Sean has arrived!!!!

Sean’s journey into the world started off with a bang. On Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 I was scheduled for yet another non-stress test and biophysical profile. I was all prepared for them to find something “horrid” and send me to labor & delivery only for me to be sent home again. Same as last week. This week they decided to start with his ultrasound/BPP and as soon as he popped up on the screen I just knew he had very little fluid. Now.... not that I know how fluid he was supposed to have or how it was supposed to look, but I commented on how little fluid there was. And the tech commented back that I’m probably going to be sent over to labor & delivery because it. They would then call my doctor & make a final decision as to what to do. I made sure with the technicians that my ob was being called and they assured Rob & me that Dr. Abe was being called. I also tried to call Dr. Abe’s service, but they never answered.

Thankfully enough, this time Rob & I were smart enough to have my hospital bag packed & in the car. My in laws had come with us to occupy Meredith while we got the testing done, so they were ready to take her home when & if the time came. 

We went to labor & delivery triage and I was hooked up to the monitors. Sean was doing very well, but it was decided that since Sean had very low fluid, my induction of labor should begin. I was admitted & then sent off to have something to eat because with the Cervadil in I wouldn’t be able to eat. Cervadil is used to soften the cervix. It is a time released drug that can be left in the cervix for 12 hours. 

I inquired whether Dr. Abe was around and what he had to say about all this. I was told that Dr. Pearlman would be covering my induction since Dr. Abe wasn’t there. 

Then the nurses at triage said they’d be surprised if Dr. Abe came to the hospital for me because he never shows up there for anyone. Now I know this to be a load of nonsense. At least for me. He has always been there for us whenever we have needed him at the hospital or otherwise. 

A physician’s assistant even went so far as to tell us we should just go deliver at columbia because Dr. Abe wouldn’t show up & it would be the same thing delivering with a doctor I didn’t know there. I was shocked. Rob thinks she was saying that because she felts Sean was going to need surgery right away. Either way.... I felt a little dismayed by it and felt it terribly unprofessional of her. 

Here’s where it gets hairy. I have something called a 1st degree AV blockage. It’s a delay in part of the heart rhythm. It was found 3 years ago during a routine yearly exam at my doctor’s office. I was sent to the cardiologist and was told “I don’t want to see you unless you have symptoms.” And that’s what I did. I haven’t had any symptoms, so I never went back to see him. 

Dr. Pearlman insisted...... absolutely insisted that because of this 1st degree blockage I needed to be put on a heart monitor a a precaution. I tried to argue that I had followed my cardiologist’s orders and didn’t see him since I had no symptoms. I never had a symptom with my pregnancy with Meredith and I didn’t have any symptoms this time. Dr. Pearlman insisted that since I was not her regular patient, she would not risk something happening to me because of this condition. Now.... I don’t expect OBs to be cardiologists, but come on. This just screams “I’m looking to cover my own ass. That’s why I will make your insurance company pay through the nose for procedures you don’t need.” 

Now....at this point there was a private room being held for me, but if I was going to hooked up to a monitor, I would be sent to recovery for a couple of hours to be monitors. I would be sitting on a gurney in what is essentially a hallway. A thoroughfare between labor suites & the OR. I am beyond annoyed at this point and I’m torn between “what if something does happen tonight because of Sean’s low fluid” and “fuck this... I’m outta here to come start my induction with my own OB tomorrow.” 

I spoke with Dr. Abe and since I had already been admitted into the hospital, it was now a matter of liability, not common sense, that I should be monitored instead of going home & coming back the next day to start my induction with my own doctor. If I went home the hospital and the doctors would be liable for anything that may happen to Sean. I’m calling bullshit, but who am I? Just the damn patient right? 

While I’m sitting in triage discussing my options with Rob, I started crying. It’s something I spent a lot of time doing that day. My sweet baby girl would come over to me, hug me & tell me “no cry mommy”. And I’d melt & cry even harder because my sweet little angel worried so much about my happiness. It made me so proud to know that I raised such an empathetic little lady. 

Rob & I made the decision for me to stay, be monitored for a couple of hours and then be moved into a private high risk room. The time for me to come off the monitor was 3pm. I made it back there to recovery at 12 noon. I received my cervadil & was hooked up to the heart monitors for at 12:30pm. 3pm came & went and I was still sitting. 4pm came & went and I was still on a gurney. Not only was I parked next to Miss. Pukes A Lot, but I watched as woman after woman after woman delivered their babies by c-section, came to recovery & made their ways up to their post-partum rooms. 

Rob & I begged & pleaded with anyone who would listen to find out whether I was in fact going to get a high risk room or if it was just another lie I was being told to shut me up. 

I spent a lot of time on that gurney hooked up to machines and an IV. I spent a lot of that time just broken. I was a broken woman who couldn’t have cared less what anyone said to me or promised me, etc. Because it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like anything or anyone promised me would actually happen. 

My wonderful husband did make me feel a little better when he brought me a chocolate ice cream cone. How sweet is he? And yes I ate it right there! Very defiantly I might add. The nurse said “that better be daddy eating.” I said “nope it’s me. My dr said I could eat, just not heavy or crazy things”. And I continued right on enjoying that cone. 

My nursed, Beatricia, came & told us that as long as weren’t bumped down the list by someone more high risk than me, I’d be in my private room at around 7:30pm. At 7pm an OB resident came & informed me that I Needed and EKG as a baseline should something happen. Are you friggin kidding me with this BS? Nope he wasn’t kidding. 

Dr. Abe came to see me at 7pm and was just as annoyed that I was still in the recovery area waiting for what seemed like an eternity. He also did not see the point of my being hooked up to the monitors to begins with. 

Around this time, my contractions started to really pick up. Dr. Abe checked me out and I was still 1cm dilated, 50% effaced & Sean was still pretty high. He said that he really admired how strong I was. It made me feel really good. 

I got the stupid EKG and was moved over to a private room. I met my nurse for the evening, Porshe, and the contractions really started to pick up. I was in a lot of pain and my contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart, but I was still only 1.5cm dilated. I was in A LOT if pain though. I tried my hardest to hold out for the epidural because I knew it would slow the contractions down the same way it had with Meredith. 

Sean had one major heart deceleration and a resident came in to give me a quick check & make sure that he rebounded quickly. He did. Thank goodness. I wasn’t as nervous with this though. Meredith had a major heart deceleration every time I dilated & she moved her way down. So I thought I knew what to expect. The attending OB came in, checked me out and took the cervadil out. 

 The one bright spot..... a cardiologist came in to discuss a “finding on my EKG” at 8:30pm. I laughed at him & told him “it’s only a finding if you don’t know it’s there”. He said “oh so you know about the 1st degree AV block?” Again I had to laugh. This was turning into a 3 ring circus. Remind me next time just to leave it off my history. It’s just not worth the hassle. 

Anyway, he proceeds to tell me it had no bearing on my labor or delivery. Thanks! Where the hell was this guy 12 hours before this when little miss “protect my ass” was singing her tune about how she didn’t know how this AV block would affect me during my induction? After he finished with his speech about how I was fine, I again had to giggle. Wasn’t this exactly what I said 12 hours earlier? Isn’t that the reason MY cardiologist said only come in if I was symptomatic? Wouldn’t have said “I don’t need to see you unless you’re symptomatic or pregnant?” I don’t know.... Seems like common sense to me. 

But again.... what do I know? I’m only the patient. I couldn’t possibly have my head on my shoulders and not up my butt right? 

At 10:45pm I decided to give up and got myself an epidural. I remember when I got it with Meredith and it was sweet sweet heaven after it was in. This time however, was torturous. Not only did it take them forever to get it in, but my back was sore. It took them 25 minutes to get it through my “thick ligaments”. I knew something was wrong when my right leg was completely numb, but my left leg wasn’t.  And I mean like couldn’t lift it at all numb. Didn’t feel it being touched numb. It’s a very strange feeling. One I hope never to experience again. 

The anesthesiologists kept saying that I had “strong back ligaments”. I know that to be a load of crap. They were having a hard time getting the catheter into the right spot. I much prefer & respect honesty. And apparently the anesthesiologist though I needed a play by play of what he was doing. I really didn’t. I just needed them to be finished & to do it correctly. 

When they had finished, my leg was still numb. I was truly afraid they had hit something they shouldn’t have & I’d lost function of my right leg. They assured me that as soon as I laid down for a little while, the medication would even out & it would feel better. It never did. 

On top of all that, my contractions slowed down considerably once the epidural was put in. I was so miserable.

Right about the same time, Dr. Abe called me, but I couldn’t answer the phone. So I called him back when they were finished with my epidural. He just wanted to see how things were going and to let me know I should call him on his cell phone when I’m ready to deliver. It’s great to have a doctor who actually cares. 

I was started on pitocin which is supposed to start to regulate my contractions and with each increased dose, make the contractions more intense and closer together. Well.... I was started on the pitocin, but never got an increased dosage. I kept being told that without my provider there, they wouldn’t increase the dose because if something happened, Dr. Abe wouldn’t be there to make decisions regarding my care. Little did I know that Dr. Abe had come back to the hospital at around 3am and spent the night there because he was under the impression he would have to deliver me in the middle of the night when the increased dosages of pitocin worked there charms. 

At 1am, Dr. Pearlman came in to check me because Sean had another heart deceleration. She went on to tell me that if he had more decelerations and they were consistent that I’d most likely go for a c-section. She wasn’t pushing for one, but it was a possibility. Whatever lady! I don’t listen to a word your lying mouth has to say. 

I was able to sleep some here & there. Ya know between who needed to take my pressure and who needed to take my blood. The whole time I felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It was that kind of feeling when you have the flu. Your whole body aches. Your eyes feel like lead and you just wanna sleep. That’s what I felt like. 

At 3:10am a nurse came in to take blood from me to check for rubella. I just couldn’t believe that she actually woke me up to check me for rubella. Do I look like I have rubella? Does it not mean anything that I had an MMR booster when I was 25 years old? Of course not. 

At 3:31am a baby was born and I heard that baby crying. While I was happy that a seemingly healthy baby had been born, the flood of emotion inside me was just to much to bear. I was unable to hold back the tears that seemed to have a life of their own. I was reminded yet again that my baby wouldn’t be born healthy. Well healthy in the sense that I wouldn’t have to worry so much about it. Healthy in the sense that I wouldn’t have to surrender him as quickly as I did. I’d be able to spend a little bit of time with him before he was brought to the NICU. 

I was reminded that my baby might not be as healthy as the doctors have suspected. Especially since I now had absolutely no faith in these doctors whatsoever. 

I again started to wonder & question why we didn’t get to have a healthy baby. Why us? And why if it had to be us that had a baby with issues, why couldn’t we at least have the end of his pregnancy be easy? Why did every single thing have to be such an uphill battle? It just didn’t & still doesn’t seem fair. 

At 7am Dr. Abe stumbled into my room looking like he had a rough night. I felt terrible for him. That’s when I told him I was beyond angry with the handling of the whole situation. He asked if the pitocin had been increased. I said “no” and told him why. He was visibly annoyed. 

He wrote the order for me to get the increased pitocin. At 8am, the dose was increased and my contractions got way more intense. Dr. Hussainy (on call dr for my practice) checked me out and I was at 3cm and fully effaced. YAY!! I had made some progress even though the pitocin wasn’t increased. Maybe my body had gotten the hint. 

The contractions were way more intense and I was feeling pain. I had anesthesiology paged. The anesthesiologist came in & gave me a “top off” syringe filled with medication. My already numb right leg now felt even more numb. I didn’t know that was possible, but here I was. Sitting there with an amazingly numb leg. 

Then the alarm on my epidural pump started to go off. Apparently I didn’t need a “top off”. I needed a new bag of medication. Um.... shouldn’t she have looked there first? Whatever. When she put the new bag on my left leg went numb and I started to feel nauseous. 

Dr. Hussainy believing I still had a few more hours of labor left said that i could eat breakfast. Thank goodness too because I was STARVING! I hadn’t eaten since that cone earlier the night before. My appetite was short lived though due to the overmedication from the anesthesiologist. 

Dr. Abe had gone back to Manhattan and was planning to come back to Brooklyn & to check on me at around 11am. 

At about 9:20ish in the morning I started to feel a lot of pressure. I don’t mean in the form of contractions. It felt like there was something falling out of my kuzzy (pronounced Kuh-Zee). I never felt anything like it with Meredith. Dr. Hussainy just told me that it was Sean starting to come down. Nothing to worry about. Ok I thought “no problem”. 

At 9:30am I was moved from my high risk room into a delivery suite. I would spend a few hours there while I continued to labor.

Sean had other ideas. I started to feel the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life. Ok well not the worst pain. The pain of an infected tooth still reigns supreme. But it came close. 

It was a combination of holy fire and the most pressure you could ever think to imagine in your kuzzy area. It also felt like something was tearing through my tushy. Oh my god! 

I started to tell the nurse & Dr. Hussainy that I was feeling a lot of pressure. And I didn’t think I could feel that kind of pressure with my overmedicated stuff going on. But sure enough..... I could. 

Dr. Hussainy checked me again thinking maybe I had dilated a little more. Nope. I was fully dilated and 100% effaced. It was delivery time! 

Sean was fully cooperative with that idea. In the time it took to walk from one end of the hall from the high risk room to get to the delivery suite, Sean managed to get himself all the way down my kuzzy. Dr. Hussainy broke my water and the festivities began. Everyone thought they’d have a few minutes to gather themselves. Nope. Dr. Abe called my cell phone and apologized for not being able to be there for Sean’s delivery like he had promised he would be. 

As I was getting ready to deliver I thought I smelled something funky. Now.... before I was pregnant with Meredith I wasn’t aware of the whole pooping while pushing thing. It’s not something that’s spoken about until someone asks and then a whole gaggle of women will come out with their embarrassing labor & delivery stories, as evidenced here www.talk.thenestbaby.com/boards/showpost.aspx?postID=411663870. 

I can’t tell you how Rob & I have laughed & laughed & laughed about that post right there. Especially the puffle. It’s a running joke in our house now that farts can’t be blamed on the dog. 

Anyway, ever since that post I was acutely aware that push the baby out like you’re trying to poop takes on a whole new meaning. 

So while Sean was rushing to come out, I swore I was about to poop. That’s what it felt like. I knew I smelled something funky and that was the only thing I could possibly imagine happening. Oh my god I was going to poop while Sean was going to come out. He was going to come out to fast & he was going to land in a pile of crap. Oh my god. Could this get any worse? 

In an answer.... yes it can. I started apologizing profusely to EVERYONE for my about to be pooping on the table. Yes folks.... picture it. “Oh my god. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Oh my god. I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to poop! I’m so sorry. I really really am. I can’t believe I’m going to be one of those women who poops on the table.” 

Just as the bed was being broken down for delivery, Sean decided to come the rest of the way down. There was no time to call pediatrics. There was no time to remove my catheter. There was no time for anything, but to catch him. 3 pushes that he didn’t need at all and Sean flew into the world. Dr. Husaainy was there and she caught Sean as he entered the world. 

And I didn’t poop on the table. Sean didn’t land in it. And I will forever be known as the chick who apologized for pooping before she did and never did. 

He came so fast that he didn’t even have a cone shaped head. He never spent enough time in the birth canal to get one. He came out with blonde hair, blonde eye lashes and blonde eye brows. I was surprised by the amount of hair he has being that he is so blonde. He also came out peeing. And like two 5 year olds, Rob & I giggled because he almost peed on Dr. Hussainy. 

Dr. Hussainy put Sean on my belly so Rob & I could see him before he was taken to the warmer to be cleaned up. Pediatrics finally made it to my room where Sean was evaluated and weighed. He came out at 6lbs 6oz. The ultrasound technician was off by only one oz. His apgar scores were 9/9 which was great! He was screaming which is what we wanted to hear. 

Sean Matthew Scott made his arrival into the world at 9:47am weighing 6lbs 6 oz and measuring in at 21 inches long.

He was wrapped up, given to us for a few more minutes and then whisked away to the NICU.