What a crazy delivery that was! Honour was due July 29th. He was scheduled to be born July 22nd because he would be my 4th c-section.
But, He was born July 11th.
"Why?"... you might ask. Well, it wouldn't be a Tera Amsbury's baby delivery if there was no drama!
Here's how it all went down....
The whole pregnancy was not fun. Aside from the general nausea, discomfort and fatigue...
The first trimester I had a major gush of blood that made me and David think I had miscarried. I went into the doctor for an ultrasound the next day and it turned out that the placenta just detached a little from the uterine wall and reattached. It made sort of a "blood blister". Well, that burst causing the bleed. So, all was tentatively OK. But, I had to take it really easily for the rest of the pregnancy and started going to the maternal fetal medicine doctor at that point - every 2 weeks for the rest of the pregnancy.
Starting at 16 weeks gestation, I had to start getting Progesterone shots weekly. They are the worst shots I have ever had. It took about a minute for the serum to get into my tush. PAIN! Then I would have a bruise at the shot site for a week... Just in time to make a new one on the other cheek. But, starting at about the last 3 shots I began to get allergic reactions to the shots. The last one I had put me into Anaphylaxis shock... basically I was quickly losing the ability to breathe because my throat was closing. I had to quickly use the med the MFM gave me to counter-act the reaction. It is like an epi-pen. At that point I stopped getting the shots.
Then, I started having painful contractions continuously. They caused a major sting on the site of my previous c-sections. The thought was that my uterus might be rupturing. So, back to MFM. Turned out it was just breaking up of the scar tissue. Nothing they could do about that kind of pain.
Then I started contracting like I was in labor. So, back to the hospital. This time, I was dilated to 1.5 and 70 effaced. The problem was that I was only 34 weeks along. So, the doctors decided to let me go home and take it easy. They also treated me for a UTI. Once I started that medicine all the contraction stopped. So, that must have been the problem making me contract and dilate.
From the point that I started the UTI medicine and had no more contractions, I thought that Honour would never come because I did not have any more strong contractions. That was a little frustrating, but a little nice because the sting at my c-section site was milder.
But also at that point I started to get Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction or Pelvic Girdle Pain. I dealt with that for the last 3 weeks of pregnancy and was just miserable. It apparently affects 1 in 35 pregnant women and cause intense and severe pain in the pelvic region making it excruciating to move/walk, sit, lift legs, adjust in bed, etc. I was in pain all the time.
I just wanted Honour out!
Then, when all was normal on Saturday night, David and I were watching a movie. We sat and ate popcorn, drank juice, just being together... I started to have back spasms around 10 pm, but I just blew that off to pregnancy discomfort. We went to bed about 11:30. The back pain was driving me nuts! Then shortly afterwards I started shivering. That turned into violent uncontrollable shaking. Then I began to vomit. It was getting so bad. So, to calm me down, I decided to go take a bath. I was in the tub for about 5 minutes. I got out once I was relaxed and feeling normal again paying attention to the temperature so I wouldn't over heat.
But, when I got out of the tub the shaking and vomiting resumed.
I had David check me, and I was still the same 1.5 cm dilated. Nothing was happening to my cervix. But, because I was having other intense things going on, we decided to go to the hospital anyway.
It was about 1:30 in the morning at the time so we had to wait for our friend, Crystal to come over and stay with the rest of our kids.
Once she got to our house we were out with a throw-up bucket and blanket in hand. On the way to the hospital I couldn't stop throwing up and began to feel faint. David made all the calls to my doctor and phoned ahead to the Labor and delivery letting them know the situation and that we were quickly on the way.
Once at the hospital, I was wheeled in from the parking lot up to the L&D floor.
Everyone was waiting for us up on labor and delivery. I was quickly placed in a room and began violently vomiting, so then I just began to dry heave. The nurses did a brief exam and learned that I had a 103+ temperature.
Once I was put on the bed, monitors were hooked up to me and 2 doctors came in the room. The monitors were picking up really fast heart rates from Honour. So, an ultrasound was quickly placed on my belly to confirm what was being heard. And, that was that Honour's heart rate, which was normally 140 bpm was up to 230 bpm. When everyone realized that they all got really quiet and all I heard from everyone in the room including David was “He needs to come out now." "We can't wait any longer" "We don't have time for a spinal." "She needs to be intabated now."
I became very scared and just looked for David. I began to cry when I looked at his somber face that was just blank. I was in serious pain and shaking and terrified.
The next thing I heard was one of the doctors telling me they needed to do the surgery "right now." At that second I was wheeled to the OR. David was by my side and I kept asking him if Honour was going to be OK. He kept saying to me that Honour would be fine. But, he was so somber I couldn't be sure. I must have asked him over and over about ten times on the way to the OR. Once in the OR, within seconds I saw a mask being placed over my face and heard the words take deep slow breaths. I saw the other doctors suiting up and getting instruments in their hands... and I was out.
I had brief moments of suffocation as I began to wake up. My throat hurt from being intabated and I could feel the tube still in my throat. My stomach also killed from being cut. I started to panic and I cried that I couldn't breathe. I cried for them to make the pain go away. Even though I couldn't see anything, I heard David say by my bedside, "It's OK Tera, the machine is breathing for you and they are giving you more morphine...." Then, I fell asleep again.
I woke up about 3 hours later. Hurting. Scared. Wondering about Honour.
David was at my side. His face made me feel better. He told me that Honour was fine. He was in the NICU, but he was fine. Then he went on to tell me what happened...
Three doctors delivered Honour very quickly.The pulled him out bottom first because he was also breech. But he was so big that they also had to cut 20% of my stomach muscle to make more room. Because of my fever, even my uterus was hot. And, still no one knows why I was experiencing anything that I did. Honour was in the NICU under observation in case he had an infection. He was cultured and had to be in there for 48 hours.
They wheeled me down to the NICU after I was stabilized so I could see him. I got about 5 to 10 minutes at his crib side then had to be wheeled up to my room for my own monitoring.
About 12 hours later I was able to go see and hold my baby with some help.
It was all a very scary and crappy situation. But, after learning from David that Honour was safe and knowing that I would NEVER be pregnant ever again, I was beyond happy. I can't even explain the elation I felt. I was overwhelmed with happiness for the whole day despite the pain that I was in. I couldn't stop telling David how much I loved him and how happy I was.
And, now I have my baby safe and sound on my lap as I write this. In the end...
Is it all worth it??? Oh, Yeah!
Name: David Honour Amsbury
Birth Date: July 11, 2010
Weight: 8lbs 15 oz
Height: 20 in
Gestation: 37 weeks
The first time I saw Honour
A very proud daddy
The first time I held Honour
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