Parker's Birth Story

It was kind of a whirlwind so I will do my best to retell how Parker was born.  My doctor had been out of town the week that I was suppose to have my week 38 appointment so it got pushed back until August 8 (I would have been 39 weeks on August 10).  Due to my history of gestational hypertension and MTHFR we were doing another ultrasound to check on growth and fluid.  She was measuring big, about 8 and a half pounds (especially since Avery was 6 lbs. 5 oz when she was born at week 38), and my fluid was a little high.  I didn't really think anything about it and headed to my appointment.  While I was in the waiting room, I noticed that my contractions (that I had been having for a couple weeks) were getting a little stronger and seemed to be a little more consistent.  


I finally got called back and they weighed me and took my blood pressure.  This is where it all started going kind of crazy.  My blood pressure was 150 over 100.  I had been taking it about twice a week and it had been holding pretty steady about 130 over in the 80s.  My blood pressure is not that high outside of pregnancy but it always seems to go up toward the end but it was still within the "safe" range that my doctor and I had talked about.  So, I was a little surprise to hear it had jumped up that high over the weekend.  


They took me to a room and immediately my doctor's nurse came in and took it 2 more times just to be sure that it was an accurate first reading.  Yep, she got the same thing.  Right away I knew this was not good.  I asked the nurse what this meant and she said she figured I was on my way over to L and D to be monitored.  So in the very short time it took my doctor to come to my exam room (way shorter than it normally takes her), I called Eric and my mom (who was watching Avery for me) to give them a heads up.  


Once my doctor got to the room, she did a quick exam and asked me a couple questions.  Then she confirmed her nurse's prediction and told me I needed to go to go to L and D.  She saw a couple of possible outcomes: my blood pressure goes down and I get to go home the next day but have to be on bed rest until the baby arrives or we have a baby later that night (she didn't think it would be before 8 since I had eaten lunch shortly before going to my appointment and if we had to get her out that night it would have to be a c-section).  


So, I headed off to L and D and gave Eric and my mom another call on the way to let them know.  Later, Eric and my mom both told me that through all of my conversations with them I was way too calm, just very matter-of-fact about it and didn't appear to be worried about it at all.  To tell the truth, I wasn't worried, I was surprisingly ok about it all.  I figured what ever happened happened and she would get here one way or another.  But I really didn't think she would be here that night, I even told Eric that he didn't need to drop everything and rush to the hospital, he could just head over once he got off work at 4:30 (which of course he didn't listen to me on and showed up not long afterwards).  


When I got to L and D, they hooked me up to the BP machine and contraction monitor and drew some blood for a couple of tests.  At this point I kind of lost track of time, I was busy texting 3 friends whom we were suppose to have ice cream with that night, a friend in my mom group whom I was asking to host a play-date the next day that I had organized, and keeping an eye on my BP and contractions.  My BP continued to rise (got up to 165 over 110) and my contractions got stronger and stronger and were consistently 2 minutes apart the whole time.  


Shortly after office hours were over my doctor came by to check on me.  She gave me a quick exam and went on to tell me that she thought it was best to get the baby out now, she just had to check with the anesthesiologist and be sure we were ok time wise with the whole eating lunch thing.  Here were her reasons for getting her out so quickly...high blood pressure and she was worried I could have a stroke (especially since it kept getting higher and higher), blood tests came back and showed signs of pre-eclampsia, possibility of gestational diabetes (high sugar levels, raised fluid, and size of the baby), contractions were so strong and close together but I was making no progress at all, the baby hadn't dropped far enough to be able to give birth vaginally yet, and since I had a previous c-section induction meds were not possible.  All in all, we needed to get her out before something bad happened to either of us (more likely it would have been me).


We quickly got the ok from the anesthesiologist and the next thing I knew I was being prepped and taken to the L and D OR.  And then Parker was here!  

I have to say, even though it was kind of a whirlwind and it's no fun having a c-section, I actually preferred it being an emergency (minus the scary "will everyone be ok?" thing) rather than a scheduled one like with Avery.  Since it was all so fast I didn't have as much time to think about it, dwell on it, and worry about it.  Before I knew it it was over and everyone was safe and sound!