34 weeks - and turning the corner
I'm only going to take a second to write a super brief post, but I wanted to say hi! A few more updates since the last one, even though it hasn't been very long.
#1: I (finally!!!) got my medical records from my loooong labor + c-section with Maya that I requested like 2 months ago. Reading through them was crazy! Mostly I remembered everything from the experience correctly, despite being unbelievably distracted and broken while such things were being explained, but there were definitely some surprises. For example, it turns out that there was a whole pediatric resuscitation team in the delivery room just in case Maya came out in distress, and I had no idea that they were there. A fun positive: they were the only ones to use a name in their notes, calling her "Maya" instead of "patient" (I have no idea who told them her name - I assume husband, but he has no recollection of this, or of their presence, either). She was a little hypoxic according to cord blood gases, but otherwise in excellent shape. Another surprise was how many crazy drugs they gave me that I didn't know about, especially after finishing the operation - no wonder I felt and looked so completely blottoed in the recovery room (see below). There was a slight complication with the operation itself, requiring a bigger/different incision than normal that included an accessory cut, but it was still a transverse incision and I can still VBAC. They didn't note Maya's extended head in the notes at all, so the reason for the c-section is listed as "arrest of descent due to persistent OP." I lost a massive amount of blood (nearly a liter), and they did a bunch of blood work on me pre- and post-operation that showed the tanking of my hemoglobin (etc.) levels, as well as a high white blood cell count afterward. Last major surprise - they definitely removed my entire uterus from my body to clean it out, and then they put it back in. I'm pretty sure that this was what caused me to puke during the operation.
#2: I had another midwife appointment this week, and baby is (currently) no longer breech. I'm still measuring two weeks ahead, but since the 32 week growth scan, we now know that this is because the baby is measuring two weeks ahead, not because I've got some kind of polyhydramnios situation going on. She told me to keep preparing for a VBAC, and that she's willing to start membrane stripping at 37 weeks if I'm dilated enough that she can get a finger in. Here we go! :)
#3: I was unexpectedly discharged from PT on Friday with the conclusion that I am now healed enough to handle things on my own. I was quite surprised and not sure that I agree. However, my midwife is more of a realist than my physical therapist, and she said that "pain free" is probably not in the cards for me, so by that metric, I'm probably good. The therapist handed me a bunch of labor training info on the way out of the door, so I guess I'm on my own....
In summary, I think these things have helped me turn the corner to a more positive attitude. It's getting quite close to game time, and that IS something to be pretty excited about! I have some tasks, I have some plans, and my mom has an arrival date (Feb 8th). We will make it work!
OK, off to tackle an insane mountain of laundry and try to pack a hospital bag. I leave you with said images from the recovery room after my c-section with Maya...see, I look destroyed and very drugged out. All of the photos from the recovery room look like this :)
#1: I (finally!!!) got my medical records from my loooong labor + c-section with Maya that I requested like 2 months ago. Reading through them was crazy! Mostly I remembered everything from the experience correctly, despite being unbelievably distracted and broken while such things were being explained, but there were definitely some surprises. For example, it turns out that there was a whole pediatric resuscitation team in the delivery room just in case Maya came out in distress, and I had no idea that they were there. A fun positive: they were the only ones to use a name in their notes, calling her "Maya" instead of "patient" (I have no idea who told them her name - I assume husband, but he has no recollection of this, or of their presence, either). She was a little hypoxic according to cord blood gases, but otherwise in excellent shape. Another surprise was how many crazy drugs they gave me that I didn't know about, especially after finishing the operation - no wonder I felt and looked so completely blottoed in the recovery room (see below). There was a slight complication with the operation itself, requiring a bigger/different incision than normal that included an accessory cut, but it was still a transverse incision and I can still VBAC. They didn't note Maya's extended head in the notes at all, so the reason for the c-section is listed as "arrest of descent due to persistent OP." I lost a massive amount of blood (nearly a liter), and they did a bunch of blood work on me pre- and post-operation that showed the tanking of my hemoglobin (etc.) levels, as well as a high white blood cell count afterward. Last major surprise - they definitely removed my entire uterus from my body to clean it out, and then they put it back in. I'm pretty sure that this was what caused me to puke during the operation.
#2: I had another midwife appointment this week, and baby is (currently) no longer breech. I'm still measuring two weeks ahead, but since the 32 week growth scan, we now know that this is because the baby is measuring two weeks ahead, not because I've got some kind of polyhydramnios situation going on. She told me to keep preparing for a VBAC, and that she's willing to start membrane stripping at 37 weeks if I'm dilated enough that she can get a finger in. Here we go! :)
#3: I was unexpectedly discharged from PT on Friday with the conclusion that I am now healed enough to handle things on my own. I was quite surprised and not sure that I agree. However, my midwife is more of a realist than my physical therapist, and she said that "pain free" is probably not in the cards for me, so by that metric, I'm probably good. The therapist handed me a bunch of labor training info on the way out of the door, so I guess I'm on my own....
In summary, I think these things have helped me turn the corner to a more positive attitude. It's getting quite close to game time, and that IS something to be pretty excited about! I have some tasks, I have some plans, and my mom has an arrival date (Feb 8th). We will make it work!
OK, off to tackle an insane mountain of laundry and try to pack a hospital bag. I leave you with said images from the recovery room after my c-section with Maya...see, I look destroyed and very drugged out. All of the photos from the recovery room look like this :)
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| 2013 c-section recovery room - on a cocktail of like 6 drugs that I've never heard of. Yep, it was RAW. |
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| I hope no one left me alone with that baby! She looks kind of smothered. I think I couldn't feel my arms...? |
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