Saturday, March 1, 2008

Meet Donald Quinn Chadwell!!


Since he's 5 days old already, I thought I'd finally post his birth story. It has been a very long 5 days, so I cut myself a little slack. So here goes...

I woke up on Sunday, February 24 at about 6:15 and felt something weird. Figuring I just had to go to the bathroom, I stood up and realized that wasn't pee. My water broke! I woke Ross up so he could get me a towel and then tried to figure out what to do next. I decided to take a shower and finish packing the hospital bags, so I had something to do. I was not feeling any contractions or pain this whole time. My parents woke up around 8 and we told them then news. I ate something and then at some point Ross and I decided to walk around the block, hoping the contractions would kick in. When we got back to the house, Ross decided we should go to Cracker Barrel, why I don't know, but hey, everyone needs to eat. My dad and sister were taking my car to get 2 new tires, so they went and did that, while my mom, Ross and I went to Cracker Barrel. There was a bit of a wait, and let me tell you, its quite embarrassing when your water leaks on the front porch at Cracker Barrel.


After we ate we headed to the hospital and were admitted to the triage room. They checked me there and confirmed that my water was broken and that I was only 3 cm dialated. I had been 2 cm the previous Monday. They admitted me, since they couldn't let me leave due to the water being broken. So to the Labor and Delivery room I went. I could already tell I didn't like the Dr on duty, but all the nurses were great. At L&D I got settled in and hoped contractions would start soon. They came in to talk to us about pitocin a few times, which we didn't want to do. I was getting rather frustrated at this point, as our plan had been to go natural. The Dr was very condescending and talked in the 3rd person, which is super irritating. At this point, it was probably 6pm, and they really wanted me to start the drugs, due to the risk of infection. I was very upset and he was rather rude to me. I had given myself a time in my head that I would start pitocin and that time wasn't there yet. He made me sign a waiver saying I was not complying with medical advice. It was not the best time for us. I waited, hoping that my time would not come and my contractions would kick in. We tried some various tactics, but they didn't work. So, my time came and they started the pitocin. Let me tell you, not fun. The contractions started and got stronger through the night. But by the next morning, I was only 5 cm dilated. This was very upsetting. I had been throwing up a lot, so they gave me a drug for that, which made me very groggy, and some antibiotics. They were hoping the nausea drug would help relax me a bit. It didn't. At about 9:00 am on Monday, they came in and asked if they could please give me an epidural, which would hopefully relax me enough to dilate me more. So we agreed. It was not fun, but at least I could rest at that point. They gave me 2 hours to rest and then they were going to have to talk about c-section. I slept, and they checked me again, and I was in the exact same shape. So, to surgery I went. It had been 30 hours at this point, with broken water, which is not good.


I don't remember too much about the surgery. A lot of people and weird pressure and Ross gave me my ipod to wear. I was shaking a lot due to the anesthsia. He was born at 1:16 pm on Monday, February 25, 2008. He weighed 8 lbs even and was 20 inches long. I think they brought him to me around 2:30 or so. That was the truly upsetting part, that I wasn't the first to hold him or see him. They showed him to me in the OR, but I was out of it. But now he's mine forever! He is beautiful and an overall good baby so far. We are currently going through some eating problems, but I'm confident those will be worked out soon. Keep us in your prayers!

No comments: