birth story

thurs night (7/23?) i wasn't getting kick counts...got 1 maybe 2 movements in 2 1/2 hrs...so called the dr and went to triage for monitoring etc. for a few hrs. they did a BPP/ultrasound right away and she looked great on it (8/8 score) with a few movements but her movements were very flowy and floating and i wasn't feeling them. also my blood pressure was elevated more than normal (but not high enough to induce then) and after they did the u/s they put me on the baby monitor, and on that her HR was great but she wasn't having a whole lot of movements just kinda the minimum. they ended up putting in an IV and giving me a fluid bolus to see if that would help (it did a tiny bit but not much) but, since the labs came back normal and she was getting the movements they said to just go home and hang out til my NST the next afternoon, that she was fine till then at the very least, and if we had any issues come back right away of course and they would induce then. oh, and they also told us that the paperwork from the specialist (the report from the wk before, 7/17) said 'recommend induction @ 39 wks' - which would have been this past tues - nice of them to tell US that but at least they didn't have one scheduled lol. so we got home around 3am....

fri (7/24) i woke up around 11 (complements of the late night lol) with a headache, but not too bad of one. i also didn't get my kick counts but did have about 3, maybe 4 movements; but since my NST was at 130 i didn't bother to call. got to the NST and they were gonna just send us home since we had been in triage half the night but when i told the nurse doing the test that they said i was still supposed to do it anyway and what all had happened and the fact that i had a headache and wasn't getting kick counts again, she put me on the monitor while she went and talked to the dr in charge (the specialist). the NST was okay but the dr said due to the fact that i wasn't feeling her move hardly at all, it wasn't really worth sending me home just for me to come back in 6 hrs when i didn't get kick counts, so they were sending me to get induced then. got admitted to L&D around 230/300ish, and got settled in my room (suite lol) pretty quickly. after meeting with the dr (and a quick check) game plan decided on was to start cervadil @ 6p, leave it overnight, then take it out and start pitocin @ 6am and go from there.
they put the IV access in around the time they started the cervadil. the cervadil started causing ctx pretty quickly, not too bad, but unfortunately it didn't stay that way....ended up with hyperstimulation and one constant contraction which had me doubled over in pain so they took out the cervadil around 10p and gave me some nubain and benadryl so i could sleep that night. ctx tapered off overnight until pit was started (closer to 630ish am lol). the staff was great about trying to keep it as low-dose as possible, and started at 2, going up in increments of 2 as needed. baby stopped being cooperative in the sense that the ctx monitor wasn't reading right (although her heartrate was great the whole time) so eventually they ended up placing an internal ctx monitor (but didn't have to break my water for that, so no worries as far as the GBS and it wasn't on baby). i did get to try out the tub before they did that but unfortunately it did not help any for the pain - i couldn't get the water to stay warm and when i turned on the jets it was too hard, off was not enough, so i switched to the shower which felt wonderful and did help a bit. my water broke on its own around 1150 so had a dose of abx (pcn) at 12 and then every 4 hrs thereafter.
i did get to walk around a little bit but once they started the pit again i was pretty much out of it and couldn't think straight. i do know they ended up giving me some more nubain, and DH said they also tried fentanyl to see if it would help (don't remember if it did or not).....they wouldn't let me eat because i kept throwing up but they did allow me to have clear fluids (juice etc - and they tried to give me phenergan but it didn't help - not that i felt like eating anyway). other than that the only thing i really remember was around 6pm DH mother sitting with me for a bit while DH got something to eat, and me being all but in tears from the pain, biting on a towel to keep from crying out too loudly. i did finally give in and ask for an epidural which they put in around 7 - when they checked me before they put it in i was at 4, 5 if they stretched it - less than an hour after they put in the epidural i was all but 9. the epi worked the way it was supposed to and i was able to feel pressure, and my legs were only tingly, but no pain, so i was able to rest and relax and they helped me to lay on my side with a peanut ball in between my legs to help baby out (and i was on a slant too which helped). i don't remember what time i started pushing but i do remember they let me try a squat bar (yes, with the epi, i could feel enough for that) which helped baby but not me - i ended up with my feet swelling so much they looked like little watermelons, lol. i spent some time on my back but pretty high up (almost sitting) and then on my one side as well for pushing but.....
she got stuck right before she came out and for about 1/2 hr we played bungee jumping with the pushing and her moving down and back. her heartrate was starting to go up and my oxygen levels were starting to go down so my dr (who knew what i wanted) finally said she thought that it would be a good idea to use the vacuum to help. i asked if they had to cut for that and when she said no i said okay - but about 30 secs later she said no we need to do a small cut and i reluctantly said okay (since i would rather have that than a c-s) - apparently i was really really tight and they weren't having much luck trying to help with that - ended up with a 1st degree episiotomy (no adt'l tearing thank God!), no vacuum, and baby had the cord around her neck x2 which is what was causing her to be stuck. fortunately she was then able to come out enough that they could move the cord, so she could get the rest of the way out. apparently i missed a c-s by about 20 minutes (DH said they said i had 20 minutes more to get her out or they would have to do a c-s for her health and safety and mine) but she was healthy (apgar scores of 8 & 9 at 1 & 5 mins respectively) and i was able to nurse her almost right away, and they were able to follow the plan for after-birth almost to the letter.

Kayleigh was born at 1:35 am sunday morning, she was 6lbs 14 oz, and 19 inches long.

from mommy

K's vocabulary might not be quite established enough to explain everything.....so i'll do it for her this time, lol. yesterday (last night) she got lazy again and didn't want to move....so we called and of course got sent in to WBH for monitoring. they did a BPP, on which she scored 8/8 (yay - they liked that!), almost as soon as we got there, and then hooked everything else up....my blood pressure was up and not coming down (they didn't like that!) so they kept us for a while and kept monitoring my BP, checked labs, and monitored K. unfortunately she had another prolonged episode of tachycardia (rapid heart rate) so they ended up putting in an IV and running in a bunch of fluids (not that i was dehydrated but sometimes babies like extra fluid) and then her HR did come down to a reasonable number, and my BP did come down somewhat but not as much as they would have wanted, but since my labs were okay and some protein ratio came back okay they sent us home.
that said. i have an NST this afternoon (130) at which point if they see anything they don't like they will prly send us back down to triage, in which case they will most likely start inducing. according to the dr we saw last night MFM wants to induce tues regardless (some paper from last fri they put on about 'would recommend induction @ 39wks') and yes, last night was the first we heard about that so that's gonna be a discussion today before we leave the office. if everything goes okay today but we have issues over the weekend before my appt monday they will prly just go ahead and induce - basically from what we are understanding the next time we go to triage/wbh they will induce. otherwise i have the nst today and an appt mon afternoon and supposed to have an nst tues afternoon but not sure what will happen with that if they induce....
soon as we know anything else we'll update.

nst was good.....next one friday! :-)

drs appt - everything good - nst tomorrow

nst was good....drs appt mon night so we'll see what happens then....

labs and 24 hr test all normal. mommy tired. thats normal too. lol.

if momma ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!!!

mommy is NOT happy. dr appt this am - i'm okay, etc. etc. etc. mommy's okay too she's just frustrated. bp was okay but due to the events of last friday the dr said she gets to do another 24 test (yay - not!), more bloodwork, and move the NSTs to 2x wk instead of just once. oh, and the Grp B Strep test came back positive so she HAS to go to the hospital as soon as her water breaks and she can't stay at home for a while (unless we go into labor and her water doesn't break right away) bc they HAVE to do IV antibiotics dosed during labor (but she doesn't have to be on the IV the whole time just for the antibiotics) and there is no discussion on that point. oh well. oh and the back-up dr is already booked solid for the next month plus so we get to see the back-up back-up dr till our dr comes back.....if we make it that far, LOL!
next nst fri. next appt mon. will update more later or after test/appt whichever i feel like first.

all good....dr appt tomorrow am so i'll update after that....

nst @ 1245 this afternoon....will update after.....hopefully no more trips downstairs to triage, lol!!

nst update from mommy

while kayleigh sleeps...lol.
so went in yesterday for the weekly nst - and for whatever reason her hr was a little too high (they like bt 110 and 160 - her baseline was around 170 with spikes up to 185) so they left us on the monitor for an hour, then did a biophysical profile. her hr did start to come down a little bit but was still baseline around 165-170ish. BPP (u/s to check baby and bloodflow) was normal but since her hr was up they sent us down to triage for more monitoring and to see if they could figure out why (triage @ WBH is like a small ER for maternity or female stuff only). by the time they got us on the monitor down there her hr was down to a baseline of 155-160ish but now she wasn't moving as much as they wanted to see.....
SO.... they left us on the monitor for about 3 hrs till she started moving a little more - did labs (all normal, no pre-e yet, no infection causing her hr to be up) and were starting to talk about admitting us for observation and possibly induction (depending on what they found) but when she started moving around more, since the labs were all okay, they sent us home.
they did say that now i'll prly end up doing nst's 2x wk (at least have to do 2 this wk after that is up to my drs) and will have even more close monitoring till she comes.....but for now she's staying put.
other than that i think thats it.....till mon when i can call and get that other nst scheduled and then drs appt tues am.....

36 wks....

36 wks today....measured 36 wks, dr says i dropped a bit, mommy says she can tell....lol! mommy's bp is okay (132/84) and only trace proteins so no issues there. other than that all is well for another week.....NST on fri then next dr appt next tues - different dr though since my dr is going on vacation for a couple weeks - she and mommy said i'm not allowed to come until AFTER the 20th of this month. i'll try to behave myself till then.....
oh and mommy isn't any more dilated than she was a couple wks ago at the hospital but she's about 25% effaced - for anybody who cares.....

mommy got sunburnt and I DO NOT LIKE FIREWORKS OR LOUD NOISES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NST

NST yesterday - went okay except the tech used the buzzer to wake me up so i would move.....scared me so bad my HR went from 150 to 190! and daddy was beyond mad....he says he's telling the dr on tues that if they try to do it again we aren't doing any more of those tests.....

other than that things are going pretty well.....mom got the car seat installed but it needs tightened/checked a little more at the police station so she'll prly do that in the next couple days....plus pack our bag for the hospital, since who knows when i'll decide to show up? LOL!