Alexis Isabella Lavallee

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Birth Story (Long)

Alexis Isabella Lavallee
November 20, 2010 @ 10:52a
7lb 15 oz
20.25 inches

Sooooo...as you are well aware, I was planning a birth center delivery with a midwife. Totally unmedicated and as non-hospital as possible. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be. =(

In the last few weeks of my pregnancy, I developed gestational hypertention which means I became allergic to the placenta and the only way to "cure" it is to deliver the baby. I was put on bed rest at week 39 in hopes that my BP would stay below 140/80 but it did not. They were performing tests on me every day whether it was a NST or blood test or urine test, you name it, they did it. My midwives officially dubbed me high risk 2 days before my due date and transferred me to an ob/gyn.

I saw a different doctor everyday from the date that my case was transferred. They were all really great but I felt misplaced. They all had different risk levels they were comfortable with and the doctor I saw on Friday, November 19th decided that it was no longer safe for me or baby to continue on. I believe my BP was 161/83 that morning. The real risk for gestational hypertention is seizure, placental abruption or stroke. They've seen people seiz at much lower BPs so I was immediately transferred to the hospital for an emergency induction. Do you see where this is going?

They gave me cytotec and in 4 hours I was still only dilated to 2cm. At that point, I believe my BP had spiked to 175/117 (somewhere around there) so they administered magnesium sulfate and gave me another dose cytotec. Let me tell you about mag sulf. It is the devil's drug and is probably used to torture prisoners of war. It is an evil medicine. It feels like someone has thrown gasoline on you and tossed a lit match. OUCH!!! Plus, once it was administered it means that I was confined to the bed and my only labor options were left side or right side. Do you know how hard it is to labor and those are your only two options?!?!

About two hours after the 2nd cytotec I coughed, my water broke and things really got rolling. Long story short, I went from 2cm to 8cm in 2 hours. My contractions were lasting between 2-3 minutes and were peaking 2-3 times. I was getting about a 15 second break between contractions. Finally at 8cm, after an extremely emotional and physical day, I screamed for the epidural. They administered it about 30 minutes later and my labor practically stopped. Oh, and my BP dipped so low they had to give me meds to speed it back up. How's that for ironic?

So, because the epi slowed my labor they gave me pitocin to speed it back up. I hated the way the epi made me feel so I demanded that they turn it off, which they did. A few hours later I was pushing and had her out in about 7 pushes or under 50 minutes.

She was born "sunny side up" which explained some of the intense pain. Of course most of that was brought on by all of the meds they had me on.

Needless to say, my labor and delivery was as far from my plan as possible. The only thing that would have made it worse was if I needed c-section. Thank goodness I did not. Our ultimate goal was a healthy mom and baby which we got so I can't complain. However, I am still having a tough time accepting the hand I was dealt and have been mourning the loss of what I felt was best for baby.

Lexi is healthy and beautiful and is more than I could have hoped for. Everyday is something new and we are figuring it out together.

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