amber & josh: Kambree's Arrival

Sunday December 8th, 2013...... 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant

I woke up at 3:30 am with some cramps that came with the normal contractions I had been having for a couple of weeks. I have never had any sort of pain with them, so I thought it was weird, but I didn't think that I was in labor. I started timing them just to be safe because I heard that early labor contractions just feel like cramping. By 4:00 am they were pretty regular and about 6 minutes apart, I decided to wait a full hour and wake Josh up at 4:30 am if they were staying regular. At 4:30 am the contractions had become about 5-6 minutes apart and at least 60 seconds long and a little bit more painful. I actually woke Josh up by grabbing his arm super tight during a contraction and he woke up and asked if I was OK, I told him that I thought I was in labor and he instantly jumped out of bed and said "OK! What do we need to do?"

I had already packed all of mine and Kambree's hospital items but just had some last minute things that I needed to pack up. I tried to gather my things while Josh packed a bag for himself. I feel like it took me forever to pack up those last few things because I couldn't focus and was too nervous and excited. We ate breakfast while I labored. I had always wanted to labor at home as long as I could before going to the hospital so I could be as comfortable as possible. I got in the bathtub to help with contractions, used my exercise ball, and just tried to relax in bed while I was laboring. By 6:30 my contractions were random but getting as close to 2-4 minutes apart so we decided to head to the hospital because there was a horrible blizzard the night before and we wanted to be able to take our time and drive safely to the hospital and also not have a baby on the freeway.

We made it to the hospital by 7:30 and the nurses were just giving shift report so we stood at the nurses station for a few minutes while they all chatted and were deciding who was going to take me to the triage room. After a few minutes of me moaning and breathing heavy at the nurses station, a nurse stood up and said "that is definitely real labor, let's just take her straight to a room instead of triage". I was already 100% effaced and 6cm dilated, which really surprised the nurse, and me! I got all hooked up to the monitors and had to lie flat in the bed uncomfortably for 20 minutes while they got a good baseline reading of the both of us. I finally was able to get up and walk around to help with contractions. I had always planned to go without an epidural, hence me laboring as long as possible at home, but they were getting really uncomfortable and I ended up deciding it would be best for me if I could just be comfortable and relax instead of having to be in so much pain. I got the epidural at 8:30 and it honestly didn't hurt at all, which was awesome.

At 11:45 the on call doctor came in and broke my water and I was about 7 cm by this time. By 1:45 I still was 7 cm so the doctor decided to start me on a low Pitocin drip to speed up my contractions. At 2:30 I had progressed to 9cm and shortly after that I was complete at 10cm and was ready to push. I was getting ready and the nurse came in and told me that she had to go to a C section and all the other nurses were helping deliver other babies, I guess everyone on the unit decided to all fully dilate at the same time. So I was put off an hour and was really bugged. About 45 minutes into waiting, a nurse came into the room and said she had been watching the monitors and couldn't see a heartbeat... my heart dropped and I instantly started crying and thinking "if I wasn't put off an hour, I could have had her by now, I hope nothing happens to her...". They turned me on my left side after trying to find the heartbeat with the external monitor and having no luck. The doctor came in and inserted an internal fetal monitoring device (a tiny screw that goes in Kambree's head) to get a more accurate heartbeat. After a minute, her heartbeat came back and was much clearer than with the external monitor.

I finally was able to start pushing at 5:00pm. I had Josh, my mom, and Sharon (step-mom) in the room with me. After two hours of pushing, Kambree still hadn't moved down in my pelvis at all. The doctor said I could push for one more hour or just go back and get a C section. Of course I wanted to push longer and try as hard as I could to not get surgery. The last hour I was in excruciating pain. I had gotten extra doses of my epidural and still was having horrible back labor. I felt like my whole back was broken and seized up. I tried as hard as I could to push. We tried so many different positions but Kambree would not move down. Towards the end, I was in so much pain and could barely sit up let alone grab my legs and crunch down and push, I would just scream out the whole time and say "I can't do another push". Josh was so good to keep telling me that I could do it and to push harder and giving me great encouragement. Finally at 8:30, after 3.5 hours of pushing, the doctor told me that I would need a C section. By this point, I just wanted her out, I was in so much pain.

We (Josh and I) got into the OR and I just remember lying on the table completely terrified while Josh held my hand and tried to calm me down. I hated watching the anesthesiologist push medication into my line and feeling the cold/burning medication and just hoping that I would be able to keep breathing because I had heard that the medication makes you feel like you can't breathe. The doctor started doing test spots to see if the medication was working and there was one spot that I felt them cutting me. The anesthesiologist tried more medication... still felt cutting... a different medication... still felt cutting. After trying a few different medications, including Propofol, there was still one spot that I would scream out because I could feel them cutting me. They ended up having to put me to sleep and intubate me and Josh had to be out of the room because they don't allow anyone in the room once the patient has to be intubated. Josh went out into the hall and collapsed on the floor and basically went into shock. They ended up having to put him on my patient bed that was out in the hallway. When Kambree was born, she was wide awake and looking around, and then all of a sudden she stopped breathing and they had to call a code. They did a few compressions on her and she snapped out of it... thankfully. (I am still asleep for all of this).

So after 16 hours of labor, 3.5 hours of pushing, a C section, having to be intubated, having my husband go into shock, and my baby having to get CPR... it was the craziest, most unexpected delivery that I could have imagined. The doctor who did the surgery told my family that the reason Kambree wouldn't move down in my pelvis was because my pelvic opening was too narrow. I will always have to have C sections due to this. He said that even if Kambree was 5 pounds, she wouldn't have fit, and I still would have needed a C section. This made me feel much much better about my labor because I felt like a failure having to get an epidural and trying to push as hard as possible with no success and having to end up getting a C section.

Kambree was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long. Not what we expected!!! My doctor didn't think she would be over 6 pounds because I was so small and my belly was so small and Josh and I were both small when we were born. SURPRISE!

I am recovering slowly. I have to try not to push it and learn to relax. I am not used to sitting all day, I like to be busy constantly, so it is hard for me to only be able to be up for 10 minutes and then have to rest because of the pain. Josh was able to take 7 days off of work and so with the weekend, we were able to get a full 9 days together. He has been amazing and has cleaned the house, has helped me with anything I need, and has just been the best ever. I am so grateful for him and all that he does for us.