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Randie's Birth Story |
On November 13th at 1:00am I awoke as usual for one of my middle of the night washroom visits. I swung my leg over the side of the bed when I felt a gush of fluid come out. For a moment I felt that I had wet the bed unable to make it to the toilet. Randie is my first child so you can see how this could happen. I sat there for a moment in disbelief that this had just happened to me and then proceeded to get up to go to the toilet. At this time another gush of fluid came out and all the way to the washroom it continued. I knew then that this was not urine at all and that my water had broken.
The first thing I felt as I sat on the toilet was fear as I called out to my husband and told him that my water had just broken. He came running down the hall in disbelief himself. I don't recall crying at that time but I just kept saying. "This is too early, this is too early" Those were the only words I could get out and the fear was growing. Then my hubby called the hospital to tell them what had happened and they told him to get me to the hospital right away and to go to labour and delivery where they would be waiting for me. I called my mother to wake her and tell her we were on our way to the hospital.
The drive to the hospital felt endless, A 30 minute drive in the car felt like hours. The fear was growing as we drove. I kept thinking how early her gestation was and trying to calculate exactly how early it was as we drove. All kinds of terrible thoughts went through my mind that it was too early to have her and she would not make it. To think of losing your child is the most horrifying thing that could ever happen to someone.
Once we arrived at the hospital we went up to labour and delivery where they then checked me over and confirmed that indeed it was PROM (Premature Rupture of the Membranes). Why this happened we were never told and probably because there are no known facts as to why this happens. I was very overweight and did have gestational diabetes but whether or not that could have caused it we do not know.
Once I was settled in labour and delivery I was put on complete bed rest. They wanted to hold off the labour as long as possible. I could not get up to use the washroom or move at all. They brought in a special ICU air bed for me to use which took a lot of the pressure off of my body as it elevates you. Shortly afterwards they did an ultrasound to check the baby. As far as I knew everything was fine but not long after that they took me for another ultrasound with my doctor (Dr. Stephanie Winsor) present.
As it turns out Randie was head down and the umbilical cord was on top of her head. Not around her throat or anything like that but her head was pressing on the cord so my doctor told me that she was getting team together to take me down for an emergency c-section. She said it was better sooner than later to do the operation.
Not long after they came to take me down to the operating room. It was very difficult to transfer myself from the air bed I was on to the operating table. They had me sit on the edge of the table as they tried to give me an epidural. They wanted to use the epidural because they did not want to put me out because of my sleep apnea. They tried several times before I stated that I felt something was wrong and it felt like something was coming out of me. They had me lay back onto the operating table where they could see the umbilical cord had begun to make its way out.
At this time they started to rush about and one of the doctors told me that they had to put their hand up there to push the babies head back. Unknown to the doctors and me I was already 5cm dilated. The doctor put her hand in there to push the babies head back and push the cord back in. The pain was unbearable as I cried out and they all kept telling me to breathe normally etc. I tried as best I could to breathe normally while in this much pain but it was not easy. It seemed like I was more hyperventilating than breathing. Moments later (which seemed like an eternity) they put the mask over my face telling me to breathe as they knocked me out to perform the c-section.
It is hard to explain the emotions I felt at the time as they were so jumbled but being knocked out without knowing what is going to happen to your baby is the scariest thing I could imagine.
When I awoke in recovery I was told I had a beautiful baby girl and that she was doing great. I was very drugged at the time but I know those were the only words I was praying to hear. After that the rest was pretty much a blur.
After it is all said and done and the pain is over and I look back on it. I would do it a million times over again if it meant having our little Randie with us. She is truly a miracle and we have wanted her for so long. Dr. Winsor told me afterward that if it had have been even 5 minutes later that we went down to the operating room our little Randie would not have made it. We are so thankful and forever in her debt for saving the life of our angel. Little Randie was asphyxiated at birth but her heart rate was good throughout the procedure. We have a long battle ahead of us but in the end we are a family and that is all we have ever wanted. So for all you women out there that are about to be new moms don't worry so much because in the end it will be the best thing that could ever happen to you!
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