Who would have thought?!? (my birth story)

Thursday night I was just not feeling well. I had started bleeding a bit again and was quite crampy - especially my back. I even sent Jim a text message telling him I wish he was there with me because I was just feeling yucky. The medication they were giving me for contractions wasn't working as well as it had been, but I was convinced I just had to poop. :-)

In hindsight, that "have to poop" feeling was really the baby being extremely low and the achy back was really back labor because he was not only breech but posterior. I know now very clearly what they say when they talk about labor shutting off the thinking part of your brain! I wish I had figured it out sooner!!!

At about 1:30 I just wasn't able to find a comfortable position so I got up to try the toilet again and found that I couldn't even sit on the edge of the bed without it feeling "wrong". The pressure was in the wrong place. Again, I should have realized what was going on when my body naturally got into a hands and knees position and it felt good.

I paged the nurse and went in the the bathroom. When she got there, I was in tears and told her that I just didn't feel well and I was sure things would be better if I could poop. We had already tried a few doses of Milk of Magnesia but the doctors didn't want to give me anything stronger. About 30 seconds later I told her I thought the baby was coming. She told me to get on the bed, and I responded with "I can't!" We went back and forth a few times with "get on the bed", and "I can't" until I reached between my legs, tried to push back the bulge I was feeling, and stumbled onto the bed.

She took one look between my legs, turned as white as a ghost, and called the team of doctors to my bedside stat. I called Jim with my hand between my legs holding baby in and told him "The baby is coming right now!" to which he responded in his sleepy fog "Do you want me to come to the hospital?" :-) That is going to be the line of the week!

The docs rushed me down to the OR. Remember, I still had a cerclage in place that was supposed to be holding my cervix closed, the baby was breech, and I had 2 previous c-sections, so they weren't about to let me VBAC. Although the doctor was talking emergency c-section with general anesthesia, the anesthesiologist (who I owe a big thank you to!) talked her down and told her they probably had time to do a spinal and it would be much safer for me and the baby.

When we got to the OR, they did a quick ultrasound to confirm the baby was still breech and tried get in there to see what was exactly going on with the stitch. They determined the stitch was still holding somewhat but since the cord was already coming through my cervix, they were afraid to try and cut it and risk a prolapse.

They somehow got me into the right position for the spinal with pillows between my legs because I couldn't put them together and got the spinal in place. Unlike the spinals I had for my previous births and my surgeries, the medication he used took no time at all to take effect.

As they rolled my off my side onto my back, the baby still completely in the sac with the complete placenta all came flying out! Luckily, they hadn't yet removed the end of the bed or it would have all ended up on the floor or in the doctor's lap!

They whisked the baby off to the NICU team, and started to check me for any needed repairs. I have no clue how, but there was no damage to my cervix or perineum that required stitching, and Jim walked into the room just minutes later.

Between the adrenaline and the irony of the situation, I had the giggles for about 2 hours afterwards! Somehow, I ended up having my breech VBA2C after all!