Bjay's (Diabetic Mommy's)
Pregnancy and Birth Story
Part 9
The Baby Comes!
I could see
my contractions graphically represented on a TV monitor to the
side of me. I could also see the graphs of all the other women
currently in labor. I think there were three other ladies. All
of their contraction graphs were beautiful. Evenly spaced, perfect
bell shapes. And then there was mine. It was dark and jagged.
It looked like my husband…um…I mean, a mad man had tried
to draw the graphs. They were irregularly spaced and had insanely
warped bell shapes and the lines were jagged. The nurse said mine
was like that because of the pitocin, and that my labor might
be more painful and harder than if I were doing it naturally.
At that time
I did not feel a whole lot of pain, and she said she was surprised.
I did not start to feel pain until very early in the morning…maybe
around 2:30 when the contractions started to get more intense.
I tried to
bear the contractions as long as I could, but I couldn't take
it anymore. As much as I felt like a failure, I had to ask for
an epidural.
The anesthesiologist
came and put in the epidural. I soon felt relief on one side of
my body, but not on the other. To remedy this, the medication
kept getting increased. Pretty soon I was numbed up to my throat
and chin on one side but I still felt pain on the other. It was
getting really hard to swallow. Both my legs were numb and just
lay there like heavy immovable slabs of meat.
I started
to worry about my swallowing problem and thought I would really
be in trouble if I threw up. No sooner had I thought this, then
it happened, and I couldn't get it to come up and out of my throat.
It was stuck in there and I felt like I was drowning. I really
started to panic. We managed to clear it out and they stopped
the epidural. I didn't throw up again, and I was really happy
I had not eaten a whole lot before checking into the hospital.
I went through
the rest of labor with sweet numbness on one side and terrible
pain on the other. The pain came and went. It felt like really
horrible menstrual cramps X5. I managed to sleep between contractions
due to my extreme tiredness though so it wasn't THAT bad.
When we watch
the video now you can see me sleeping and then the nurse says,
"here comes another one." They each grab a leg and heft
it up. I wake up and the nurse says push and counts. I simply
say "ouch ouch" and go back to sleep. I don't say it
in pain or with any expression at all. I say it as if I were asked
to say "ouch" twice and complied.
I felt really
bad for the nurse and Chad because with every contraction, they
each had to heft up one of my dead-weight legs to help me push.
They were trying to politely hide their grunts of exertion, but
I could still see the veins popping out of their heads and necks.
Finally the
nurse said the baby was starting to come out. The doctor came
in and they told me to continue pushing. They were giving me different
visuals and instructions, and I tried my best, but it wasn't helping.
They decided to use vacuum forceps to get him out. They popped
that thing on his head, and pulled him out. Keith Gardner Woolley
was born at 5:35 a.m. on Friday, April 27th.
As soon as
I heard his little cry and saw him, I felt a wave of relief (maternal
chemicals) and love wash over me. I was elated and exhilarated
to finally see my beautiful little boy. He was crying a lot. He
didn't like coming out of mama's tummy into the bright world where
people would soon poke him with lancets and put drops in his eyes!
They wiped him off and gave him to me. He quieted down for a couple
seconds and looked at me and then started crying again. He was
just perfect. We really did count his fingers and toes. We didn't
think we would, but we did it and were amazed they were all there.
I couldn't believe a wonderful little life like that could come
out of me.
I absolutely
hated to let him go. They took him and checked him over, and everything
was perfect, including his apgars and his blood glucose. Then
they left him on a table under a bright light and he was all by
himself crying. I just couldn't stand it. I wanted my baby. Finally
they were done, and they gave him back to me. He calmed down a
little bit while I talked to him. He was so little and sweet and
was trying to peer at me through the eye drops they had just given
him. I look at him today at three years old and can't believe
how little (and sweet - haha) he was.
He was 7
pounds 3 ounces, 20 inches long, head 31, chest 30.
The only
complication he experienced was a slight bit of jaundice that
was fixed by a day in front of a sunny window with indirect sunlight.
We were lucky one of the older doctors passing by caught it. He
was so red, the other doctors didn't realize he was jaundiced.
When you pressed on his skin, though, it would blanch yellow.
 
We had done
it. We got through the pregnancy, labor and delivery. My last
insulin regimen before the delivery was 40 NPH in the a.m. and
55 NPH in the p.m., 65 R with breakfast, 35 R at lunch, 55 R at
dinner. That makes a GRAND TOTAL OF…. 240 units! Hopefully
you won't have to take that much insulin during your pregnancy.
My endocrinologist told me not to stress out too much about it.
He said he had another patient that was taking over 300 units,
and that the priority was to have my glucose levels tight.
I had felt
guilty about taking so much insulin. I felt like I was doing something
terribly wrong, but when I looked at my diet and exercise I was
doing all I could. The hormones sent out by the placenta coupled
with my excess abdominal and overall weight had increased my insulin
resistance. Immediately after delivery my insulin needs dropped
dramatically.
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Index:
Part
1 - We Decide to Have a Baby
Part 2 -
Meeting Dr. Wrong and Getting Pregnant
Part 3 -
Finally Finding the Right Team Members
Part 4 -
Going to the Hospital to Stabilize Glucose Levels
Part 5 -
Let the Appointments Begin
Part 6 -
Stomach Flu - Go Back 2 Spaces, Go Back to the Hospital
Part 7 -
More Frequent Fetal Surveillance Begins
Part 8 -
Go Back to the Hospital - To Have the Baby!
Part 9 -
The Baby Comes!
Part 10
- Since the Birth
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Diabetes
and pregnancy, fertility issues, gestational diabetes, parenting, 
