My Story of Steven's Birth...a little more detailed

Sorry no pictures...for those with facebook, I've posted quite a bit there including his newborn pictures my friend took, but for some reason here it only shows up as words. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I have had a few people call though, or write letters, wanting to hear more of the story, so I thought I'd elaborate a little more on what happened and everything. This is documentation for my records as well, so I'm sorry if its too long or boring for any of you...don't feel like you have to read it :)

Rachel, my midwife, broke my water around 10 Thursday night and that really got things moving along! She was great helping make me comfortable and was there the entire time except for a 15-20 minute period where she had to go pump (she just had a baby maybe 8 weeks ago). It was funny because Mike was like, "Wait, you're here to stay? You're not just going to check her and then leave?" To which Rachel said, "Nope...she's going natural and so I'm here for the long haul, that's how we do it! I want her to succeed and I'm not going to leave". I was really lucky to have her there with me. When it came time to push she gave me a ton of different options on how to go about it and we experimented till I found the one I liked and wanted. I didn't realize there were so many different ways to push!

After a while of pushing, Rachel decided that something was going on that wasn't allowing Steven to descend like he was suppose to so she checked me and found an anterior lip on my cervix that she had to push out of the way for a few contractions so that Steven's head could move past that. Afterwards I asked if that was going to be a problem in future deliveries and she said that it shouldn't-some first time moms just have that problem but not on other deliveries.

My nurse brought in a mirror which was cool, but it showed me how little progress I was making. After 40 minutes of pushing I remember asking Rachel how much longer she thought I had...she said probably a good hour! I remember being so overwhelmed and wanting to cry because that felt like an eternity and I didn't think I could do it-but I knew it was too late to get an epidural, no way I could hold still long enough to get one, so I had to grit my teeth and just do it. I remember Mike making a comment about how 40 minutes had gone by really fast, an hour wasn't too bad. He was so sweet trying to make me feel better and not get discouraged but I just remember saying something like, "Really? That's been the longest 40 minutes of my life!" Looking back now though, it really did go by pretty fast...I didn't have time to think in between contractions-I was too busy trying to relax and conserve my energy. I'm really grateful for a book one of my friends let me borrow "Easing Labor Pains" because it really helped me to remember to take advantage of time in between contractions to regroup and relax all my muscles.

Finally Steven's little head started to show and I got excited! After one contraction when his head was still right there I asked if I could touch him, so I reached down and felt his little head of hair...another shock-I thought he'd be bald! Which reminds me of another funny line. I can't remember when it happened, but Rachel knew Mike didn't want a red-headed boy and so when they saw his hair she asked him, "So do you think its red?" and they proceeded to have a conversation about if it was red or not. I was so tired and knew there was still work to be done, and there they were having a casual conversation about Steven's hair! Haha, I have to admit, I'm not proud of how I reacted but I just looked at Mike and not shouting, but not quietly either, I said, "I don't care what color hair he has!" In my mind I also thought, "I just want him out of me!" But I think another contraction started then so I was interrupted. I do remember Rachel and Mike looking at me a little shocked and then at each other and they kinda chuckled. Let's just say I'm glad that contraction started or I might have blown up more! :) Funny now, but I really didn't care then.

I'm a screamer. Hate to admit it, but I'm probably just like those girls on the movies. I think I did pretty good for the first part of pushing, but then when it came to the end I was so scared and yelling helped...kind of. Once again, I had the mirror, and as I watched, I saw the cause of my pain and I was terrified of tearing really badly so I didn't push as effectively as I probably should have. I think I put more effort into yelling than pushing sometimes. I finally had to close my eyes and then things seemed to get better. However, Rachel knew I was tired and needed help, so she took her fingers and through my butt helped pushed Steven's chin out. One more push after that and his body followed. Her helped was much needed and appreciated, but man it hurt! Mike said I screamed bloody murder and that he almost started crying because he'd never seen me like that, he knew I was hurting, and he was helpless to help me.

After Steven was out the pain was gone! I knew it was done, I saw the evidence of it before they took him away, and I was content until I looked down at Rachel. At the time I didn't know how bad it was, but later Rachel told me that she was really scared with how much I was bleeding and was just about to call in the doctor for an emergency surgery or something when I finally stopped. She had to keep her fists in my stomach for awhile to stop my bleeding and that combined with the medicine they gave me saved my life. So due to that complication that took awhile to control, and then getting the placenta out and stitching me up, I wasn't able to hold Steven for awhile. Mike didn't know how serious my bleeding was either, but he said that he was shocked in how much blood was everywhere from the short time he had his back turned at the table with Steven to when he looked back at me. Thankfully neither of us was too worried because he had given me a blessing and we felt really good in Rachel's hands and knew that everything would be okay.

After about two hours after having Steven, my nurse tried helping me get up to the bathroom to pee and shower so that I could be moved to a more comfortable room. Yea, that wasn't going to work. I only had to sit up by the side of the bed and I got so lightheaded and everybody's voices started fading that I knew I was starting to blackout so back to bed I went. We tried again a few hours later at five with more success, but I still had to use a wheelchair instead of walk because I was so shaky and lightheaded still. But we were finally able to go to our other room where we crawled into bed to finally sleep at six, almost 24 hours after I first woke up (and remember I'd only had a 2 hour nap in between).

We were both exhausted, but sleep wasn't that much of an option for me. They came to draw my blood at 6:30, my nurse came in at 7, breakfast came at 8, Steven had to eat again at 8:45, and then I got some sleep before our bishop and his wife came at 10. My actual midwife, Karen, came in to see me between 10:30-11, lunch was at 12 and then some friends from work downstairs came up at 1:30. I kept getting catnap sleeps in here and there, but from about 2-5 when they brought in dinner, I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep that were wonderful!

Back to my lab work though...before I went into the hospital my hematocrit (or blood level) was around 14 which is normal. Friday morning this had dropped to 7.9. Usually we transfuse people with blood when they drop below 7, so I was borderline. I was doing so well though-not fainting or feeling very lightheaded, was alert, pulse and blood pressure were good, so they weren't worried. The next morning my blood had dropped again, this time to 6.8. Dr. Meredith came in to see me-he works with the midwives and they had been communicating with him frequently about me. He informed me what my blood level was and that they were going to hold off infusing me with blood because they felt like I was probably stabilizing now and I should be fine. If I was symptomatic they would have transfused me right then, but again, I wasn't acting normal for such a low blood count and so they were going to just watch me for now.

The next day was Sunday...I asked my nurse how my blood draw looked, but she wasn't allowed to tell me anything except that it had dropped again. I was thinking maybe it would be 6.5 or something...nope! When Karen came in she looked really worried and said, "Camille how are you still acting like this? You look pale, but you're still so asymptomatic and having such atypical behavior for a person who's blood level is 5.9!" I was floored when she said I my blood level was so low! I couldn't believe it! I felt more crappy Sunday morning than I had, but still not too terrible. With that low of a blood count though, Karen forbid me from doing anything by myself, so bless her heart, she helped me to the bathroom and stayed in there while I sat in the shower to make sure that I didn't hurt myself if I fainted. Later that day they transfused me with blood and after that I felt much better. They normally would keep people, but because I'm a nurse and knew what to look for, my uterus was contracting down normally and I wasn't actively bleeding anymore, PLUS my wonderful mother was there to make sure I followed the doctor's orders and didn't do anything, they let me go home.

Skipping back a little bit...Dr. Meredith had come in again Sunday and we were talking about why my blood was continuing to drop and we got into an interesting conversation about postpartum hemorrhaging and how it was still the leading cause of death in 3rd world countries and how every minute a women dies from it. Through the course of our conversation I got chills and asked him, "So are you saying that without the meds and quick thinking of Rachel I could have been one of those women?" His answer..."Undoubtedly yes, you would have been". I was stunned again and have never been more grateful for modern technology and medication! I couldn't imagine my life without my family, and of someone else raising my son...I'm so glad that Heavenly Father has allowed me to continue my journey here for awhile longer and that we have a healthy son here with us, and that he is so good since I have needed to not do as much and sleep a lot-just slowly work back up to my normal. Some days are better than others, but I have felt fortified and strengthened when needed for which I am grateful for all the prayers and help I've received. I have felt so loved!

I didn't really explain this, but the reason that I bleed so much is because of growing such a beefy placenta-Rachel's words, not mine. When it came out she got really surprised and said, "Holy Cow girl, you sure know how to grow them!" Because Steven was so big, I had a bigger placenta than normal, and behind my placenta feeding it were bigger than normal blood vessels. When the placenta detached from the wall, my uterus was so stretched out that it had a hard time contracting down and therefore wasn't able to stop the blood from continuing to flow out from these vessels. Rachel and Karen described it as turning on the faucet full blast. This was why they started the medications to contract me back down and why Rachel had her fists in my stomach-she was trying to cut off the blood supply. Apparently I'm going to be more prone to this happening with other pregnancies, but now that we know hopefully we can be more on top of it with the meds already ready and building up my blood supply beforehand. I'm not too worried. Mike and I want more kids, and I know that we will be allowed to have them, just hopefully with not as many complications next time :) Sorry again this was such a long post, but thanks for indulging me! Hopefully I'll get up pictures soon!