Carson David Lloyd

The story of getting Carson out of my uterus is very similar to getting him into it…difficult.

Friday, April 27 ended as any other night does in our house. Brent was finishing up watching something NASCAR on TV, so I went ahead and get in bed around 9:30, and he came in shortly after, and we both fell asleep. About 11:00, I woke up and rolled over in bed, and decided I needed to get up and use the bathroom. When I stood up, I felt a huge gush of liquid, and thought that I had peed my pants. I finished my business, and went back to the bedroom to get a clean pair of underwear, and the liquid started running down my leg. It took me a minute, but then I realized, my water had just broken!!

I woke Brent up and told him my water had broken, and it took him a minute because he was asleep, but then he sprung into action and grabbed the last few things for my bag, loaded the car, and kept me calm. I called the Dr.’s office and he told me to head on in. I thought it would be the longest car ride to Waterloo ever, but it turns out it wasn’t too bad, I wasn’t really even having any contractions yet.

Once we got to the hospital, a nurse checked the fluid to make sure it was my water breaking, and it was, and then she checked to see if I was dilated at all, and I wasn’t. They told me that baby had had a bowl movement inside, which is called meconium, so that was something we needed to watch. They got me all checked in, changed, and started an IV with fluids. They had to also get me an IV with antibiotics because I tested positive for Group B Strep, but that took several hours, because like anything else, I have to be difficult and be allergic to a lot of medicine. Eventually they got that started though.

I started having some mild contractions around 1:00 or 2:00, and for awhile they weren’t too bad. The whirl pool tub in the room provided some nice relief for me. Around 4, the contractions started to get worse and closer together, but when the nurse checked me, she said I was only dilated a fingertip, and I had to be 3 to 4 centimeters before I could get the epidural. Brent and I walked several laps around the labor and delivery floor trying to speed things up. That was fun.

We continued on like that for hours…I was in a lot of pain, but wasn’t progressed enough to get the drugs!! Around 10:00, Dr. Hintz came in and checked me, and to my surprise, he said I was 4-5 centimeters. I will save you all the details, but apparently my cervix is difficult as well, and once he checked me, it sort of “popped” open farther.

The anesthesiologist was called, and finally around 11 or so, she came in, and gave me the epidural. I was terrified of getting it, but it really wasn’t bad at all, and the contractions were so distracting, I honestly didn’t even mind that there was a giant needle being stuck in my spine.

The epidural was wonderful. It took away all the pain and made my legs feel tingly. But shortly after I got it, my blood pressure dropped and baby’s heartbeat stopped registering on the monitor. I freaked out internally while they gave me oxygen and called in Dr. Hintz. Luckily he was very relaxed, and stuck a monitor of some sort inside and put an electrode on baby’s head, and the heartbeat showed back up right away. I could breathe again, that was scary.

About an hour or so later, they decided to come in and stuck another tube inside me to measure how strong the contractions were, because I was only dilated to a 6 after more than 12 hours since my water had broken. They decided to give me some Pitocin to try and speed things along. It worked for awhile, and the contractions got stronger, but baby’s heartbeat would slow down during the contractions, so they kept adjusting the amount, turning it up and down. Luckily, with me being numb, I couldn’t feel it.

A couple of hours later, I was STILL at a 6, and baby was still not tolerating the contractions very well, so they nurses came in and put me in a lovely position, with my knees to my chest and my butt up in the air. Baby actually liked that better, as uncomfortable as it was, so we stayed that way for awhile. Eventually, I did dilate to an 8.

They came in to do an ultrasound to double check the baby’s position, and it turns out he was what they call sunny-side up, or with his face facing up instead of the back of his head. So Dr. Hintz tried to turn him with no luck. One of the nurses had me lay almost on my stomach on both sides for awhile trying to make baby mad enough to move, even though Dr. Hintz said it wouldn’t work. He was so convinced it wouldn’t work, that he told the nurse he would buy her a new car if it did. Unfortunately for her and for me, it didn’t.

The words c-section had been tossed around a couple times at this point, but finally Dr. Hintz said we will give it another hour or two, but with the size of your pelvis, the fact that you have a very protruding pubic bone, the fact that you’re not dilating past an 8 (I think we were there for over 2 hours, it’s a little blurry at this point) and the fact that the baby is face up, we can give it another hour or two, and then we will have to do a c-section.

An hour later, he came in and checked me again, and there were no changes. By this point the epidural was starting to wear off, I was exhausted, and I was terrified that I was going to have a c-section, the whole pregnancy that is what I said I didn’t want. I was in a lot of pain from the contractions, and I was just so ready to have the baby.

It took them about 30 minutes from then, but they wheeled me in and gave me some more good drugs in my catheter, and started the c-section. Luckily Brent was able to be in there with me, that really helped my anxiety.

About 15 minutes into the surgery, Carson David Lloyd was out. 8:04 P.M. on Saturday, April 28, 2012. He was so beautiful, and the tears just started coming when I saw him. Brent took lots of pictures. He came out crying like mad. He weighed 8 lbs. and 9 oz., and was 20 inches long. They had to suction out his lungs because of all the yucky stuff he inhaled, but 21 hours after we started, I finally had my little boy. Brent brought him over to me so I could see him, but since I was still having surgery, I didn’t get to hold him, which made me sad.

The c-section was painful. You’re numb, but you can still feel a lot of what they’re doing, and it’s not pleasant. The whole surgery lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. My Dr. is very meticulous, and I only have a very tiny little scar to show for it.

The recovery has been slow and painful, but every day I feel better, and I am so in love with my little man. He’s growing like a weed, already back up to his birth weight. Breastfeeding is not quite going how we planned, which I suppose shouldn’t surprise me. I can’t produce enough for his piggy ways, so we are supplementing with formula, and I am pumping and giving him breast milk in a bottle because he won’t stay latched on, and rather than frustrate both of us, we have found what works for us.