journeys with jax and oliver: Jackson Scott Heath

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jackson Scott Heath

May 5th, 2010

Jackson Scott Heath

Here we are, obviously at the very beginning of my labor induction! Everything got rolling when Dr. Liao broke my water at 8:35am and started my Pitocin drip at 8:50am. I tolerated contractions well for several hours on my own--until about 11:15am, when I asked my wonderful nurse, Dominique, for an epidural. It took the anesthesiologist about 45 minutes to get to me, and THANK GOODNESS I asked when I did--because I was miserable by the time he arrived! Thank goodness for modern medicine! My epidural worked like magic for about 2 hours, but then the issues began. I started getting nauseated because my BP dropped from about 145/90 (PIH) to 84/45. When the nurse repositioned me, Jackson's HR dropped to 80-90bpm, so they put my on oxygen and called in Dr. Liao. He checked my cervix (I was 4cm at 2pm), and repositioned my back onto my right side (where I had been). Baby Jax's HR responded well, and we all decided I needed to stay on that side. Unfortunately, because epidurals are somewhat gravitational, my right side got WAY too much medication, and my left got almost none. Basically, I was having severe one-sided contractions. My nurse called back the anesthesiologist to give me a bolus dose of medication through my epidural to help with the left sided pain. This worked for only a few minutes until I started to feel my left eye drooping. My nurse was very concerned about this (in 13 years as an L&D nurse she had never seen this happen). She started to assess the situation, and we quickly discovered that I was numb up to my collar bones on both sides. When she grew concerned about my ability to breathe, I started to panic. Although I was very comfortable, I was incredibly anxious about the high block affecting my ability to breathe. My nurse decided to check my cervix given the situation as I asked her to turn off my epidural (I decided I would rather experience the pain of childbirth than feel like I couldn't breathe or move). The time was 4pm. She checked, and said "oh my, you're ready to push!" WHAT?!? In 2 hours, I went from 4cm to 10cm and my doctor was at his office seeing patients!!! Dominque called Dr. Liao who rushed to the hospital, threw on sterile garb, and prepared me to push. I had to push "old-school" in stirrups because I couldn't feel anything although the epidural had been shut off completely. Eventually, I started to feel strong contractions again, and I could push against the pain since I had no urge to push on my own. In about 35 minutes (or about 7-8 contrations) Jackson arrived at 5:20pm! The little stinker was born OP, or "sunny side up" (looking up at the ceiling). Dr. Liao was quick to tell me that he would always want to induce me because I had such a rapid labor despite being my first pregnancy, being induced, having a high-block epidural, and having an OP baby. He said with my second child--we might have the baby on the way to the hospital! Despite the hiccoughs, everything turned out perfectly in the end-- and May 5th, 2010 was the happiest day of my life--I have a perfect, beautiful son. I am a mommy. I am forever changed and forever grateful for the miracle of life. Glory to the Lord.