Melia Ka'iulani
Current mood:
enthralled
enthralledMonday night (7/02), Ted and I walked around the Otay Ranch mall twice, hoping my cramps turn into contractions. No luck. However, the next morning….
Tuesday morning (7/03/07), I got up out of bed and felt a little wetness. I felt a small gush of water as I was walking towards the bathroom and then I KNEW instantly my water broke. I ran for the bathroom to sit on the toilet. "Oh, crap!" Ted was up in an instant and panicked. Weeks ago, I've had my bags packed and even had a check-list of stuff for Ted to grab in an emergency. Yeah, I'm OCD about lists. On that list is even a bag for himself, since I knew he wasn't the type to pack in advance. Well the love of my life was hilarious. I was sitting in the bathroom while he kept walking back and forth across the doorway. While I was getting myself dressed, I hear Ted yelling in a panicked voice from the bedroom, "Honey, do we have an outfit for the baby to come home in?" WTF? Okay, hubby is losing it. I waddled out of the bathroom and yelled back, "Honey, FOCUS. What is on your list?!" It was hilarious, I wished I had the camera rolling.
We drove through morning rush hour after a quick breakfast stop at McDonald's. Yeah, I knew they wouldn't feed me once they admit me, so I had to have my sausage mcgriddle and hash browns LOL! I called my work to let them know I'm on my way in… to have baby. They are rushing to call triage to let them know about me. Ahh, the perks of working there LOL!
8am – Made it to triage, determined I was truly ruptured. My contractions were very mild (like a menstral cramp). My blood pressure is high. My BP's have been high through my pregnancy. But since I had no other signs of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) aka Pre-eclampsia, I've never been treated for this. The RN sends out a PIH lab for me, so they are set to draw blood on me.
9am – I'm wheeled to our labor and delivery room. Ted sets up camp and makes himself an office in the corner complete with video, digital camera and laptop. I'm trying to be brave when the RN's start trying to put IV's in me. I'm a hard stick and my veins are just invisible. I warned them. Even their most successful IV starter fails twice. On the 6th stick, they are able to place my IV UNDER my right wrist. Yeah, not the greatest site. I was totally cool with everyone and their mother giving it a try on my veins, though. It helps that they actually numb the area with stuff before actually sticking me. All those sticks do not include the several lab draws they did on me too. PIH levels came back normal.
10am – Pitocin is started to make my contractions stronger and more consistent. I act like the hero and decline my epidural for now. By now it's still just the two of us. Ted's parents are in ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Las Vegas
1:30pm – 3.5 cm dilated, epidural still denied. What the heck was I thinking?
2pm – Yowzah! 5 cm dilated and I am in PAIN! Epidural please, now!
3pm – Ahhhh, hallelujah, drugs are wonderful! Ted took a before and after video, I was so loopy.
4pm - Baby's heart rate is not tolerating the contractions very well. Pitocin is stopped for over an hour to give her time to recover.
6pm – Pitocin was started and baby is reacting the same way, plus her head is still floating and not engaged into pelvis. We won't go on and on about this, we already know that a c-section is the best thing for baby. Strangely, I was relieved. It was weird being the patient and not part of the hospital staff! People I knew from different departments kept popping in and out to say hello and were a part of the staff to prep me.
The only thing I was nervous about was my reaction to the anesthesia. I started shaking uncontrollably. My buddies downstairs from the NICU Advanced Life Support team were summoned because of baby's decelerations. Ted was let in and sat next to me. It was all so quick and surreal. The doctor's were talking about their fourth of July plans and then suddenly she remarked, "oh, look at those lips." She was out! The ALS team worked on her quickly and she passed all their routine inspections. She was beautiful! Luscious lips and all!
She was born at 7:02pm
After delivery, my blood pressure shot up and my PIH levels were elevated. I was put on magnesium sulfate to bring my BP down. Because of this, I'm transferred to another floor instead of the usual Mother Infant Services floor. I'm considered high risk and cannot be left alone with baby since the Mag can leave me loopy. I was fortunate and didn't get the other side effects of the anesthesia or even the magnesium sulfate. I felt fine, honestly, not even in pain. My incision felt fine, too. Since Ted stayed with me the whole time, the baby could stay with us. She only went up to the nursery for assessments. We stayed on this floor for 2 days.
For the next two days, after I got off the magnesium, we were finally transferred to the MIS floor. We were disappointed to stay a fourth day, but my BP went back up again. We finally left Saturday afternoon.
Melia Ka'iulani Udan
Melia = "plumeria blossom"
Ka'iulani (ca-EE-oo-lawn-ee) = "highest point of heaven" also the name of Hawaii's last princess
7/03/07 at 7:02pm
7 pounds 1 ounce
20 inches long
