One More Night in the Light

I was prepared to go home on Friday. I was excited to take my daughter home. It was time for the Pediatrician to come and discharge her and I was ready. All the nurses said she was healthy and she was such a good eater. Lilly's Pediatrician was not working that weekend, so his partner had to come and discharge her. She had a little bit of jaundice but nothing terrible so I was ready to go home.

My emotions that day I could tell were shaky. They say that when your milk comes in you become very emotional. Gary was at home getting last minute things done before we brought our baby girl home that afternoon, so I had to meet with the Dr all by myself with emotions on the rocks.

The Dr came and checked Lilly out, she had lost some weight and she had jaundice. So he wanted me to give her formula and to stay an extra night. Formula? Seriously? An extra night? My emotions erupted and tears started to flow. I told him that my milk was starting to come in and I was not going to give my baby formula unless she doesn't pick up the 30 grams he required for discharge. She had to stay under the lights to get her levels down. I was a basket case. I wanted my baby home. I was tired of being in the hospital. I wanted to sleep in my own bed next to my husband. I wasn't prepared for this.

Several nurses came into my room and helped me to calm down and explained that if they discharge Lilly and she gets sick she has to go into the pead ward where there are lots of germs and it is best for her to stay in the sterile environment of the Maternity Ward.

I called Gary sobbing and told him I needed him there. He came quickly. What a wonderful man. He handled his wife tears well. 

WE posted on Facebook for Prayers, so the whole world was sending up supplications to the Lord on Lilly's behalf.

I fed Lilly every 2 hours and she was under the light for little less then 24 hours. She hated the sunglasses they put on her and took them off several times, but when Pathcare came and retested her jaundice level Saturday morning they had dropped considerably. The nurse weighed her at 8am and  she hadn't gained much, so the Doctor said weigh her again at 4pm and call me. He said she didn't have to be under the lights any more. All I had to do on Saturday was concentrate on feeding her. I think the Dr saw how determined I was not to use formula so he didn't mention it again. I kept her in my room and fed her all day long. when it came time for her to be weighed again she not only gained the 30 grams the Dr wanted but she gained an extra 5 for good measure. The Lord was wonderful in answering the prayers.

Usually they don't discharge babies until they are 2.5 Kilos, but after discussing it with the Dr and assuring him I had a great support team at home he let us go home with the promise that we would get her weighed every week until she hit that mark. The first week she gained 110 grams ( she was now back at her birth weight) the following week she had gained 240 grams. We take her this thursday for her 3rd weigh in and we will see how much she has gained, I am guessing she is at the 2.5 kilo mark now but we will see. (Pic of Lilly after she was released from the lights, thing on head was for her jaundice check)

Premie, but sweet

For 8 months I had read all I could about pregnancy and labor. I had all this knowledge and I was ready. I was not nervous. I wanted a natural childbirth with no medication. I had said women have been doing this for centuries I can do it as well.

All the books told me not to expect your water to break like it does in the movies.  They say that it only happens that on rare occasions. I should of guessed that I would be that rare occasion, since I got PUPPPS, a rare pregnancy rash that only affects about 2% of first time pregnancies.

Gary and I borrowed the last three Star Wars movies from a friend. We started “Return of the Jedi” after dinner on Tuesday. This was my favorite one out of all of them because of the Ewoks. Near the end of the movie around 930 I felt as if I had lost all control of my bladder. I sat straight up and ran to the bathroom. I was highly embarrassed.  After coming back to bed and having to run to the bathroom a second time I started to wonder if it really was a bladder problem, or had my water broke. I told Gary of my suspicion and he asked if I was having contractions. I wasn’t. We finished the movie after having to take all the bedding of the bed, then headed to bed around 10pm. 30 minutes later I started to feel some discomfort in my lower abdomen. I started to time what I thought could be contractions. As I was doing this it hit me that If I was in labor this baby was going to be born on leap year, another rarity. An hour later I woke Gary up (if you know Gary; that is a hard thing to do) and told him I was having contractions every 7-10 minutes apart. He quickly went online and it said if your water breaks call the Doctor. After speaking with my Doctor he told me to go to the hospital right away, because if your water breaks then there is chance of an infection getting to the baby.

We arrived at Durbanville Medi-Clinic sometime after midnight. The nurse checked me right away and I wasn’t even dilated. But my water had indeed broke. She hooked me up to the monitor and my contractions to her were very small. I was thinking if these are small contractions then am I going to be able to do this drug free. They took me out of the labor ward and put me in a hospital room since first time mom’s labors last usually a long time. My contractions quickly got closer and closer together and more and more painful. Sister Mavvy, my nurse,  asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this with out any drugs since I was already in so much pain and I had a long night ahead of me. I was determined. She hooked me up to the monitor again and still my contractions were showing to be very small. The problem was the monitor was high on my abdomen and all my contractions were down low. I gave in asked for pethadine. It helps you to relax. Once she gave it to me I was able to rest the few short minute’s in-between contractions. Sister Mavvy could see how much pain I was in and again asked “ If There is something out there that can take the pain away why don’t you use it.” At that point I was all for taking the pain away.

 Around 430 am I told Gary they needed to check me again because I felt like I needed to push. They took me back to the Labor ward and I was 8 cm dilated and I had missed the window for an epidural. Gary and I were like ok Lord we said we wanted to do this without one so I guess you are saying helping us keep that.  Dr Deale showed up shortly after. I was screaming. There was no more breathing techniques that would help.

Deale said we are doing the epidural, she is going to be laboring like this for another hour. The problem with doing the epidural was that I was having one contraction after the other with no breaks in-between and I was to be perfectly still while he inserted the medicine into my spine. After several attempts the doctor said that if I didn’t sit still he was not going to be able to do it. Gary bear hugged me and made me immobilized through his strength. Deale got the epidural in and I was almost instantly numb. 45 minutes later with the help of forceps and an episiotomy little Lilly came into the world. She weighed in at 2.02 kilo grams and was 45 cm long.

So it just shows you can read all you want, but nothing will prepare you for how your body will handle labor.