Jake's Birthstory...boy was it a whirwind!

It was 2:45am on April 2.  I woke up dreaming of Criminal Minds episodes, I don’t really know why other than I love the show and watch it frequently in repeats. 

Easter was just two days earlier and all the family asked when the baby was coming.  I told them I probably wouldn’t make it to my due date but because I thought this- would probably be late.  Little did I know I was right.

After being awake I realized there was some *ahem* stuff going on, so I got up and went to the bathroom.  I came back to bed and again, needed to get up to go to the bathroom.  This time though it happened like it does in the movies…my water broke, all over the bathroom floor.

I was in shock.  Never did I think I would have this happen.  I just figured I was going in after my due date for another c-section.  As I’ve mentioned before I wanted to try for a VBAC (vaginal delivery after cesarean).  Well it looked like I was going to get my wish, though, after realizing it was in fact my water than at broken I wasn’t having any contractions.  I thought it was odd but quickly googled it on my phone to see it does happen and the contractions would probably start soon.

My husband was at work…of course because that’s how I knew it was going to happen if I went into labor at home.  Luckily I had already made a plan and called my mom, who was going to take me to the hospital then my mother-in-law who was coming to stay with Peyton.  I then tried to call Jeffrey, “no service to the party you are trying to reach’.  Ummm…what?!  Never had I ever gotten that before when I called him while at work.  I tried again, and again.  Same thing.  I was starting to freak…but then I remembered I made him give me the number to the station and the hotline number for dispatch to reach him if he were not at the station.  (sometimes I am brilliant…or I actually knew in the back of my mind this baby was coming early)

So I called the station where Jeffrey works and his co-worker literally hangs up on me frantically to go get him out of bed (an unusual night where he was on the tower and they weren’t on a call).  He calls me from his cell and I tell him head to the hospital because I am on my way.  He ends up getting there before we do haha.  He was flying!

Like I had read the contractions started.  Not too hard or too much but they were progressively getting harder.  With each contraction though, I felt more amniotic fluid.  Luckily I was sitting on a towel in my mom’s truck!

Got to the hospital and checked in around 5:30am.  Went to change into my gown and noticed when changing my pants the fluid had blood in it.  I asked the nurse setting up the room if that was normal and she said yes some blood was perfectly fine.  So I got in the bed, got all hooked up and waited for them to call my midwife.  She told them to call her when I got further along and to check to see how much progress I’d made.  As soon as she pulled back the sheet the look on her face was not good.  So I looked too.  The bed pad I was sitting on was filled with blood…not good.  She immediately went to call my midwife and get her to come in now.  The nurse came back and said that I was bleeding too heavily from what she had seen and wanted my midwife to check me just in case.  She asked if I had been told I had placenta previa and I told her no I had not.  I had several ultrasounds throughout and no one ever mentioned it, so I didn’t think so.  I was nervous but hoped Pat would bring good news when she got there.

Thirty minutes later the midwife arrived and check everything out.  She did check my cervix and I was 3cm.  She looked concerned but said she was going to let me go some more to see where that took us.  The monitor showed the baby's heart rate was fine and my contractions were progressing.  She said one of the doctors would be in for a c-section soon and she was going to get him to take a look at what was going on as well. 

One of the fears of trying a VBAC is bleeding from the previous incision and uterine rupture.  I could tell from the faces of the nurses and my midwife something was off, so I made one of the nurses tell me has she ever seen this before and was I probably going into surgery.  I didn’t want to play around I wanted to know what was going on.  She told me I was bleeding way too much and yes the doctor was probably going to say c-section.  By this time I had soaked two more bed pads. 

The doctor came in and immediately told them to prep me for surgery as soon as he saw the three blood soaked bed pads.  It was a whirlwind after that.  I was scared and devastated at the same time.  I really wanted to deliver this baby on my own but knew then what was best for both of us was the c-section. 

The whole time the baby was doing great…I was just losing a lot of blood and the doctor knew it wouldn’t be long before that affected Jake.  The nurses came in and did all the prep so fast I didn’t know what was going on.  I had seen the doctor at 6:45am and by 7am I was in the OR. 

Peyton was breech so I knew weeks before that she would come via c-section.  It was scheduled and everything went smoothly.  I was nervous because I’d never had any surgery or even stitches before but other than that I was at peace with the whole idea.  This time I was scared to death.  The doctor and midwife didn’t know why I was bleeding and if it were my uterus they had to act fast because it could have meant bad things for both me and the baby. 

It just seemed like everything went wrong.  My spinal did not numb me as much as it did with Peyton.  I still had sensation in my feet and though I felt no sharp pain of the knife cutting me I felt the tug of every layer of skin they went through.  It was very surreal.  The anesthesiologist and doctor assured me that it was ok and I wouldn’t know there was a gaping hole in my abdomen.  But I was in a panic.  What felt like an hour had only been minutes. 

Jeffrey had not been allowed back yet and I begged for them to get him to come in…I was certain he was going to miss the birth and I needed him because I was freaking out.  My nurse was so wonderful though she held my hands during the spinal, stayed by me head until Jeffrey got there and was the one who was straight up with me about what was going on.  I cried the whole time…my hormones and just being scared that something was wrong with Jake even though the monitor showed him to be fine. 

Because my spinal was spotty and not as strong as with Peyton the pressure of them pulling him out was unreal.  I felt every tug and pull and push.  And they were working so fast.  But as soon as he emerged I heard that little cry.

Jacob David Holt was born April 2 at 7:26am weighing 5lbs 6oz and 19in long.  A tiny little fella who came three weeks early and entered the world unscathed.  After they brought him to me to see and touch I saw the anesthesiologist go to push something in my IV.  I was told later it was some valium to settle me down because they had to work on me after they pulled Jake out.

Now what happened you ask?  Well it wasn’t my incision or my uterus; everything had set up perfect to do a VBAC.  What it was, was something very strange and something no one can explain. 

My placenta had torn.  Actually it had formed very differently.  There were 3 lobes all attached together, two small and one large.  The large one had infarction away from the other two and that’s what was bleeding.  Then on top of that the other two lobes were black, actually dead tissue.  They sent my placenta off to the lab for tests which came back inconclusive.  No one knows why my placenta formed into 3 pieces, nor do they know why it tore.  But my water broke because the sack had filled so much with blood it just broke.  Thankfully this did not affect Jake at all, so he wasn’t swimming in blood for too long that it would have gotten in his lungs. Also, iron levels are supposed to be at a 12 or around there and the lowest on the scale should be a 7…well I was at a 7.  They still are in shock I did not pass out prior to or during surgery.  I had been taking my prenatal vitamins along with an iron supplement because each baby had made me anemic, but had stopped for a week because I came down with a stomach virus for a week prior to having Jake.  They were making my virus even worse. And add to that, that I had lost a lot of blood.

Whew!  After all that by the Grace of God we were both fine…not a single issue afterward.  I attribute that to God of course and to Jeffrey’s Papaw in heaven, who’s birthday Jake was born on and is named after (middle name, same as Jeffrey’s also).  He took care of us and made sure God didn’t let anything happen.  And I thank them both everyday!