poetgirl
05-22-2007, 09:51 AM
Sorry to be away for so long but it's been rather busy the past few months!
My daughter Ahleia Rose was born on April 9 at 8:09 p.m. via c-section. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 in. long.
I went through quite an ordeal with her labor, delivery and post-op. I was in labor for 36 hours and never progressed past 7 cm. Ahleia's head did not descend enough to move things along, and my waters had been leaking/broken for over 24 hours, so the decision was made to do the c-section. That was very disappointing for me, since I had planned on a natural birth, accompanied by my husband and doula (who were both amazing the entire time! I could not have kept going without them!) I actually went 32 of the 36 hours with no pain meds. However, towards the end, I requested some Phenergan to take the edge off what I later found out was back labor!
It turned out the c-section was the right and only choice because not only was Ahleia sunny side up, she also had the cord wrapped around her neck, and my sacrum protruded too far into my pelvis for her head to descend properly. But the biggest complication was that the placenta had adhered to my uterus and gotten infected. I suffered a postpartum hemmorhage and ended up needing 5 pints of blood transfused over the next couple of days. My vital signs were up and down until my condition stabilized. I didn't find out until I was home that there was a crash cart parked outside my room for several days! Pretty scary! Frankly, I don't remember all of what happened when I was in the hospital. It was very traumatic and the worst part in retrospect is that I really didn't get to bond properly with my daughter until sometime after I went home. I remember some things about her birth, like the doctors holding her up over the drape and my husband bringing her over to me so that I could see her, but I don't even remember holding her for the first time in my room. I didn't even get out of bed for about 4 days and was too weak to breastfeed properly most of the time (although, amazingly, I was able to do it enough to start my milk supply) so we had to supplement with formula until I got home.
All in all, I was in the hospital about a week. It has taken a long time for my uterus to shrink, even with regular breastfeeding. My OB ended up having to give me Methergine for a few days to help the process along. I'm doing a lot better now, but I still have some lingering soreness in my uterus (I feel it more later in the day if I've been active and after breastfeeding) and of course at the incision site. The area around the incision site and along my left hip are actually numb from having superficial nerves cut during the surgery. They seem to be regenerating some by the incision site though.
Oddly enough, my bladder is doing better than I had ever expected, although my pelvic floor still spasms from time to time. It tends to affect my rectum and bowel movements, though. I made sure they gave me an indwelling pediatric Foley when I was in the hospital, so I didn't have any irritation afterward although I did get a mild UTI once I was home because I was experiencing a lot of retention and distention. Part of that was due to all the IV fluids I was pushing out and also because the whole pelvic floor area was still kind of numb. I couldn't tell when I had to pee - I just felt kind of full and figured I probably needed to go. Then I'd go and it was like someone had turned on the faucet! It was really weird, especially since I've always dealt with OAB and IC symptoms, and when you have to go, you KNOW it!
Anyway, my daughter is beautiful and healthy and although her birth was a very scary experience, it was worth everything I went through to have her with me now.
I hope all is well with you!!
My daughter Ahleia Rose was born on April 9 at 8:09 p.m. via c-section. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 in. long.
I went through quite an ordeal with her labor, delivery and post-op. I was in labor for 36 hours and never progressed past 7 cm. Ahleia's head did not descend enough to move things along, and my waters had been leaking/broken for over 24 hours, so the decision was made to do the c-section. That was very disappointing for me, since I had planned on a natural birth, accompanied by my husband and doula (who were both amazing the entire time! I could not have kept going without them!) I actually went 32 of the 36 hours with no pain meds. However, towards the end, I requested some Phenergan to take the edge off what I later found out was back labor!
It turned out the c-section was the right and only choice because not only was Ahleia sunny side up, she also had the cord wrapped around her neck, and my sacrum protruded too far into my pelvis for her head to descend properly. But the biggest complication was that the placenta had adhered to my uterus and gotten infected. I suffered a postpartum hemmorhage and ended up needing 5 pints of blood transfused over the next couple of days. My vital signs were up and down until my condition stabilized. I didn't find out until I was home that there was a crash cart parked outside my room for several days! Pretty scary! Frankly, I don't remember all of what happened when I was in the hospital. It was very traumatic and the worst part in retrospect is that I really didn't get to bond properly with my daughter until sometime after I went home. I remember some things about her birth, like the doctors holding her up over the drape and my husband bringing her over to me so that I could see her, but I don't even remember holding her for the first time in my room. I didn't even get out of bed for about 4 days and was too weak to breastfeed properly most of the time (although, amazingly, I was able to do it enough to start my milk supply) so we had to supplement with formula until I got home.
All in all, I was in the hospital about a week. It has taken a long time for my uterus to shrink, even with regular breastfeeding. My OB ended up having to give me Methergine for a few days to help the process along. I'm doing a lot better now, but I still have some lingering soreness in my uterus (I feel it more later in the day if I've been active and after breastfeeding) and of course at the incision site. The area around the incision site and along my left hip are actually numb from having superficial nerves cut during the surgery. They seem to be regenerating some by the incision site though.
Oddly enough, my bladder is doing better than I had ever expected, although my pelvic floor still spasms from time to time. It tends to affect my rectum and bowel movements, though. I made sure they gave me an indwelling pediatric Foley when I was in the hospital, so I didn't have any irritation afterward although I did get a mild UTI once I was home because I was experiencing a lot of retention and distention. Part of that was due to all the IV fluids I was pushing out and also because the whole pelvic floor area was still kind of numb. I couldn't tell when I had to pee - I just felt kind of full and figured I probably needed to go. Then I'd go and it was like someone had turned on the faucet! It was really weird, especially since I've always dealt with OAB and IC symptoms, and when you have to go, you KNOW it!
Anyway, my daughter is beautiful and healthy and although her birth was a very scary experience, it was worth everything I went through to have her with me now.
I hope all is well with you!!