I had the perfect birth plan. But, nothing in it went as planned.
Saturday, 7/24/10, around 9pm. I started having mentrual-like cramps. I didn’t really think much of it because there were no other signs. At around 2am, I had the ”bloody show.” I was thinking to myself, labor could start any time now.
Sunday, 7/25/10. The menstrual-like cramps got more intense and seemed to follow a pattern. They were coming every 7 mins apart. The “bloody show” also increased. It was hard to sleep. As they have taught us in lamaze class and yoga, I breathed through each contraction which actually helped relieve it…even for a bit.
Monday, 7/26/10, 2am. The contractions grew more intense and were coming 5 to 7 mins apart. I couldn’t sleep through the night. When it seemed like the right time, I woke up Jiri, my husband, and asked him to bring me to the hospital. At 3am, we were at the labor and delivery examination area of Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Medical Center. I was asked to wait in the examination room while the doctor was called in. The doctor came in, asked about my contractions, placed me in a contraction monitor and did an internal exam. The graph showed contractions coming in 7 mins apart, and I was only 1cm dilated. Thus, I was sent home. Diagnosis: labor hasn’t started. So much for the effort.
At 12pm, my water bag broke. I immediately called Jiri and told him to bring me back to the hospital. I was thinking: “This is it.” The same routine was done and the doctor confirmed that my water bag did break and I was in early labor. However, I was still 2cm dilated. Irregardless, I was immediately wheeled into one of the birthing suites. The contractions at this point were coming 3 to 5mins apart and were getting more and more intense by the minute. Armed with all the techniques I learned from all those childbirth classes that we’ve attended, I tried to breathe through it all. It seemed to help quite a bit, but due to the intensity, I felt like I could pass out. Every 2-4 hours, a doctor would come in and do an internal exam to see how far dilated I was. I remained at 2cm.
In what seemed like forever, I finally succumbed to the epidural at around 10pm that night. The pain was just unbearable and the doctor told me they would put me in Pitocin to speed up the labor. I still wasn’t dilating as much as I should. Epidural is a wonder drug. It made the contractions bearable and I was even able to catch a nap through it all. At this point, I was fully hooked into monitors. One to monitor the strength and intensity of my contractions and another to monitor Jakub’s heartrate. I was also on IV, with a dose of pitocin and antibiotic. It made movement very limited. I felt like a cyborg.
Monday, 7/27/10. The next day came and I still wasn’t progressing very much. A fetal and maternal doctor came and told me about my options. Since I wasn’t dilating as much as I should, he told me they were going to infuse a synthetic version of my bag of waters. The water supply was running low and it would not be good for the baby. The contractions were also getting very very intense that even with the epidural, I was already starting to feel it. I kept increasing the amount of epidural, and even got to the point of calling the anesthesiologist to increase the dose. But to no avail. It is what it is. At approx 10am, the doctors came back to check on my progress. Dilation was at 7cm, but contractions were still 5mins apart. They did another internal exam and told me that the baby was not coming down to pelvic station 0. He is still in pelvic station -2. One of the reasons might be because he is facing upwards instead of downwards. He told me that as a last resort, they were going to try to turn the baby face down and pull him to station 0. At this point, I was ready to give up. I told him I wanted a c-section. He said that would be the last resort, but further convinced me that a vaginal birth is still the best option. I conceded.
The plan was to do the turning in the operating room in case a c-section becomes inevitable. After a few minutes, the nurse came back and gave Jiri his disposable scrub suit so he can be there with me during the whole procedure. I was then transferred into a gurney and wheeled into the operating room. The doctor came in, debriefed the team, Jiri and I about the procedure. A nurse anesthesiologist and another surgical team was on standby in case a c-section was to be performed. The procedure was painful. Despite the full dose of epidural that I received, I still felt too much pressure which translated into pain. I started to cry. The turning was successful. After 10 mins, the doctor declared that the baby was already face down, he is in 0 pelvic station, and I was already 10cm dilated. At this point, he told me to start pushing. Knowing that the end is near, I felt a sudden adrenaline surge and pushed with all my might. It actually made the pain less intense. But after 3 pushes, a heard beeping sounds and the sudden gush of people into the room. I was turned from side to side and was given the oxygen mask. I tried to protest. I hate masks. What’s going on? The last thing I heard was the nurse anesthesiologist saying: ”I’m going to knock her out now.” Then everything went blank. At 12:07pm, Jakub Isagani Melichar came into this world.
I woke up shivering with Jiri by my side. He told me they had to do an emergency c-section since Jakub’s heart rate dropped. He further told me that everything was all right and the baby is safe. At this point, everything was a blur. All I could remember was my whole body shaking so bad from all the meds and hormonal changes that my system went through. After a few hours when I awoke, they transferred me to the postpartum recovery room where Jiri and I stayed for the next 3 days. Jakub was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and it was not until the second day when I got to see him.
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