It has been quite some time since I last blogged about anything. I felt like we got sabotaged. As soon as I'd start catching up on an ever-growing list of chores to do before Levi arrived, one of us would get sick and put everything on hold. This pregnancy also wiped me out physically more than my other two pregnancies. I must be getting old! :-) I'm praying that now that Levi has arrived and is starting to fall into a schedule that I will be able to write more frequently!
For each of my children, I wrote their "birth story" so I felt like I should probably get Levi's out there before I totally forgot in my sleep-deprived, fog-induced state! ;-)
My original due date was Friday, September 14th. However, I've never gone into labor with my children. Caelynn was induced a week after her due date, and Matthew was induced a week before my due date because of some preeclampsia issues and rising blood pressure that was already on the "high/dangerous" end for pregnant women. This pregnancy I didn't have those blood pressure issues like the other two, but I faced a new dilemma...Breech Baby. For 37 weeks Levi was breech inside of the belly - which is why my stomach looked absolutely HUGE especially closer to the end. He was a 'transverse breech', which means that he was laying horizontally in my stomach with his head on my left side and his little adorable rear on my right side. As we drew towards the end of the pregnancy, I started to panic because I knew what would happen if he stayed breech. A c-section.
I started researching how to "turn" a breech baby and started implementing the little "tricks", which included leaning on my elbows on the floor while my knees and lower body stayed on the couch. Let me just tell you - NOT the most attractive or comfortable position when you are 9 months pregnant! I would then invert my body while lying on a wooden plank with a bag of frozen mixed veggies above where his head was and a heating pad where I wanted him to move to - the experts say that the baby gets annoyed by the cold and moves towards the warmth. Whatever...it worked like a charm. I went into my 37 week appointment to be told, "He moved! He is head down!" I was thrilled. But...I was told that his head wasn't engaged in the pelvis and thus wasn't ready for labor yet. So, I started sitting/bouncing on my exercise ball to encourage his little body to fully get into position and get ready to have this baby! At 38 weeks, I was told that he was still head down but STILL not engaged. Grrr! I was ready to be done being pregnant. My mom was getting her plane ticket to come out and help me, and I was done with the daily vomiting (which began to get worse again as the pregnancy was about to come to a close), the joint pain, and being unable to do very much. My induction was scheduled for Friday, September 7th at 9:00 a.m. I was thrilled!
That last week I worked like a fiend. The house was cleaned top to bottom, sheets changed, wash completely finished, ironing done, and fridge/freezer stocked with goodies, treats, meals, etc... Friday morning rolled around, and I was PSYCHED. But, at the back of my mind, I had a feeling that this labor/delivery would prove very different than my other two, and I couldn't shake that feeling. After dropping Cae and Matty off at our dear friend's house, we headed to the hospital and got checked in. After getting on my gown and hopping into the labor/delivery bed, I was told that I still wasn't even close to having that baby's head engaged. However, my blood pressure was back into that "high/dangerous" level so they told me it was VERY good I was there to have this baby and resolve that blood pressure issue! My fear was that he would follow in his big bro's footsteps and have a huge head...and thus it would be too late to be able to deliver him naturally. They did an ultrasound to confirm that he was still head down...and he was. They started me on a very light induction process, and we settled in for a long day. At noon, nothing had changed - still only 1 cm dilated (I had been that way for 3 weeks already) so they allowed me to have a light lunch.
During this time I had nurses CONSTANTLY coming in to fix the heart monitor - Levi was my most active baby in the womb and was proving evasive AGAIN for those dear nurses! As soon as they'd find his heartbeat and leave the room, he'd move and they'd lose him again! At 3 p.m. the charge nurse came in to fix the monitor and as she felt my stomach, she said, "He's breech!" I assured her, "No...he turned at 37 weeks and they confirmed via ultrasound this morning that he is still head down." One thing I've learned...don't argue with an experienced nurse. She could tell by feeling that he had turned AGAIN...so in came the ob/gyns, 4 nurses that had been dealing with me, and the ultrasound machine - only to show that our little Mr. Evasive Levi had indeed decided to turn back to his transverse breech position. He was also VERY high - almost up to my rib cage, as if to say, "I am NOT coming out of here and you will have to do your worst to get me out!!!" At that point, it was "game over" as the doctors told me. Breech at labor/delivery means a c-section and I fully complied. I know some women still try to delivery while the baby is breech. We read up on it when we were still facing Levi being breech, and it was something Rich and I both agreed on - if he was breech at delivery, it was a c-section all the way. In fact, at the hospital we were at, none of the ob/gyns legally allow it - there are so many dangers to it that they all refuse to vaginally deliver a breech baby. Without boring anyone, the biggest issue is the umbilical cord being delivered first, which can pinch and thus starve the baby of the necessary blood/oxygen needed. Severe brain damage and death can occur. I already had a baby with a triple wrapped cord around the neck and watched my baby get whisked away from me, gray in the face and silent...there wasn't a chance on earth I'd even CHANCE doing anything that could result in an issue with my baby.
Now, this was actually something I had been praying about. Like I said before, I had a feeling near the end of the pregnancy (even after he turned to a head-down position), that this labor/delivery would be entirely different than my other two children. I had not only mentally/emotionally "prepared" myself for a possible c-section, but I was actually going back and forth in my mind to just ask for one. (If you are wondering how a person "mentally" prepared for a c-section, remember that I am very much a "Type A" personality. I don't like surprises. I want to know EXACTLY what is going to happen, so I read up on what happens in a c-section, the steps that are taken, the process, the recovery, the healing time, etc... Yes, I'm a nerd. I know that. :-)) I had friends tell me horror stories of c-sections but I had also had two very LONG and very intense natural labors and deliveries with my older kids, so the c-section didn't really scare me since I'd had tearing and stitches, heads stuck, and epidurals fall out or not work, as well as trying to deliver a baby while puking my guts out. The day of the induction, they told me that I could ask for a c-section and they would grant it, but none of them were in favor of it simply because it was my last baby and my other two children were able to be delivered naturally, meaning that my body was conducive to having a more natural experience. As the day progressed on and on, I was starting to talk to Rich about, "Why don't I just do a c-section? I'm not progressing and our kids are at a friend's house and who knows how long this will take..." I began praying, "Lord, please make it very clear what You would have us to do and what would be best for our precious Levi and help me to be okay with whatever You have for us." And then...as He faithfully does, He made the answer very clear. At 3 p.m. I was told, "This is going to end in a c-section, sweetie. We are scheduling it for 8 p.m. tonight."
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