William Thomas Townsend made his appearance on December 22, 2010 at 6:41 AM via c-section.
On Tuesday afternoon Spencer and I met Jon at his work. Some very nice ladies in his department got together and threw me a baby shower. So we showed up at around 2:00, opened a few gifts, had lunch and went home.
Once I got home I started having contractions. This was about 3:30. By, 4:30 the contractions were right on top of each other and were starting to get pretty painful. I called Jon and told him that we needed to go in. Unfortunately, I had the car and there was no way I could drive. I called up Kendra, (my big sister) and she had her husband pick up Jon on his way home from work. *Thank goodness Jared was available!*
By the time Jon got home at around 5:00 I was really struggling. Luckily, my bags had been packed and ready to go for the last week, so once he got home we were able to leave right away.
Once we got through Bentonville traffic and onto 540 we thought we would make it to the hospital in no time.
We. were. wrong.
There were 2, count them TWO, car wrecks on the stretch of road between the NWACC and Springdale exits. Traffic was at a complete standstill. It took us 3 hours to reach the Siloam Springs Hospital. On the way there I had thrown up 3 or 4 times and had passed out twice. By the time we got there my contractions were out of control.
My sister Brenna met us there so she could take Spencer. Once he was gone, they put me back in a bed and did an exam. At the rate my contractions were coming they were expecting me to start pushing at any second. They kept telling me, "Let us know when you need to push. We're trying to get your room ready so you need to hold on." To everyone's surprise, I was only dilated to 1.
They called my doctor and he admitted me. The plan was to walk around and just try to labor in the room and hopefully I would start dilating. Since I was a VBAC patient they couldn't do anything to help my labor along. I had to do it all alone, so I knew that we were in for a long night. (Thankfully, I had great nurses. Every time they came in, they would stay and help talk me through a contraction or rub my back. They were, truly, amazing.)
After several hours and 3 more exams, there was no change in my cervix. Since I was 38 weeks, they didn't want to do a c-section if they could help it. It was just a little to early. So after a chat with my doctor, we decided to try to stop the contractions. They gave me a few shots of brethine and after about an hour, they hadn't stopped. After the Brethine failed they tried another drug and that also failed. At about 5:00 in the morning and 14 hours of labor, my doctor and I had a conversation.
William was handling everything perfectly. His heart rate was very strong and everything looked just fine with him. I, obviously, was not doing as well. They had done blood work and a few other tests, but they couldn't see anything wrong. I just wasn't dilating. He wanted to do a c-section. He said that he just felt like there was something happening with me that he wasn't seeing and he felt like a c-section was our best option.
On Tuesday afternoon Spencer and I met Jon at his work. Some very nice ladies in his department got together and threw me a baby shower. So we showed up at around 2:00, opened a few gifts, had lunch and went home.
Once I got home I started having contractions. This was about 3:30. By, 4:30 the contractions were right on top of each other and were starting to get pretty painful. I called Jon and told him that we needed to go in. Unfortunately, I had the car and there was no way I could drive. I called up Kendra, (my big sister) and she had her husband pick up Jon on his way home from work. *Thank goodness Jared was available!*
By the time Jon got home at around 5:00 I was really struggling. Luckily, my bags had been packed and ready to go for the last week, so once he got home we were able to leave right away.
Once we got through Bentonville traffic and onto 540 we thought we would make it to the hospital in no time.
We. were. wrong.
There were 2, count them TWO, car wrecks on the stretch of road between the NWACC and Springdale exits. Traffic was at a complete standstill. It took us 3 hours to reach the Siloam Springs Hospital. On the way there I had thrown up 3 or 4 times and had passed out twice. By the time we got there my contractions were out of control.
My sister Brenna met us there so she could take Spencer. Once he was gone, they put me back in a bed and did an exam. At the rate my contractions were coming they were expecting me to start pushing at any second. They kept telling me, "Let us know when you need to push. We're trying to get your room ready so you need to hold on." To everyone's surprise, I was only dilated to 1.
They called my doctor and he admitted me. The plan was to walk around and just try to labor in the room and hopefully I would start dilating. Since I was a VBAC patient they couldn't do anything to help my labor along. I had to do it all alone, so I knew that we were in for a long night. (Thankfully, I had great nurses. Every time they came in, they would stay and help talk me through a contraction or rub my back. They were, truly, amazing.)
After several hours and 3 more exams, there was no change in my cervix. Since I was 38 weeks, they didn't want to do a c-section if they could help it. It was just a little to early. So after a chat with my doctor, we decided to try to stop the contractions. They gave me a few shots of brethine and after about an hour, they hadn't stopped. After the Brethine failed they tried another drug and that also failed. At about 5:00 in the morning and 14 hours of labor, my doctor and I had a conversation.
William was handling everything perfectly. His heart rate was very strong and everything looked just fine with him. I, obviously, was not doing as well. They had done blood work and a few other tests, but they couldn't see anything wrong. I just wasn't dilating. He wanted to do a c-section. He said that he just felt like there was something happening with me that he wasn't seeing and he felt like a c-section was our best option.
Jon and I were both disappointed that a VBAC wasn't going to happen, but we knew that this was the right thing to do. They set the section for an hour later and by 6:41 AM he was here.
He was 7lbs, 10oz, 19in, and perfectly healthy. Right after they pulled him out, Dr. Crownover peeked him over the curtain and said, "Good morning Mom!" I was so happy to see him!
After the section was over and I was in recovery Dr Crownover came in to go over the surgery. He explained that after he made the initial incision and saw my previous scar he knew right away why I was having such a hard time. Apparently, my previous scar was starting to rupture. He said that it was stretched so much that it was like a window and that he could actually see my baby through the scar. So, needless to say, it was a very good thing that my Dr. decided upon the c-section.
I have to say how grateful I am for Heavenly Father and the power of prayer. Sometime after my second exam Jon and I knew that things weren't going the way we wanted. We both felt uneasy and decided to say a prayer. Afterwards, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be doing a VBAC but that everything would be ok. I knew that I had a good Dr. and that if I listened to his advice, everything would work out. Thank goodness for prayer! I honestly feel that if it wasn't for that prayer, things could have gone a lot worse.
The entire process was long and painful, but so very worth it. Little William is doing very well. He's a very laid back baby. He's a pro at nursing, and likes to eat. However, he also likes his sleep so he tends to fight between what he thinks is more important- sleeping or eating. Spencer is also adjusting well. He was thrown off his schedule and was not very happy about not having Mom around for a few days, but now that we are home and settled he is back to his normal happy-go-lucky self. Recovery for myself is proving to be difficult, but that was to be expected.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We are very blessed to have such great friends and family. The four of us couldn't be happier :)
3 comments:
congratulations! I was interested to hear your story as I hope to have a VBAC with the next one (not that there IS a next one yet :-) I'm glad everything turned out okay. I can't believe you were stuck in traffic for THREE hours! I would have gone MAD! He's precious. Good luck with your recovery.
Wow Kara! I am so glad you had such a good doctor who went with his feeling that something was going wrong. I am so glad you and William are okay. You guys really had Heavenly Father on your side! Can't wait to meet William!
You poor thing! I'm glad William is healthy though. I was so anxious to know how it all went. Thanks for posting your story. I hope you have a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you guys in the near future!
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