On Monday October 3, Johnny and I began the newest leg of our journey as a family......
I had a doctor's appointment that morning and Johnny was able to go with me. My weight gain was ok (I weighed on yet a different scale) at 4 pounds which gives me a total of 33 pounds (most of which is water weight from swelling so much). The nurse then checked my urine which was fine but when she checked my blood pressure, it wasn't as good. It was a little higher than they like, so she told me to lay down and it would be rechecked in a few minutes. She rechecked it and it was back down, but still not that great. Dr. Philpot came in and checked my cervix and was dilated to a 1 and Mellany's head had come down; yahoo! But since she was worried about my blood pressure, she suggested that I rest as much as possible (not complete bedrest) in order to keep it down. I agreed, knowing that while it wasn't the most exciting thing, I needed to do what was best for Miss Mellany. After the dr appointment we ran a few errands then Johnny dropped me off at home and he went to work. I took the doctor's advice and went downstairs to nap and relax while catching up on TV shows. I guess I didn't realize how much rest I needed because I fell asleep for a few hours. When I did wake up I had a pretty bad headache. I thought the headache was just from sleeping in my daily contacts, so I quickly took them out. After having the contacts out for a while, I realized it hadn't gone away. At that point I took some Tylenol. After about 25 minutes, the headache had not gone away, so I decided to call the doctor. (I knew that when you mix high blood pressure and headaches with pregnancy, it doesn't result in good things. It can actually lead to seizures and I didn't want that.) The doctor suggested Johnny take my blood pressure and if it was higher than 140/90 to call her back and if it was lower, that I just keep taking tylenol until it went away. I called Johnny to fill him in and suggested he come home from work (he was actually working late to get ahead on a few things). He jumped in the truck and headed home. I thought during his 20 min drive home I could try to relax and focus on getting rid of the ache. When he did get home, we hooked up our blood pressure machine and proceeded to get my numbers. Well, the machine kept reading error.....my pressure wasn't even reading on the machine! We thought it could be the machine that was having problems, so we tested Johnny's. His read just fine. At this point I knew something wasn't right and I became overwhelmed with fear, so I asked Johnny to call the dr back and she said to just bring me in to the ER so we could get the pressure down and get rid of the headache. We decided to go ahead and put our bags in the truck just in case (you never know with hospitals), put Bo in the garage and proceeded to the hospital.
Once we arrived at the ER, we were quickly checked in and I was wheeled to the family birth center. They put us in a room and immediately hooked me up to the blood pressure machine, took some blood and asked probably a gazillion questions. We waited for the blood results which came back fine but the blood pressure was definitely reading high. A little while later the nurse came in and said that I needed to complete a 24 hour urine analysis in order to completely rule out preeclampsia. So, we went from thinking we'd be in the hospital for a few hours to having to stay for 24. Great! But like I said, I was willing to do whatever I needed to do. A little while later, Dr. Philpot came in to look at my blood pressure readings. At that point she told me that she was going to give me an hour. If my readings didn't go down in that hour, they were going to induce me.......OMG WHAT?! For some reason, when she said that, I knew we would not be leaving the hospital without Mellany in tow. And sure enough, an hour later my numbers were still high and we were going to be induced. (No more 24 hour urine analysis!) After being reassured that Mellany was developed enough for a delivery, Johnny and I became ecstatic! But we also knew that since I was only dilated to a 1, it was going to be a long, long road ahead.
After deciding to induce, I was immediately put on Magnesium Sulfate through an IV (in order to prevent seizures from the high blood pressure and to lower my pressure readings). And let me tell you, this stuff is AWFUL! I hated every minute of being on it....I was dizzy, nauseas and extremely tired the entire time it was flowing through my veins. Even after all this, I also still had my headache so I was able to take some Tylenol that the nurse gave me.....only to throw it up a few minutes later from the pain of the headache mixed with the magnesium. Because the nurse couldn't actually see the pills in their round "form", I couldn't take any more for another 4 hours.....GREAT! I haven't ever experienced a headache like this, so telling me that I was going to have to suffer at least 4 more hours with it, didn't make me a happy camper. Thankfully, Johnny was able to help me work through all the vomiting and pain...he's such a great husband! (I should probably also mention that I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch time and at this point it was about 11:00pm/midnight). The doctor also inserted a pill in my cervix to help soften it to be ready for dilation. For the rest of the night, until I was going to be induced at 3:30 in the morning, we thought it would be best to call our parents and then to rest until then and prepare for the long road we would take on Tuesday.
Pretty much right at 3:30am on Tuesday, the nurse came in and started a pitocin drip to begin the labor process. Then, I went back to sleep. I should probably also mentioned that because I was hooked up to so many machines and monitors, that every time I needed to go to the bathroom, I had to call a nurse to come and unhook me then hook me back up. Annoying to say the least......The blood pressure monitor and baby heartbeat monitor also made sounds that pretty much prevented me from getting any sleep until I got to a point that my body HAD to have some rest. Thankfully Johnny didn't hear a thing and was able to rest soundly. From that point on, things were pretty slow going. Johnny went home around 8 to let out Bo and shower (and also get a haircut...lol....men! haha....). While he was gone, my doctor (Dr. Jorgensen) came in to check how far I was dilated. I was in total shock as she had just had a baby and this was her first day back (great timing Mellany!....speaking of timing, the Saturday and Sunday prior, we spent "nesting"...we finished up purchasing things on our baby registry, getting the house ready for fall, etc. etc.....we must have instinctively known somehow). I was really glad that she was going to be able to deliver, being so early! The cervix check was pretty uncomfortable so she decided that breaking my water at that point probably wasn't the greatest option and decided to wait a while longer. My headache had gone away (finally able to take some tylenol at 4am) and I wasn't feeling too bad. When Johnny came back we made some calls to our siblings and pretty much just waited out the day. Around lunchtime, Johnny decided to head out and get something to eat (I haven't been able to eat anything for about 24 hours at this point except for jell-o). While he was gone, Dr. J came back in to check on me and decided to go ahead and break my water. It was seriously the strangest feeling ever...to feel all of this fluid coming out at one time. Once she was done, I called Johnny and he knew to head back pretty quickly because things could start moving quite rapidly. After he returned, my mom showed up to help us wait things out. I slept when I could and my contractions started coming on stronger but I was only dilated to a 2. After feeling the contractions for a while, I decided it was time for some pain medicine. They started a drip in my IV and ordered the epidural as it can sometimes take a while for the anesthesiologist to make it to your room. Well, it didn't really take that long for them to get there but I was just fine with that. They sat me up in bed, read me the risks and I signed my name on the line to receive the pain medicine. I began to shake some and I knew my blood pressure was rising. It rose so much that the cuff on my arm had to squeeze so tight to get a reading that I had to have them take it off my arm while they were giving me the epidural. It was so painful. Once Johnny sat in front of me and I leaned over on him I started becoming calmer. The doctors then told me to relax and that they were going to give me a numbing medicine first and then insert the epidural. They specifically stated not to jump and if anything, to lean into the injection. Well, as soon as they inserted the first needle, I jumped. Thankfully it wasn't enough to cause damage on anything, but I felt just ridiculous. After that, it was smooth sailing. They inserted the epidural which was a strange feeling but not really all that painful and all was done. At some point after that, they inserted a catheter and I was no longer mobile. I started shaking some more, but that didn't last long. After a few more cervical checks, they said I was ready to push.
While I thought the pushing process was going to be easy, I was WAY wrong. The first round of pushing through the first contraction makes you think it's going to be easy, but the more you push, the more exhausted you become. And to make things worse, I had to tell the nurse when I was contracting; because Mellany was so far in my back, the monitor couldn't pick up the contractions. Another thing that got me was "how" to push. With an epidural it is hard to feel much, so I wasn't ever sure if I was actually pushing the way I should or not.....something I hadn't really ever thought about before......After about an hour of pushing the nurse left and then came back in with the doctor. Dr. J stated that Mellany was caught in my pelvis and felt that assistance using a vacuum would be the best option at this point. Johnny and I agreed that whatever is best for Mellany should be done. At that point, people started pouring in the room like crazy and I knew we were close (thank goodness!). Dr. J had me push a few more times and then attached the vacuum to Mellany's head, the nurses grabbed my legs, Johnny supported my upper back and the extreme pushing began! As Dr. J was pulling, the vacuum popped off, yes, popped! And to add to the excitement, it actually splattered blood everywhere, including on Johnny! Dr. J told us that it was nothing to worry about, all she had to do was reattach it and go again; and that we did, which resulted in Mellany's grand entrance at 10:25 pm. I actually had my eyes open while she came out and I couldn't even believe what I was seeing.....it was amazing! She had one eye open, her knee up by her shoulder and her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck once which resulted in Johnny being unable to cut the cord (which he was fine with) and no "baby to abdomen" like I had hoped but was also fine with. The nurses whisked her away to the baby warmer and I watched them work in awe. (Later finding out that she weighed 6lbs 5oz and measured 19 1/2 in long.) I felt some more cramping and out came the placenta....I was in relief!
The doctor began "fixing me up" and I was talking some with Johnny about our little lady before he proceeded to get her first pictures. Sometime after that, things started happening very fast. Johnny was back at my side, the nurse was standing on a stool next to me literally pushing my belly button to my spine and the doctor began performing a DNC to get the rest of the placenta that hadn't detached from my uterus. I knew 2 things: I was in pain and I was losing a lot of blood. I remember the nurse giving me a couple of shots in the leg (which didn't even phase me at this point), I remember the doctor "reaching in" and actually feeling something "inside" and I remember the look on Johnny's face as well as hearing the doctor say "O.R.". I looked at Dr. Jorgensen and asked if I was losing blood and if I should be concerned. She stated that I was losing some blood but that there wasn't a need for concern and instead of going to an O.R., the procedure would just be performed then and there. A little bit later, as I grimmaced in pain, the nurse apologized for having to continue to push down on my abdomen/uterus and I told her to just "do what she needed to do" so that we could be done. I then looked at my husband....who I could tell was full of emotion and I winked at him. I couldn't say anything but I wanted him to know that I would be ok and that was the only way I could think of to do it. (Later I asked Dr. J how much blood I had lost and if my delivery was normal for a vacuum delivery. She stated that in a normal delivery a woman loses about 300 counts of blood and I had lost 1000...yep, 1000!!!!! And that having some difficulties during a vacuum delivery is normal, but not as bad as mine was. That's when I knew that things were probably much worse than they had even lead us to believe.)
Finally, everything was finished and calm and all the nurses and Dr. Jorgensen had left. The nurses took Mellany to get her Hepatitis B shot and Johnny and I were left alone until they brought her back in and let us know she was ready to be held. I was absolutely too weak, exhausted and dazed to hold her right away (not to mention being able to try and breastfeed at this point); so Johnny did the honor. It was the most amazing thing for me to watch and I'm so glad I was able to snap a picture.
(Notice the time....30 minutes after she was born.) I love the look on his face!
Our first family picture (notice all the pillows surrounding me--it was the only way I felt comfortable holding her).....which I absolutely HATE, but, it IS a memory....
Once Johnny & I got to hold her and all was well with me, my mom was able to come back into the room and meet her granddaughter......she was all smiles of course!
3 Generations
Somewhere around 2am, we finally went to sleep. We were both completely drained and needed some sleep. Over the course of the next few days, I anxiously waited to shower and get rid of all of the "lines" puncturing my skin/body. I was still groggy from the magnesium sulfate 24 hours later and was thankfully done with that medicine. On Wednesday, Virginia, Amy and Daxton came to visit us and we were ecstatic to see them. On that same morning, I tried getting out of bed to brush my teeth and wash my face and had an unsuccessful attempt where I slowly collapsed to the ground. Thankfully a nurse caught me and swooped me back into bed before hitting the ground. (I blame the magnesium for this!) DJ and Noah Schmit also came to visit Miss Mellany. (Thankfully I was able to shower on Thursday when we had most of the visitors; this required some help from Johnny but made me feel a MILLION times better.)
I was finally able to eat after 36 hours!
One thing that most people don't tell you is how "un-glamorous" things are post delivery. I knew, but didn't really know how much "goes on" after having a baby. Let's just say that I'm over it too! lol
On Friday the 7th, we were finally able to come home! After sending Johnny on a trip to the house by himself to transport flowers and some of our bags, we bathed Mellany, had her newborn pictures taken and we were wheeled out of the hospital (I was so thankful.....I hadn't been out of the room since Monday!--besides walking in the hall of the maternity ward). We had to stop and pick up my prescriptions on the way home and that went fine but I was thankful for not much walking as my bottom half and top half of my body still felt like two separate pieces. In the couple of minute drive from Walgreen's to our house, we did get a nice surprise though. I threw up. Yep, threw up in the truck. Luckily we had installed a car seat protector that had a toy organizer with it, so I was able to grab it and use it as my "bag". At this point, I was really done with throwing up! We made it home without any other incidents and it felt SO GOOD!
Our beautiful flowers that made our hospital room and home smell so good! We are blessed with amazing friends and family!!
(More flowers and Mellany sunbathing)
Getting ready to go home
Ready for newborn hospital pictures
Heading home!
First car ride
We enjoyed the first night at home as the three of us with my brother and Amiee. They spent the weekend soaking up some Mellany time, which was nice for us because we were able to get some more rest.
Once Brad and Amiee left on Sunday, it was really just the three of us. Johnny took the whole week off after Mellany's arrival in order to make sure I was fully recovered and spend some time together. It was fantastic. We had quite a few dr appointments for Mellany during the week as she ended up having some minor Jaundice and getting her first cold. We sat her in the sunlight for the jaundice and made sure she was getting fed at least every 2 hours and we found some over the counter saline drops for her cold that seem to be working pretty well. We've had some long nights with multiple feedings because her days and nights are mixed up but we are finally getting that turned around we think. We've also given her, her first bath from which we learned a lot!
First Bath
Sun bathing to get rid of the jaundice....in the hospital
....and at home
This past weekend my dad and Teresa came to spend some time with Mellany and it was a nice time as well. She already has her grandpa wrapped around that little finger of hers!
My mom is here to visit/help us out this week and Virginia will be out after that. We are so thankful for the help/visitors as it makes things much easier for us!
The plan for this week is to write our thank you cards (these needed to be done so long ago!) and adjust to life without Johnny being home during the day. I've already warned him that there could be some crying to come, but I think us girls (plus Bo) will be just fine!
I will go back to the doctor for my 6 week check on November 18 and hopefully at that point I'll be released to start exercising again. My recovery at home has still been slow with headaches and exhaustion; but that is mostly gone at this point. I am actually feeling really great for losing as much blood as I did.
We are so happy that our little Mellany has made her arrival into the world safe and healthy. Even though she was 2 1/2 weeks early, we can't imagine not having her at this point. We are loving EVERY minute of parenting and can't keep our eyes off of our newest bundle of joy! And even though the delivery was anything but ideal, I would do it all again in a heartbeat!
We love you Mellany Elaine!
I'm posting a few random pictures that are some of our favorites so far!
Legs crossed like a true lady!
She fell asleep like this....there wasn't any posing on our part
Momma's first blowout.....notice the carpet to the right of my leg
Daddy is AWESOME at swaddling!
