Sunday, April 24, 2011

The long story of Trent's arrival


Sorry it took me so long to get this up. It's a long story.
The day had finally come. Trent was going to come whether he was ready or not. Eric and I woke around 4 in the morning to make sure we had everything ready to go. We arrived at the hospital and they checked me and told me I was 90% effaced and dilated to a 3 and having consistent contractions. I found that interesting as I hadn't been feeling the contractions at all. For most of my pregnancy the two things I was most scared of was the getting the i.v. and the epidural.  The time finally came to have me get the i.v and my nurse Michelle walks in with the head of all of the women's department for Timp hospital. She had decided since she hadn't been on the floor in like 10 years she wanted to experience what it would be like on the floor again. She tells me how she hadn't done an i.v in a long time but she was really excited and confident she could do it. (Yeah okay lady that sounds reassuring.) She starts to put the i.v in and says to my nurse Michelle "Oh I don't think I have it. Yeah I hit the bone it's starting to blow up." Right as she did all of this I started feeling super dizzy and almost passed out. She took it out quickly and luckily my nurse Michelle did it on the other hand and got it right in. Fear number one= horrible horrible experience. I HATE i.v's.

Before the i.v.

After the i.v

After the i.v. fiasco they put me on pitocin and the contractions started coming on strong. After about 5 mins of being on the pitocin I decided I was ready for the epidural. Everyone thought I was joking but I was so serious as the contractions really hurt and since I knew that I wasn't doing it natural I figured no need to wait. They call the anesthesiologist and in the meantime my doctor came in and broke my water. Weirdest feeling ever. By that time the anesthesiologist was ready and it was time for fear #2. He tries and my right butt goes numb and so he moves the needle (ick) to the left and my left leg shoots into the air. He has to pull it out and try again as he tells me he thinks I might have scoliosis. Oh great! That's awesome. Finally it's in and my left leg is so numb I can barely move it but my right leg is movable which I didn't care about until I still was able to feel the contractions. They move me on my right side as they said that might help move the epidural over to that side since it has to do with gravity (didn't know that.) 

At around 2:00 in the afternoon they checked me and said I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 7. We were really excited as things were moving a lot quicker then we thought they would. During that time I slept as much as I could as I knew I was going to need my strength later that day or night depending on how fast my body was going to go. Some time earlier they had decided to put an internal monitor on Trent which 1. I didn't know I had a choice to have that or not and 2. I didn't realize that meant it was going in his head. A little while later my nurse Michelle came to check me and as she was walking out of the room tripped on one of the cords. I checked my i.v. and that was still in place so the only other one was the one that was in his head. Yeah she had ripped it out of his head. Needless to say I was really worried and bugged as she had said earlier in the day that the cords were so long that she might trip on one. They had been busier that day so my nurse Michelle was gone for long periods of time so other nurses would come and check me or change my i.v. bag. As one nurse was changing my i.v. bag she decided to tell me this story about one of her friends that had a baby born with a cleft palate but didn't know until the baby was born. I looked to my mom after she left and was like wtf!? Why would you ever tell a new mom that's about to deliver a story like that?!
After that weird moment an hour later they checked me again and said I was dilated to a 10. They called my doctor and he said he wanted me to rest and descend for an hour and at 4 he would be there to start the pushing. As 4 gets closer and no word from our doctor we were getting a little nervous. At 4 my nurse called him and said she couldn't get a hold of him. We waited for 15 mins and tried again. No word. In the meantime I am having the shakes really really bad and had been throwing up a lot. Finally at 4:30 they tell us he was delivering a baby down in Provo and he was on his way. He finally gets there at 5 and I start pushing. As I was pushing my doctor decided to leave. He was gone for about 15 mins and then finally came back. NOt sure where he went but okay. I pushed for 45 mins and was given an episiotomy to try and help but I wasn't making as much progress as we wanted so my body decided to tear. Oh joy. And a class 3 at that. OO fun. The doctor decided it was time to use forceps which I didn't want but had to do what was best to get the baby out and once he did Trent came right out! He started crying and they put him on me and it was the best feeling of my life. I obviously was balling and then they handed him to Eric which then made me cry even more. They then took him and cleaned him up and it was the moment of truth. How much he weighed.


Holy freakin cow. None of us thought he was going to be that big. No wonder I was having troubles pushing him out! We all couldn't believe it. I was so excited to hold my little man but wasn't able to for about an hour because they had decided (without asking me again, which I thought they had to or at least it would have been nice to have been asked) to train a Broadview University student. I obviously knew they were going to poke and prod him but it was a little more then I could handle as he was screaming for most of it and they were taking their sweet time as the nurse was training that stupid lady. So I finally am able to hold him and he was/is the sweetest little thing.


Before we left Saturday morning my doctor came in to check on me and wanted to know if I had any questions. I decided to ask him about breastfeeding and he looked at me and my mom and said "I don't know I'm a guy." My mom and I looked at each other and were like okay.. I decided to ask him how long I would  have colostrum and he looked at us and said "is that what they call it?" We looked at each other again and were like uh yeah that's what we thought. It was very weird because I honestly had really liked my doctor until the big day came. During my months of pregnancy he always would ask me if I had any questions at the end of my appt. I never felt rushed and he was a funny guy. A weirder personality but hey I have a weird personality too. But that day he was so unprofessional. In the morning when they were going to break my water my mom asked him if maybe we could wait as she knew contractions are more intense on pitocin when the water is broken and he looked at us and said "We are here for an induction. You can waist my time and everyone else's time if you want to wait but that's up to you." After he gave me the go ahead to leave Saturday morning the pediatrician came in and told us that there was a bump on Trent's head that wasn't part of the swelling as that had already gone down. It was basically a subdural hematoma which basically is when blood forms between the skull and the skin. The pediatrician said it was normal and that it would go down in 4-8 months and that the only risk is that if it doesn't go down that means its calcified which means Trent will have a bump on his head the rest of his life. I wasn't upset until I went to Trent's 2 day check up and was told basically it was a result of resting and descending for too long. That was when I got really upset at my doctor. Yes I know it happens but I felt like my doctor just didn't care and that he should have had more of an active role as he was the doctor. I trusted this man and he let me down. Needless to say I will be happy when I never have to see that man again. The bump does seem to have gone down which is good but it still upsets me.

Trent is the most wonderful baby and only cries when he's trying to poo, has a bubble or is hungry. He is so calm and we really have been blessed. We love him so much and has brought so much joy to our lives already! It's crazy this Thursday he will already be two weeks. We love our little boy!

3 comments:

Becca Gilbert said...

Oh Chelsea--- I am so sorry!!! I cannot even imagine. I was lucky and got my epidural BEFORE they started the pit (thanks to an amazing l&d nurse). If it makes you feel better Porter had a hematoma on his head from descending too fast- but it went away within a week... fingers crossed for Trent! I'm sorry it was such a bad experience for you- but I am sure in the end it's all worth it!! Let me know if you need anything!!! Including a hug, somebody to cry to, or dinner or anything!!

Unknown said...

I am now officially afraid to give birth! But congrats you are such a trooper for enduring (what sounds like) a horrible hospital experience!

Unknown said...

sorry chels. i'm so glad he is here though! he's a cute little guy. i'm coming to utah soon and i want to see you and the babe of course. the best part (slash the only good part) about everything going opposite of how you expected is that now for baby #2 it's like bring it on hoes! i already went through all that bad stuff it can't be any worse this time. this is nothing. well at least that's what I tell myself. love you and that sweet little boy!