On March 30, I went to my routine OB appointment and litterally on the way home I started having contractions! I packed up the boys, cleaned the house and then Cory and I dropped the boys off with my parents. Off to the hospital.
We met with some doctors and decided that I had a high chance of successfully delivering Rockwell vaginally, even though he was still breech. We also decided that the moment there was any indication of a complication we would move straight to a c-section.
I of course got the epideral and preceded to wait until I dilated. Finally at 4:50 a.m. on March 31, I started pushing. Things were going really well, but after the fourth push Rockwell stopped moving and we decided not to take any chances.
Unfortunately my epidural didn't take to the right side of my body and I had to be knocked out. This is really my last memory until 5 p.m. that night.
When I finally came to I thought I was in post pardum...I was wrong. I was in the ICU! The first time I saw my OB she was crying and said how grateful she was that I was alive. You can imagine the questions running through my head!!!
I think if you are going to come close to dying...it's better not to know. Here are the medical details I was filled in on.
As the doctors pulled Rockwell out, my uterous tore down to my vagina. They stitched me up, but soon realized that I was loosing a lot of blood and having heart problems. They re-opened me and found an artery that was injured. They fixed the artery and then stitched me up a second time. Unfortuntately they discovered that I was still loosing outrageous amounts of blood. They opened me up a third time and after trying as hard as they could to stop the bleeding, my doctor had to remove uterous and one of my ovaries. (I'm pretty much an old lady now)! Seriously if they removed both ovaries I would go through menapause...
In the end I needed 13 pints of blood-that's the equivalent of the amount of blood in one person. I spent one week in the hospital on a lot of drugs and finally came home on Wednesday, April 6.
I am so glad to be home. Thank you everyone for all your love, help and support! I know this will be a long recovery, but knowing you are there makes everything easier.
I am so grateful to have three wonderful boys and that I am still here to raise them. I hope I don't have to leave them for a long long time.
Here is another super cute pic of our little Rockwell.
