Cyber baby Shower! -graphic childbirth talk and c-section pics for your viewing pleasure! watch out brooke!

a graphic tale of how Pierce had to do things on his own terms!

OK so Pamela at Happy panda and 5minutes for mom are doing the cyber baby shower! and i have to try, hello! gifts for the best story!!! and love the child doll sling so fun to pretend and the stamped sterling jewelry they have on there. and holy cow, the sip and snack cup looks way cool! i'd even get one of those for my 3yr old! and my baby!

OK let me preface this good time for those just joining me on my blog. I have 6 kids. 5 normal natural deliveries! and then # 6 happened. it all started off on the wrong foot to begin with. I have thyroid cancer, and finally in September of 2005 I had 100 millicuries of radioactive iodine treatment in isolation in the hospital, to kill off any remaining thyroid cells after my thyroid completion surgery in July of that year. I had this done while i had 5 kids to take care of, 5 kids under 7. OK so I wasn't supposed to get pregnant, BECAUSE I NEEDED to have my follow up scan in six months to make sure i was cancer free, not to mention to let the radiation clear out of my body which can have effects on thyroid tissue for up to a year. SO yeah the one time i prevent in my life to that point, and honestly abstained all together, not that you want to know that, anyway somehow, i got pregnant, and really by prevent i mean the rhythm method where you abstain during the most risky time of the month or use prophylactics , not the brightest, but you figure you completely abstain during the most critical 3 weeks in the middle of the month you are safe, well you know what they say about making assumptions right? and the dr. said it was my new lack of thyroid and my hormones were out of whack yadda, yadda and my cycle was affected, and i ovulated at the wrong time for me to assume i was safe. so in November of 2005 i found out i was pregnant. with my 6th kid. and at the first appointment he does an ultrasound, and there were two sacs,holy crap , close call to having twins there was only one heartbeat and I'd pass the second one later, which included spotting for a couple weeks. so the whole time i was prego, i had major thyroid hormone issues, never being able to get it under control, and i am sick with my standard 6 months of morning sickness plus major exhaustion since, thyroid effects your energy levels and metabolism, and i have standard high blood pressure too. so the whole 9 months i felt like major crap, see the specialists alot in addition to thyroid labs every six weeks and monthly ob visits. I laid in bed and the kids had to fend for themselves, all while Lance is in his second to last semester , and summer school at ASU ,while doing an internship at Honeywell, when finally I'm getting to the end of the pregnancy, he finished summer school, it is AUGUST IN AZ, and i start having signs of pre enclampsia. the blurred vision, the swelling, and tingly extremities, high blood pressure and more that i can't recall, too many brain cells lost in pregnancies. and then i start having trace protein in my urine samples. yay! they do the blood work and it came back borderline for whatever they test for with pre enclampsia. finally i call and they get me in a few days early for an induction since I don't go into labor on my own. I go straight into a labor and delivery room, they are shocked this is my 6th baby, and shocked it is my first time with the pre enclampsia, i'm like, " i'm a pro at this, i have been induced 4 times before, delivered the last 3 naturally with no drugs, no big deal," the nurse is all concerned , they make me lay down, with the lights low, and i'm sitting there thinking turn on the lights i am not napping right now, they hook me up to the monitors and the nurse sees i still have my bra on, i have issues about not wearing my bra, i've worn it before, no big deal, right? well she gets all huffy and saying well she'll have to cut it off if i have to have a c-section, i laughed in her face! this is the 6 kid! i am not having a c-section! there is no way i am having a c-section, i'm gonna deliver naturally with no drugs , my 6th kid! start the freaking pitocin already! so she starts it on a slow drip at the same time they start my antibiotics for the strep B and some magnesium sulfate to relax me so I don't start seizing during delivery, she is telling me pre enclampsia is a big deal and that is a risk so they run the drugs though my IV! i think, "whatever, this is # 6!" well finally i have one bag of antibiotics, i need to go to the bathroom, let me up , no big deal, well she is really pushy but i go anyway. right then my ob comes in checking his patients (me) before he leaves for the day, he was gonna go get dinner, but he checks me( and he wasn't on call but he was there just to deliver me), I'm not progressing but he is gonna break my water, it has worked the last 5 times , why would this time be different? well, WHEN HE BROKE MY WATER THE BABY'S ARM FLOATED OUT WITH THE AMNIOTIC FLUID ABOVE HIS HEAD, into the birth canal. yup! you might ask "what do they do for that? well let me tell you , he tried to shove it back over the baby's head so I could dilate, how would a Dr. do that? good question ! he puts his hand up there and pushes it. or tries anyway. I had no Epidural by the way, and i was feeling it! holy cow! SO i am tolerating it fairly well but to no avail. So right about then i wanna go to the bathroom again, but the babies heart rate dropped! so they won't let me up! #1 horrifying part was the hand up my yin yang, and #2 was they made me use a bed pan to pee, in front of the Dr. , the nurse and my hubby it wasn't pretty!and at the demand of everyone involved and the threat that if i didn't pee in the bedpan , they would put a catheter in! i hate catheters from one of the first kids I have a major fear of the catheter! so i Pee in the bedpan even though i can't pee on command or in public, in front of strangers. Then they want me to lay on my side but every time i do they loose the heart rate, so i just want to sit up , they make me lay down, then it drops again, #3 "hurry , get on all fours to reduce pressure on the cord"(with my bare butt in the air)! I am of course mortified Lance said they covered me up fast but by this time there was a bunch of nurses coming in, getting ready for action, at one point the baby's heart rate dropped long enough for the Dr. to call an emergency c-section! like 45 seconds, with no heart rate on the monitor and they totally could have called it, but my Dr. stayed calm, and it picked up again, as soon as i sat cross legged on the bed and didn't move it was OK. right about now Lance tells me he isn't going in the OR with me! he can't handle the smell of blood, and the amniotic fluid made him sick enough to vomit during other deliveries. so i am screwed! i am having an emergency c-section, and going alone to do it!?! damn it! so i say" you better get my mom here to go in with me". this was the first delivery she wasn't coming to because of a family party! so he calls and she rushed down and went in with me. So it gave us a minute to decide. the Dr. said if it dropped again they'd rush me in and do a c-section. great! so much for no drugs and natural delivery! My Dr. gives me two options, 1. i can get an epidural so he can try to push the arm back over the babies head again and maybe I'd get to deliver naturally or 2. i can have an epidural or a spinal block and go ahead and have a c-section. but be reminded, if the heart rate drops again, no options, emergency c-section then and there! no time to waste, the anesthesiologist is waiting in the hall to do whatever! so i asked the Dr. what is the chance he can fix the arm from over his head? and what is the likelyhood that i am gonna have a c-section anyway? and hurt in two places? He said it was pretty likely I'd end up with the c-section. SO i decide I'd rather go ahead and have the c-section than try to go natural and still have to do the c-section anyway. well they give me the spinal block in the OR and then i lay on the table, ready to have a c-section, hating the fact the dang nurse was right and i am laying there waiting for the delivery, making jokes about looking like a beached whale! all while i feel totally mortified that i have to do it this way and with my mom with me, not my husband! but i feel a little better about it because the dr. is letting me take pictures of my stuff ,during the c-section, I wanted to see it all, since I couldn't watch. I asked for a tummy tuck while he was down there too, but he wouldn't hook me up. anyway just before he made the cut, he checked me again, just to make sure nothing had changed and the c-section was totally necessary, and while he was checking me, the baby grabbed his finger, and wouldn't let go! the Dr. said the baby wanted to shake his hand before he met him. So Pierce my #6 seriously wanted to make his appearance on his own terms. the c-section went fine but the cord was wrapped once which we didn't know and probably caused the heart rate to drop every time i laid on my side. , i got some awesome pictures of my brand new fresh out of the womb, bloody baby boy, and my uterus! and yeah! i was mortified my the whole experience. and the next day they wanted me to walk around with a catheter! yeah right! there is no way in heck that was happening! they had the head nurse trying to demand it, then my dr came in and made them take out the catheter, and i had to walk. it was so lame , and then i got a spinal headache! and since i was sitting up having my kids visit me, and not laying in agony like i had been before the kids came , he assumed it was only minor and would go away with meds and caffeine and get this, chocolate, which some times works. but i had to have a blood patch the next day, just to make the whole experience a little more traumatic! they take blood out of your arm and essentially make a scab over the leak in the spinal column where the spinal fluid is leaking out. and It stops the horrible pain from the spinal head ache! see there is a reason i am not a fan of the epidural! ( the first two kids i had them with, the epidural didn't work, i could feel everything and had to have shots for the stitches, so for kids 3,4,& 5- I went without) it was number 6 that killed it all! ok so here is the recap for you

• pregnant with #6 , 2 months after having a treatment dose of radioactive iodine for thyroid cancer.

• two sacs! i almost have a heart attack! and this while i am joking with my dr. that "there is only one right!" while he is silent trying to find the two heartbeats.and only found one. i passed the bonus one a few weeks later. and spotted for awhile.
  

• more sick and tired than i have ever been during a pregnancy, not to mention mean and cranky, while my husband is trying to get his bachelors degree finished and do an internship with 5 kids , 7 and under and I'd barely had thyroid cancer surgery and radiation and then get pregnant and am totally ill!

• High blood pressure the whole time, and at the end early stages pre enclampsia
• induction gone wrong-including magnesium sulfate, strep B drugs and pitocin
  
• water breaks -baby's arm stuck above baby's head, can't progress from no pressure
• Dr. attempts to shove baby's hand over baby's head multiple times- OUCH!
• cruising the bedpan, peeing in public and on command-not my strong suit
  
• baby's heart rate dropped
  
• butt in the air on all fours! in public- bare! have i mentioned i am not thin and i have body image issues?
• emergency c-section and hubby refuses to go in OR with me!
  
• decide better to have one sore spot than two and go for the epidural and c-section-the odds were against me for a safe natural delivery. I go in totally feeling defeated!
  
• spinal block - it worked well thankfully
  
• fat lady, on a small ,cold table ,making beached whale jokes! with my mom or a nurse taking pictures for me .
  
• baby grabs DR's hand during last pelvic exam to make sure i really had to have the c-section
  
• cord wrapped once around baby's neck
  
• baby born! my first words after seeing him "ewww, he looks like an alien. go wash him up."
• fight with head nurse about taking laps with a catheter! i won!
  
• freaking spinal headache from spinal fluid leaking out the spinal block hole. worst headache ever. the f-word was used to the nurse on the intercom, since i blacked out and my heart rate was racing from the pain. when i called for help they didn't answer and took their sweet time getting to me after i pushed the button and then asked stupid questions.
  
• a consult with anesthesiologist while my kids are visiting, wrong diagnosis made, extra 24 hours with spinal headache
• night nurse made an executive decision and didn't give me the right pain meds for the headache or the c-section. horrible pain from her stupid choice.
  
• finally a blood patch- and orders to drink lots of caffeine and eat chocolate! and some bonus barbiturates for good measure.
  
• and finally go home with a newborn and a fresh c-section to 5 kids, 3 of which were starting school the next day! (hubby had to take them to meet the teacher)
• major postpartum depression -but i had expected it this time around. and was prepared. it gets worse every time.
  
• and this made it so i had 6 kids under 8years old. but i wouldn't have it any other way!
  

after all of these horrible events Pierce is the best baby ever! happy and smiley, and friendly too! sometimes i think this was all to teach me to be humble and to not make any assumptions about what to expect in my life and to learn to adapt and get over the crap life brings me. he did have acid reflux and lactose intolerance issues just to make it harder in the beginning and tubes by 7 months old , but i survived! he is 14 months old today! and a wild happy guy that loves to hang with his big brothers and sisters and be independent! i don't think he knows he is a baby still!