decided to get out of my room and take a walk down to a jewelry fair going on in the Professional Building. I got all of my Christmas shopping done for my sisters, and was really excited that I found a beautiful scarf for my Mom to wear as well. Chris surprised me with Panda Express for dinner (I was so tired of hospital food) and I enjoyed every bite. My parents were due to arrive into the Lansing airport that night, but their flight got delayed an hour. While I decided to take a nap around 9pm Chris went to run some errands before picking up my parents from the airport.

Around 10:30pm I woke up and suddenly my water broke. It was nothing like it is in the movies, where just a little trickle falls down your leg. This flood kept on coming. I called my nurse into the room, and then called Chris excitedly to tell him that my water had indeed broken. After the nurse checked to make sure it was my water, she needed to get the baby hooked up to the monitor. We were talking excitedly about my water breaking, when I realized it was taking her an awfully long time to find Arista's heartbeat. She kept reassuring me that she could faintly hear it, although I heard nothing. 3 minutes later Chris walked into the hospital room beaming, but when he saw my face he knew something was wrong. I laid there and could not believe that we had lost yet another baby. I kept asking the nurse if my baby was alive, in which she responded that she didn't know. She said that she needed to get an ultrasound machine to make sure, and then had Chris call in another nurse to help her find Arista's heartbeat. The other nurse came in and took over, after 30 seconds she replied..."You are using the wrong monitor". We all had a huge sigh of relief, and the nurse expressed how freaked out she was. Great way to start labor eh?

I was moved over to a labor and delivery room and they hooked me up to an IV. They wanted to see if my body would go on it's own before giving any sort of pitocin. After midnight my parents arrived, and we all sat around talking. After a few hours the nurse checked me and I was a 2. So they decided to start some pitocin. I insisted on receiving the epidural before any medicine was administered. We were so lucky to have our best friends Dad give me the epidural. It wasn't long after getting the epidural that I suddenly could not hear anymore, and felt like I was going to pass out. My blood pressure had dropped fast, and they laid my down and pumped me full of fluid. After 20 minutes I was feeling much better, although my blood pressure stayed low the entire labor.

They started the pitocin and after several hours I was stuck at a 5. I had the itches and the shakes horribly, and was given some medicine to help calm everything down. The nurse came into empty my bladder every few hours, and could not believe how full it was each time. She received permission to insert a catheter so that I wouldn't have such a full bladder. After the catheter was in the nurse came into check on the baby. She noticed that the baby was in distress and she watched the monitor for many contractions, until I told her that I felt something fall inside of me. She checked me and I was at a 10 and ready to push! She went and called our doctor from home, and we waited until she arrived before starting the big push. We waited about 15 minutes, when she arrived she told us that she needed to clean out the baby's lungs because there was a bit of meconium in my water. After 5 minutes of pushing Arista's head emerged, and they told me to stop pushing. Arista had a plan of her own, and continued to slide on out. I didn't feel a thing. She didn't cry, which they warned us that she wouldn't because of being cleaned out. Chris was able to cut the cord, while I stared at her in disbelief.

We were so grateful for our doctor and for the "magic pill" the other doctor gave me. We were able to spend much more time with my parents, at home. I know that the Lord has his own time frame, and the timing could not have been more perfect.

The rest is history. I cannot be more blessed then I am. I love my little baby more than anything, and I love every minute I get to take care of her. I know that Preslie is watching over us. I have definitely had moments of breaking down, and sadness because of the loss of Preslie. There are times when I am holding Arista and I get flashbacks of holding Preslie. This whole experience has been very bittersweet, but totally worth it.

Families are forever, and I have the greatest one!