Birth Story Part 1 - The week before

So My little man is already 8 weeks old.  It's probably about time I shared his birth story isn't it?  I'm going to put it up in parts.

First, the week leading up:
Monday: I've been on bed rest for 10 days due to Preeclampsia.  I've been monitoring my blood pressure with an at home monitor with strict instructions to call the doc immediately if it EVER goes above 150/100.  I'm home by myself, and have been having what we now know were gallbladder attacks pretty frequently.  Around 11am, another one starts, and I take the gas-x hoping it won't get too severe this time.  Within about 5 minutes the pain escalates to more severe than it's ever been, and I'm freaking out.  As a precaution I take my BP and its over the not good threshold. (I don't remember what it was now, but it was HIGH).  I call the OB's office and the nurse tells me that Dr. O is at the hospital in surgery, and with it that high I should just go there to be monitored so he can come see me.  OK.  I tell her I'm home by myself but will call my husband to come get me.  She says you need to be there within 30 minutes.  If you don't get him, call an ambulance.  She's calling Labor & Delivery to tell them I'm on my way.  I hang up with her and call A at work. No answer.  I try his cell.  No Answer.  I try our friend J, no answer.  I try her cell, no answer.  I try her husband, D. No answer.  Just as I'm about to call 911, J calls me back.  Sure she can come get me, she just has to load up her 2 toddlers.  I'm working on getting the dogs locked up D calls me back.  I explain to him whats happening, and before I can tell him J is coming, he says he's on the way and hangs up.  Since D's office is less that 5 minutes from my house, and J didn't even have the kids in the car yet, D came instead.  While I'm waiting for him, I try A's coworker's desk.  No answer.  They must be in a meeting so I try the coworkers cell.  He actually answers.  I asked him if A is with him, he says yes, I ask him to have A meet me and D at the hospital.  The co-worker looks at A and says "You, hospital, Now!" and that's it!  A meets D and me at the front door with a wheelchair and up to L&D we go.  I get all hooked up, to the monitors, baby is doing fine, but my BP goes haywire each time the pain flares up (surprise surprise).  After about 3 hours the attack subsides and my BP stabilizes.  The OB has some blood work drawn and checks my protein levels again, and says as long as my BP stays good I can go home at 7.  I have my 38 wk appointment and an Ultrasound scheduled at the office for the next day, so he'll see me then.  We have no other surprises, and I go home at 7.  My SIL, K, and her 2 kids also arrive that evening.

Tuesday: I have my US scheduled for 10 and the Doctors appointment right after that.  We go into the US and got to see great pictures.  The baby was measuring about 7 1/2 lbs at that point (give or take a pound she said) and everything looked great.  He was head down and facing back and settled into about a +1 or 0 station.  We get into the room with Dr. O and he pulls out my lab work results from Monday.  My protein levels look good, and most of the blood work looks ok, but my bile salts are on the rise.  This is the one level that has been rising over the course of the last 10 days, and now it's to the point of being too high.  I asked him and what does this mean?  It means we're having a baby by the end of the week.  At 38 weeks, the risks of what's happening with me are far higher than the risks to the baby being delivered.  So we schedule the induction for Thursday night at 8pm with the plan to start a low dose of pitocin overnight in the hopes we can jump start my body into labor and not have to crank it up too high in the morning.  Now keep in mind, my MIL is scheduled to have an angioplasty on Thursday morning.  This is why my SIL was at our house.  She came to bring her kids to D&J who were graciously going to watch them while A and K were in St. Louis for her procedure.  K was going down Tuesday evening so she was there for all the pre-op stuff on Wednesday and A was going to go down Thursday morning for the procedure and come back Friday.  Not so much anymore.  But at least this way we would have the news from her procedure before we went to the hospital.

Wednesday - Thursday 8pm.: We have a mad dash finishing all the things that have to get done to head to the hospital.  Packing bags, installing the car seat, making arrangements for the dogs.  We did go to bible study on Wednesday, and my BP is the lowest it's been in ages while we're there.  A goes to work both days to prepare for being home for 2 weeks with us.  I spend most of the day finishing reading a book on Hypno-birthing, hoping to still have a natural childbirth, even through the pitocin.  A gets home Thursday at 5, we pack up the car, take the dogs to the kennel, hit McDonalds (I know such a healthy last meal before giving birth, but we ran out of time), and head to the hospital.

Up Next: Birth Story Part 2 - The induction