On the morning of September 19th I went in for a prenatal check-up and to see the progress of any dilation. I now weigh officially 156 lbs. up from my pre-pregnancy weight of 121 lbs. To my surprise I was already 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced! Two days before my due date and had yet to feel any consistent contractions or labor pains. After the appointment Jack, Seth and I made our way down to the fountain since Seth was such a good boy in the doctor’s office. While there, Jack and I were discussing that we thought it would be another week before she would come since Seth was 6 days late (secretly I thought it would be earlier but didn’t want to get my hopes up). Lin, our midwife, encouraged us to take some maternity photos just to remember this time, so when my friend Jackie came over to the house that morning to spend time with us I asked her to take some pictures of my belly. The rest of the day was very peaceful at home with me and Seth. We were both very mellow and spent a large amount of the afternoon cuddling and watching “Curious George.” Jack came home, we had dinner, put Seth down and watched some TV and by 9:45 when the show was over I noticed contractions coming but didn’t think too much of them at first because I had Braxton-Hicks contractions for many weeks leading up to this point. I didn’t say anything at first to Jack but was watching the clock and noticed they were the most consistent I have had so far. I mentioned it to Jack and decided to monitor them for the next half hour before calling my Mom. It only took 15 minutes for me to realize that this was it! I called my Mom and told her to start getting ready to come. I went to the bathroom and noticed a little bloody show and decided to also call Jackie who would stay at the house with Seth. I told her on the phone that it was a good idea we took those maternity photos today because this will be the last day I would be pregnant. She said she was on her way as well.
Over the next couple of hours the contractions were coming but remained very erratic … not the smooth, predictable labor I experienced with Seth. I tried to rest while we were waiting for my Mom to come and the contractions were light enough where I did dose off a few times. Jack was too excited to sleep and decided to get a last minute meal in before we headed off to the hospital. My mom made it here in record time around 12:30am, and while Jackie was asleep on the couch, my Mom, Jack and I played a few games of Rummy, monitored contractions on Jack’s phone, and got remaining things together. I had moments of nausea but didn’t throw up (like I did with Seth's labor) and snacked on a few Ritz crackers as the contractions came closer together and stronger. Before I knew it I had the chills and bundled up in multiple sweatshirts, pants and socks and could no longer talk through my contractions. They were 4 minutes apart lasting for a minute each. At 1:30am we said goodbye to Jackie and hopped in the car and headed toward El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos. The freeway was completely open and we got there close to 2am. Since it was the middle of the night we had to go through the Emergency entrance. They had a wheelchair waiting for me and brought me straight to the Labor and Delivery wing. As we were turning into the room I would labor in I looked across to the nurses’ station and saw Bethany Monte, the midwife who delivered Seth! She is now a labor and delivery nurse at this particular hospital, and after seeing my name on the list requested to be my nurse for Olivia’s delivery. Praise God! (She’s a Christian as well!) She had me get into a hospital gown and I sat down on the bed so she could check my vitals. If there’s one thing I learned from my first labor with Seth it’s the importance of keeping calm and relaxed through contractions. I was trying my best to do so this time around as well. Shortly after, Lin came in and checked to see how far I was dilated. My mom told me later that she and Jack were in the corner of the room when Jack leaned over to her and said, “What do you think she’ll be at now? I predict 6cm. My mom guessed 7cm. Lin announced I was dilated to 8cm and we were all very surprised. I asked her to break my water for me to “get the show on the road!” I was ready to meet my daughter! I don’t remember what it felt like to have my water broken with Seth but this time it was actually a relief. Within a minute the contractions became much more intense. I asked if we had enough time to do water therapy in the bathtub (that’s where I spent the majority of my labor with Seth and it helped tremendously). Lin said we didn’t have enough time to go in the bathtub but we could go in the shower. For some reason I didn’t want to and I already had the urge to push. I thought I must be crazy since we just got there and I still had 2cm to go but after a few contractions that went by and still having the urge to push, I asked Lin if it’s normal. It felt like I had to go poo immediately! Both Lin and Bethany replied, “Yes” and if I feel the urge to go ahead and gently push, but I was only at 8cm so I didn’t think I could. Lin told me you could go from 8 to 10cm in a matter of minutes and that I might just be ready. Before I knew it the gentle pushes turned into to hardcore pushing-my-baby-out pushes, and Jack and my Mom were on either side of me holding my hands and legs. I remember what a relief it was to push and that I didn’t want to stop. I remember Jack saying, “I need to take my ring off!" What I didn't remember, but my mom and Jack told me later was that Lin instructed Jack to go into the bathroom and wash his hands immediately and very quickly because the baby was coming and she wanted to give him the chance to help pull her out. I kept hearing my Mom encourage me to stay calm and push hard. Then I felt Lin grab my hand and put it where Olivia’s head was coming out. It was slimy but amazing! I jerked my hand back to support my leg because I just wanted to keep pushing. A few more pushes and I could feel her coming right out. Lin was telling Jack, in the meantime, where to position himself so he could help pull Olivia out. At 3:05am our precious bundle of joy arrived, weighing 7lbs., 13 oz. and 19 inches long. She even had my red hair! Then the ugly cry started. You know - the cry where you don't care what you sound like or how distorted your face looks - yeah, that one. I was just so in awe of my little girl! I remember Lin lying Olivia on my tummy and just being amazed at how quick of a labor and, honestly, minimal the pain was. As Lin and the nurses cleaned me and Olivia up, I watched her take her first breaths and kept telling Jack how much I loved him. Jack cut the umbilical cord, then it was time to deliver the placenta. One push and it came out, along with a huge gush of blood over the side in which both my mom and Jack had to jump out of the way to avoid. My mom left shortly after to go home and relieve Jackie and to get a few hours of sleep before care-taker duties began.
I still felt great at this time, and Olivia was doing equally as well. While we started our first nursing period, Bethany started pushing on my abdomen to cleanse out the rest of the blood out of my uterus (my absolute least favorite part of the whole labor and delivery process … something I remember very vividly from my labor with Seth). It was then that things started going downhill. The amount of blood and blood clots coming out of my body was way more than normal. I had slightly the same issue with Seth, but they gave me one shot of Pitocin in my leg and it caused my uterus to contract back to normal and control the bleeding. Well, they gave me the shot of Pitocin this time, but it had absolutely no effect on me. Every 20 minutes Bethany was coming in, pushing on my abdomen (ugh!), and still a huge amount of blood and clotting kept coming out. After the shot of Pitocin didn't work, they gave me a different shot (I think it was Methergin), which works differently, but should have the same result of causing the uterus to contract and control the bleeding. After more and more time and still more and more excessive bleeding after more and more painful pushing on my abdomen, neither drug was working. I was officially hemorrhaging.
Basically, there were two reasons why this could be happening: 1) Because my labor was so short, my uterus had been working extra hard and was taking longer than normal to contract. It was, simply put, tired. It needed longer time than usual to contract back and control the bleeding. But in the meantime, my body was still losing all of this blood, which needed to be controlled. Or, 2) A piece of the placenta could still be inside my uterus and signaling to my brain that the baby was still inside and still needs the blood. Bethany also said that hemorrhaging is most common among red heads (interesting!).
Then she inserted a catheter because sometimes when the bladder is too full, it prohibits the uterus from contracting. Lin came in and did a manual check with her hand to see if there was any placenta that had been left behind inside my uterus. She found nothing. They called in the OB-GYN on duty, Dr. Soliman, to discuss what to do next. Bethany went through the next steps of what they would try to do to control it and it wasn’t looking very good. Because I had already lost so much blood and was continuing to lose blood, they decided to put in an IV to hydrate me as well as a drip of Pitocin so it was constantly running through my system. At this time, I was still feeling okay. I guess that’s why I didn’t understand why they were making such a big deal out of this … I had just had a baby, shouldn’t I be bleeding??? I still felt great! But when more time past and with every push of my abdomen more and more and more blood kept coming, then I realized that something really was wrong and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Bethany came in with the doctor and discussed with me and Jack what would happen next. Since the bleeding was still excessively heavy, and hours had passed since her birth (I can’t quite remember the exact time) and my body had not responded to either of the shots or the drip of Pitocin, that they needed to go inside and do a thorough exam and cleaning of my uterus to make sure there was no placenta left inside. Everyone left the room to get what they needed for the procedure, leaving just Jack and I in the room. Then I broke down and started crying. Why was this happening??? I could tell that Jack was trying so hard to stay strong, but I could see the tears welling up inside his eyes too. As Dr. Soliman began the procedure, Bethany was on one side, holding my hand, and Lin was on my other side, holding my other hand and Jack was up near my head comforting me. It was incredibly uncomfortable and painful. After only about 10 minutes into the procedure, they paused because it was obvious I was in so much pain. I hadn’t had an epidural or any other pain medications during the labor, so I was feeling every single thing. I okay’d a pain killer and Bethany put it into my IV. Whoa. That drug was strong! I remember starting to feel a little floaty and before I knew it, I could hear voices and noises, but couldn’t feel a thing. I was in a deep sleep. When I started coming to, I could hear that the procedure was ended and things were looking up. Jack was right by my side when I opened my eyes and he told me that they didn’t find anything inside, but cleaned me up and it seemed like the bleeding was slowing. When this all started, Jack had called and texted our parents and close friends from church to pray for me, so it didn’t amaze us when the doctor said, after completing the procedure, “There is no medical reason for why the bleeding has slowed. Nothing short of a miracle.” PRAISE THE LORD. SERIOUSLY. Though the procedure went well, the bleeding was still heavier than normal. They kept me in the labor and delivery room all day to monitor me, but over the course of the day, my bleeding slowed to a level they were comfortable with and eventually moved me into the postpartum wing around 8pm that night.
During that day, I finally started feeling the effects of losing so much blood. I felt excessively thirsty, tired and flushed pretty much the whole day and had chills that would shake my body uncontrollably at times. Eventually though, I was back on track and they allowed me to discharge on the normal day I would have even if nothing had happened. Praise the Lord! It’s still going to be a long road to recovery (I need to lay extremely low for the next 4 weeks), but God is good and the ultimate Physician. Already one week at home, I am finding it really difficult just to walk from room to room, but also feeling better each day. Praise the Lord for great friends and family who have been supporting us and providing for us.
Olivia has been a great baby. During the whole time in the hospital when I was going through so much, she just slept. She'd wake up to feed - latched on right away - and would go right back to sleep. It's been that way the majority of the time at home too. It's so wonderful how our God provides even in the simplest of ways. I love Olivia Rose. I love the family God has given me, and feel so undeserving. I am so excited to see how God uses our family over the years and to see how both Seth and Olivia grow into people that love and serve our GREAT GOD.
