We arrived at the hospital (which was more like a hotel), we pulled in and had our car valet parked. They only charge $5 for maternity patients, the inside is gorgeous, all the nurses and staff were incredibly kind. During this time we were freaking out a little bit because the kids were at home with Madison. We had no idea what to do, our dear friend Natasha, dropped everything she was doing and went straight to our house. She was amazing with the kids, they all had so much fun with her. They still talk about all the things they did, today! They went for dinner, out to the beach, decorated t-shirts and even made jewelry and gave it to me as a gift when they came to the hospital. She truly has a heart of gold and we were so incredibly grateful and appreciative of her. She spent the night with the kids, so we didn’t have to worry. Slept with all the kids and was ninja kicked by Sophia and Aiden.
I was put into a room as soon as we arrived, My midwife came in and did a check and I was already 5cm dilated. I had gone 2cm in under an hour, contractions were only 3 mins apart and starting to hurt badly. My labor’s have always been really fast, which causes insanely painful contractions. They asked if I wanted an epidural, I wanted to say yes, I was a little skeptical. I tried with Sophia and it went so fast, that I couldn’t get it. I was worried that If I got it and baby came right away, it could affect him in a negative way. I was also terrified of it hurting, when they put it in. I remember my mom telling me with Sophia, not to get it, because it hurt so badly. I was undecided, they hooked me up to IV and told me to go walk around to help get things moving faster. My husband and I walked down the hall to the outside deck, while standing there I had a crazy intense contraction. I already felt like I needed to push, my husband hugged me and said “If you want it, get it, remember how much pain you went through with Sophia. You have a chance to get it now before it’s too late”. Then another big contraction and I knew that I wanted the epidural.
We got back in the room and told the nurse that I wanted the epidural. They came in a few minutes later and said the anesthesiologist was just with another patient and would come to me once she finished. Paper work signed and finally the time comes, I’m told to sit at the end of the bed and hug a pillow. I had to arch my back, it wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. However it still hurt, the worst part was feeling the twinges in my lower back from the little tube being inserted. Everything was set up and then the nurse says it’s time for the catheter……ummmm, what? The nurse assured me I would feel nothing, she was right. The anesthesiologist then injected the medication, I could feel the coolness on my spine and down my back, which she said was normal. Within a few minutes, my blood pressure dropped to almost nothing. My chest became extremely heavy and it felt like my heart had stopped beating. Everything started getting really blurry, voices started getting distant. I remember looking at my husband’s face and seeing his terrified look. The doctors and nurses, laid me right down and put an oxygen mask on me. I honestly without a doubt thought that I was dying, I’ve never felt anything like it in my life. I remember seeing a paragraph from the paper work about low blood pressure and death, I could see that paragraph right in front of my face almost like a projection in mid-air. I thought that I would not get to meet my baby, or see my kids ever again. I remember just searching the room for Tim’s face, I saw behind all the doctors and nurses. I just wanted to hug him and never let him go. When all of a sudden my chest lightened up and I could breath, I could feel my heart beating again. My blood pressure started coming up and I started to feel better.
I was literally laying for 5 minutes after this happened and all of a sudden a team of nurses and doctors came running into the room. All I heard them say was “she’s having a D Cell” I don’t know if that’s spelled right or not. Before I know it they are telling me to turn to my side, then my other side, then they tell me to get on all fours. I just had an epidural, I can’t feel my legs, I can’t even move them. Next thing I know there are nurses on each side pushing my legs up, my gown is open and there I am butt naked on all fours. Good bye dignity, see you again some day. Then the nurse explains to me that baby’s heart rate dropped for a long time and wouldn’t come up. The different positions were to try to get it back up again. Then the nurse comes up and says ” your contraction was 2 minutes long, we think that’s why baby’s heart rate had dropped. We are going to have to give you a shot, to stop your labor”. Just like that I get a shot in my shoulder, everything ceases. Once everything calmed down, my midwife told me that I would be waiting a few hours to let myself and baby rest and then they would start me on a Pitocin drip to start labor again. At this point, Tim needed to go home to get everything we didn’t have with us and see the kids and update them.
While he was gone, I tried to sleep, which didn’t happen. A part of me really missed having my mom in the room with me, it just wasn’t the same. I felt really guilty for not spending more time with the kids before I left the house that morning. Sophia was calling and texting from Madison’s phone for updates. She was my little baby, when I saw her again, she wouldn’t be. At around 9pm they started me on a very slow Pitocin drip. Tim came back and said that Sophia was very anxious and worried for me. All the while Natasha was sending me photos of the kids. It made it much easier knowing how happy they were. My contractions finally started picking up around 1:00am. My midwife then came in and said she had to do another delivery at 2:00am at and once they were done. It would be time for me to deliver my little man.
Around 2:20am I started getting really bad contractions, I could give myself more of the epidural with a push of a button. I was extremely terrified, I did not want to go through what had happened earlier. Finally around almost 3:00am I was ready to push, my water never broke on its own, so the midwife broke it. Tim was sleeping on the little couch, two midwives were trying to wake him and he just kept snoring. We had a pretty good laugh, he woke up and they said “It’s baby time”. He hopped up super fast, with a huge smile on his face.
Once I started pushing my midwives were absolutely amazing. They stayed calm, they told me what to do every time I had to push. They would make me wait in between contractions so that it would stretch and not cause any tearing. At one point my blood pressure did dip really low again. Then baby’s heart beat dropped again. Thanks to the epidural, it was very calm. I didn’t scream and yell, I just did what I needed to do. I could still feel all my contractions and him moving down. The epidural made it bearable. When August was crowning, my midwife had me reach forward and feel his head. It was an amazing moment and the first time for any of my babies. At this point his heart rate started dropping and they said he needed to come out. I managed to get his head and some of his body out. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice and he had his arm, crossed in front of his face squeezing his umbilical cord. He was purple, my midwives were twisting him and could not get him because the cord was so tight. She tried a few maneuvers and nothing worked. I looked down at her and I saw her face go completely white, she told the nurse to call in the NICU oxygen doctor, immediately. I knew something was very wrong. The nurse returned and said he didn’t answer. She then tried another move and was finally able to get him out.
They put him straight onto my stomach, I touched him and he felt cold and didn’t move. We hadn’t heard any sounds from him yet, he was purple. At this moment 4 NICU doctors came racing into the room. They cut his cord and raced him over to the table on the other side of the room. Still no cries, I remember looking at Tim and just wishing so hard for him to breathe and cry. It was silent, Tim and I stared at each other for what felt like eternity. Then finally we heard his cry and I burst into tears. They had to use mild resuscitation to get him breathing, but he was okay. They did his Apgar test and he first scored a 2 when they did it again a few minutes later he got a 9. The nurse finally brought him over and put him on my chest, he was still really purple looking, he felt cold. We wrapped a warm blanket around him and put him on my bare chest. He started sucking his fingers. At that moment, I felt like everything was complete. We had our baby boy that we so desperately wanted. He was so perfect, we were so blessed and so lucky that we had such an amazing team of midwives, doctors and nurses. He was born at 3:51am on August 10, 2018, weighing 7 lbs 13 oz. When the kids met him they all fell in love. Now we are a happy family of 5!
Being me, loving you 