So I am three months postpartum and I feel like I am still processing my birth. So I wanted to hop on here and share my brief sharing with you guys.
On March 16th, I went in for my scheduled induction. At 37 weeks, I was being induced for gestational hypertension with both of my prior kids. I had gestational hypertension with my firstborn. He broke my water on his own, and he was born at 36 weeks and four days. So he was pre term on his own with my first daughter, which was my second child, I had gestational hypertension that turned into severe preclemcy. She was induced at 36 weeks and 2 days and was born at 36 weeks and 3 days. Mind you, both of my first two children were pre term and vaginal deliveries. So going in for a scheduled induction, making it to 37 weeks on the dot was a miracle. I had one term baby and I was so excited. With two vaginal deliveries, I was like, this is gonna be a breeze. Like I’m gonna be induced and I’m gonna have a baby and it’s gonna be amazing.
So exactly 37 weeks on March 16th, I went in and was starting my induction process. Went in, they gave me two options. They gave me the option of doing a medicine to soften my cervix and like dilate me, or I could do the balloon. So with my daughter, when I was induced with her, I had a great experience with the balloon. It dilated pretty fast. So I was like, well, why not do that? I’ve already done it before. So they placed the balloon and it went in and all was well. And around 1:00, I started like feeling contractions and I kind of let the nurses know and they’re like, yeah, no worries. You can feel like contractions and pains when you have the balloon in. And so I had the balloon in for maybe four hours and it was still in around 2:30. 30. I got up, I was like, honey, I got a pee to my husband and I got up to head to the bathroom and there was a gush of water. My water literally broke. And it was like the movie thing. It was crazy. I wasn’t like too panicked because with my first born, my water broke at home. And so I was like, all right, like things are progressing. Things are moving forward. So I like looked at my husband and I was like, click the call button. So like we can let the nurses know my water broke.
And I looked at my husband and I was like, did you click the call button? He goes, I click the red button. And I was like, no, not the red button, that’s the emergency button. So it’s a good laugh, whatever.
The nurses and my midwife came in. They cleaned me up. I checked my balloon and she just gave it a little tug and it popped right out. And she’s like, oh, you must be 4 cm. That came right out. So I was like, nice, 4 cm dilated. My water broke. Like things are progressing. This is great. They’re like, we’re gonna have a your nurse come in and place your Ivy in your arm and we have to monitor the baby before we can start petosan. So I was like, perfect, this is awesome. Let’s do it. So my nurse was on lunch break. So another nurse came in and she placed my Ivy and put the monitors on me. So I was hanging out, monitors was on. I was getting excited, you know, to start protesting. And at this point, my water broke at 2:30. And then it was so weird because my midwife didn’t come in until about 4:00 and my husband was hungry. So we ordered an early dinner. So I’m eating dinner at 4:00, waiting around for them to, you know, check my cervix and start potosin. And she walks in and she’s like, oh, I’m so sorry, you’re eating. Like, I can come back. And I was like, no, like, check me. Like, let’s go. Like I’m ready. So I hopped up on the bed and she did the cervical check. And she was in there for a while and I was, and I felt her feeling around and I was like, so my 4 cm. And she’s like, yeah. And I was like, what’s up? And she’s like, I think I feel umbilical cord. So I need to ask the doctor. But I’m pretty sure you’re gonna need a C section. And I looked at my husband and I looked at her and I was like, what a C section? She goes, I’m pretty sure you have a chord prolapse, which means you’re gonna have to have a C section. And I looked at my husband, I was like, I don’t wanna see section. I don’t wanna see section. I had two magical big births, like I don’t wanna see section. And with everything that I read online, I guess they’re supposed to keep your on their arm inside you with the chord collapses.
But in my scenario, my midwife, when she did the circle check, came in herself and then I guess she didn’t have a phone on her, so she went out to grab someone and within 10 seconds, she must hit a button and everybody comes rushing in the room. They drop my bed down and from being raised up, I went flat. They threw scrubs in my husband’s arms and said, dad, put these on. And my room was right across from the or and they just rush me right in. I didn’t even have any time to process it. So I went from being like, holy cow to I just like all emotions were shut off. I was just numb.
I remember looking up at the ceiling and I’m getting rushed into the, or I remember hearing there was a million people around me, someone being like, I’m not scrubbed up. So I don’t know what happened with that, but I get into the or and people are running around. Someone’s hooking me up to an Ivy, so it’s putting a blood pressure cough on me. There’s chaos. And then the doctor comes in and she’s like, everybody stop. And she ends up doing a serpal check just to slow everybody down. And she was like, I’m so sorry, there’s more coils coming out. We’re probably gonna have to put you under. And I’m just like, what is going on? So my daughter’s heart rate had a couple drops here and there, but it was nothing like completely like cut off. So the doctor was like, instead of trying to put her under, let’s try and see if we can get the spinal in.
So of course, everyone was on edge. They didn’t want a heart rate to drop, so they asked the anesthesiologist to lay me on my side to get the spinal in. So I remember there was people all around me. They laid me on my side and the anesthesiologists attempted to place that spinal three times in my back. Oh, my gosh, am I tell you, that hurt so bad. It hurt so bad. He looks at the doctor and he’s like, I can’t get it. We need to set her up. So, of course, everybody’s holding on to me. They sat me up. Hands are everywhere. Everyone’s on edge watching the monitor. Nikki teams in there, like everybody’s in there. And I set up, they’re like, Archer back as much as you can. They took off my nursing bra and within, I don’t know, 5 minutes of sitting up, he got the spinal in. They whipped me down. They laid me down. And I’m pretty sure they were already like going at it. And within, I say, five minutes, maybe even less, of me getting that spinal, the baby was out. She was out. Her head was out of my belly and she was crying. They pulled her out and she was still crying. And I just remember being so, just disconnected from my body. My husband got walked in like as they were cutting me, he was like, I did look, but I knew what was happening. She was out. They brought her over to the table. The Nikki team checked her out real quick and then they brought her to me. They laid a rate on my chest. I feel like with my first two kids, I cried. Like the emotions were high, like nothing else mattered. That baby was out. And then with my third baby, it was like, I don’t even remember if I cried or not. It was just, the emotions were everywhere. And I think it was just, everything was so fast and sudden, it was just overwhelming.
But I’m super thankful that I was able to be awake for this. I know that a lot of people aren’t able to be awake for chord collapses, and I’m so thankful that I was able to be awake and experience her birth.
I know that when I was doing Hacky after my daughter was born, the nurse was in the room with me. Because you did pack you in your labor and delivery room. Cuz at the hospital, you labored and delivered in the same room and recovered. So they wield me back across the hall to my room because my hospital has a AR in the women and children’s floor. So they will me back in. And I remember the nurse being like, I guess she was supposed to come in with the midwife when they did the cervical check. So I guess I got very lucky because if the scenario was worse, like who knows what could have happened? Like the midway came in on her own. She checked me. She didn’t leave her hand inside of me when we went to you. We’re, but like, of course, me being a patient and never understanding what a chord prolapses or anything about it, it was just overwhelming. And I remember being in the room just after having her like googling like, what is this like? Yeah, it was just wild. But I feel like I’ve been processing this birth trauma and my birth for, you know, a few months now, and I’ve just been wanting to talk about it. So I thought I’d share my story and just educate people on the chord prolapse.
It is a true medical emergency, and I know that I did not wanna see section. And I, and now I’m learning that there was nothing that I could have done to prevent this. It just is literally an automatic C section. There’s nothing you can do, especially with me only being 4 cm dilated and my water breaking on my own. My medical team did not break my water that early. So it was just kind of one of those scenarios that we just had to do. But very thankful that I now have a three month old and I’m recovering every day, getting stronger every day. It’s just and a whirlwind, but just wanted to share and talk about it and bring light to chord products. And if you guys have any questions, let me know. I’m happy to talk about it in more depth.