I'm baaaack.. and Alisa's birth story (long, duh!)

Hels

Wow. I can't believe my baby is already 3 weeks old! I always loved when PAIF girls would come back and tell their birth stories.  So here goes. 

I went in to my regular OB visit on the 4th. At that point, I was 37 weeks and change.  My BP was high. I had protein in my urine. I was swollen to  all hell. I refused to accept it at that point, but it was classic pre-E.  My OB started the conversation about having an induction.  Problem was, I was not a very favorable candidate.  I was not dilated at all. Like literally, this baby was not coming out on it's own and with zero progress, the chances for a failed induction were high.  So, I told my OB I wanted to run bloodwork, the 24 hour urine test, etc. I passed the NST with flying colors and baby was doing great.  The agreement was if my BP hit a certain limit at home, I'd come in right away.

So... of course, a couple days later, my BP kept going up and up and up.  I went in and agreed to schedule my induction.  When I got to the hospital, I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. The exciting part was that I was having contractions on my own! Of course, I couldn't feel any of them. Then they started the pitocin. You know all those stories of how pit makes you feel like hell? Well.. I didn't feel a damn thing. Not a single contraction. 14 hours later and there was no progress. 

At  that point, the OB broke my water and everything changed.  I was still feeling pretty good, but poor Alisa was not liking it!  All of the sudden, my contractions were 30 seconds apart, and the baby's heart rate was none variable.  Normally, the baby's heartbeat will change as she moves, but hers was literally 130... all the time which is an indicator of fetal distress and lack of oxygen.  Before I knew it, I was being wheeled down the hall for an emergency c-section. I thought I could be strong, but I totally cried my eyes out the whole ride.  The room filled up within seconds with the NICU team, OBs, nurses, and the anesthesiologist. I got a spinal. DH changed into scrubs and 5 minutes later Alisa was screaming and crying!

She was 7lbs and 11 oz, 19 inches long. She scored an 8 and 9 on her Apgars and was doing great. However, as I was being cleaned up and she was getting her bath, a nurse noticed that she had a strange arrhythmia. She was admitted to the NICU for monitoring for 48 hours to try to figure out what was going on.  Later, the pediatric cardiologist told us that she believes that the arrhythmia is a result of the distress she was in during labor.  Having a baby in the NICU was so tough.  I was literally up on my feet within the hour after my C-section, getting in a wheel chair and demanding to go to the NICU to see her.  She got released from the NICU after her 48 hour observation.

She's doing great now! We are following up with a pediatric cardiologist. She believes this is something that Alisa is going to grow out of in a couple of months. Until then, we are just monitoring.

She's a great baby and I love her more than I could have ever imagined. She's worth all the IF tears!!! 

Since you made it this far.... here she is in my siggy!!!