Week 39, Labor & Delivery... Welcome Dillon Claire Dean!

I made it to week 39 and 3 days, before going into labor. That last week was so uncomfortable physically, and tiring mentally. Trying to clean, prepare and stay mentally focused while waiting anxiously to meet our baby girl. I wondered when and where I would be when my water would break, or if I had enough done already before going into labor. Neither was what I had imagined. My house wasn’t spotless and organized, and my water did not break like in the movies.

It was January 22 at 8:00pm when I started having contractions. I thought they may be Braxton Hicks so I let my husband keep sleeping in his recliner while I got comfortable on the couch and continued doing computer work. After 90 minutes of the the contractions coming every five minutes, I called my mom in California to help me figure out what was happening. As I was on the phone with her, I noticed blood in the toilet (yes, I pee’d and stayed on the phone) after I had pee’d. I then woke Ryan up to shower and get ready to head to the hospital to see if I was going into labor. My mom was in California looking up flights to make it here as soon as she could.

Ryan got ready, loaded up the truck and loaded me up. We headed to University Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia MO. After we got admitted and into a room at 11:00pm, the doctors told us that I was having contractions and was 1.5 centimeters dilated. We were there to stay. Also my blood pressure was high, which I never had during my pregnancy, so they were keeping me and checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes. I was moved to the low intervention birthing room where Ryan and I progressed through my labor naturally until 11:00am. I did 15 hours of my labor without an epidural.

They induced me at 6:00am because I was still 1.5 centimeters dilated and my high blood pressure was endangering my health, the baby was okay during all of this. At 11:00am I was at 4 centimeters dilated and the contractions had gotten so painful and so close together that I wasn’t getting breaks in between to breathe, so I requested the epidural. It was very painful to get, but the relief was great after that much time going through contractions. My water broke 20 minutes after getting the epidural, and I thought I had pee’d myself. It was hilarious!

By 2:30 the doctors came in to check on me and I was at 10 centimeters. My mom had made it there 10 minutes earlier, just in time for me to start pushing. They set up the room to get ready for Dillon’s arrival. I was still having high blood pressure issues and getting it checked every 15 minutes. I started pushing at 3:06 and she was born at 3:46pm, weighing 6.08lbs and 20 inches long. What an experience pushing! It was the most wonderful thing I have ever done. My husband was right by my side cheering me on as my #1 fan, along with my mom and mother-in law.

I had a second degree tear and had to get stitches. Ryan got 30 minutes first with Dillon doing skin to skin while I was being sewn up, then it was my turn. It was such an amazing moment to hold her and talk to her after all the time of being pregnant. After my skin to skin time, the family came in and took their turns holding Dillon and then I had a lactation consultant come in and help me breastfeed for the first time.

We moved to our postpartum room around 6:00pm. My blood pressure had lowered but I was bleeding badly with blood clots ranging from the size of a golf ball to the size of a hand. The nurses and doctors were coming in every 15 minutes to press on my belly and check the size of my uterus, and the blood and clots would just pour out of me. They had to change the sheets and bedding every time they checked me. They gave me pitocin around midnight to try and slow the bleeding, it didn’t work. Next they gave me a shot to help contact my uterus and stop the bleeding but that didn’t work either. Then they gave me medicine to try and stop the bleeding that had to be taken in my rectum, twice throughout the night. That didn’t work either.

At 2:00am I had two separate male doctors come in to try and scrape my uterus out because I had pieces of placenta stuck in my uterus that was life threatening. They were not able to get the placenta out that way. It was the most painful part of my labor and delivery. I was crying and begging them to stop. After those attempts, they checked on my every 30 minutes until 7:00am. I had a group of females doctors come in to check on me and they gave me an ultrasound to see exactly where the placenta was stuck. When they saw where and how much was inside of my uterus they sent me to get emergency surgery to get it removed.

After the surgery I was drugged and tired, but thankful to be alive. After all of the trauma from the last 40 hours, the doctors said I had lost around 2,000 cc’s which was ⅓ of my total blood. I was so pale I looked like a ghost.

I stayed at the hospital for another day to be monitored and to wait for Dillon to poop. She finally pooped at 3:20pm so we started the process to be released to go home. We made it home at 4:45pm and I was never more happy than to be at home with my husband, baby and mom. I felt like I had been hit by a bus, but was the happiest I had ever been. Dillon has made my heart fuller than I knew was possible. I look forward to every moment I get for rest of my life with my daughter. Let the ride begin!

I will be blogging while on maternity leave about my experience with having a newborn, getting back into shape, and my healthy eating choices. Stay tuned!