My rainbow Isaac Kaelan Justice was born October 30th 2014 at 1:58 am weighing 6lbs and measuring 20 3/4in long. He was and is beautiful and precious... I feel so blessed that he is here and home with me and Matt...
On October 28th I went in for what I thought would be a regular appointment... I'd been feeling miserable for the entire week, and for some reason I just could not go to bed without my Christopher Bear... I just couldn't... I'd been feeling pretty shitty and the bear brought me a sense of ease...
So when I went to the doctor I had every intention of planning my induction for around the 8th if Isaac hadn't arrived by the due date, Nov. 5th.
But when Dr. Martin came in my world was turned upside down. What she said threw me for a loop, and explained why I'd been feeling so miserable.
"Well, I know that you planned to be induced later but it looks like it'll be happening sooner." I looked at her curiously and she then told me that aside from the high blood pressure they had discovered a helluvalot of protein in my urine. What's funny is the process they use is basically a spot check... Its not even a full analysis. Being term she wasn't overly concerned as she could just induce me as opposed to making me do a 24hr urine catch and things like that. She wanted to get him out as soon as possible. I at first wanted to wait until Halloween, but after realizing that she wouldn't be there on that day and me wanting her to deliver him I asked her what her version of 'as soon as possible' was. Her response was 'tomorrow'. So we discussed a time and settled on 2pm the 29th. I was excited to know that soon Isaac would be out of my body and in this world and I'd be able to meet him at last.
Oddly enough I wasn't surprised in the slightest about the preeclampsia, rather I was wondering when it would pop up. Knowing that my biological mother has hbp out the wazoo (she was/is on meds for it) I knew it was only a matter of time before it showed up... Even though I held out hope for me to not have any bp issues I wasn't disappointed. So I went home and got as ready as I could for my son...
October 29th I went in as scheduled and they got me hooked up... My first nurse was a sweetheart named Jen. Poor nurse had a rough time getting the IV in as my veins kept rolling, but she was awesome. She ended up having to have a different nurse, I think her name was/is Robin, to do it and she managed to get the IV in me. So I settled in for a semi long wait as I knew it'd be a while before it would be time to evict my tenant. XD
I had settled on using a fentanyl drip for pain maintenance, only opting for the epidural as an extreme last resort... I don't like needles and I sure as hell didn't want one near my spine... I was started on pitocin to get the contractions started... I hadn't even noticed they'd started me on it until they upped the dosage to 4 units... Sneaky devils. lol So not much really to tell except that Angie, Paul, Evan, Laura, Olivia, and Vicki were all there lending support. And of course Matt was there.
As the hours went on they continued to up my dose of pitocin and I rolled and bounced around on my exercise ball to help counteract the pain and help bring him down into my hips and whatnot. At either 8 or 10 units I began to feel like I was leaking or at least starting to leak amniotic fluid, but I wasn't. No bulging bag of water, but I was finally 5cm dilated. Dr. Martin broke my bag of waters and then the real fun began. After my water was broken the contractions doubled in strength and in intensity... They also picked up. They took forever on the fentanyl drip as I struggled to maintain a good breathing rhythm as the contractions came hard and fast... I seriously wanted to punch one nurse in the face and I struggled greatly not to yell at her to get the damn drip because of the back labor... Ahh yes... The back labor... I still had it and it hurt like a bitch... I figured there was no escaping it even though baby was supposedly in the birthing position. My pitocin drip stayed at 11 units as my contractions were getting stronger and stronger... And the fentanyl drip wasn't even touching the pain...
Finally at 9 1/2cm dilated I couldn't take it anymore... Angie had come in and suggested the epidural and I finally agreed... I needed relief if I was to push this baby out... I needed relief from the back labor... They took forever getting that too, but only because I needed to have a certain amount of fluid in me before they put it in... I just wanted the damn epidural. XD Once I'd pushed enough fluids the anesthesiologist came in to do my epidural. I have to say, as terrified as I was of the epidural, he was so calm and so sweet that it calmed my nerves. He was able to do it easily and swiftly despite my immense pain. Within minutes the epidural was in and the pain relief began... Not too much later I didn't even feel the contractions unless I was paying attention, as it completely got rid of the back labor, leaving only pressure waves coming from my uterus from the contractions themselves. It was amazing... I was able to finally relax and doze off. I didn't sleep but the dozing definitely helped things, and poor Matt finally was able to have his hand back. XD After 15 minutes the Dr. came back to check on me saying that it was perfectly normal to be able to move my feet and that I was handling the medication very well. Dr. Martin finally checked me and was surprised to find that little Isaac was already on his way out. In a total of about 10 minutes and 6 good pushes Isaac Kaelan Justice entered the world.
Covered in goo as he was he was gorgeous. He had (and still does have) a full head of black hair as he came out. He didn't cry at first but when he was placed on my belly he cracked one eye open as if to say "I'm here mommy." His mouth was wide open as if he was screaming silently but they had to hurry to get him to breathe so they whisked him away. To finally hear his cry was a big relief.
I ended up with a 1st degree tear that I watched Dr. Martin stitch up. She was awesome, letting me use a mirror to see his birth, letting me touch his head as he was crowning, and even letting me touch his placenta and umbilical cord (which feels really, really weird by the way)... As she stitched me up she was praising me for how well I had done, saying I was a natural born pusher and how she didn't know how I had managed to get to 10cm in the first place as I had to push at every other contraction.
My beautiful boy... My rainbow baby was born October 30th 2014 at 1:58 am weighing 6 pounds and 20 3/4 inches long. He was absolutely perfect.
I have to say that giving birth was a powerful experience and something I never thought I would get to do. I have no regrets and I have a beautiful rainbow baby home with me.
