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Custom blanket/swaddle | Knotted gown | Name sign
I realized I never really updated everyone as a whole on Marvin’s birth story, and how recovering from a traumatic birth has been exhausting. I’ve mentioned a few things on Instagram, but I’m not really sure I went into too much detail to give you the entire perspective.
On Monday 11/21/22, I woke up with a 102 fever. I called my obgyn who told me to go straight to Triage in Labor and Delivery to get checked out to make sure everything was okay with the pregnancy. After getting into Triage and getting settled into a room, I was being hooked up to monitors, getting IV’s put in my arm, and then everything happened so fast. All I remember was a ton of nurses hovering over me and talking to each other that the baby’s heart rate kept dropping to 0 and he was not responding well to the fever. The doctor kept telling me “it’s okay I know you’re scared, we’re working on this. We will potentially need to give you an emergency C-section to get him out”. Turns out, my results came back and I ended up having the flu.
Custom blanket/swaddle | Knotted gown | Name sign
A little while later, they got baby’s heart rate stabilized and I no longer needed the C-section at that time. Instead they told me they wanted to keep me until my flu went away and baby and I were recovered. They admitted me into Labor and Delivery and gave me tons of fluids and meds so they could keep tabs on both myself and baby. We settled into our room and I was told I wasn’t leaving the hospital without a baby which was so exciting!
After settling in, it took about a day and a half until my fever finally went away by Tuesday evening. On top of flu body aches, baby was also head down, but facing up which meant most of the pressure was on my spine. Worst back pains ever, I was so uncomfortable for days and could barely walk. The nurses mentioned that night they were going to induce me. So later the same evening (Tuesday night) they checked my cervix and I still wasn’t ready. While checking my cervix, I was apparently not yet effaced and it was still up and to the back of me. By reaching back there, I was forced a pain upon me I couldn’t bear. One of the nurses told the midwife to stop because of she kept going it would have been considered borderline abuse. She actually said the pain I felt was worse than labor since I wasn’t ready. It’s something I truly never want to feel again.
To start the induction, they put this tiny looking tampon medication inside me called Cervadil. It basically would efface me, so they could start the next steps of dilation. After that I went to bed and woke up the next morning with no news. Nothing changed. No effacement. A few hours later they decide they wanted to send me home now since my body just wasn’t ready to have the baby. I was so upset after the rollercoaster of emotions and pain I was already on. I felt like my time was wasted, I was in so much pain, and was mostly upset because I thought I was leaving the hospital with a baby.
We started packing our bags when a nurse came in and said the new doctor/midwife didn’t feel comfortable letting me go. They still wanted to monitor myself and baby. We stayed and they said they were going to induce me AGAIN that night (Thanksgiving Eve). Except this time they were going to give me the epidural before checking my cervix so I didn’t feel that excruciating pain.
I was administered the epidural, they checked my cervix again (which I didn’t feel, yay!) and gave me the Cervadil again to kick start effacement. They also gave me a catheter since I would not be able to walk with an epidural in. I went to sleep around 10:30 and at about 2:30 I woke up again. The nurse noticed the bed was wet, and I couldn’t control myself going to the bathroom. I won’t get into any more gross details cause that’s personal haha. But the nurse also mentioned the Cervadil fell out which means you are at least 4cm dilated if it does. I was shocked. Nothing was really hurting me, but I also woke up feeling uncomfortable and knew something was going on. I had this weird pressure of having to pee but couldn’t. It was kind of scary because the catheter is supposed to take care of that, so I didn’t know why I had the pressure of wanted to pee. All of a sudden the pressure changed to feeling like I had period cramps.
The nurse calls the midwife in to check everything going on. All of a sudden she tells me 10CM dilated and it was time to start pushing!! Only 4 hours this entire process took!! Apparently getting the epidural kickstarts labor. But the best part about my birth story and something I find so odd is that I had a baby and still don’t know what labor feels like. How odd does that sound?! But it’s true. So I think if I ever have another baby I’m going to still be terrified of it lol.
After 20 minutes of pushing, I had the baby and everyone was healthy! However, I had multiple 2nd degree tears. My urethra ripped, as well as perineal area. I received the stitches, but about an hour later some of them ripped and they had to sew me back up AGAIN as the epidural wore off. On top of all of this, I still had body aches and flu pains, and have been laying in a hospital bed for 4 days. My body was shot. I really could not walk, or even barely sit down for the next few days we were there.
2 days later (Saturday 11/26) I was able to go home after 6 days in the hospital. Unfortunately they sent me home at a dangerous level of hemoglobin and iron count of a 6.4. (healthy numbers are 11+) While being at home those first few days, I had no energy, still recovering from the flu, tears, stitches, body aches, and low blood count. Not easy to take care of a baby. I felt defeated watching my husband take over a lot of the time. But I couldn’t even walk up the steps without being out of breath. By Monday (11/28) I was not okay. I called the obgyn who told me to go to the ER with my symptoms. I went to the ER and ended up needing a blood transfusion since I lost so much blood, continued to lose more and my dangerous low iron levels caused low hemoglobin. So I spent Monday all day in the ER receiving blood.
I left the ER that evening with an blood iron count of 7.4. Still not where I needed to be, but the doctor mentioned it was at least in a safe zone. Even days after receiving the blood I’ve still felt really off. I’ve had a fever come from side effects of the transfusion and have been sick again the last few days. I know it’s going to take a good 6+ weeks for my body to recover from all of this. But I’m doing my best. I’m taking lots of meds which give me energy I need to get things done, I’ve been “working” a little bit when I feel good enough, and sleeping when the fevers come back.
All in all, nothing could have prepared me for the birth experience I had. It’s truly amazing how different everyone’s story is. Having Marvin being put on my chest for the very first time after he was born was an indescribable moment. Especially when his eyes locked with mine. I was truly in shock that I just had a baby. He weight 7 pounds 4 oz, and was 20 inches long. We did skin to skin for about 20 minutes or so until they took him to give him everything they needed to do.
Seeing him truly didn’t feel real. I already love Marvey so much, I am just hoping things get easier for me soon so I can be the best mom for him that I can be!
