Samuel’s Birth Story {Pre-Eclampsia, Induction, 3VBAC}

Samuel joined our family in a fast and furious manner on a snowy January morning. Like his brothers before him, he decided to be quite different in his arrival than each other brother has come. His story is made of a severe unexpected illness, a wonderful support team, and the protection of our Heavenly Father.

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Let’s Start at the Beginning

From the first Samuel’s life has been a surprise. I didn’t know I was expecting until almost six weeks along. Though I had taken a test a week earlier it had come back negative, and I assumed that my thyroid was acting up and that was what made my cycle late.

When my sister had announced her pregnancy in the fall of 2016 I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Washington. My sister-in-law and I had talked about how much fun it would be if we were all three pregnant at the same time and how much fun it would be to have a picture together. All of us growing new life inside of us.

In the spring of 2017 my sister-in-law announced that she too was expecting. My brother and his family would be in the state in May {also the month that my sister was due} for another brother’s wedding. I didn’t think that I would be pregnant at the time, but we again talked about how much fun it would be, and that maybe we could get a picture at the wedding with all three of us creating cousins.

The week of the wedding I took the first test which was negative. The Monday after the wedding I had a doctor’s appointment to get thyroid labs drawn and told them I definitely did NOT need the pregnancy test because I was NOT pregnant. So, you can imagine my surprise when I again took one the following week and it was positive.

 

The First Trimester

The first trimester with Samuel was very different than my other pregnancies have been. I didn’t have any morning sickness or food aversions, I didn’t feel extremely tired either, and thankfully there was no bleeding like I experienced with Andrew. I was pretty sure that because things were so different, I was going to be having a little girl. As a family we went on several camping trips and I always laughed a bit when people found out we were having our fourth baby. Ben and I both come from larger families and four just doesn’t seem big to us. 😉

 

The Second Trimester

During the second trimester it was recommend to me that I consider progesterone shots because of Andrew’s premature birth. However, I decided against it as I read that they aren’t proven to lengthen pregnancy, they can have some yucky side effects for momma, and they are super expensive to not be proven to work.

I also was preparing to welcome this baby home somewhere between 35-37 weeks as the average length of my pregnancies had so far been 37 weeks. I wanted to be ready early too because I was going out to my brother and sister-in-law’s early in the third trimester to be their doula as they welcomed their second child.

 

The Third Trimester

The whole pregnancy went quickly until I got back from Washington…I was sure that the baby would be here soon. I was sure I would be cuddling a baby on Christmas even though my due date wasn’t until January 18^th. I did have a couple of times where I was sure that he would be joining us during my thirty-fifth week and thirty-sixth week, as I woke up in the middle of the night with time-able, real contractions for several hours. Both times I was just about ready to go get Ben and tell him it was time to go to the hospital when the contractions stopped.

Weeks 37 and 38 drug by and by the end of weeks 38 I had just accepted that #BabyT4 wouldn’t be joining us any time soon. That just like people had said this would be the pregnancy would be the one where I went overdue. I was never going to have this baby.

Those weeks I also developed extreme itchiness. I assumed it was just dry winter skin, as it seemed to get better after I applied lotion. However, the night week 39 started I woke up and was clawing at my feet and hands. Looking things up, I found this could be a symptom of Choleastasis, which is an illness where the liver stops working correctly and has a hard time filtering your blood. This can lead to problems for both mom and baby. So I was talking to my doula about the itching and she recommended that I call the Labor and Delivery floor at the hospital and see what the nurse would say. So, I did. The nurse suggested Benadryl {which I didn’t have} and then calling my OB in the morning.

After calling the OB office the next morning we went about our day while waiting for the doctor to be able to check messages and come up with an answer/idea about what this could be. I had requested blood work done and was just waiting for the call to go to the lab. However, when the office called back my OB also wanted a non-stress test done. After I found out that we would be doing a non-stress test I decided to get a sitter for the boys and wait until Ben got home from work to go in, that way if any decisions need to be made he would be with me and I wouldn’t have to relay information over the phone.

 

An Unexpected Development

Waiting for Ben to go with me turned out to be right decision. When we got to triage and got all set up for the non-stress test, my first blood pressure reading was 179/100. I told the nurse this was normal, as every time I came in my first couple of reading were super high- like 160/something every time. Then after waiting a bit they always came down. We waited and took my blood pressure again several times over the course of my non-stress test. The lowest I remember seeing it was 155/90something and that was with me laying down and doing nothing.

I was so shocked. I hadn’t been having any headaches, I didn’t have any swelling, there was no protein in my urine, and my liver enzymes were fine. My blood pressure readings at normal appointments had been fine. Even up to two days before we went in for the non-stress test and lab work.  As the non-stress test went on, I did have a slight headache that developed, but that was the first one that I had. My doctor decided that I had severe pre-eclampsia with asymptomatic presentation.

I wasn’t going home. Even though all my labs came back fine, BabyT4 needed to come soon. We decided to strip my membranes first as I had already been having contractions all day and I was three centimeters dilated already. The contractions weren’t very close at all, but we hoped that my body was going into labor anyways and the membrane strip would just get things moving along faster. It did cause contractions to come more often for a while, but I was on magnesium to lower my blood pressure to prevent seizures while my blood pressure was so high, and couldn’t get out of the bed until my blood pressure was in a more normal range, so they soon spaced out again. Our next move was to break my water, which definitely made the contractions more intense, but again, because I was stuck in the bed and wasn’t able to move around much, they soon spaced out to every ten to twenty minutes. Neither Ben nor I got much sleep that night as the nurses had to come in every hour to check my blood pressure, reflexes, and temperature.

By 5am the next morning I was at a six and I had decided that something needed to be done. My contractions weren’t getting any closer and I was exhausted. I had been given Pitocin with Andrew’s birth and knew that it worked well for me, so I asked for that.

Pitocin was started around 6 and by 8:20 things were starting to get regular. I asked to be able to get out of the bed, as I was really starting to get uncomfortable. Since my blood pressure readings had been in the 130s for a while, I was given the go ahead and excitedly got out of bed to start doing my thing. Sitting on the birth ball worked great for a while, and then I put the birth ball on the couch while kneeling on the floor and swaying. This allowed me to open up my hips while reducing the pressure on my tailbone and leaving me free to move with the contractions. Ben was great at making sure I was drinking and eating. At 9:15ish I told him he could call our doula/birth photographer. And I also decided that I wanted to be checked again as I was starting to feel like I was in transition.

When I was checked around 9:30 I was between seven and eight centimeters. I promptly headed to the toilet because with both my previous VBACs this is what helped me fully dilate and get ready to push. Sitting on the toilet opens your pelvis allowing baby to move down while also helping you to relax your pelvic floor and finish the last bit of dilation.

Soon I felt like I needed to push so I asked to be check one last time. I was a ten with a slight anterior lip.  I tried to use a forward leaning position while standing next to the bed for the next contraction and that is where I stayed while pushing.

Because of the lack of sleep and, I believe, the magnesium which can affect your thinking, I felt very out of control during the pushing stage, where with my two VBACs before I felt like I could sorta control what I was doing, this time I felt like I couldn’t. Vocalization always helps me through transition and pushing and this time it felt louder than normal, but it worked and I was distracted from the contractions while also naturally helping my body to open up and relax.  I ended up pushing through two or three contractions and Samuel was born. I ended up with two tears, one was first degree and the other was second. I also hemorrhaged again, but didn’t pass out like I did with Cameron. Standing wasn’t a position that I ever thought that I would push in, but it felt right at the time and I literally couldn’t move to a different position even when I did try.

The end was so intense that it took me a few minutes to process what had just happened. I just stared at Samuel for a while and it finally clicked that he was mine. I had been pregnant and I had just given birth. He was here and he was healthy.

The boys came to meet Samuel after we got some sleep and food. I always love seeing the older ones meet the new baby. It is such a special time.

I’m not sure what might have happened if we hadn’t gone in for my itching. I might have had a seizure, or something else might have happened, because I wouldn’t have gone in for the slight headaches that started after we got to the hospital, they weren’t even ones that I would normally take anything for. We’re so thankful for God’s protection in another delivery, and thankful that we are both doing well even though the labor experience was so different from what we thought it would be.

These beautiful photos were taken by: Jordan K Photography

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