It has been almost two weeks. It's so nice to have been home longer than we stayed in the hospital (4 days). We are all smitten (even Jacob), and I just can't get enough of this beautiful creature who has come into our lives.
I always like to share my kids' birth stories, but because of the nature of this one, I realized it's important to get this typed down for posterity's sake (especially Juliana's), and for anyone else who's interested. Every birth is a spiritual and sacred experience, but this one went above and beyond the norm and retaught us the lesson that miracles never ceases, so long as there is faith in Jesus Christ.
It all started with watching the movie, The Croods January 12. Jed and I were having some down time and I noticed the contractions coming, but their frequency wasn’t consistent. They were 5 min apart, then 11, then 3, then 7. But they were getting more intense. The longer we sat there, the more I was wondering if we should go in. I did some other things, like squats (so fun!), to see if they would intensify and become more frequent. Well, an hour later or so, I called the on-call midwife to see what she would suggest. She said that since I was dilated to a 4 ½, and lived so far away, the hospital would not turn me away. She said to call her back once we decided what we were going to do. It was around 10 p.m. and we thought about if we waited and then something happened in the middle of the night then we would have to wake someone up to come over and stay with the boys. We decided to go in! I was so nervous and anxious, not ready to believe that it was actually go time.
I decided that our neighbor Azucena Salomone would be a perfect help in this position. Ironically, when I called her, I woke her up. Oops! She said she would be happy to help, but that she needed someone to come over early because she had a 9 am meeting to go to. Oh well - we would figure something out in the meantime. While I’m talking with her, Jed is running around grabbing the last minute stuff to put in the bags I had already packed a couple weeks earlier.
Finally, we were on the road heading to Mountain Point Medical Center in Lehi. Oh my goodness! I was so worried that my contractions would stop and they would need to induce me. We get there, get checked in and I get my gown on. It’s go time! That was around 11 pm.
Hours later, after walking the halls, sitting on the ball, walking some more, I had only dilated a centimeter more; this was taking forever! The midwife on call, Josie Jensen, told me to let her know when I would like my water broken. That made me nervous because then what would happen? Nothing happened after they broke my water for Adam or Jacob and I was afraid they would have to give me pitocin. Finally, around 4, and being almost a 6, I told her to break my water. That way I could also “lounge” in the tub and easily transition to full dilation. Haha, what was I thinking? She broke my water and I had to wait a bit while they monitored the baby half an hour after. Finally I was able to get in the tub, which was super nice to have - except my contractions were really picking up. Wait, what? Was this really happening? I didn't fully appreciate it then, but this was a major blessing to me and an answer to prayer: I didn't need medicine to help me fully dilate!
When I got in the tub, I was getting more uncomfortable and Jed would help by applying counter pressure. I think I got to a 7 while in the tub when I got too uncomfortable and wanted to try other positions. Jed was awesome trying to distract me and being very available for squeezing as I leaned against him trying to relieve the pain. By that point, I was wanting an epidural and called for Josie. She came in but instead of talking about an epidural, she just helped Jed and I work through the contractions. By then they seemed to be right on top of each other with little to no relief between each one. I didn’t think I could handle them. I was standing up swaying with Jed, but the more intense they became, the more I shook and wanted to cry out. Josie kept saying to not let them grip me and I kept control as best I could. Then my legs started shaking and I was just getting tired of standing. We went to my bed where it transformed to a chair of sorts. There, Jed and Josie pushed on my knees. Amazingly I got some relief as the contractions had longer time in between each one. I was nearly there, but it still felt like it was taking forever. I kind of guessed that I needed to push, but mostly I just wanted to speed things up.
This is where things get fuzzy. A few pushes later, baby girl comes into the world, with only a first degree tear. Yay! They brought a mirror over for me to watch, but unfortunately, my eyes were shut most of the time because of the effort of pushing and the intense pain. Jed almost got to help deliver her but with the shoulder dystocia things got a little complicated and Josie stepped, and together we got her out! They laid Juliana on my chest while they cleaned up and worked on getting the placenta out. I was so shaky because of the shock and crying because of the whole experience, I was afraid I would drop her. I can’t remember how long I held her, but a new pain was distracting me. Getting the placenta out has always been the worst part for me and without an epidural, it was excruciating. It was taking forever to get out. Josie was doing everything she could, even gently tugging on the cord to get it out but nothing was working. I could tell she was getting worried and I learned that we needed to get it out before 30 minutes had past after birth. Once the half hour had passed, she was calling for the doctor who would perform a D&C (take out the placenta with his hands). I’m glad that didn’t happen, even though I was still in such immense pain. She suggested if I needed to push to go ahead and do it. The doctor still wasn’t there, but I did a few pushes and finally felt the placenta come out, but there was a weird noise when it happened. Apparently, I shot out a bunch of blood too, about 1 liter just on the floor, they estimated. When the doctor came in, he told Josie it looked like a scene in a horror movie. The blood was splattered all over the wall, even reaching up to the tv that was high up on the wall and on Josie and anyone in range.
The next part is fuzzy as well because I was in terrible pain and discomfort, even after the placenta came out. The nurses and Josie kept asking me if I knew my name and if I knew where I was. I remember getting those answers right and wondering why they were even asking me that. I felt it was a bit dramatic, since I had no clue what I had just shot out of me. Since so much blood came out, they were worried that I might have blood clots and they wanted to get me into surgery to take care of those. So they wheeled me into surgery, leaving Jed and Juliana alone with the mess I had made. Poor guy.
The before they put me under, I was still in incredible pain and so I didn’t care what happened as they helped me shimmy on to the operating table. Next thing, I was waking up in ICU with a tendency to fall asleep every 30 minutes. Over the course of the next couple of days from visits from the doctors who were there in the OR with me, we both found out what really happened: my uterus was inverted due to my placenta that had attached itself so well to it that it pulled it nearly inside out. It’s a very rare condition and the main thing doctors do to keep the patient from hemorrhaging to death is to perform a hysterectomy. There are a couple of textbook ways to try and fix it without removing the uterus, and I’m not sure if any of them were done. One doctor, though, had an idea that wasn’t “textbook” at all. He suggested that he and another doctor attempt to push sides of the uterus out to its original form. The doctor agreed and created an incision and pushed it to it's original form. They waited 20 minutes to see if the bleeding would stop and miracle of miracles, it did. They glued me back together (no stitches) and carted me off to the ICU for recovery. I had lost in total about 3 liters of blood and they gave me a transfusion somewhere in there, but since I was unconscious, I have no idea when. Both the doctor who had the amazing idea and Josie said that God was in that room. The doctor said he hoped we believe in God because He was there. And I believe it.
This is where things get fuzzy. A few pushes later, baby girl comes into the world, with only a first degree tear. Yay! They brought a mirror over for me to watch, but unfortunately, my eyes were shut most of the time because of the effort of pushing and the intense pain. Jed almost got to help deliver her but with the shoulder dystocia things got a little complicated and Josie stepped, and together we got her out! They laid Juliana on my chest while they cleaned up and worked on getting the placenta out. I was so shaky because of the shock and crying because of the whole experience, I was afraid I would drop her. I can’t remember how long I held her, but a new pain was distracting me. Getting the placenta out has always been the worst part for me and without an epidural, it was excruciating. It was taking forever to get out. Josie was doing everything she could, even gently tugging on the cord to get it out but nothing was working. I could tell she was getting worried and I learned that we needed to get it out before 30 minutes had past after birth. Once the half hour had passed, she was calling for the doctor who would perform a D&C (take out the placenta with his hands). I’m glad that didn’t happen, even though I was still in such immense pain. She suggested if I needed to push to go ahead and do it. The doctor still wasn’t there, but I did a few pushes and finally felt the placenta come out, but there was a weird noise when it happened. Apparently, I shot out a bunch of blood too, about 1 liter just on the floor, they estimated. When the doctor came in, he told Josie it looked like a scene in a horror movie. The blood was splattered all over the wall, even reaching up to the tv that was high up on the wall and on Josie and anyone in range.
The next part is fuzzy as well because I was in terrible pain and discomfort, even after the placenta came out. The nurses and Josie kept asking me if I knew my name and if I knew where I was. I remember getting those answers right and wondering why they were even asking me that. I felt it was a bit dramatic, since I had no clue what I had just shot out of me. Since so much blood came out, they were worried that I might have blood clots and they wanted to get me into surgery to take care of those. So they wheeled me into surgery, leaving Jed and Juliana alone with the mess I had made. Poor guy.
The before they put me under, I was still in incredible pain and so I didn’t care what happened as they helped me shimmy on to the operating table. Next thing, I was waking up in ICU with a tendency to fall asleep every 30 minutes. Over the course of the next couple of days from visits from the doctors who were there in the OR with me, we both found out what really happened: my uterus was inverted due to my placenta that had attached itself so well to it that it pulled it nearly inside out. It’s a very rare condition and the main thing doctors do to keep the patient from hemorrhaging to death is to perform a hysterectomy. There are a couple of textbook ways to try and fix it without removing the uterus, and I’m not sure if any of them were done. One doctor, though, had an idea that wasn’t “textbook” at all. He suggested that he and another doctor attempt to push sides of the uterus out to its original form. The doctor agreed and created an incision and pushed it to it's original form. They waited 20 minutes to see if the bleeding would stop and miracle of miracles, it did. They glued me back together (no stitches) and carted me off to the ICU for recovery. I had lost in total about 3 liters of blood and they gave me a transfusion somewhere in there, but since I was unconscious, I have no idea when. Both the doctor who had the amazing idea and Josie said that God was in that room. The doctor said he hoped we believe in God because He was there. And I believe it.
I have always believed in miracles and have seen them happen many times in my life. But when something that dramatic happens to you, it's humbling. I feel a surge of gratitude to my God for allowing me to continue on this earth as well as continue to bear children, one of the greatest blessings I have been given.
Shoutout to all the many people who helped watch Adam and Jacob. They are heroes to us!
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| Juliana had a high bilirubin count and needed some blue light treatment. The woman in the bottom right corner is my midwife Josie. |
Thank you for sharing your birth story Sarah! It was beautiful and inspiring to read. I believe everyone involved was inspired and I'm so glad it ended with the best case scenario. And 9 months later Juliana is just a beautiful and happy girl. Take care!
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