As I already had 5 children (all preemies) I was anything but pleased when my husband and I found out we were pregnant again. Yet despite that and the fact that all my pregnancies have been plagued with problems this pregnancy was a dream. I didn't have any complications, all my sonograms showed everything progressing normally and looking great. I was getting pregesterone shots every week. All in all everything was perfect.
Then in a flash everything went so very wrong. I woke up one morning at around 18 weeks I was in so much pain I could barely move. It seems that little Peyton had planted himself on my sciatic nerve. I spent the next several weeks shuttling back and forth between my chiropractor and physical therapy. The pain was so severe that I spent all the rest of my time on my couch, I couldn't even make it upstairs to my bedroom. Well it seems that all the pain hid the fact that I was contracting. When my doctor discovered I was put into the hospital where they gave me mag to get the contractions under control, and my two steroid shots for his lungs.
They sent me home on Brethine and strict bedrest, not that I could move anyway. So for a while everything seemed to hang about where it was. Then at about 26 weeks I kept contracting so I was shuttled back and forth to the hospital. My husband had to take FMLA because I couldn't care for myself or the kids. I really don't have any very clear memories of these weeks except that I was constantly in pain. Then at 28 (5) weeks my water broke.
When my husband wheeled me into the hospital that night I knew I wouldn't be leaving for the rest of my pregnancy no matter how long or short. I was scared and hurting so badly. I have had to totally unmedicated births, one of which was 70 hours, and I still have never suffered so badly. I could only lay in one position and cried even then, My nurses were so good to me, they took great care of me. Still nothing helped. They got the contractions back under control with Mag. They called in a maternal-fetal specialist and ran every test imaginable on the baby. The decision was made that we needed to wait as long as we could. The only time my husband left my side was when I made him go get something to eat. Our family stepped in and took over everything at home.
I was worried about my kids at home and my baby. Because I could not change positions I actually developed bedsores. Which was one thing I hope never to repeat. On the morning of Friday January 12, 2007 my doctors spent a lot more time in my room. They kept talking about wanting to wait. But I could tell they were worried. They had managed to stop my dilation at 3 cm, but the Mag had killed my reflexes so badly that about 5 pm they had to stop it.
Because my water had broken three days earlier the machines didn't pick up my contractions when they started back. Which happened about 30 mins after they stopped the Mag. They were so quick and painful my husband had to go fetch the nurses because I could barely speak. But for me this is where it became a nightmare. After finally getting a nurse (shift change) then getting the doc in, and realizing that the machine was wrong and I was in labor. Well my Doc was on his way to a C-section and told me he'd check on me in about 30 mins. He could tell I was in extreme pain so he gave me some morphine on top of the demerol I'd been given about 10 minutes earlier. I did not help at all, I was hurting so badly that it didn't even cause me to slur, no effect whatsoever.
Finally the anesthesiologist get there, but it was almost unbearable sitting up. I felt like if the pain got any worse I would lose my mind. I kept asking the poor man if he was almost done and when it was fianlly in and I was able to lay back done so he could run the test dose, it was too late. When I told the nurse to get the doctor, she just yelled at another nurse to get him and the NICU staff immediatly.
About 3 minutes later at 8:48 pm, Peyton Thomas Scott made his grand debut with the sweetest cry I've ever heard. He weighed 3 lbs 4 ozs and was 15 in long. I got to peek at him for a second before they whisked him away and I've never seen a prettier baby. And I got to see him again for a minute when he was being transported across town to a Level 3 NICU. I didn't get to go with him because I wasn't stable, but I sent his Daddy with him. So I spent the scariest night of my life alone which made everything seem worse. Especially when you know that across town someone else is taking care of your baby. He had to be on an oscillating ventilator for about a week, then a lower grade vent, then CPAP, then nasal cannula, then nothing, then nasal cannulla. The regular routine. We had him transported back to his birth hospital because the neonatologist there had treated 2 of our other preemies and we trusted him. Plus he went from being one of at least 30 babies in the NICU to being the only baby in the NICU at his birth hospital. We had to fight the first hospital to send him back, but as parents we need to do what is best for our babies. We had some issues at the NICU he was transported to. We consider ourselves lucky because after the first two days he did really well, no major complications. After 30 days in the NICU he went home on 2-11-07. As of today he is 6 weeks old and has been home for two weeks.
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