Four-CHEN-ate!: Kyle James - A birth story I won't likely forget!

Kyle James arrived on Monday at 10:56 pm after a very long day of labor. We was a little early arriving at 36 weeks 1 day. He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19.75 inches. The 10 days prior to his birth were an adventure and the first few days post-day continue to be a little nutty.

Here is his story, part one...

The last 10 - 12 days of this pregnancy were quite miserable for me. It started with viral cold symptoms - sore throat mainly that quickly turned into a cough/cold. A few days after the viral symptoms started I also started having constant headaches. Pretty mild at first, but constant.   I also was somewhat nauseated and noticed swelling in my hands and legs.   A lot of people swell towards the end of pregnancy but this is my 4th (and final) baby and the first time I've ever had noticeable swelling so it was unusual for me.

At work last week Tuesday I decided since I was feeling so crummy that I should check my blood pressure. Well, it was 138/85 in the morning but after lunch was 145/90. I called my OB. He had me come to the hospital so they could monitor the baby and check some lab work. The baby looked great on the monitor. My labs showed nothing drastic but weren't normal either. My creatinine was 2x the expected value for a pregnant lady and I had a trace amount of protein and ketones in my urine. My BP at the hospital was also high when sitting up (140/85) but completely normal laying down.

I saw my OB doctor again the next day in his office. That day he repeated the lab work - no changes. He also did an ultrasound which looked good - placenta, fluid, and baby all were okay.    He sent me home with instructions to call if I got worse but otherwise he'd see me Monday.

Well, I felt reassured so mentally felt better but physically continued to get worse. The cold symptoms aside from my awful, terrible cough seemed to improve but the headache was getting worse. I was truly barely able function. It was noticeably worse starting on Friday but unbearable on Sunday evening.    I spiked a low grade temp late Sunday night (100 degrees) and then just started to panic.

I knew I was too sick to drive myself to the the appointment the next day (1.5 hours from our house) so I sent out a few text messages seeing if friends could help with bus pick up. Then I tried to sleep. No luck, just more panic and pain (by now my whole body was in pain and the headache just like nothing I've ever experienced). Finally I decided I couldn't wait until the 11:30 for my appointment and needed to go in now.

So we roused my friend Laura out of bed at 2:30 AM and headed to the hospital. On the way to the hospital I noticed I was having contractions. I didn't think anything of them but did notice them.

Once I made it to the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and repeated lab work. The labs were the same - elevated creatinine plus now my uric acid levels were elevated. BP was borderline.    The contractions, which were unusual for this pregnancy, continued every 2-3 minutes.    The nurses seemed to write off any headache concerns I had but were excited about the contractions.

My doctor wasn't on call that night but by 0700 he took over my care. He came to the hospital and with zero hesitation decided I should be admitted and let my labor progress (I had been zero and closed 5 days prior and was now 2 cm).   So I labored on my own for about 12 hours total - progressing to a whopping 3 cm. Feeling completely crappy the whole time.

Dr. K offered to augment the labor at that point so I got an epidural. He broke my water and started pitocin around 5:00 PM. I had some relief from the epidural initially. Not as much as normal as I could still feel everything but some.

Around 7 pm the contractions were very noticeable so I let me nurse know. She got excited because that often means patients with epidurals are close to dilated. Well, I was at a 4. Ha!

An hour later I was having much more intense contractions, not horrible but had to breathe through them. I also started throwing up.   Again thinking maybe I was fully dilated my doctor checked me - 7 cm.

Okay - it was going fast. I was definitely uncomfortable though so my nurse gave my epidural a small bolus. No change. The anesthesiologist, feeling responsible I'm sure, gave me a large bolus. Again no change.    At this point I did not want anyone monkeying with the epidural and figured I'd just tough it out.

I had thought about trying to make it through delivery pain med free but then felt so crappy when labor day arrived that I lost that determination. Well, a failed epidural gave me that chance anyway. Ha!

Within another hour I was vomiting again and now in terrible pain - basically hopping off of the bed. (At some point she shut off the pitocin at my request but the intensity did not improve.) My nurse was like, "Okay, I don't even need to check you. It's time to push. Let me grab your OB." Thankfully she was right. 15- 20 minutes later Kyle James was born. Not without a few involuntary tears on my part, a lot of talking myself mentally through the agony, and praying it would be over quickly. It was a very, very intense last 56 minutes but we made it! (My OB said when that happens - ineffective epidurals he figures the patient experience 80% of the real pain or so. He has no way of really knowing, but if that's accurate I certainly would not have wanted to experience even 1% more!)

Kyle came out screaming and looking good. We delayed his cord cutting for 3-4 minutes (until the placenta was out basically). His apgars were 8/8. He has a large head of light brown/blond hair and dark blue eyes. We are not sure who he looks like at this point.

He had some noticeable retractions 5- 10 minutes after birth and circumoral cyanosis but his stats all looked great. The retractions resolved completely after being suctioned thankfully. The cyanosis is gone now too (resolved on it's own - pulse ox was never below 98%).

Immediately after birth my headache was gone and I felt immensely better. I can't really describe how intense the headache was and don't think I really knew how bad it was until it was gone and I could function again.

My OB could have stopped my labor (most likely) but both he and I are convinced that Kyle needed to be born this week. I am so thankful Kyle declared that himself as it helps eliminate any guilt I would have felt when faced with a decision about inducing labor which would have happened I think had I not been contracting regularly on my own.

The first two days have been filled with joy, fatigue, jaundice, and coughing. More to come on that later.

I am so thankful he is here and overall healthy! He is a darling, mild-mannered (so far) baby boy. I can't wait for him to be able to go home (and for me to start feeling normal) so we can get into a new routine as a family of six.

We've had a lot of help from friends and family this week which I am so thankful for (Laura, AJ, Lauren, and mom). Thank you!