Hailey birth story part I

I'm going to tell Hailey's birth story in parts. I want it documented so she can look back and see what we went through to have her! =o)

8/20/2008
I went on my daily 2 mile (sometimes 4 mile) walk at Crane's Roost and home to clean up for a couple minutes before my doctor's appointment. On this day I was 3 days past due. Even though I was huge and uncomfortable, I was planning to tell the doctor that I want to wait until the following Monday to induce, should he suggest it.

The nurses did a stress test and had trouble keeping Hailey's heartbeat monitored because she was moving around so much! After about an hour and a half of monitoring, the doctor saw me. Evidently my blood pressure was elevated (they checked it when I first came in and then when I saw the doctor) and I had protein in my urine. I was surprised because I hadn't had any problem so far! I was swollen but had that for weeks.

The doctor said I had pre-eclamsia and wanted me to go to the hospital immediately to get induced. I was only one centimeter dialated but I wasn't going to argue with him on that because I know pre-eclamsia can be dangerous if it goes too far. I called Sean and went home to get my things. Sean met me at home and we went to the hospital.

I was very excited gathering my things at home and calling my mom. Sean was on the phone and texting a ton of people. I ate a granola bar on the way to the hospital. Originally, I planned on eating something sufficient (cause they won't let me eat or drink there) but I was too anxious. Meanwhile, Hailey was quite calm at the time!

My mom and sister Stephanie arrived shortly after I got to the hospital. I was hooked up to machines and an IV which was pumping 3 or 4 different medicines into my body. I was receiving magnisium sulfate which made me SO sick. I mean abnormally, really bad reaction sick. It was terrible! Since I had this medicine, I had one nurse who was assigned to me and they came in very, very often to check on me. They still had trouble monitoring Hailey's heartbeat. They had to come in all the time and move the monitor to try and find Hailey.

My sister Stephanie had her laptop. Sean and I started blogging when we were in the hospital. That evening my dad came, sister Rachel and my best friend Sica (she drove all the way from Davenport!). I had a full room! Everyone just hung out, patiently waiting. They would go get food and come back. We all watched my stomach as Hailey rolled around, entertaining everyone. It was odd to have everyone just starting at me, like I was a ticking time bomb!

While all this is going on, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Faye is hitting Florida. We are getting pelted with rain and wind. Poor Amanda Voss is at Sean's and my home taking care of it and the animals with such nasty weather. There wasn't really a view out the window but everyone said it was crazy out there.

I had to take out my contacts because the medicine made my eyes red and burn. I turned red too and I was so very thirsty. My lips looked like I had red lipstick on cause I was so chapped. But all I could have was ice chips. Everyone kept on commenting on the ceiling fan in the room. Saying they have never seen a ceiling fan in a hospital room. I'm thinking it's for the people like me who get wicked hot from the medicine. I think I froze everyone out!

It was apparent that I was not going to give birth soon or during the night unless something changed very quickly. I was only dialated to 2cm. My in-laws came and brother-in-law to visit quickly before everyone had to go home. Sean and my mom stayed with me during the night. I'm glad they did cause I got very, very sick from the medicine during the night. I couldn't keep down ice chips. I tried to get up and go to the restroom but started to fall. I was just too weak.

I started begging the nurse to take me off the magnisium sulfate. She wasn't finding any protein in my urine (they hadn't the whole time I had been at the hospital) and my blood pressure was perfect. She found it odd that my reflexes were a little jumpy which I guess is another sign of pre-eclamsia. But she agreed that I could probaby go off an do fine. She said she would talk to the doctor.

The nurse also said that the magnisium sulfate tends to slow labor (that's one of it's uses) so it's actually working against the pitocin they are giving me. Uh-oh I thought, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Situations like this often end up in c-section. But I just pushed the thought out of my mind. I didn't want to think about it or even consider that it was a possibility. Besides, I hadn't even prepared for one cause I was determined to give birth naturally. I wouldn't become one of the statistics!

Tune in next time for Part II!