Oliver's Birth Story

In honor of Oliver's birthday this week, we are going to start off the week with his birth story.  So, if you are uninterested in or offended by effacement, dilation and contractions, you may want to skip this one.  (or if you don't like to read a lot)

  

I had Braxton Hicks contraction through most of the 3^rd trimester, if not longer.  But, about 2 weeks before Oliver was born, they started to get a little more uncomfortable.  I was making good progress several weeks before my due date and the doctor said she did not expect me to go past my due date.  (Which he didn’t.  He was born ON his due date, Nov. 9th).

Around 8pm on Sun, Nov. 8^th, I started to have contractions a little more consistently and starting to get a little more uncomfortable.  So, I went to lay down for a little bit while Andrew got Madeline ready for bed.  I downloaded a contraction timer onto my IPOD and started timing them.  They were starting to come about every 5 minutes or so. 

Around 10, I decided to call my doctor.  The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes.  The doctor said that sounded good and then asked how painful they were and I told him about a 2 or 3.  He then told me that he was looking for them to be so painful that I couldn’t walk or talk through them.  He said that maybe he could get me into the office tomorrow for an appointment.  But, as the hour went on, they started to get more and more painful.  So, I called him back and told him.  He said that I could come in and get checked out in triage.  He didn’t sound like he really believed me.

So, we left the house around 12:30am.  My parents were on their way up.  And Andrew’s mom had arrived at our house to stay the night with Madeline and then take her back to her house for the next few days.  We arrived at the hospital around 1:30am and were checked into the triage for monitoring.  I was sure that I was going to be about 6 cm.  But, I was still about 4cm from my last appointment and my contractions had actually slowed down and really weren’t that painful anymore.  But, my back was killing me.  I was worried that we were going to be sent back home.  But, my doctor made me walk around the hospital for an hour and see if I would make any more progress.  I was not too happy with him for this since my back was killing me and I was having contractions.  That hour felt like an eternity.  But, thankfully I did make some progress to about 4 ½-5cm.

Around 3:30am, I was admitted into a labor and delivery room and met my wonderful nurse.  My parents had finally made it up here.  Only 2 people were allowed in my room.  So, my mom stayed at the hospital while my dad went back to our house to sleep for the night.  I received my epidural pretty quickly and was started on a dose of ampicillin since I was GBS positive. 

Around 4am, the doctor came in and broke my water.  The nurse suggested not breaking it since I had just started the antibiotic and it is recommended to have it 4 hours prior to delivery.  But, he thought it would be ok.  I was feeling great with the epidural and was expecting to get a little rest for the next several hours. 

Around 5am, the epidural started to wear off on my right side.  This happened with Madeline as well.  I seem to get a spot that gets blocked from the epidural.  Things started to get extremely painful with each contraction.  And then I started to feel a lot of pressure.  I told the nurse that I thought he was coming. 

Around 5:30am, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated and effaced and he was ready to come.  He was born 15 minutes later. 

At 5:45am, Oliver Joel Glenn was born weighing 9lb 11oz.  He was perfect!

We were sent to a recovery room and I was feeling great.  I was able to get up and move around and really enjoy Oliver.  This was way different than with Madeline where I lost so much blood during and after her delivery that I passed out everytime I stood up. 

Oliver was taken to the nursery later in the morning to get some blood drawn since I was GBS positive and he was born less than 4 hours after I started the antibiotic.  His white count came back high so they took him again to draw some more blood.  Around dinnertime that night, I was on the phone talking to my brother when Andrew received a call from the neonatologist explaining her concerns with Oliver.  And then a NICU nurse practitioner came in to talk with us personally.  She told us that Oliver’s white blood count was high, indicating that his little body was trying to fight something.  We had no idea that he was sick.   He was not showing any signs.  They were assuming it was the GBS (Group Beta Strep) since I was positive for it.  And they took him from our room straight to the NICU to do a spinal tap and draw more blood to test if the infection was in his spinal fluid or blood.  And then start him on what ended up being 7 days of antibiotics.  They also took an x-ray of his lungs because they sounded like they had fluid in them.  As you can imagine, I was a little emotional as they whisked my newborn out of my unexpecting arms to go do a spinal tap on him and keep him for the next week. 

He was put on IV fluids and then a dose of Ampicillin every 12 hours and Gentamicin every 24 hours through the IV.  He started with an IV port in his left foot.  When that busted, it was moved to his right foot and it finally ended in his right arm.  He was given his last 2 doses with a shot because his port busted and they didn’t want to put in another IV when he was about to leave.  His blood and spinal cultures came back negative, meaning there was no infection in his blood or spinal fluid.  But, the x-ray did show that his right lung was foggy.  Which meant that the infection was in his lung, causing pneumonia. 

After 7 days of heavy antibiotics, he was discharged with a clean bill of health.  He will not have any side effects from the infection or the antibiotics that he was on. 

We had no idea that GBS was so serious.  When they tell you in the doctor’s office that you are positive, they never really tell you what it is or why it is important. GBS can cause death, mental retardation, hearing and vision loss and lung damage.  About 40% of women carry it, so it seems like no big deal.  But, if untreated it is really serious.  We are not really sure if Oliver would have been protected against if I had had the full 4 hours of antibiotics before he was born.  There is still a possibility of getting it even with the antibiotics.  The chances are just very slim.  Some doctors told us that he possibly could have still gotten it, but my antibiotics would have masked it longer and it wouldn’t have been caught so quickly.  So, he could have gotten much more sick before it was caught.  We don’t know.  We will certainly be more careful and persistent with the next baby to make sure I get the antibiotics.  But, we are so thankful to God that he protected our little baby and that he is healthy now.