Maddox Nicholas: The Birth Story
Maddox's Page - Birth Story - Photos - Videos
Every, well most, pregnant woman has a dream or an idea
of how her labor and birth experience will be. We all
have this great idea of what we want to happen and we dream
about it throughout our pregnancy. That "dream" was
ripped away from me when I was only 9 weeks pregnant.
I began to itch. It has been years but I still
remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up in the
middle of the night, foot-in-hand, scratching like there was
no tomorrow. My palms and the soles of my feet itched
like CRAZY! I casually mentioned it on my birth club
on BabyCenter.com and someone told me that it was
very important that I report it to the doctor right
away. As many of you know, getting (and staying)
pregnant was a long struggle so I wasn't going to take any
chances. I headed to the urgent care at Kaiser and
asked to be seen by an OB. I explained my symptoms to
Dr. Lee - worried about the dreaded Cholestasis of
Pregnancy. She was skeptical because as rare as
Cholestasis was in general...it was 100 times MORE rare for
it to present in the first trimester...but she ordered the
blood tests anyway. Unfortunately the diagnosis came
back and I indeed had Cholestasis. I itched from the
inside out until the day Maddox was born.
32 Weeks Pregnant
I spent my entire pregnancy under the fabulous care
of Dr. Gupta, the perinatologist at Kaiser. He was
driving up to Lancaster at the time to see patients in the
area, so I was lucky enough to have him throughout my entire
pregnancy. The plan was to deliver between 37 and 38
weeks...but at 32 weeks my numbers took a turn for the
worse. He was very concerned that Maddox wouldn't make
it to 37 weeks so he prepared for the worst. At 32
weeks I had my first steroid shot, for lung maturity.
33 Weeks Pregnant
At 33 weeks they administered another steroid shot
and told me to be prepared to deliver the following week.
It was all happening so fast. With only days to spare,
we furnished the nursery and my friends threw me a baby
shower. Seriously...days before I delivered.
34 Weeks Pregnant
Dr. Gupta had us come down to Panorama City for an
amniocentesis to check his lung maturity. The plan was
to go home after the amnio and wait for the results the
following day. But, as pregnancies often prove, plans
are NOT concrete. As he withdrew the fluid a very
concerned look came across his face. He said "you
aren't going anywhere...we are inducing you today."
OMG - I didn't know what to do. Madison (who was in
half-day Kindergarten) was at school with no one to pick her
up and here I am, 50 miles away, about to be induced.
There was no choice but to send David back up to Palmdale to
pick her up from school. I was on my own until the
next day.
It all started with some Cytotec...
Being 34 weeks pregnant, my cervix was NO WHERE
near ready for a delivery, so they had to start me off on a
dose of Cytotec. One dose takes 12 hours, so I knew I
was in for a long haul. I think it was a little
unnerving to be going through this all alone, so my blood
pressure crept up. To bring it back down they put me
on Magnesium Sulfate via IV. They came at me with a
catheter and visions of Madison's birth crept in my head.
I begged and pleaded with the nurse who finally agreed to
keep it out. They didn't want me up walking around
with the magnesium but I proved that I could do it.
(It is much like being drunk off your butt...so I just took
small steps and told her I felt fine. It worked
too...I avoided the dreaded catheter throughout the entire
ordeal!)
...and the Cytotec continued...
One dose was not nearly enough...so I had to go
onto another 12 hours of the Cytotec before they would start
the Pitocin. I really felt like this would go on
forever. But by now it was the next day and David was
there. It was nice not being alone.
Finally the fun begins...P-I-T-O-C-I-N = HOLY
HELL!!
Before they turned on the Pit I was extremely
adamant about NOT having an epidural. I had
THREE failed epidurals when I was in labor with
Madison and in the end, I felt everything and it really
wasn't unbearable. I had prepared myself from day one
in this pregnancy and was ready to go the distance.
Boy did I NOT understand the difference between a natural
contraction and a Pit contraction. Owieee. I
finally asked for the Epi and the nurses jokingly laughed
and said "oh no, you said you didn't want one." Of
course, they were making the arrangements as they made the
jokes, so we were all cool.
Epidural = Needle in Spine = Panic
You should really know the hell I endured with the
epidurals at AV Hospital when I was in labor with Madison.
The first one they administered numbed my chest and arms.
HELLO!! WTF!! They tried again and nothing...and
again...and nothing. It was a horrible experience of
needles in my spine for absolutely nothing. When it
was time to do it again I was actually rather terrified.
I explained the situation to the nurse and the
anesthesiologist...which really helped. They calmed me
down and we proceeded. And then I blacked out.
Thinking back it was almost an embarassing moment. I
was so scared I literally passed out. After I came to
I had enough courage to go ahead with it. Yeah, I'm
not even SLIGHTLY exaggerating this. So...she
starts...and the catheter that goes into the spine was
defective. I still remember the horror in her voice
when she explained to me that we had to start over with a
new one. She thought I would freak. I took a
deep breath and said let's do it. We did it.
Within minutes I was able to get some rest and my labor
progressed quickly from that point.
We sent everyone home...
It looked like nothing was going to happen that
evening, so we told everyone to go home and come back in the
morning. There was no sense in everyone sleeping in
uncomfortable chairs when they could get a good night's
sleep at home and come back refreshed in the morning.
Silly us. Within about 15 minutes of sending family
home...Maddox made his very abrupt appearance.
My water broke...
I had only been at about 6cm when we sent everyone
packing. I was going to settle in for a nap when out
of the blue my water broke and I was at 10cm. I told
the nurse I was ready to push so she called the doctor.
The doctor told her to let me do a couple of "practice
pushes" while she finished getting ready. I gave it
one good push and the nurse called the doctor to hurry
up...one more push and he would be delivered. It was
that simple too...one good push and Maddox was born.
The
NICU team was standing by!
I had suddenly become aware of the large team of
people in my delivery room...waiting to take Maddox away to
the NICU. They let me hold him briefly but then he was
whisked away. It was a very lonely time.
Everyone headed off to the NICU to see him. Thank
goodness for digital cameras...they came back with photos I
could view on the screen. He started out breathing on
his own but apparently he started grunting so they had to
use a CPAP on him. He was getting room air through a
mask. Luckily he only had it on for a few hours, but
it was tough to see him like that. He was very
little...only 5lb 8oz. He had not hit that stage in
the pregnancy where fat develops...so he was skinny and
wrinkly.
NICU Visits
Unlike full term babies, Maddox did not room-in
with me. He spent his time in the NICU. I could
visit him after stopping by a scrub room...and I could only
visit for short periods at a time. We watched him go
from the warmer, to the isolette, to the standard bassinet
during his NICU stay. I pumped breastmilk which was
delivered by a feeding tube for a few days, before he
developed a strong enough suck to take it by bottle.
I was discharged...my son wasn't.
This was probably the hardest day of my life.
The pain of leaving the hospital without a baby in your arms
is unbearable and there are no words to explain it. I
felt so empty. I brought home a hospital-grade
breastpump and would pump every 2 hours, as though he were
there nursing on schedule. Each morning I would drop
Madison off at school and then drive to Panorama City to
deliver breastmilk and spend what little time I had with
him. I had to be back by noon to pick Madison up from
school, which didn't leave me much time to visit. I
would call for an update every afternoon. Finally one
day the pediatrician said "you know, we are basically just
babysitting him." It was so nice to hear. He was
only in the NICU for a week (because he was on a 7-day
antibiotic by IV)...but it was the longest week of my life
at that point.
And on the 8th day, he came home.
I still remember my excitement that morning.
We dropped Madison off at school and headed down to pick
Maddox up from the hospital. Before we could leave we
had to complete the CPR course. Of course, being an
EMT, David is CPR certified, so he sat back and watched as I
completed the video and such. I just wanted to bundle
my little guy up and take him home. When we finally
did leave, I sat in the backseat with him, just staring at
his tiny, little face all of the way home. When we
picked Madison up from school she was beside herself with
excitement.
Maddox's Page - Birth Story - Photos - Videos
