The Michael Family Musings: Our Birth Story

As you all may have noticed by now, our sweet Mia arrived just a bit ahead of schedule. We’re so thankful that she’s here and she’s healthy! Here’s our birth story J

At my 36 week checkup with my doctor, my blood pressure was a bit high and I had protein in my urine. For those who do not know, these two factors combined usually indicate preeclampsia. My doctor decided that I needed to do a 24-hour urine collection in order to ensure that the protein spike in my urine wasn’t temporary (from diet, etc.) and return in two days. After doing the collection, it was determined that I did indeed have enough protein in my urine to diagnose preeclampsia. As my doctor told me, the only cure is delivery, so she recommended induction at 37 weeks. I was given another ultrasound to ensure that Mia was healthy enough for delivery (she was! They estimated she was already over 7 pounds). I was a little hesitant about delivering at 37 weeks, but I felt much better knowing that Mia was healthy and chunky!

We checked into the hospital on Tuesday night (5/19) at 6 pm and I was given Cytotec in order to dilate and soften my cervix. I started having contractions that night, but they weren’t overly painful. At around 7 the next morning, my doctor came in to check me (I was around 2 cm at this point), and ended up breaking my water and starting pitocin. Within an hour or so, my contractions started to get really intense. Not only were they strong, they were also extremely close together (I’d have maybe 15-30 seconds in between contractions, and they were lasting about a minute each). At around 11, the doctor came by again and discovered that I was about 4 cm. I also asked for an epidural at this point, and thankfully that came quickly. Because my contractions were so intense and close together, my doctor turned down the pitocin to avoid over-stimulating my uterus. Throughout all of this, Mia was tolerating my labor very well. Unfortunately, the epidural did nothing to lower my blood pressure (in fact, it was continuing to creep up higher and higher).

Around 4 pm, the decision was made to start me on magnesium because my blood pressure was approaching dangerous, stroke-level highs. I’m not sure if anyone reading this has ever been put on magnesium to lower blood pressure, but it’s pretty awful. The initial dose feels like they’re pumping fire into your veins. Then, you get shaky and really, really hot. You feel like you have the worst flu of your life. Some people vomit, but thankfully I didn’t. My doctor discovered that I had not dilated any further since 11 am. She brought in the doctor who would be on call that night, since it seemed unlikely I’d deliver in the next hour. At this point, we were still hoping for a vaginal delivery, but it seemed less and less likely.

While the magnesium lowered my blood pressure slightly, it wasn’t enough to get me out of the woods. After the doctor checked me again around 8pm and discovered that I wasn’t any further dilated, she recommended a c-section. My blood pressure was still high, and while Mia wasn’t having any kind of distress, we wanted to avoid that happening. At this point, we started the c-section process (getting me prepped, adding the spinal anesthesia to the epidural, getting Jason dressed, etc.). I was finally rolled back into the OR at around 9:30 pm. They brought Jason in, and then we started waiting.

After about 15 minutes, I was told to expect a great deal of pressure on the upper part of my abdomen as they delivered Mia. Minutes later, at exactly 10 pm, we heard her cry (a beautiful sound!). She was immediately handed over to the nurses to check her out and I told Jason to go take pictures and let me know how she was doing. She wasn’t pinking up quite as quickly as they would have liked, so she was put on oxygen. Thankfully, she pinked up really quickly afterwards, and they were able to clean her up and get her measurements. I still couldn’t see her, but Jason said “6 pounds, 15 ounces, 17.5 inches long!”. I kept asking to see her, and they kept telling me I had to wait. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they brought her over and put her right next to my face. She opened her eyes and looked right at me. I can’t possibly put into words how amazing I felt right in that moment. After that, Jason went with Mia to the nursery while they finished up my surgery.

Having a c-section is different from any other surgery. For one, you’re awake. So you can’t see anything, but you hear everything. It was scary being strapped to that table with Jason gone and no one sitting with me except a nurse. I could tell that everything was taking longer than it normally would. My uterus wasn’t contracting and my blood pressure got extremely low at one point. All of the sudden, I started feeling extremely nauseous. I told the nurse, and he put a bag near my head. Since I was laying flat on the table, I had to turn my head but couldn’t do much else. Most of the throw up ended up on me, unfortunately. After what seemed like ages, I asked if someone could go update Jason on my progress. The nurse told me that we were almost done, and that they were going to wait on updating Jason. “Almost done” ended up being at least half an hour, but thankfully it was finally over.

I was wheeled back into my delivery room, but was only allowed to see one person at a time. Since Jason was still with Mia in the nursery, the first person I got to see was my mom. Jason was next, and then one by one, the rest of Mia’s ‘welcome crew’. After what seemed like ages, I finally got to see Mia! She was so beautiful and perfect; in that moment, nothing else mattered to me.

The initial stage of my recovery was still pretty rough. I was in bed, unable to move for the first two days and I was still on the magnesium. Finally on Friday I was moved into a regular post-partum room and taken off the magnesium. My blood pressure was still quite high, and was being managed with two medications. I was swollen and moving was difficult. Thankfully, by Sunday afternoon, both Mia and I were released and we came home! Walking in the door with Mia was one of the happiest moments of my life!

Now that Mia is here, I will do my best to provide monthly updates on her progress. Stay tuned for the next step of our family’s journey!