I got to thinking the other day that I have not shared the story of Jillian's birth here and it is something you get asked about a lot as a parent of a kid with many challenges, so lets take a little flash back to a year ago.
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| The day we found out I was pregnant with Jilli |
First of all, pregnant Amanda was sick, a lot. I puked all the time. Morning sickness was more like everyday sickness for the first 20+ weeks. I did not eat much either. This caused me to loose 30lb during the first trimester. The doctor I had at the time was not attentive, so I ended up switching doctors about 1/3 of the way into my pregnancy.
Around Halloween I went into the hospital on day because I had not felt Jillian moving all day. They wanted to check to see that everything was alright. I had been having a lot of pain, but was just ignoring it as normal pregnancy pains. Well I got to the hospital and it was a little more then just pains, it was contractions that were coming pretty close together. I spent the night in the hospital where they gave me shots to stop labor and then went home to bed rest. After a little over a week I was cleared to do things carefully. Our goal at that point was to make it to 34 weeks. I had contractions all day long every day. For hours at a time they would be 2-3 minutes apart and then they would space out to 20-40 minutes apart. They became normal, but no less painful.
I made it past the 34 week mark and to December 14th. That was the day I went on maternity leave. I went to bed early that night and woke up around 11pm feeling wet. I walked to the bathroom and realized my water had broken. I called for Brent who was super confused and told him we needed to go to the hospital. His first question was if he could have a shower first, lol. We got to the hospital around midnight. We came in through the ER and told the receptionist that I was in labor. She at that point was having a harder time with it then I was. She was completely panicked and I just stood there really wanting to go back to sleep. It was the first time in months that I was not really having contractions. My biggest complaint that night was heart burn. I remember wanting Tums but they had to get a doctor to authorize it in the middle of the night and that felt like forever. Don't mess with heart burn and a pregnant lady!
They got me up to the floor and confirmed that my water had broken and that I was not contracting a lot. They told me to get some rest because the next day would be hard. Around 7am they came in with meds to get labor going because I was still doing nothing. Mid morning visitors started to come. People would come in and out of the room and hang out.
A couple of times during the day the doctor went in and broke little water pockets that were still intact. Mid day sometime I got my epidural. That was an experience. First they kicked everyone out of the room... even Brent. I was left in the room was a nurse that was kinda cold and someone poking a very large needle in my back, twice. Yup, the first time it did not go in the right spot and we had to start over. It was super frustrating and painful. I remember crying but having to try to hold my tears in because they did not want me to move.
The hours went by and they kept upping the meds to get labor going and it just was not. By 5pm I was only at 3cm. I figured at that point that she was not coming naturally. As the evening went on the talks of a C-section were more and more and by 10pm I was starting to run a temp. The dr came in and said they were stopping meds and that we were going to need to go to the OR but we were just waiting for a different surgery to get done that should have been done hours before so no one was sure when it was going to end.
Around 10:30pm things started to move fast. The OR had opened up and things were moving quickly. Before we really knew it I was on my way in, but not before we all stopped to pray for a safe delivery.
The OR was the longest part of the day. I came in and said that I felt like I was going to puke. They told me they could not give me anything for that until she was out but as soon as we was out they would give me a lot of good meds. While they were cutting me open I could feel pressure but that was it. There was an anesthesiologist in the room who got a page while they were cutting me open. He suddenly became very occupied with that and was on the phone. Eventually he figured out that there were not patient rooms on the first floor in that hospital so the page must have been for Kenosha. Then she was born and I got to see her for the first time. Brent went with Jillian while they started to put me back together. This is where it gets long. Remember those meds, yea... I think the anesthesiologist was tired and a little distracted by that page, because he forgot, and I puked all over him with my stomach cut open. The lovely thing was that with my arms strapped down he made me hold my own puke bucket... I missed. The doctor yelled at him and he finally gave me something. He however did not do such a great job at keeping me from feeling what was going on. They had to stop surgery 3 times because the antithetic wore off 3 times and I could feel everything and started screaming in uncontrollable pain. This meant that putting me back together took 3 times longer then it should. That man was not my friend.
Once I was back together they took me right to the room because the recovery room was closed for the day. They said I had to wait an hour to see Jillian and I put up a fight. I said I wanted her now. They asked me if I was sure because I had just had surgery... um yea. So they brought her in and I attempted to nurse her for the first time before people came in to see us. Everyone else had seen her out in the hall but Brent would not let anyone else hold her until I got to. He was so protective of the two of us. By this point it was now after midnight and people wanted to head home and I was exhausted.
The next day the visitors started around 9am with Dan first. Thats the day Dan learned the importance of knocking before you enter a hospital room, lol! Honestly that day just kinda blends together with a sea of people. What I do remember of her was Brent and Dan changing diapers and her spitting up a lot.
On Sunday we had a few more visitors but it was slower and calmer. She was not a big fan of sleeping during the night and only wanted to sleep being held upright. Oh if we had known then. They had a hard time sometimes keeping enough blankets on the floor to deal with all of Jillian's puking. The assured me that some babies just swallow more coming out and that the vomiting would subside.
On Monday it was just Brent and I. They had us watch parenting videos before we left the hospital to come home.
Jillian came into this world in her own style and on her own timing. She has been one of a kind since day one and I would not trade her for the world. Sometimes it is exhausting looking back on this last year, but in other ways I see what we have come though and that makes the future a lot less scary. This year we had to rely on Him, each other and family and friends more then ever before. There has been little sleep and a few tears, but also a lot of joy. Even in days at the hospital we find joy. Joy that she is still with us. Joy that she is so happy. Joy that other people get to know her. It has been a year. A year I don't wish on anyone, but a year that is ours and has shaped us to be who we are today.
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