Special Scars ~ Special Women

I was 37 weeks pregnant when I went into labor. It started during dinner when I went to the restroom and discovered bloody show. Then the contractions started at around 10 pm.. very painful from the start. We alerted Alex’s grandma, since she was going to take care of him. I wasn’t convinced this was actually it. Michael was so sure though, telling his friends we were going to have a baby soon. I was starting to feel a pain near my c-section incision that was very distinct, something was not right and I knew it. It was really bad while standing and almost gone while sitting. Me being so paranoid, called the midwife to ask what she thinks. I explained my situation and she stayed on the phone with me through some contractions. She said its normal scar tissue pain and that I was in early labor. I still felt something was not right so I told her I was going in. I woke up Michael who had fallen asleep in the living room because it took so long to get a hold of a midwife that night for some reason. I never had to call more than once, except on that night. He then went to go pick up his mother, who came home to watch over our sleeping son. I kissed Alex before we left. It was about 3 am when we got to the hospital. The car ride there was very interesting, I barely felt any contractions and just knew we were going to be sent home. Starting thinking this was a waste of time, and even thought going back home! During the walk from the parking structure, I didn’t have any contractions, at all. I was really ready to just go back home. We got up to l&d and quickly got into a room. As soon as I changed into a gown and got on the monitors, the contractions hit HARD. Coming every 1-2 minutes with no breaks in between. The midwife came in about 20 minutes later to check me. As soon as she started she said “yeah you are pretty dilated!”. To my surprise, I was 8 cm dilated, 90% effaced with a bulging bag of water. I was ecstatic. I had a sense of determination for my VBAC. I KNEW this was going to happen. I got my epidural shortly after, because I was scared. Scared of I don’t know what. But no one talked me out of it, no one told me that I could do it without it. That is something a really regret. The midwife agreed that I should get one. Once it was put in, it lessened some relief for a bit, but eventually stopped working. Anesthesiologist had to keep coming in and putting medicine in my IV every 30 minutes because the pain was really bad at this point. I got checked again with no progress, I was stuck at a 9. Baby’s head was still very high and he was not completely over my cervix. At one point, an ob/gyn came in to break my water. She checked me first and it broke on its own during the check. She kept her hand in there to make sure no cord came out. I was checked again a few hours later, still no change. I was told that 9 to 10 was supposed to be the easiest dilation. My contractions were still on top of each other. A different midwife actually suggested pitocin!! My nurse thought she was crazy and said there was no way she was going to let her give me any. I then made the decision to go in for a repeat at 11:30 am. I didn’t feel comfortable laboring any more for some reason. I wanted a healthy baby, I didn’t want to risk stressing him out. I wanted to experience a birth that didn’t involve a NICU stay. I was told they would get me in to surgery in a hour. Michael and I talked about it some more and even though he really wanted for us to have a VBAC, he supported my decision. About 15 minutes after the decision was made, about 3 nurses rushed in. At first they didn’t tell me what was happening, they seemed very calm. They put me on my side and searched for his heart rate. They gave me oxygen and told me to breath deeply. They started talking about the OR, I freaked out. I heard his heart rate was in the 40s. I was bawling as chaos happened around me. Michael held me hand and said everything will be okay. I was then taken away very quickly. I consented to the c section while they rushed me through the halls. We got to the OR and I jumped, with numb legs, onto the operating table. I don’t know how I did that, but I knew I had to get on that table! They did a quick u/s and his heart rate was in the 30s. They checked that I was numb, then proceeded with the surgery. Within a minute, he was out. I heard a whimper and everyone yelled that baby was okay. I was relieved but also now worried about myself. I begged them to save me, I had two boys who depended in me. I needed to be okay for them. I remember hearing complete uterine rupture. This was the first time I found out what was going on. I was in disbelief. I was getting IVs put in at both wrists, they were extremely painful. The anesthesiologist, Johnathan, was by my head the whole time. The last thing I remember was him taking off my oxygen mask and putting on a different one. I asked if both were oxygen and he said “yes”. I was then put to sleep, without even knowing it. I woke up cold and shaking at around 4:00 pm. At least 7 people were surrounding me doing random things. I was told I was waking up from surgery. I was never told that I was going under. The nurse wrapped me up in a big bundle, I was freezing. They ended up calling Michael to come in. He showed me pictures and told me about our baby. He was in the NICU for monitoring but was perfectly healthy. I asked the nurse for some ice chips, they were amazing! My throat was so dry and sore from the breathing tube. I was taken to my l&d room again where I had to stay for an hour. At around 6:30 pm I was wheeled into the NICU to meet my baby. He looked just like Alexander! He nursed like a pro. I had a slight fever during labor so they treated him with antibiotics just in case. All cultures were negative though. I found out later that my uterus ruptured completely across the lower segment and even down vertically to my cervix. There was a urology consult during surgery because of suspected damage to my bladder. When they cut me open, Johnathan’s body, arm and cord were outside of my uterus in my abdominal cavity. He was minutes away from death. I ended up with two blood transfusions due to so much lost blood. We are extremely thankful that we had this outcome and that our baby is okay.