Introducing Melody Camille
On May 25, 2016, our world changed forever. Melody Camille arrived! She was born at 9:42 p.m., weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect in every way possible. See below for yourself:
My Pregnancy
My pregnancy had its share of ups and downs. As I mentioned before, we had our scare with genetic testing. It was discovered at my 24 week ultrasound that I had a low-lying placenta. I also failed my first glucose screening, and I had to take the dreaded 3 hour version of the glucose screening. Luckily I passed in the end and did not have gestational diabetes.
Two weeks before Melody arrived, we had a slight scare when her movement dramatically decreased. We went in to the hospital for monitoring and luckily all was well with Melody. I started having contractions around this time, but since they were not close enough together, I wasn't admitted to the hospital.
Our last scare was about a week before she was born at my last doctor's visit. Her heart rate was really high and I was measuring about 3 weeks farther along than I was. I had to have an ultrasound to check her measurement and I had to be hooked up to monitors for about an hour to make sure all was good with her heart. It turns out I had a lot of amniotic fluid which caused me to measure farther along, and her heart rate was actually high only when she was super active.
However, in the big scheme of things, I had a very normal pregnancy. My doctor had very little concerns about me or Melody throughout the 9 months.
Melody's Birth Story
Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, May 25, I started having really painful contractions. They were lasting about a minute and would come every 4-5 minutes. I debated for an hour or so whether it was the real thing or not. I even went and took a bath thinking maybe that would help ease the pain or, if it didn't, it would let me know if this was real or not. Around 4:30 a.m., I called my doctor's office to see what they recommend I do. My doctor originally told me to only go to the ER if my water broke or if the contractions were so painful I could not walk or talk. That was not the case with these contractions, but since they were so close together, I was unsure. The office told me I could either wait until 8 when they opened and stop by to be checked for dilation, or I could go to the ER. She said if I went to the ER, there was a good chance I would be sent home, but it was my choice.
I tried to rest and wait until 8, but around 5:30, the pain was just too much. We decided to make a trip to the hospital. Brad took a shower, and I finished packing a few last minute things in case this was really IT! We were at the hospital around 6 a.m. getting checked in at the ER. The hospital we used has 4 LDR (labor, delivery, recover) rooms. When we arrived, all 4 were already being used, so they sent us to a mother/baby/triage room. This room was very similar to a typical mother/baby room, but it had a bit more equipment that would allow you to be prepped before entering the LDR room.
The doctor monitored me for about an hour or two. I was dilated 3 cm, and my contractions were consistent enough that he decided to go ahead and admit me. The doctor came in and broke my water, then we called for the epidural. The epidural was much more painful than I had expected it to be, but it did its job at the time and that was what mattered. The day went semi smoothly at least for a few hours. About the time I reached 7 cm, my epidural had completely worn off. They tried to up the medicine, but when they would, it would cause Melody's heart rate to decline. The doctor remained positive throughout the entire process, but I was not prepared for giving birth without an epidural.
At shift change, the new anesthesiologist was able to try something with my epidural that helped a bit with the pain. Unfortunately it did not take the pain away, but it did help. The doctor also decided to up the pitocin. Because I was in so much pain, they wanted to speed up the process. Unfortunately it caused me more pain, but the thought was the pain would end sooner. Even though I was the one in pain, I felt awful for Brad and our families especially looking back. Brad was so helpless and I know that was extremely difficult for him. He hated seeing me in all the pain. And there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to help me. Because I was in so much pain, I wanted Brad's focus solely on me. That meant he was unable to really keep our families updated on my progress. They went about 2-3 hours without an update which I know was difficult for them.
Around 8 p.m. they let me start pushing. Again, the epidural had completely worn off, so I felt everything. Brad was such a trooper throughout all of my pain. It all seems like a blur to me and it is truly unreal how much you forget the pain, but I know for Brad, he remembers everything. My doctor really tried to lighten the mood and was full of jokes throughout my pushing. That wasn't helpful for me, but it may have been for Brad. After about an hour and a half, Melody arrived and all the pain was worth it.
Her and I spent about an hour skin-to-skin cuddling. She was just so perfect even with all of her bruising and stork bites. I wouldn't change a thing about her. After an hour or so, the nurse gave Melody her first bath and took all of her measurements. Brad was finally able to update our families on all that had happened.
Then things took a turn. I started having postpartum hemorrhaging. The nurses tried different things to try and stop the bleeding. In all honesty, it is a blur what all happened. It seems like everything that did happen occurred minutes after deliver, but when I talk to Brad and our family, it was really hours later. The bleeding was so bad, our families were unable to really stay after Melody's birth. They each came in the room, saw her, and left. Then the nurses had to call the doctor back in to look at my bleeding. Apparently the methods they used were unsuccessful, and the next step was surgery.
As soon as the surgical team arrived, I was wheeled back to the OR. Brad and my parents took care of each other and Melody while I was in surgery. The first surgery performed was a dilation and curettage (D&C). Unfortunately that surgery did not work, but the surgeons knew this while I was still being operated on, so they opted for the second surgery. It was a balloon tamponade. Basically they inserted a balloon into my uterus and filled it with saline. On Friday, they slowly started removing the saline until it was completely drained. Then they removed the balloon. This surgery seemed to have fixed the hemorrhaging.
The recovery was challenging, but it was all worth it in the end. We have sweet Melody in our arms now, and we are at home adjusting to our new life as a family of three!! You should also check out Brad's blog post about Miss Melody!
