Avery's Birth

I have been wanting to blog everyday for the past three weeks!! I knew I needed to blog sooner vs. later so I wouldn't forget even a second of bringing Avery into this world. Finally I am taking a few minutes to type everything out. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes when I was about 28 weeks pregnant or so. For some reason I just knew that GD was something I was going to have to deal with and had a bad feeling that I would have it all along. I am glad to say that I was probably the one of the most easiest cases for my doctors to deal with! My sugar levels were never out of the normal range and I didn't really change my diet all that much. I was able to see a specialist every couple of weeks and see my baby girl on ultrasound just as much! Not only were my sugar levels normal, but I was carrying a small baby. This is not typical of GD babies. They are usually measuring in the 85% for weight and above and my baby was in the 30% up until the end of my pregnancy. The specialist was adamant that we induce by 40 weeks because when you have GD your placenta can stop doing its job if you wait much longer and it is better for the baby to be out of the womb vs. wait. For this reason, my specialist and OB decided to schedule an induction.

So scheduling the induction was ridiculous. At 38 weeks I went to an appointment and the doctor that I was supposed to see had an emergency c-section so I saw a midwife. This was the appointment that I was supposed to schedule my induction with. I asked the midwife and she said that they would start working on scheduling with the hospital the following morning. I called the following day and they had not called the hospital yet. This went on for two more days when finally I was told that the midwife was supposed to do an exam to see if I was dilating at all, and did not. I had to go back to the doctor a couple of days later to be checked and I was 1 centimeter dilated and 80% effaced. Not much happening. My doctor said that the induction scheduling process had become very difficult with the hospital and he would try to get me in as soon as possible. This was Tuesday, October 16th. They called on Thursday the 18th and said that the first opening they had was Monday, the 22nd but would try to fit me in earlier if they could. We waiting for a phone call over the weekend and never heard back so Monday it was!

I was told to call at 5:00 on Monday evening to see when they wanted me to come in. I called and was told to be there at 6:30! Nick and I loaded the car right away and went and got some dinner in the little bistro at the hospital. It was a weird feeling to be there knowing that the next day I would have a baby! I was super nervous about the whole process. We made our way to Labor and Delivery and got all checked in. Within a couple of hours they started me on the drug Cytotec which would begin to soften my cervix. I was still only one centimeter dilated..so no changes in almost a week. Cytotec is given every 4 hours if needed to soften the cervix. Most people only need 2 to 3 doses, but you can have up to four. After my first dose I was not feeling contractions and no changes were made so they gave me my second dose. After the second dose, I started feeling contractions and they were able to show me on the monitor when I was having one! I did not need another dose of Cytotec. I felt my contractions all night long and didn't get a whole lot of sleep. They also were checking my vitals frequently, so it was pretty difficult to sleep. The nurse offered me Ambien, but then began to tell stories about how it affected patients and the crazy things they did. I politely declined after that (-:

The next morning at around 8:00 am, they started Pitocin. They checked me again and said that Cytotec did its job beautifully and my cervix was soft, but I had only dilated to 2 centimeters at this point. The Pitocin kicked in pretty quick and a couple hours later they broke my water. I was beginning to feel contractions pretty regularly at this point so I went ahead and had my epidural. I was checked again around 10:00 and I dilated to 3 centimeters. The epidural worked for a few hours and I was able to fall asleep at this point for a little bit. When I woke up, I did NOT feel well at all. They were taking my temp regularly and realized at about this time that I had a temperature of 100.5. They weren't very concerned right away until Avery's heartbeat began to climb close to 200 bpm. I began antibiotics and Tylenol and my temp would drop but then rise again. My doctor came in and I was feeling better and just knew that it would be down. It was 102.5! At this point she looked at me and said that I had a Uterine infection. What?!? She said this happens about 50% of the time and we just needed to work on getting my temp down. I was continuing to dilate and my epidural was NOT working. They redosed me about 3 times and it was not helping at all. My contractions were close and painful and by early evening I dilated to 8 centimeters. When my doctor checked me around this time, she noticed that my cervix was off to the side and still pretty high. She wanted to do an ultrasound to check it out. This is when we realized that Avery was facing up. She was head down, but sunny side up!

My doctor at this point told us that with her facing up, my fever, and her heart rate going up and down, that I might have to have a c-section. Before we would go that route, she wanted to try to turn Avery. Now remember that I have a fever and feeling pretty awful at this point after being in labor for almost 24 hours. She tried to turn Avery and it was unbelievably painful! She felt sure that it worked and did another ultrasound. It did not work. At this point it was shift change for nurses and this sweet little nurse said that they should try raising one of my legs at my head and continued to explain another way that they could turn Avery...

This is when I looked at the doctor and very politely said that I was DONE. I could not go through that again and then possibly a few more hours of labor and THEN pushing. I was done. My doctor agreed that it was time for a c-section. This process began quickly and there were lots of people in the room getting things ready to go! I was drained and just going through the motions at this point. Before I knew it we were being rolled to the OR! They got me on the table, put the curtain up in front of my, and began the operation! For some reason at this point I became very uneasy. My arms were tied down, I couldn't feel anything or move, and it really bothered me. Thankfully it was so fast and before I knew it I heard the sweet cries of miss Avery! I began to calm down at this point and Nick brought his phone over to show me a picture. I couldn't believe how beautiful she was! My doctor sewed me up and they rolled me back to my room. During recovery time I was able to hold my sweet girl. Everything that I went through to get her here safely didn't matter anymore. She was here and perfectly healthy!

We stayed in the hospital for four nights. I had to be on antibiotics for 48 hours to make sure my fever did not come back. My fever went down through the first night and did not return thank goodness! They checked Avery's sugar levels a couple of times while we were there and they were perfect. Mine were fine as well! C-Section recovery really hasn't been that bad! I never needed the strong drugs, only Ibuprofen. I am still sore, but my incision looks really good. I am just trying to let things heal in their time and not over do it.

I can't begin to explain how blessed Nick and I feel to have her. The past few years have been so rough, but God has given us the most precious gift! I love to just look at all of her little features and watch her change everyday. I honestly can't get over how beautiful she is. She definitely has my eyes, but I do see a lot of her daddy too. Most say she looks just like me and I will take it (-; Thank you all so much for your prayers, kind words, and so much more over the past few years as we have waited for God's perfect timing in having a child. Now she is here and the fun begins!