Everything was going great with this pregnancy until 33 weeks. I began to have shooting nerve pain in my back that made it difficult for me to breathe, then I started having light contractions. I went into the hospital, they let me know that the baby was kicking my nerve which made the back pain and they said that my contractions were Braxton Hicks. They sent me home telling me that I was being anxious and to relax. My whole family believed I was allowing my anxiety to take over, but something was still not feeling right. Four days later I ended up back in the hospital with contractions that were coming every 5 minutes for 1 minute, they tried many things to stop them, eventually giving me Magnesium Sulfate (the worst medication ever). To cover their bases they also gave me two steroid shots to develop the baby’s lungs just in case.
Everyone told me that it was impossible for the contractions to continue on the medication, I was unable to move for 36 hours, but I continued to feel light contractions, I was told it was in my head. Six hours off of the medication I was allowed to take a shower and while doing that I lost my mucus plug, but the nurse didn’t believe me saying that it was impossible. That was at 2pm on the 19th, contractions began to continue very lightly, I discovered that I do not have typical contractions that start at the top of the Uterus, the nurse would not put the belts where I told her I was feeling the pain, so she did not count them. At 6pm, I was very upset, everyone was making me feel crazy, my Father and my husband both said to suck it up and that I would be pregnant for another six weeks. I was balling, my Mother was holding me, trusting my instincts more than the others.
Finally I yelled at the nurse, I am not someone who is mean to staff but she refused to listen to me, I said just check my cervix, I know I am dilating. She said she would, but let me know that I was wrong. As she was checking me, her eyes bulged out of her head and her face went white, she said “Oh my gosh, you’re at a 3.5” I responded with, “I told you so, now get me my doctor”
My husband had gone home at this point believing that it was all in my head because that is how the staff treated me. It was just me and my Mother and the contractions began coming on strong. I labored until 3am, when I asked for an epidural. My Mother called my Husband letting him know that it was really happening. He arrived 30 minutes before I began pushing.
I pushed for only 20 minutes, the doctor came in, with a frown on her face and told me sternly to stop closing my eyes when I pushed. All of the sudden I felt a pressure and heard the sound of scissors, I looked at the doctor and asked her, “Did you just give me an episiotomy on a 5 pound baby?” Her response was “Of Course I did”. I was speechless.
My son was born with 4 NICU nurses in the room, he was taken immediately to the warmer, my husband could not even hold him. He was breathing fine, but they said protocol stated that he could not be held till the NICU doctors saw him. I did not see or hold my baby for 3 hours.
This whole experience taught me a lot, first and foremost that I needed to be my own advocate and that I needed to let my support personnel know my wishes the next time. I left that practice as soon as I had my post pardon visit and never went back.
