Caleigh Michele Anderson

I know that I am bad about making/returning/initiating phone calls. I recognize that. So in an effort to share our labor and delivery story with everyone I am going to blog it, then when we get a chance to catch up on the phone we can talk about other things, like how cute my new little baby is! ;-) Here is our story...

Monday 12/27/2010

I went in to the doctors for my regular 37 week appointment. I knew my blood pressure was rising a little because my feet had started to swell, but I didn't think much of it. I borrowed a blood pressure machine from Molly's mom and had been checking it the night before, it wasn't good. 155/106 was the highest I experienced while at home. By the time I reached the doctors things weren't any better. My doctor checked my pressure 6 times; it was, at its lowest, 148/106. Needless to say, I was sent STRAIGHT to the hospital. Dr. Benge wouldn't even let me go home to pick up John.


I was admitted to the triage unit for testing and monitoring, but within an hour I was checked into the hospital. I began a 24 hour pee test that would be looking for protein my urine, which would indicate pre-eclampsia. At this point, there was no thought in my head that we would be induced because I didn't think it was a big deal that I was swelling. Little did I know that blood pressure is one of the only things that my doctor will DEFINITELY induce you for! So, about 10 hours into my pee test my container tipped over and all my pee was contaminated by the ice water in the bucket!! You have no idea how much it sucks to cry over spilled pee! ;-)


Tuesday 12/28/2010

8 o'clock in the morning

After starting my pee test over, I was really trying to stay positive because I wasn't sure what was going on. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to wait long to find out what God had planned for our little Cali-gal! Dr. Benge came in at 8 in the morning and told me they were inducing me because throughout the night my blood pressures never came down. It took 2 hours for them to check me into labor and delivery. We were moved from an ante-partum room to a SUITE in labor and delivery. Seriously, we could have fit a football field in our room. It was awesome.


10 o'clock in the morning

Because of my blood pressure, not only did I have to be induced, but I needed to be treated for blood pressure problems. I was started on an IV drip called Magnesium, which is a natural muscle relaxer. I was not allowed to do anything but lay in bed because of my pressures rising every time I stood. With the blood pressure taken care of I was given Cervadil at 10 am...and then the games began! Cervadil is inserted behind the cervix and it is supposed to soften the cervix so the contractions can help it dilate. The bummer is that cervadil takes 12 hours to work, and at the time of insertion I was only 1 1/2 centimeters.


10 o'clock in the evening

After the 12 hours of "softening", I was a whopping 2 centimeters!! They began pitocin at 10 pm to help my contractions start up, which sounds ironic since we have been trying to stop my contractions for the last 7 weeks! Remember that magnesium though? It's a muscle relaxer, so all of my contractions that I had been having for weeks were now being stopped by my blood pressure medicine. BAH HUM BUG!!


Wednesday 12/29/2010

9 o'clock in the morning

After contracting all night long and feeling the effects of the magnesium (which includes, but is not limited to headache, flushing, dizziness, nausea) I was barely, barely, barely 3 centimeters. To help get things going, Dr. Benge broke my water around 9 o'clock in the morning. I am actually surprised at how getting your water broke feels. It really didn't hurt at all; it was actually a HUGE relief to let all that water out. They inserted an internal monitor to help monitor my contractions and a catheter so I wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom anymore.


1 o'clock in the afternoon

It took me about 4 hours to dilate another centimeter, which is really unfortunate considering I was a second time laborer and I should have dilated 1 centimeter/half hour. But because of the magnesium it was slowing all of my contractions to 2-5 minutes apart, so instead of increasing my progress I was slowing my progress. What a sad sad predicament, my health or a fast delivery. On hind sight a fast delivery may have helped my health, but I'm not a doctor!


3 o'clock in the afternoon

First epidural inserted. I wanted to try this delivery naturally, but with the conflicting medicines being used on me I couldn't handle the overwhelming contractions and the overwhelming SUCKY feeling from the magnesium. Sadly, the first epidural didn't take. My whole right side was numb, but my left side was not. I could feel everything on the left and the worst part was that Caleigh was on my left. So each contraction squeezed her and I felt each one.


5 o'clock in the evening

Second epidural inserted. The anesthesiologist must have seriously upped my epidural meds because when it did take my legs were so numb that I couldn't feel a thing. BUT only my legs and stomach were numb, the only thing NOT NUMB was the center of my body (including my who-ha!) Again it took me another 4 hours to dilate another centimeter. SAD SAD! It was at this point that the nurses informed me that if I wasn't 8 centimeters by 8 o'clock they were going to take me for a c-section. Yikes, at my current rate I wouldn't be 8 centimeters for another 12 hours because it was taking me 4 hours per centimeter.


7 o'clock in the evening

Yay, I was 7 centimeters! Getting what little relief I got from the epidural was apparently enough for the nurses to turn the pitocin all the way up and get me going. And I must say that I was praising God at this point because I really didn't want a c-section; not because I was afraid of surgery, but because I knew I could do it if I was just given enough time. I told every nurse that came in my room, "Tell Dr. Benge, I can do it!" They must have thought I was crazy, but it was very important to me that I be given the chance to try.

8 o'clock in the evening

8 centimeters…9 centimeters…9 ¼ centimeters…9 ½ centimeters…9 and just a little at the top centimeters. At one point I told the nurse I needed to push, but was shot down because just a few minutes earlier I was still on 9 centimeters. The nurse actually walked out of the room and told me I needed more time. That’s when I looked at John and said, NO REALLY I NEED TO PUSH! That’s when the nausea hit…Let’s just say that when you can’t move and you’re flat on your back, throwing up isn’t pretty! I literally threw up the worst bile I have ever seen/smelled/heard in my life! It was in my hair, in my ear, down my back, on my blood pressure cuff, and pretty much EVERYWHERE on the right side of my bed. The nurse the n walks in and says, “Oh she must be ready to push; vomiting is a sign of delivery!” REALLY?

I started pushing with every contraction, but because of the magnesium each contraction was about 2-3 minutes apart, which sounds lovely because then I could “rest” in between each contraction, but when the baby is in your birth canal you don’t really WANT to extend the time in between each push. You just want them OUT! It took me about 20 minutes to get her head to crown (which sadly is ALL the time it took me to get Hailey out; 19 minutes flat!) And that’s when they asked me to stop pushing. I know it’s for my own good to wait, but that’s probably one of the most uncomfortable and painful things to do when they baby is crowing, stop pushing!! I tried to wait, but ultimately I couldn’t. I pushed her out before the doctor and my body were ready. It was such a relief though to have her out!

9:06 in the evening

Caleigh Michele Anderson was born!! She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. She scored a 9/9 on her apgar, which means she was very healthy from the moment she came out. Her head was misshaped and her nose was broken, but we were assured that all of that would go back to normal overtime.

I plan to update our blog with all the hospital and health drama tomorrow. Thank you for all of your prayers, support and love. At this time I am still on bed rest, so please feel free to stop by. We would love to show off our newest addition!

Love you long time,
JME