Archive for March, 2007

Newborn
Filed Under: General, Life, Pregnancy, Uncategorized
Written by: Kerri on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 | Comments (0)

I finally had my baby. It was one of the best and worst experiences of my life.

I was patiently waiting for my mother to come home from work on Sunday the 11th of February. When she arrived, she said I had a lot of water retention in my feet. She took my blood pressure and it was really high. My boyfriend, Chris, called the hospital to see if I should go in. They told him I needed to get there as soon as possible. When I got there, I was wheeled down to maternity where my blood pressure was monitered for about two hours. My younger sister wanted to go home because she had school the next day, so we were all ready to get out of there. A doctor walked in and said to me, “Kerri, I work with your doctor and we’re bringing you to another room.”

The first thing I could ask was, “Why?”. Well her answer was quick and simple, “You’re going to have your baby. You need to get her out of there before something serious happens to both of you.”

Two weeks early? I was scared out of my mind, but excited to have her finally.

“So you’re going to induce labor then? It’s too early!”, I said to her.
“I know, but we need to get her out.”

So next thing I know, I’m sitting there crying my eyes out which wasn’t good, it was making my blood pressure worse. I sat down in the wheel chair and was rolled away to the birthing rooms. I was petrified, not to have my baby, but of the IV that was going into my hand. The nurse who was putting it in was so honest to me that I wasn’t scared anymore. She told me it was most likely going to hurt and I don’t know how she calmed me down and the other nurses who were trying to calm me down couldn’t, but that’s how it was.

The IV was in and I was put on magnesium and some other medicines. I had to be slightly on my side, but on my back at the same time. It was the most uncomfortable position I have ever been in. They then told me that I had to have one of those things that drains your bladder for you. And I had to get this little string put in my cervix to induce the labor. I somehow went to sleep and when I woke up having contractions that were just a few minutes apart. It hurt so badly and I finally was able to get an epidural.

I fell back to sleep and was so drugged up on all the medications they gave me, I didn’t know what was going on. My boyfriend, Chris, told me that my doctor got on my bed and broke my water. He said the water flew out at her and that he guessed it hurt because I punched a nurse in the chest. When I woke up again and I knew what was going on, I felt my bed and said, “How did I pee in the bed?” But it was just my water leaking the whole time. There was a lot.

A nurse walked in my room and put an oxygen mask on my face because apparently, I stopped breathing and my baby’s heart rate when down. I started dozing off and was almost asleep, but I could hear another nurse saying that I had preeclampsia, which is something only pregnant women can get. More women die from preeclampsia than eclampsia, but neither is worse than the other. Anyway, so I started getting nervous because I heard her say that.

My cervix only dialated 3 centimeters withing five hours and my doctor walked back in my room. She announced that I had to have a c-section because I was not dialating anymore. Two nurses picked me up and put me on some rolling bed and rolled me to the operating room. Since everyone in the maternity section of the hospital knew that I liked to punch and kick people (haha), they strapped my arms down and put the curtain over me so I couldn’t see them doing the operation. I was nervous and still on tons of meds. Once they strapped my arms down, I looked at how I was laying and I told the nurse, “I’m Jesus!”. I was told that the operation would take about an hour and a half, but it was done and over within 30 minutes. They had to push down on my stomach, which hurt terribly. When my baby was born, they tried to show her to me, but I didn’t want to see her with blood all over her. I waited until Chris held her for me to look.

My doctor followed me out of the operation room. Note that after a c-section, you basically have to learn to walk all over again. So I was rolled to another room and I have no idea what this room was for. I was in there for about 15 minutes and then I was again rolled down to the recovery room located in the “High Risk” section due to my preeclampsia and c-section.

It was so hard to walk and it hurt so badly to even laugh. I thought my stitches would come undone and everything. My doctor came to visit every day to make sure I was doing alright. I was in the hospital for an entire week. And in my opinion, I wish I was still there. You get help when you need it, food brought to you (which was tasty), and free formula and diapers! I believe it was the best and worst experience of my life. I wouldn’t do it again, however, because I don’t want to put myself or another baby at risk for anything.

Lyra Paige was born on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 7:16 PM EST. She weighed 6.1 lbs. and her height was 19 inches exactly. I was hoping for a Valentine’s day baby, but if we would’ve waited just 5 more hours, we both probably wouldn’t be here.