Monday, April 6, 2015

Nora Emily Jones

                    Since it's been a while I figured I should play a little bit of catch up. In the beginning of 2014 I started getting baby hungry. I knew I was going to lose my health insurance on my 26th birthday that year but I didn't really care. I figured since I was going to lose it anyway I should get my IUD removed while I still had the insurance. So on April 4th I got it removed. Fast forward to August 4th. I wasn't exactly "late" yet but I wanted to take a test anyway. Well it was positive! To say I was excited is an understatement. I had been telling myself for months that this pregnancy would be different. I wouldn't be as sick, my body wouldn't hurt as bad, labor would be just peachy, etc. Oh how very wrong I was.
                   The first few days I was sick were bearable. But then I couldn't even drink anything without puking it up. I lost 8 pounds in one week from how sick I was. I went to my Dr at Old Farm a couple of different times to get different anti nausea meds. I didn't have health insurance so all the medicines she gave me I had to pay for myself. One of them was 200 dollars just for a month supply, and of course it didn't work. I was starting to feel like this Dr wasn't very sympathetic to my situation.
                  After about a week I was still not feeling any relief from the nausea so I finally had my mom drive me to an Instacare to get some fluids because I knew I was dehydrated. After 2 bags they sent me home. A couple of days later I was dehydrated again. This time I had my mom take me to the emergency room thinking they would put a feeding tube up my nose. Nope. They sent me home with home healthcare. So 2-3 times a week, a nurse would come change my IV.
               
                   I was laid up in bed for almost 2 months. I had Zofran in my IV but that did not help with the nausea at all. I was still throwing up every morning. Those 2 months were very hard on my family. I was crying every day because I couldn't stand feeling that sick. My boys were not happy and my husband was even less happy. My mom would come in the morning before Rusty left for work, and she didn't leave until he got home from work. They both told me several times that this was my last baby. I couldn't agree with them more. There were times that I thought Rusty would leave and not come back because he was so stressed out.
                    Somewhere in those 2 months I decided to switch Dr's. The emergency room at Riverton recommended a Dr located in the hospital. So I started going to her. I did not have a good first impression. She told me she didn't like how much I weighed. Well thanks! I decided to tough it out with her to see if she would get better over time. My next appointment she told me she wanted me to have an ultrasound at I think 12 weeks to determine my due date. She told me that the IUD I had could throw off my actual due date, which I had determined to be April 8th. I ended up cancelling the ultrasound because there was no way I could drink 32 ounces of water with how sick I still was. My Dr basically chewed me out at the my next appointment for not doing it. She said now they didn't know when my due date was and she wouldn't be able to induce me because I didn't get the ultrasound. The word NAZI was starting to form in my head more and more at each appointment.
                    The last few times homehealth came to change the IV, they had a very hard time finding a vein. My body was so tired of being poked. The only time in my life I've ever come close to passing out was from them trying to find a vein. The last time they came he couldn't find one at all. At that point I was able to drink some water but not the amount my body needed. I finally just told him to leave and not come back.
                    The next 3 months were better. At 15 weeks we went to fetal foto and found out we were pregnant with a girl! This was one of the best days of my life. I kept asking if they were sure and to double check and kept reassuring me that she was definitely a girl.

                    Around 17 weeks the nausea was pretty much gone but my hip was really starting to give me trouble. There weren't very many times that it didn't hurt. So my Dr recommended physical therapy. I went one time and the exercises I did while there really helped. And then I got my shoes on and walked to my car and the pain came back. I did the exercises at home but it wasn't helping at all so I just had to tough it out. I ended up buying a heating pad to lay on at night so I could actually sleep.
                    At 20 weeks I had an ultrasound at the Dr's office to check her size and make sure she was developing like she should be. They measured her 5 days ahead of where we thought. So they moved my due date to April 3rd. I was pretty excited about an earlier due date.
                    28 weeks. Time for the dreaded glucose test. For the first time with any of my pregnancies, the nurse told not to have any sugar the night before or the morning of the test. Just an egg and a piece of toast. It was hard but I did it. So I came in, drank the lemon lime glucose drink and went in for my appointment with the Dr. The nurse came in and asked if I was getting the pertussis vaccine. I asked her if I had to and she said no, we can't force you. So she left it at that and left me waiting for the doctor. The Dr comes in and immediately asks me how much weight I've gained so far. I said around 25. She then told me she didn't want me gaining anymore weight. How is that even possible when I'm 28 weeks?! By this point I was pretty mad. She then says, okay the nurse will be right in to give you the pertussis vaccine. I said, ummm I thought I didn't have to get it? She said I didn't HAVE to get it but that it was very critical at this point that I get it. She didn't even let me get another word in. She just sent the nurse in and forced me to get it. The only reason I didn't want it is because I hate needles and was tired of dealing with them. After I got it and noticed it didn't hurt I was glad I got it to protect my baby.
                     Later that day I got a call saying I failed my glucose test. I didn't understand how I could have failed. So I had to go take the 3 hour test. I had a feeling I would fail that one too. Well I did. It was still a huge shock to me and felt like a death sentence when they gave me the diagnosis. I had Gestational Diabetes. After that phone call I cried for a couple of hours. After I calmed down I had a feeling I needed to get a second opinion.
This was the day I got the call about the GD. These 2 could see how upset I was and never left my side.

                     So I switched Dr's again. This time I went to a Dr that a friend had gone to. The first appointment I had with him I knew I finally had the right Dr for me. He made me feel so good about everything and had talked to me about my GD diagnosis. He told me that the numbers were borderline so he just wanted me to watch my sugars. I didn't need to change my entire diet. This was such a relief. So I got a glucometer and kept a record of all of my sugars. At each appointment I brought him the numbers and they were just fine every time. No need to get on insulin pills. At 36 weeks he ordered an ultrasound. They determined the baby to be 8 pounds already. They also said that could be plus or minus a pound. I was getting really antsy about having this baby. I was so excited to meet her and yet scared at the same time. It had been almost 4 years since I had a baby.
                    A week later we scheduled the induction date. I thought it would just be a week before but when he was March 24th I was beyond excited!
This was 5 days before my induction date.

                    The night before my induction they called and told me I was first so I needed to be there at 6 am. I had Rusty give me a blessing for we went to sleep so I could actually sleep and have my mind be at peace. Rusty's mom had driven from Delta to our house the night before so we didn't have to have a member of my family come over at 5 am. Rusty and I decided to stop at McDonalds on the way for breakfast so we didn't wake anyone in our house up. When we got to the hospital we said a prayer in our car before going in to put our minds at ease. At about 7 am they got me hooked up to the pitocin. After a while I started feeling some contractions but they weren't too bad. Just a little uncomfortable. I can't remember if I got the epidural before or after my water was broken but I think at like 10 the Dr came and broke my water. That's such a weird feeling. At around 11:30 they gave me the epidural. I don't remember it hurting so bad with my boys but I did not like getting it this time around. Makes me shudder just thinking about the popping and the stinging.
                  At some point my sister-in-law came with some treats for Rusty and I and to stick around for the birth. She was there for Adam's birth too. I'm sure some people think I'm crazy but I like having a lot of people there for the birth. It's never been just Rusty and I. My little sister was there for Zeke's birth but had expressed she didn't want to there for Nora's birth because she was too traumatized from watching Zeke's. When she showed up with my mom I was a little surprised. Especially since my mom was with her. She had always said she didn't want to be there for any of the birth's because she had already been through the birth of her own kids.
                 I was starting to get more uncomfortable so I had the anesthesiologist come to numb me up some more. After a while I noticed that didn't do anything so he came back and put in a double dose. I immediately got light headed and felt like my legs weighed 10,000 pounds. I was too numb and didn't like it. I tried to have everyone move my legs to a more comfortable position for the top half of my body but that didn't work. After I was completely numb the contractions weren't as strong and things kind of slowed down. The nurse came to check me and said she could feel a body part and would be right back. She brought in an ultrasound technician and they saw that Nora's arm and hand were around her head and her fingers were through my cervix. They went to get Dr Froerer and he told me if he couldn't get her arm to move back down then I would need a c-section. Thankfully he got her arm to move and she never moved it back so now we just had to wait for things to progress further.
                At about 4:45 my mom got a call from my Uncle saying he locked his keys in his truck and needed her to bring him the spare key. She said she'd be back in a while and that I would still be in labor when she got back. About 10 minutes later the nurse came and checked me and said I was fully dialated and effaced. It was time to push. We were all in shock because the contractions weren't very strong but they were very close together. At this time they also noticed I had a fever but the Dr didn't feel that antibiotics were necessary so the pushing started. All I could think about was how hungry and tired I was. They wouldn't let me eat anything all day except flavored ice chips. They kept checking my sugars throughout the day too so it's not like I could sneak any food.
               After 20 minutes of pushing my little girl was born at 5:22 pm.


It was so amazing. Rusty and I were both crying we were so happy. She had lots of dark curly hair and was covered with lots of vernix. They put her on my chest and we both just laid there for about a half an hour before I fed her. After I was done feeding her they weighed her. 8 lb 4 oz. She definitely would have been closer to 9 pounds if I had waited to go on my own. We love our baby girl so much!