HOW
JASON CAME INTO THE WORLD
3
weeks of bedrest
Thursday,
March 11, 1999. At a routine examination (27 weeks of gestation),
the obstetrician discovered that I had an opening of 1 cm. I had
to come back one week later for a follow-up.
On March
18th, I returned to the doctor where she diagnosed
an opening of 2 to 3 cm with bulging membranes. I had to go to
the hospital immediately for further examination.
So, I walked
to the NYU Hospital where I had to check in in the "Labor &
Delivery" department. I was told it was not excluded that I would
have to stay there. I called Victor to ask him to come over and
to bring a few things.
They attached
2 strips around my belly, 1 to measure the contractions and 1
to check the heart rate of the baby. I also received potasium
chloride (water) through an IV. Nothing special happened and the
waiting for my doctor seemed endless. After 2 hours, she came
to see me and she discovered 2 contractions on the print-out of
the monitor. The gestational age of the baby was 27 weeks and
I would have to remain in the hospital until 34 weeks on complete
bedrest. The news came as a chock. I first didn't realize what
was happening. That day, I had been to the office like every other
day and now, I was laying in the hospital for more than a month
?
I was transferred
to another room in the same department where they gave me magnesium
sulfide through the same IV. The effect was horrible. I felt sick,
I got palpitations and I felt like I was a torch. Later, the effects
disappeared and I felt better.
The next
day, it slowly dawned on to me what it meant to be on complete
bedrest. I was not aloud to go to the bathroom and I had to use
a bedpan. I was not aloud to sit upright either. The medical personnel
was very friendly but they obviously had never been in the same
situation. I received chicken breast to eat that obviously had
to be cut first, I was supposed to drink from a cup but didn't
get a straw with it and I received a bassinet with water to wash
myself and for the rest, I had to figure out for myself how to
handle all this without sitting up.
The next
day, I was transferred to the "post partum" department (maternity)
where I had a roommate who was expecting twins. The first days
were the most difficult for me. Luckily, I got familiar with the
hospital routines quite quickly and the nurses were very nice.
After a few days, I got transferred again to another room, where
I was at the window side and where I had a nice view and more
space to put things.
Every day,
I received 2 injections to avoid coagulation of the blood and
once a week, I got a series of 4 injections with steroids (Dex)
to accelerate the development of the baby's lungs in case it would
be born too early. Every 3 days, I got a new IV and now and then
they drew blood. I felt like a piece of Swiss cheese. They also
made a sonogram.
Two weeks
went by. My situation was stable and I felt pretty good. Victor
tried to come over every day and regularly my colleagues came
to visit me or called me as did my parents and some friends from
Belgium. I liked the food and my situation was followed very accurately.
At Eastern,
I got some good news. I was aloud to use the bedpan on a commode
at 1 m from my bed. I also received permission to go to the bathroom
once a day (at 5 m. from my bed) and I could take a shower ! Hooray,
hooray. The shower was great.
2 days later,
when I was aloud to take a shower again, I felt light contractions.
I got turbitaline injections to stop them and my shower was postponed.
That week, it went up and down, injections, stabilization, injections,
stabilization, injections….
On Saturday
night, April 10th, it appeared that the turbitaline
was not sufficient to stop the contractions. The nurses and the
resident doctor were constantly in contact with my doctor. Each
time, they received a new order for more injections and the personnel
that had to administer them was very annoyed. The problem was
that I had palpitations as a side effect of the medication and
in order to improve my breathing, they gave me an oxygen mask.
That night, I have been transferred to the "Labor & Delivery"
department where again, I received magnesium chloride.
In the morning,
Victor came with beautiful flowers. I was lying there in that
bed steaming under the effect of the magnesium and because of
the palpitations, I hardly had the strength to speak. As the baby's
heart rate and the contractions were monitored constantly, I could
hardly move 'cause if I moved, the sensor would also move and
the, then I would quickly lose the baby's heart rate. I also started
to have bleedings, the whole day long and I was not able to use
the bedpan independently. I felt dirty, sweaty, exhausted and
totally drugged. The food that day was restricted to a cup of
chicken broth, a cup of water ice and a cup of jello. Victor was
very impressed and told me later he thought I was dying.
I was very
well aware that additional injections wouldn't change the situation
and that I was ready to give birth. I advised Victor not to leave
the hospital until a doctor had come by to see me. Then, the resident
doctor came with an additional order from my doctor of 5 terbutaline
injections. As it was clear after this statement that my doctor
didn't feel like delivering the baby on a Sunday night, I told
Victor to give the telephone number of his job to the nurses and
to go home to sleep.
I then felt
asleep (or lost consciousness) and after 10 minutes, my doctor
was standing at my bedside. She examined me and told me very coolly,
"OK, you are fully dialated, you are now going to the delivery
room". The tone she used to tell me that would be the same if
she would have told me "Here you have your soup, later, you will
get your potatoes and veggies". I couldn't believe what was happening.
Victor had just left the hospital and was making a trip home that
would take him at least an hour. There was no other option that
to call home and leave a message on the answering machine with
the request to return to the hospital immediately.
The
delivery
From my
dark room, I was wheeled into the delivery room. It was just like
if I had arrived in a space shuttle. On top of me, there were
huge round lamps hanging as flying saucers and at my feet, there
was a table where a whole arsenal of glimmering pliers, scissors
and knives were exhibited.. I felt on one hand relieved that the
whole ordeal would soon be over, enraged because Victor didn't
had the chance to be there and afraid because I felt totally unprepared.
I asked
for water to drink, but I couldn't as this wouldn't be sterile.
I had to roll over on the delivery bed and felt the doctor doing
all kinds of things - which were quite painful. "
"Would you
please tell me what you are doing ?" I asked her. "Oh, we are
putting a catheter in your blather". I wondered whether I could
pee or not now. More explanation would certainly have been appreciated.
I was ready and the "team" was now gazing at the monitor to wait
for the next contraction. It didn't take a long time…
Suddenly
everybody shouted "Push !!!". I was totally confused and started
to breath like when breathing into a contraction. "No, stop breathing",
they shouted. I understood I had to put strength into it, but
in the position I was, that was totally impossible. I didn't have
any support in my back and because of the terrible pain, I just
didn't know what to do. I was aloud to sit up and hold my legs.
"Push as if you were having a bowel movement", they screamed.
Now, I learned
in my prenatal fitness class to isolate those muscles and to relax
the middle (vaginal) muscles. The instructions were thus completely
the opposite and made me feel very insecure. I decided then to
ignore all the screaming and shouting (except the breathing instructions
in, out, in, push 1, 2, 3,…) and to concentrate on the relaxation
of the middle (vaginal) muscles. Once I achieved this, I felt
the birth canal opening up, a flush of water sprayed all the attendants
around me and after 2 contractions, Jason was born.
Immediately,
Jason was brought behind a curtain where a team of "neonatologists"
was awaiting to check and take care of him. I was thinking that
even if I would have had the possibility to have him with me,
it would have been very difficult as the doctor was busy pulling
the placenta out of me, then poking in my belly and starting knitting
me up.
"Did I have
an episiotomy", I asked, totally unnecessarily. "It looks like
you are making a quilt". It seemed like there came no end at the
knitting. I just hoped everything had been all right without too
much damage and I felt very angry because of the poor communication
with my doctor.
I was brought
in the recovery room where an other women was breastfeeding her
newborn. I was aloud to drink and felt very happy I could drink
without a straw for the first time since a long time. Everything
was over now and the baby was OK. I was quite happy and relieved
when Victor came in. He was surprised to see me happy and in good
shape and was ready to enter the delivery room with me. When I
handed over a blue card with the footprints of the baby and the
time of the delivery, he could hardly believe it. The delivery
had taken 20 minutes. Everything was over now, and he had missed
everything. He was terribly disappointed, but also happy that
everything was OK.
We looked
at each other and couldn't realize what had happened. Victor went
to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to see his son, Jason
and after 2 hours, I was brought to my room in the post partum
department.
Revalidation
The next
morning (Monday), I could take a shower, but I still felt very
weak. I was informed that I would be discharged on Tuesday, so
I had to make sure to be back on my feet quickly. My first attempt
to go to the shower failed. I felt like fainting and had to lay
down again. After an hour, it worked; but I had to sit down on
the bench in the shower to regain my strength.
At 11 AM,
the breastfeeding class was announced. I asked if I could follow
it the next day as I was still exhausted from the shower.
Victor came
by and brought me to Jason in a wheelchair. It was the first time
I could take a good look at my baby. He looked quite well and
the doctor was very positive about his condition.
At 10:30
PM, I had to attend the "discharge class" that was held for all
the mothers who would be kicked out the next day. We got instructions
about the revalidation and we also got some products to take care
of our episiotomy or C-section.
The next
day, I was able to visit Jason alone without wheelchair. At 11
AM, I went to the breastfeeding class and after the video, a Jewish
woman had fallen asleep. No wonder, the poor thing had had the
bad luck to delivery her baby right before midnight, which meant
that she had half a day less in the hospital.
Back
into the world
My return
home was very emotional. I felt very euphoric, very relieved,
but exhausted. I could hardly stand upon my feet. Back home, I
had the feeling I had spent a month in an other continent and
that I had had an experience comparable to a pilgrimage to Compostela.
In the meantime, it was spring and there were flowers everywhere.
I was back home ! Victor and I had become parents and Jason was
fine ! ***
In my correspondence,
I found an invitation for a birth class for which we had registered.
The course will be held in May. At that moment, Jason will be
1 month old…
