The Bed Rest Book Club
Share it!
  • Blog
  • About
  • Dining (Vegan and Nonvegan)
  • Running Stuff
  • Recipes!

Liz's Birth Story...

10/22/2010

0 Comments

 
...as told by me.

I usually wouldn't do this (and trust me, Liz gave her consent; her dopey, drugged, exhausted consent, but it was a consent no less) but I was gasping and laughing so hard during her labor and delivery story that this is just a tale that needs to be told. And it has a happy ending, which is the best news ever.

Okay, as I mentioned yesterday, I saw on Facebook that Liz had had her baby in the morning. This surprised me since we had just been texting the day before and she absolutely did not mention anything about feeling like she was going to give birth anytime soon. And, she wasn't due until November 4 (and Wes was 10 days overdue) so I don't think any of us were expecting her to pop out a kid so quickly.

And then, amid the congratulating comments on her wall, her sister mentioned something about doing it with no drugs.  That surprised me. After all, she hadn't mentioned anything about wanting to do natural and it didn't really fit her personality...so I was confused. But then again, she was very passionate about breastfeeding and held on for a full year, so maybe this was the next likely step? Childbirth with no meds? Okay, whatever floats your boat.

And then she called me in the afternoon and I got the real scoop. (Again, how do I have these friends who are capable of speech hours after labor and delivery? I don't remember talking in complete sentences for weeks afterward.) Turns out things were very scary and very hectic -- starting with her water breaking at 2:40am. And, per Liz, her water didn't actually break until she reached the bathroom, but some kind of internal, universal Mothering signal caused her to wake up and race out of the bedroom. Gotta love instincts. (Brian and I were just arguing last weekend about a mother's sixth sense, and this story just puts one more piece of evidence in my column. I think he's just jealous that he doesn't possess that sense.)

Anyways, after securing childcare for 2-year old Wes, they raced to the hospital and were admitted around 4am. With her blood pressure too high and protein in her urine, the nurses decided to run some additional labs to check for that all-too-scary condition: pre-eclampsia. While they waited, Liz said she became increasing uncomfortable and pestered the nurse with questions of when she was going to get her epidural. Per the nurse: not until your labs come back. If you do have pre-e, there is a chance you could bleed out as they administer the epi. (Don't you just love nurses? Seriously, they should ban the term "bleed out" when dealing with mothers).

So Lizzie languished in the bed for another few hours. At 6:40, four very quick hours after her water breaking, the nurse declared her to be 5cm. Liz continued to ask for drugs. The nurse declined; the labs were still not back. Liz told her that every time she had a contraction, she was going to scream at the top of her lungs, "I WANT AN EPIDURAL!" until she received some relief from this constant pain.

And she did.

According to Liz, her screaming varied from "I WANT AN EPIDURAL!" to "I WANT A F*&KING EPIDURAL" to "SWEET JESUS GIVE ME AN EPIDURAL!"

Okay, that sounds a lot more like the Liz I know.

By 7:15, Liz begged the nurse to please check her since the need to push was overwhelming. The nurse, per Liz, kind of snorted at her and continued reading the labs. Again, with Liz screaming at the nurse, the woman finally consented and found Liz to be at 10cm and the baby's head crowning.

And with that, the nurse hit the panic button.

Liz said she remembers about 11 people running into the room, none of which were her doctor (who missed the birth completely) and then blacking out from the pain. She recalls a woman telling her "One more push and the shoulders will be out!" while thinking to herself, "The head is out?" And then, little baby Whitney emerged into this world, weighing a delicate 5lbs, 13oz and stretched out to 19 inches long.

At the time I spoke with Liz, there was no middle name yet. (I had my fingers crossed for Kimberly or maybe Emma). And again, in typical Liz fashion, she told me, "I thought I still had two more weeks...we barely had a girl's name picked out. No middle name yet." When I asked about Kurt, her husband, she said, "Are you kidding me? After he watched me go through all of that, he was like, 'You can name her whatever you want. You've earned it.'"  Ah, good man.

As it turns out, Liz did have pre-eclampsia. She has to stay in bed for a full 24-hours and is taking magnesium to prevent further complications. She said she winced when the nurse (a different one from the morning) told her she needed a catheter...as CatheterGate popped into mind. (Jen also told me she told her nurse about my situation and CatheterGate; clearly, this story has legs). Let's hope her bladder didn't decide to take a vacation for 16 days. 

Despite all of the drama and complications (and incompetent nurses), Liz sounded remarkably good and pleased as pudding when discussing little Whitney. I am so happy things turned out as well as they did, and am wishing her a speedy recovering. Congrats!!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About Me

    Think of this as the epilogue to Bridget Jones' story. Well, mostly. Bridget marries the handsome lawyer, starts a blog while on bedrest, and decides marathon running sounds like fun. Bridget goes through a divorce but keeps running. Hilarity ensues. 

    Archives

    September 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009

    Categories

    All
    Adolescence
    Baby Activities
    Baby Care
    Bed Rest
    Book Reviews
    Bravo Tv
    Breast Feeding
    Cool Stuff
    Craftiness
    Craig\'s List
    Dogs
    Emma
    Ethical Dilemmas
    Family
    Family Relationships
    Food
    Football Season
    Friendship
    Google List
    Grief
    Guest Blogger
    Guest Bloggers
    I Hate Our Neighborhood
    Junior League
    Kernicterus
    Milestones
    Motherdhood
    Motherhood
    Movies
    My Bladder
    New House
    Numbers
    Pending Reviews
    Post Partum
    Potty Training
    Potty-training
    Pregnancy
    Relationships
    Reviews
    Running
    Scary Stuff
    School
    Scotty
    Sleep
    Sororities
    Sunshine Cupcakes
    Surgery
    The Bobby
    The Holidays
    The Miracle Blanket
    The New House
    Todderville
    Toddlerville
    Toys
    Tv
    Tv Review
    Tv Reviews
    Unpopular Opinions
    Vegas
    Weight Loss
    Weird Stuff Kim Says
    Work

    RSS Feed

Thanks for reading!