Tag Archives: pitocin

Emmett’s Birth Story (Part 5)

Posted on October 7 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

I was getting so excited! I knew that the hospital midwife was going to come and check how dilated I was and I was confident that I would be nearly 10 cms along (this is when it’s time to start pushing). Well, she checked and I was still just barely 4, which I had been since 8 am that morning. It was around 6:30 pm at this point, 7 is when the doctors switch shifts, I’ll explain why this is important shortly.

To give a little background, at my OB’s office there are 4 doctors and 2 nurse practitioners. Throughout your pregnancy you see each of the doctors and NPs randomly because you don’t know who your doctor will be at the time of birth. I of course had my favorites in the office so I was really hoping that I’d be fortunate to have one of them.

As it turned out my very favorite doctor was the doctor on duty all of Monday but she worked the morning shift and was scheduled to get off at 7. The doctor coming in after her was my second favorite (SCORE!) but I didn’t know this quite yet. My doctor came in and explained that I was currently maxed out on Pitocin and that I still wasn’t dilating very quickly. She stated that because I have high blood pressure that I would need to start considering that I may need a c-section. Seamus and I had discussed ahead of time whether we would be alright with a c-section and we agreed that we didn’t care how Emmett joined us, as long as he and I were safe.

The doctor was gone for probably 5 minutes when she and my second fav doc returned. They laid out my two options, 1- They could turn the Pitocin off which could cause my body’s receptors to turn back on and cause me to dilate further. They would check my cervix again at 11:00 pm but with this option there was a chance that I would STILL need a c-section. 2- I just went ahead and had a c-section. Since Seamus and I had decided we were okay with surgery and since there was a chance I may still need it anyway, we went ahead and chose to have a c-section.

From this point on, everything moved so quickly! By the time we had made the decision to go forward with the surgery, it was 6:30, there was an OR open and an anesthesiologist available. The nurse on duty started prepping me for surgery and gave Seamus a set of scrubs to put on for the operating room.

The anesthesiologist who I had for the actual section was different than did my epidural but was just as amazing. He was a soft spoken guy who at first glance you would assume he had no sense of humor but throughout the entire experience he’d crack these really funny underhanded jokes, it was great! He also took the time to explain what was going on and to reassure me, seriously where did my hospital get these guys, they were just fantastic!

I suffer from ocular migraines, so when the anesthesiologist was inserting the medication that I needed for surgery I started to get a blurry aura in my eye, a typical sign of an intense migraine coming. I made sure to tell him and I did start to freak out a bit because I knew the pain from a migraine would be tough to take on top of surgery, he assured me that once surgery was over that I would be given pain meds to alleviate anything I was feeling.

Before I knew it I was being wheeled into the OR and they were getting me all set for what was to come. I realized quickly that my favorite doctor as well as my second favorite were both in the OR. The doctor who was off at 7 had decided to stick around and assist with the surgery, I felt very lucky! At this point they have you move from one bed to another and then start setting the drape up over you. For most, a c-section is an awake surgery, so they put up a screen so that you are unable to see what they are doing to your body.

I may look like I’m asleep but I assure you that I am awake. I had my eyes closed because I was dealing with some intense nausea from the meds they had given me.

Once the drape was up and the meds had taken effect, my doctors poked me and asked whether I could feel what they were doing and whether there was any pain associated with it. With a c-section you feel them pulling and tugging and you feel pressure when the baby comes out but you should feel no pain.

Less than 15 minutes later, the doctor said, “Jillian you’re going to feel a lot of pressure now as we pull the baby out.” It was some pretty intense pressure but certainly nothing I couldn’t handle, especially knowing that at the end of it my baby would be in this world.

In case you missed them: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Filed Under: Emmett, Family

Emmett’s Birth Story (Part 3)

Posted on September 27 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Finally after waiting around, twiddling my thumbs, it was time to head to the hospital!

Once we arrived there, things started moving pretty quickly (in the beginning). They had me get changed and into the bed right away and then worked on getting all of my information. Once they had inputted all my demographic information and insurance info, they put the IV line in and got me hooked up to the heart monitor for the baby. The IV is pretty painless but it was different. I’d never had one before and what they do, is take a large needle with a hole in it and put it into your vein so that they can hook the medicine drip up to it. It stung for about 2 minutes but eventually it stopped and I couldn’t feel it other than the contraption being on my hand.

Around 8 o’clock PM in they inserted the Cervidil and at that point I wasn’t allowed to get up and walk around for two hours. No big deal, right!? Well, of course when you’re told you can’t get up and pee, that’s all you can think to do. Thankfully I had my iPad and there was some good TV on so I was able to distract myself. Plus, I had plenty to talk about with Seamus. We were both very excited!

Around 10:30 they gave me some benadryl to help me sleep but I did not sleep. I was hooked up too the infant heart monitor and Emmett was being a little punk, every time I’d roll over they’d lose his heart beat and the nurse would have to come in and find it again. This led to me trying to lay in one spot and doze off, it didn’t happen! Seamus had to sleep in a reclining chair but I think he got more sleep than I did. Around 8 AM I finally started feeling exhausted and was able to sleep for a short time, just as the nurses were beginning to make their morning rounds. Ugh! I was starting out (almost) motherhood on a depleted sleep bank.

As the morning wore on they started my Pitocin (oxytocin injection) drip, which helps speed up contractions which will hopefully lead to the baby being delivered. They literally start you out with one drip for the first 45 min to an hour and then slowly increase it every hour until you’re at the max amount. This isn’t a quick transition, it took from 8 AM until just before 7 PM before I hit my max.

They also decided to switch from external baby monitoring to internal because they were having such a hard time keeping Emmett’s heart beat on the speaker. This didn’t mean that anything was wrong with Emmett, it was more likely that he just kept moving around. If you are interested in the difference between external and internal fetal monitoring, please read this article. I actually preferred the internal monitoring because it kept track of E’s heart rate on a more steady basis.

Throughout this time the contractions started getting worse and worse but weren’t quite bad enough to cause me to need the epidural yet. They pulled out the birth ball, which is essentially and exercise ball, for me to sit on and hopefully assist in moving Emmett down the birth canal. I felt very fortunate to have Seamus there with me, he was so attentive. Every time a contraction would hit, he would sit there and put pressure on my lower back (like they taught us in birthing class), which helped the pain tremendously.

During the time while I was in Labor and Delivery, every time the nurse would enter the room she would ask my pain scale. Well since I had never had a baby before, I didn’t really have anything to base my pain on so I was telling her I was a level 7 (out of 10) early on, but I very quickly realized that what I had been feeling was more like a 4.

When I finally did reach pain that was definitely at the 7 level, I asked for my epidural.

To Be Continued…

If you missed them, Part 1 and Part 2.

Filed Under: Emmett, Family