You've Got To Go Through Hell Before You Get To Heaven
Katie: It was Sunday September 4th, I awoke in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom for about the 3rd time that evening. Nothing unusual about that at this point in my pregnancy, however there was an extra "release" of fluid when I went. Hmmm, that's strange, but I am sure it's nothing. I got back in bed. About an hour later I awoke in a puddle. OK, that's something to take note of. I immediately called Shiela, our midwife to see what she thought so that I could let Will know what to do. We discussed that it was most likely my bag of waters opening. She would check me on Monday, but it was probably best to get Will home sooner than later. After paging Will a couple of times, I slept very little. I was excited and a little nervous about starting labor already with out him home. Finally he called around 9am and we decided that he needed to get home as soon as possible.
Will: On the morning of Monday September 5th, I woke up in my dusty trailer and noticed the little red light blinking on my pager. Katie's water had broken. It was our worst case scenario ... I had to get home fast from Black Rock City on Exodus day ... when 10,000 slow-moving cars stood between me and my wife.
With help from my campmates, I quickly packed my bags and my trailer, and as I was about to set foot in my car to drive off, I overheard somebody say that I-80 was closed both ways in Reno due to accidents on the freeway. Rather than risk getting bogged down in gridlock, I decided to check this playa rumor.
Flying Home from Burning Man |
Katie: While Will was getting off the playa and home to mama, I spent the day preparing with Natalie. She went shopping for me. We finished up the last of the organizing stuff we needed to do. I cancelled dinner at my mom's house that night. It seemed our little one was on her way and she would be early.
Will: But it was critical that I was home, because by late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, her contractions (we call them "surges") were occurring in the 4-1-1 pattern (1 minute surges, 4 minutes apart, for 1 hour) signifying impending active labor. We called in the birth team, set up the rented birthing tub in the living room, filled it up, took care of Katie, and waited. And waited ... and waited ...
While the surges kept on, and were increasingly painful, the labor wasn't progressing. The baby was quite content to hang out right where it was, as Katie's body was being brutalized. She would regularly seize up with the worst pain she's ever felt in her life, her lower back, upper legs and uterus full-on cramping. The problem was, it wasn't labor ... just horrible cramping.
We tried everything from herbs to Tylenol, stretching to acupuncture, showers to soaks in the tub, cranio-sacral work to network chiropractic, emotional soul-searching and psychological purging. And NOTHING worked. She didn't sleep more than about an hour at a stretch in those 5 days.
On Thursday night, after four days of this torture, we went to the hospital to have them load her up with a shot of morphine to conk her out (therapeutic rest, they call it) so she could at least sleep for one night, and hopefully the surges would stop. The morphine was supposed to knock her out for 6-8 hours, and it only lasted 2 hours ... and the surges continued, only now that she was relaxed they were even worse.
Epidural Relief |
At 8:30am, dilated only to 7 centimeters, the OB decided to insert an intra-uterine catheter probe (IUCP) to determine the strength and location of the contractions so they could determine how much more pitocin would be appropriate. When it was inserted, Katie immediately started to cough and convulse, her eyesight and hearing suddenly impaired ... she couldn't feel her fingers. She'd experienced a vasovagal nerve response. The vagus nerve runs from the base of your brain down the center of your body, enervating all the major organs in your body. When triggered, everything goes haywire, fast ... and it did. They say that you feel as if you're actually dying ... and that's what Katie thought. In reaction to this stress, the baby's heart decelerated dangerously low for about two minutes. They rushed Katie into the OR, and the team went into action, preparing for surgery.
Katie: Even as I was having this horrible overwhelming reaction, I felt a certain clarity. I was hopeful that they could stabilize us both and avoid the c-section, but as the shaking grew worse, I knew a c-section was inevitable. I was feeling sorry for having failed at delivering our child in a more gentle and natural way. Even through the convulsions, I asked the OB to allow the cord to stop pulsing before they cut it, but unfortunately that was impossible in this emergency situation. It was only after they delivered Ellaven and she was in such bad shape that I realized how precarious our situation was and how much distress she was in. This was the scariest feeling of being completely helpless and truly at the mercy of the medical team caring for us. Immediately following the birth, I was so grateful for the capabilities of our medical team and their incredible skills. I knew in my heart that we would both be OK.
Intensive Care |
I was haunted by the question of whether Ellaven was at risk of suffering brain damage from the oxygen deprivation she'd experienced. All this time, I didn't want to ask because I was afraid of the answer. I finally mustered the courage to ask, and the nurses assured me that even with all this, she was getting more oxygen now than she had been in utero, and that wasn't a concern.
After a couple hours, I forced myself to leave Ellaven and went down to see Katie. Once she was able to move her legs, they let her leave the recovery room, and we rolled her up to the nursery so she could see Ellaven. By this time, Ellaven's color was more pink, and her lungs were working significantly less hard. But when Katie entered the nursery, and was able to touch and hold her, Ellaven seemed to click into reality, her shocked system suddenly settled, and for the first time I felt like she was going to be OK.
Katie Holds Ellaven |
The Transport Rig |
Ellaven and Katie, Day 1 |
As it turned out, the NICU was more of a precautionary measure than a medically-necessary one (after four hours she was breathing room air on her own), and though she was stuck with needles, suctioned, spinal tapped, connected to cables, wires and tubes, and had to druck an annoying IV attachment on her hand, she still had it better than the other little kids (mostly preemies) in the NICU. I felt for those parents, and felt strangely guilty as we watched Ellaven settle into herself, get grounded, and start to thrive.
Ellaven and Dad, Day 2 |
Ellaven, Day 3 |
Katie's VIP Wristbands |
About Ellaven's Name
Ellaven, 9 Days Old |
We're excited to see what this kid has in store for us.
The Pants Family |