At around 8am, June 25th I felt a small gush of liquid as I was making breakfast. It wasn't much, just enough to make my underwear damp. I went to the bathroom to check, and there was no more liquid. "This might be it!" I thought to myself, but I didn't say anything so as not to get hubby overly excited. It didn't happen again so I figured I must have peed myself, again.
Fast forward to 3am when I rolled over in bed to have the same thing happen. This time I went to the bathroom and put a pantyliner on, that way if it happened again I could inspect and see what was up. I fell back asleep to have it happen at again at 5am. "No way that I just peed myself!!" I thought and went to inspect the pantyliner. There was no smell to the liquid, and no color.
At this point, I woke up my husband and called the hospital. They told me to "go ahead and make your way in". So we made breakfast, woke our son up and made our way to the hospital. There I was given an amniocentesis. After waiting at least an hour for the results to come back, they finally did... and they came back negative! I told the Dr. that there was NO WAY I was just peeing myself. She decided to do a manual test and look at it under a slide. Guess what? Positive for amniotic fluid!
At this point, it had been almost 28 hours since the first trickle of fluid. I was past the safe window to try for a natural birth. Big bummer as I was trying for a VBAC. I was prepping for surgery within the hour.
After a friend picked up our son, I was taken back to the OR where I expressed my concerns about the spinal (I had bad experiences with my last one). After numbing me, the anesthesiologist started placing the spinal, and hit a nerve. Intense pain, and my entire right leg seized up. He removed the needle and tried again.... this happened two more times, same nerve, slightly different reaction each time. The last time we just continued (through the pain) so he could place the spinal.
My husband was then allowed to join me in the OR. Around this time I started throwing up. (Not being able to feel anything below the armpit, but throwing up at the same time is a really weird feeling!!) What I didn't know is that this particular hospital had see through drapes!! Once they had made the incision and were about the pull the baby out, they separated the drape so that I could actually SEE her being born!!
The first thing I saw was all that hair, and the first thing I said was "oh my God, that hair!! The heartburn was worth it!!". Then she was taken to the table to be weighed and cleaned, then daddy got to bring her for me to see. After that, daddy and baby left to recovery, and I stayed to be put back together.
When I returned to my room it was empty. I asked where my baby was and was told that she was in the nursery. Soon after, my husband came back to tell me that baby was in the NICU. She had fluid in her lungs and what looked like pneumonia from the X-rays. We were told she would have to remain for 7 days of antibiotics.
I couldn't see my baby, because I couldn't get out of bed yet, and she couldn't come to me. I told hubby to stay in the NICU with her and send me photos. Which he did, of course. Several hours later, I was able to feel my legs enough to get into a wheelchair to go see her.
I spent as much time as I could with her in the NICU, and pumped as much milk as I could for her. Late the second day I was able to feed her. The 3rd day in the hospital, her O2 levels were stable and she was able to maintain them on her own. The 4th night, she was able to come to my room and stay with me.
Miraculously, her lungs were completely clear and she no longer had liquid in them (it probably wasn't pneumonia to begin with) and we were able to go home on the 5th day! She is strong and amazing and growing quickly. Her older brother loves the crap out of her too!