Genevieve Alice arrived August 22, 2013 just after noon. If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter you may have seen a feed full of pictures. Our family has been having fun welcoming her home. I have been dealing with some health issues and it has made it difficult to care for my family. If you are interested in the “not-too-much-information-birth-story” read on toward the bottom (for those of you that asked).
(Genevieve, this is for you to read when you are much older, like maybe after you have your first child yourself.)
Baby Gigi, you entered this world with warning signs for days. Muscles and bones screamed of your arrival and your kicks let me know of your excitement to see your family you heard for months inside of my belly. Child, you were with me through some stressful times of illness, pregnancy illness, mommy taking graduate classes and going back to work. With each change I felt a closeness to you, feeling Jesus is with me and smiling, knowing you were too.
Now when you came, you were a bit poky like your brother and sister. You see, I had contractions for hours 3-5 minutes apart for 2 days (and then they would stop after 2 hours) and by the 3rd day, they came and didn’t seem to stop. 1 week early, your daddy and I headed to the hospital late morning (it took 2 hours to get your siblings dropped off and get to the hospital) and the contractions stopped. You see, you are unique, and so was your entrance. Your brother and sister took over 30 and over 20 hours each, but the contractions never stopped. Your peaceful demeanor calmed me so that I thought I was going home to wait for another day. After being hooked up to the monitors and walking the halls to see if things would start up again, I wandered to the nurse’s station and put my face in my hands.
“Just send me home,” I whimpered to the nurse.
To which she quickly replied, “Honey, I just got off of the phone with your Dr. and he actually would like you to stay. There’s a bit of a concern with the baby’s heartbeat and we need to continue to monitor you.”
I was in shock. I was ready to go home and now she’s saying something may be of concern. Within a few minutes I was told that I needed an internal monitor or two and the baby would be coming within 24 hours as they have to break my water to do that. I remember feeling nervous knowing that there was a concern, yet peaceful thinking she’ll be in good hands and in my arms within the day.
The shift from triage to a delivery room immediately happened and I was up in a new room. There were a lot of emergencies going on in the hospital and it was 4 hours before I was on to the next step and the monitors hooked up. Contractions came and were not steady nor getting stronger. They were random and this again was not typical for me. The other two kids I had strong, steady contractions 2 minutes apart for HOURS and that’s where I would SLOWLY progress. Now my body wasn’t even doing that.
My two previous births were completely natural. Now they are saying Pitocin in order to get the baby out in time before a risk of infection. There was no question whether I would have it. An IV and hours of Pitocin and my body was doing it’s normal SLOW progression through the morning hours. At this point I was exhausted after 3 days of horrible sleep and on-and-off contractions. I asked for the medication Stadol that allows your body to relax between contractions (which was 1 minute at this point) and I still felt the contractions themselves. The funny thing is that this is how I felt with my first baby without meds, I just couldn’t get relaxed enough to do it this time. I am so glad I did this. The medicine wore off before I had to push and it gave me two hours of a bit of sanity between the pain.
At just after 12 noon I knew I had to push and screamed. Yes, I’m a screamer at the end. No apologies. 2 contractions (3 minutes) and she was out without an issue or injury.
The evening was filled with snuggles, excited phone calls and new baby pictures. I even asked and was approved to leave the next day in the afternoon.
The next morning I was woken up by my OB and I sat in bed talking and feeling good. After a long chat he left and my breakfast and the nurses arrived. An hour later I decided to climb out of bed….and that’s when I realized I couldn’t walk. I could not move anything below my waist without extreme pain and screaming.
The next 12 hours lets just say the nursing staff did not understand the pain I was in. When the evening shift came, my nurse from the night before was shocked to see me. Immediately she began asking questions and had my OB called (who was on vacation) as well as other doctors in the hospital. Three hours later I had answers after multiple tests and X-rays. I had some bones separate and muscles/tendons pulled.
I had to stay for a few days to figure out how my husband and I were going to be able to function at home with 2 littles and a newborn without the ability to walk. We made some phone calls and headed home. I honestly don’t remember much of the first week. I do remember heading to the ER with stomach issues caused by the medicine and being diagnosed with something completely different as well. An infection that can happen after baby comes.
So, the last month has been filled with many answered prayers and crazy determination. I was told by the Osteopathic Surgeon that my bones separated 1.5cm and 3.0cm is the cut-off for surgery for pins to be inserted. I am glad I do not have to have surgery as long as it does not separate more. I am blessed as 6-8 weeks is what I was told to take for bed rest. With much prayer (from many of you) I have been able to slowly gain mobility each day (and I mean slow and painful) but am able to walk forward with a walker now. I’m enjoying the days with my babies.
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