Kelsie's birth did not happen at all like I planned. I had a well written a birth plan that stated exactly what I had in mind for her arrival. I wanted to allow her to come naturally with as little intervention as possible and I was planning to attempt to deliver naturally without an epidural. As with all good plans that did not happen at all.
My due date was January 4, 2006 and I was HUGE! Everyone kept saying I would have her early and that there was no way I would go past my due date etc, etc. My childbirth class teacher even joked each class that I would not make it to the next one. Especially since I started to swell terribly and had some problems with high blood pressure towards the end. Well they were all wrong!
My due date came and went with no signs of labor in sight. My obstetrician had even scheduled me to be induced on my due date, but the hospital didn't have room for me. I was 80% effaced, but barely dilated enough to even count it when she checked me at my last appointment. I did everything I knew to do to try to naturally bring on labor to no avail.
Well the Saturday (Jan 7) after my due date I woke up feeling bad. My back was really hurting terribly and I just didn't feel like myself. We were supposed to go to my friend's daughter's birthday that day, but I knew I wasn't up for it. I told Mike to go ahead with out me and I would be fine. I am so thankful he didn't listen to me! By noon that day I really felt sick, so I took my temperature. I had a little bit of one, but nothing that would be of too much concern. We monitored it for a few hours and it slowly, but steadily began to climb. Finally we called the doctor on call and he said to go on into the hospital.
As soon as I got into a room they took my temperature and it was around 101 at that point. They decided to start me on IV fluids, but I was so dehydrated that they had a terrible time getting the IV into my arm. The nurse I had was apparently the best nurse they had in the labor and delivery department and she was about to call an anesthesiologist because of how many times it took her to get it in, but she finally got it on the last time she was going to try! They hooked me up to all kinds of monitors mostly to monitor Kelsie and make sure she wasn't in distress and then they gave me some extra strength Tylenol in an attempt to get my temperature down.
Sadly it didn't work. Over the course of several more hours my temperature continued to climb until it reached 103. I felt horrible, but my main concern was for Kelsie. At that point they became very concerned about Kelsie, because the temperature in utero is a degree higher than what I was running. The nurse pushed the doctor into performing an emergency c-section, because she suspected that I had an infection of the amniotic fluid.
I was so weak that I had a really hard time sitting up and holding onto the nurse when they put the IV into my back. I was terrified that I was going to move and cause them to injure me, but I didn't and everything went in fine. The doctor warned me that the surgery was going to make me even sicker, but I didn't realize how true that was! I don't remember much about the surgery, but I remember distinctly hearing Kelsie cry in what seemed like 2 seconds after they put the curtain up and asking Mike is that our baby? I couldn't understand how she came out so quickly. Mike brought her over to see me for a few seconds, but then they whisked her away to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Mike followed her and I was alone through the rest of the surgery.
The main two things I remember about the rest of the surgery is shaking uncontrollably and feeling extremely cold. My reaction to being cold is always to try to warm my hands between my knees, so the anesthesiologist had to tell me several times not to put my hands under the sheet. I was so delirious from being sick it didn't register that I was cut open under there. He kept trying to cover me with more blankets, but I just couldn't get warm because my fever spiked even higher during the surgery.
I am so thankful that we had such a wonderful nurse when I went into the hospital if it wasn't for her I don't think the doctor would have taken Kelsie when he did and I don't know what that would have done to her. Luckily as it turned out she did not have any negative effects from the infection of the amniotic fluid and she was born healthy.
Kelsie Jean Wright was welcomed into the world January 8, 2006 at 1:08 am. She weighed 8lbs 8.8ozs and was 201/4 inches long. We always joke the 8 is going to be her lucky number!
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