Low Blood Sugars and Jaundice

The first week of baby boy's life was pretty rough. So many things didn't go as expected and it was a struggle being sleep deprived, recovering from the birth, and feeling conflicted.

Low Blood Sugars

I knew going into the birth that baby boy might experience low blood sugars... but knowing it might happen and then having it happen -- totally different things. He had to pass 3 blood sugar checks. He passed the first one. The second one, it got lower. Then the third one, it was too low. On his first day of life, he was born at 4:33am and by 11:30am, they took him to the nursery.

It was hard because that meant I didn't have him with me in my room... I also happen to be in the furthest room from the nursery!

When they took him, I decided I would try and get a few hours of sleep. I managed to sleep maybe 2 hours or so? Then I just needed to see him. It was still hard for me to walk, so a nurse wheeled me over to the nursery. When I saw him for the first time in the nursery, I just started to cry. I didn't realize that they'd have to hook him up to an IV and have fluids dripping. Seeing him hooked up to all those monitors still makes me cry today just thinking about it. They also had to poke his foot to check his blood sugars every few hours. It was just heartbreaking. They also started supplementing him with formula to try and get his blood sugars up... since my milk wasn't in yet. He wasn't in his own room, he was in a big room where there were other babies being taken care of. So, I couldn't stay in there 24/7 with him.

The routine went like this:

• Visit baby boy 
• Try to breast feed him 
• Give him formula 
• Pump afterward for 30 minutes 
• Go back to my room and try to sleep 
• Get up and repeat every 3 hours. 

The nurses actually tried to encourage me to skip one of the visits at night time so I can rest... I took them up on that, but I don't think I really "rested" -- I couldn't really sleep being away from him and with all the peri care -- it made it hard to rest more than a few hours, if that. 

On Day #2 of his little life, they did the 24 hour newborn testing on him and it turns out he had jaundice. Once his bili levels were high, they immediately put him under the jaundice lights. After that happened, they would only let me take him off to feed for 30 minutes at a time -- no longer -- every 3 hours. Before, I would be able to breast feed as long as I wanted and I could snuggle with him and do skin-to-skin. I would be int here for about an hour or more at a time. Now, he could only get off the lights for 30 minutes. Jaundice would eventually turn into its own little nightmare. I'll get to that a little later. 

His blood sugars seemed to get regulated and they started weaning him off the IV fluids a little at a time to see if he could maintain them on his own. Eventually by the morning of Day #3, he was 100% weaned from the IV fluids and they were able to remove the IV from his little hand. This was good news! 

Jaundice 

There was a big question mark if baby boy would be released from the hospital with me or if he would have to stay. I was getting released on Day #3 after birth. The said his bili levels were good and they were going to take him off the lights and then retest him. If his levels remained low, he could go home. If they went back up, he'd have to stay. So, the morning of Day #3 -- I was able to take him back to the room with me with NO tubes attached to him. 

It was so wonderful to have him in my arms and have him not attached to anything... I was getting discharged that afternoon and just hoping I'd be able to bring him with me... I would cry just thinking of not being able to bring him home with me. Well, they did his bili test and they said it was fine to bring him home (Yay!), but that I would need to bring him to the pediatrician the next day to recheck his bili levels. 

Day #4, I brought him to the pediatrician in the morning. She said he didn't look bad and that she thought it would come back fine. Then I received a call at 3pm and the levels were NOT fine. They were REALLY high. So high in fact, that baby boy had to be readmitted to the hospital. 

I was scared. I was devastated. We had just ONE night at home and now I would have to leave him in the hospital... and not to mention time away from my Little Guy... But I'll get to that in a different entry. 

Baby Boy got admitted to a children's hospital, different than the hospital I delivered at and further away. I was so heartbroken originally thinking that he'd be so far from me and not knowing how I was going to manage visiting him and leaving him alone for so long. 

When I got to the hospital, turns out that I could stay in-room with him!!! I didn't know this, since I hadn't been to that hospital before. I made arrangements for Little Guy to stay with his god mother and then I went home to pack up some clothes for me. At this point, there was no way to know how long he would be in the hospital. They re-took his bili levels and his levels went UP again!! Really high, only a few points away from the point of needing a transfusion... really scary stuff. 

They immediately put him back on the lights and I was able to stay in the room with him. My milk came in that day and I was actually able to pump and get something! 

We ended up staying in the hospital on Day #4, Day #5, and being discharged on Day #6. His bili levels looked good, but they still wanted me to get the pediatrician to look at him the following Monday. 

On the following Monday, Day #8, the pediatrician said he looked good and wasn't even going to check his bili levels. But I insisted that they check them, just to give me peace of mind. Plus, they were already doing his one-week newborn screening -- might as well do the extra test. Turns out -- his levels went back up AGAIN!!! But they weren't so far up to have to go back into the hospital. Instead, I got a bili blanket for home and I had to keep him wrapped in that all day. Same thing as the hospital -- only out of the blanket for 30 minutes at a time every 3 hours. 

We went to the pediatrician on Day #9 and Day #10 to check his bili levels. On Day #11 we were able to do a "trial run" and take him off the blanket for 24 hours and retest his bili levels again on Friday, Day #12, to see if they were stabilized or not. 

Finally we received good news -- his bili levels were finally stable. We could stop the bili blanket. 

He is still a little yellow... but at least his levels are stable. 

But I'm grateful that the jaundice and low blood sugar scares are behind us now. I don't think I became comfortable or felt things could start our new "normal" until these things were resolved. I was just so scared for him and worried that it meant something more. Luckily his newborn screening came back perfectly fine. So, nothing is wrong with baby boy. That was reassuring. We just had to let it pass. 

It was a tough first two weeks of life for my baby boy and tough postpartum start for me... More to come on postpartum stuff. 

My Induction Story and my Son's Birth - Day #3

Here is the end of my induction story and the beginning of my baby boy's life! For more information on my induction, see previous entries:

Day 1
Day 2

Here's how the final hours went.

Monday, May 29, 2017

The nurse that was taking care of me this night -- I didn't like her that much. She wasn't very warm or even very talkative. A bit cold really. Of course, she ends up being the one to be there for the delivery.

2:45am: The nurse tells me that for first births, it normally takes 1-3 hours of pushing before the baby comes out. So, she says "we're going to practice." We try for 30 minutes and she talks me through how to push and when to push.

We start practicing and it turns out that baby is sunny-side up (meaning he's facing up -- when he should be facing down). When she realizes this, she says we're going to stop and reposition me to try and get him to flip around. She put me in one of the most uncomfortable positions I've been in -- almost on my stomach. It might have been uncomfortable, but it totally worked and he flipped over into the right position.

3:30am: We start pushing again. The pushing sensation is REALLY weird. Even with the epidural, I could feel when I was having contractions. The nurse said not to up the epidural meds, so that I could feel the contractions coming.

The way it felt to me... It felt like I needed to pee, then like I needed to go poo!

So, here I am -- holding my legs (behind my thighs) and bearing down, literally. The nurse puts a mirror so I can watch when I push. It's so weird and sounds strange, but when I was pushing right -- I could totally see it in the mirror - the way that my muscles contracted. So, the mirror definitely helped me out.

Pushing was exhausting... I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it. I was so tired at this point with the lack of sleep, having contractions for days, and just the intensity of the induction -- I didn't know if I could do it.

Eventually, I got the hang of it and I kept pushing right. Then -- I could see his HEAD of hair peaking out!! The nurse said, "one more push and I'll go get the doctor." At this point --- it was still just me and the nurse. My mom was ASLEEP the entire time I was pushing (I'll post more on that later). At this point I get her up and she complains on me waking her up (again, more on this later).

So, I try the ONE more push and he CROWNS!! But the doctor isn't in there yet. The nurse tells me, "Hold it! Do not push! I need to get the doctor."

Here I am, holding my legs -- seeing his head crowned in the mirror -- feeling like I need to push with the contractions -- feeling the pressure of his head crowning -- and I had to WAIT. Wait... OMG. I got a little freaked out at this point because the urge to push was so strong. They say with an epidural that you don't feel pain... guess what, I did. It wasn't just the pressure of his head down there, I felt actual pain.

I think it took the doctor 5 minutes about to get in my room? Felt like an eternity though. She still had to get ready and stuff, so I had to continue holding him in crown.

By the time she comes over to basically catch my baby, I'm a bit freaked out. I'm finally able to push again, so I do -- and I feel the bigger portion of his head come out and I feel myself tear. It hurt so bad, I was cursing and stuff at this point. After that, I wasn't sure if I was pushing or what the heck I was doing. I did feel the rest of his body come out and it was like sweet relief at that point.

4:33am: Then, they put this little baby boy on my tummy. I didn't hear him cry -- so I was like, "Why isn't he crying?" He chose that point to cry and I was so relieved. They did immediate skin-to-skin while the "cleaned me up." My mom cut the umbilical cord.

I cried holding him for the first time... I don't know if I can put in words how it felt. After this long journey to finally get here... all the TTC infertility madness of 11 fertility cycles & 2 years, to the rocky pregnancy plagued with potential issues - bleedings - scares, and then the long induction -- to finally hold my baby boy in my arms felt so surreal and heavenly and wonderful and joyful.

They did have some issues with getting the placenta out, with me bleeding, and my uterus not shrinking. They said since I was on pitocin, that my uterus got tired and didn't want to contract. After the birth, they actually put me back on pitocin to help my uterus out. All in all:

• I didn't poop while pushing! Woohoo! 
• I had two first degree tears (one on top and one on bottom). I didn't even need stitches, they just used some glue stuff. 
• Total Labor Hours: about 42 (from the first cervical ripening to delivery)
• Total time pushing: 1 hour 

Baby boy: 

• 7 lbs, 1 oz 
• 19 inches long 

Not bad for a diabetes baby to be in the "normal" weight range! 

I saw my placenta - which was pretty cool and disgusting at the same time. I was able to do skin-to-skin and try breastfeeding for 2 hours after birth. Just to add - my mom was completely useless during labor. She SLEPT through me pushing and didn't get up until he was crowning. I have other complaints about her - but will save that for another entry.

I have to say, I am a bit traumatized from the delivery! When they say you forget it, ummm no way. The whole trying for another is very questionable at this juncture. Love my baby boy, but half-way through induction I was really hoping to just have a C-Section. This stuff isn't easy for sure! Inductions are so hard since you're forcing your body to do something it's not ready for yet.

Future entries I plan on writing about and will come when I have time to write:

• Baby Boy's first week of life: low blood sugar issues and jaundice 
• Breastfeeding adventures / struggles 
• Maternity Leave details 
• The drama with my mom 
• Postpartum peri care 
• Postpartum in general 
• 1st month with my new baby 
• Taking care of two  

All in all, I still can't believe I had a baby! I look at him and I sometimes come to tears just thinking of the days when it was questionable if he would actually get here. I feel super blessed to have both of my boys home with me. Our little family is finally together :) 

My Induction Story and my Son's Birth - Day #2

Here is the continuance of my induction story. For how the first day of induction went, please see my entry on Day #1.

Here is what happened on Day #2.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

6:30am: They take the Cervidil out. The cervix check HURT LIKE HELL!!! The nurse didn't tell me what she was doing... but she decided to stretch my cervix while she was in there. She stretched it from a 1 to a 3! Ouch and ouch and ouch!!!! Argh. Not to mention she stretched it during a contraction -- so it was double (triple/quadruple) ouch.

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilation: 3cm 
• Position: -2 

10:30am: We get the green light from the OB to start Pitocin. This means no more eating real food and I would be on a strictly liquid diet. The Pitocin goes through the IV and they would up the dosage every 30 minutes. What was also kinda cool is they switched me to a wireless baby heart rate monitor, which allowed me to get out of bed more and I could wonder around the room. I couldn't go too far though because I needed to be close enough for the wireless signal to reach the computer monitor. But it was soooo nice to get out of bed. I ended up sitting in a chair and watching movies on my phone. 

3:05pm: I went to the bathroom. I felt something like a "pop," I had more bloody show -- my water broke! I was super excited once my water broke because I was thinking this means things were happening. It started to get real REAL at this point. I called my mom to head to the hospital at this point (she hadn't stayed with me in the hospital prior -- but I'll write about that during a separate entry). 

About 5 minutes after my water broke... my contractions went from feeling like bad cramps to being so intense that I couldn't breathe through them. I had to grip onto the bed for dear life to get through the pain. I heard that contractions can be way intense on Pitocin -- and they totally were. 

The nurse asked me if I wanted to get an epidural at this point, that if I did -- it would take 30 minutes to get it. They had to do an IV drip for 30 minutes prior to the epidural being put in. At first I said, "Let me see if I can handle these contracts first." It only took 3 contractions for me to say, "Let's do the epidural!" Once they started the IV drip, I was soooooo cold and shaking. I also had low sugar again, so they gave me some goo to eat to see if it would bring it back up. 

The 30 minutes of waiting for the IV fluids to get in felt like an eternity. 

4:00pm: The epidural guy came in all chipper and happy. I had my mom leave the room while they put in the epidural. It was so weird because I was having these major contractions that rock my body and hurt like hell, then I'm shaking like crazy from the IV fluids... and I had to bend over and "stay as still as I can." Ummm... I was freaking out a bit and totally worried about this chipper/happy go-lucky epidural guy getting it in while my body was thrashing every which way. He was so happy that he just kept saying, "Oh, I'm used to it. I've done so many of these. Don't worry." Hmmm... don't worry? You're just about to stick something in my SPINE. 

So, the worst part about the epidural was getting the numbing agent PRIOR to getting the epidural in. It felt like little needle pricks in my back (which that's probably exactly what they were!). But they hurt like hell, that I actually teared up and cried a bit during that part. It took all my willpower to try to stay still... remember, hurtful contraction pain -- shaking from IV fluids -- now needle pain in my back... Ugh. No one said it would be easy, right? 

Finally, he put in the epidural. I kinda felt it go in -- but I was numb, so it didn't hurt - just felt like the pressure of it. Once they connected the medicine and started the drip, the contracts didn't hurt so darn much. Although I could still feel them a bit. 

I do want to say... that I didn't WANT an epidural originally. I would've liked a natural birth. However, with inductions -- things are just so much more intense, since you're making your body do these things that they're not ready for. You're like forcing it to happen, so they don't happen on the natural cycle. I was open-minded that I may just have to have one. By the time I had the epidural, I was already in the hospital for about 33 hours and having contractions for about 30 hours. I was feeling pretty exhausted that I was actually just hoping for a C-Section, as I wasn't sure I'd be able to physically do a vaginal birth. 

5:00pm: They put in a urine catheter... which is soooo weird. I didn't feel any pain, but I did feel the pressure. Even though I had the epidural, I could still move my legs pretty well -- I just couldn't feel much pain. But once the epidural is put in, you're pretty much stuck in bed and unable to get out. The one glorious thing about the epidural being put in -- the cervical checks don't hurt AT ALL!!! Woohoo! You feel the pressure, but not the intense pain. 

• Effaced: 90%
• Cervix: Anterior 
• Dilation: 3.5 cm 
• Station: 0 

I was really sad to hear I was only 3.5 cm dilated after having such horrible contracts and after my water breaking! Seriously started getting concerned about my body and the pitocin working. Starting wondering, "What if the pitocin doesn't work? What would they try next? Can I handle it?" I was ready to BEG for a C-Section if this all continued. 

6:00pm: They were having a hard time monitoring my contractions, so they put in a IUPC. An intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC) is a device placed into the amniotic space during labor in order to measure the strength of uterine see website for me info on it. 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 4cm 
• Station: 0 

Progress at least!! At this point I started feeling itchy. Turns out that the epidural can make you feel itchy! Who knew? I was trying so hard not to scratch myself, but I was mostly itchy on my chest. Also, when you get an epidural -- the nurses "position" you and have to move you every hour or so. We used a peanut ball, which felt oddly comfortable. Baby didn't like it when I laid on my left side, his heart rate would go down, so they had to keep moving me back to my right side. I also was getting my blood sugars checked every hour to make sure they didn't fall too low. 

6:45pm: They added more fluids to my IV and they also put me on oxygen. Which is such a weird feeling having an oxygen mask on. At this point, they also stopped the pitocin for a little bit. The baby didn't like the amount of contractions I was having and was getting a little distressed where his heart rate kept dropping after contractions. 

Ok, when they tell you something like that... it's hard NOT to worry about the baby... 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 4.5 cm 
• Station: 0

8:00pm: They restart the pitocin. 

10:30pm: Cervical check

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 7cm
• Station: 0

12:20am: Cervical check 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 9.5 cm
• Station: +1

My notes from the day got less and less after they restarted the pitocin at 8pm. I was really tired at this point and I couldn't sleep. Just exhausted. Not like I could sleep, considering they were checking blood sugars and repositioning me every hour or so. But at this point, when I was 9.5 cm dilated -- I was excited that my baby would be here soon. It was funny, the nurse said she could feel his head and that he had a head of hair on him! Which I thought was so weird that the first person to touch my baby was the nurse, while he was still inside of me... 

At this point, I was also extremely cold -- I started shaking a bit -- and I was really itchy. It all seemed to ramp up. I was also starting to feel the contractions a bit stronger now. This was the only time that I upped my epidural meds so I would be more comfortable. They have a little button you can press to add more drugs, if you want. 

This is the end of Day #2 of my induction. Next up is the birth story! 

My Induction Story and my Son's Birth - Day #1

It's been a long time since I posted an update! Believe it or not, it's been so busy / hectic -- that this is the first time I've been able to boot up my computer since my last entry. I'm hoping to get caught up soon! First, here is the induction story. Since I had a long induction, I'll split this up into days. Here is Day #1.

Saturday, May 27, 2017 

6:30am: I call L&D at my hospital to make sure I wasn't bumped to a later time. They've been so busy, that they were rescheduling inductions a lot. Luckily, I wasn't bumped and I needed to be there by 7:30am. I was super excited about that!

7:30am: I arrive and I get all checked into my room. When I was changing into the hospital attire, I noticed some blood on my underwear. I was hoping that meant "things were happening" on their own and that the induction wouldn't take too long. Maybe this was my bloody show finally making its appearance?

8:30am: First cervical check.... OUCH!! WTH. Those things hurt like hell!!!! No joke. At this point I was wondering if I would be able to have a vaginal non-medicated birth since I can't even handle them checking my cervix. With modern technology, it'd be nice if they had a better way to check for dilation! At this point:

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilated: 1cm
• Position: -3
• Blood Pressure: 162/101 -- VERY HIGH 

The nurse also told me that in my chart it said I had mild pulmonary hypertension. I NEVER heard of this and had no clue what the heck that is. Google is not your friend. Pulmonary Hypertension can be fatal in childbirth... with all my monitoring, I couldn't fathom why my MFM or OB would never tell me I had it? The OB on-call and the nurse were trying to track down all my medical records and read through them.... because, you know -- my chart is HUGE. If you recall, I saw a cardiologist back in November and my MFM said there were no concerns... so this totally freaked me out. Not helpful for my blood pressure at all. They were actually thinking I may have preeclamsia at this point. 

9:30am: The nurse puts in the IV... took 3 tries and I got a huge bruise on the missed tries. Hard veins suck. 

10:00am: At this point, I was wondering if it would be better to do a C-Section if I had the pulmonary hypertension vs. trying to do an induction... that it would be safer for both me and the baby. The doctor finally came in after reading my entire chart and told me that I did not have pulmonary hypertension, that my chart was wrong. The OB inputted it wrong and the wrong input just kept carrying over in my chart without being corrected... WTF, what a big scare that was totally unnecessary. At the same time, I'm glad the nurse/OB took the time to research it to make sure everything was OK. 

The OB OK'd moving forward with cervical ripening. OB was guessing the baby would be about 8lbs... I was curious to see if she was right! I started to relax a little at this point after the scare of having pulmonary hypertension. 

10:40am: They start cervical ripening #1 - prostaglandin. They also take blood work. Ok, the cervical ripening stuff... if the cervical checks hurt -- this HURT much more. They have to rub it in everywhere on your cervix. Ouch and ouch!!! :( 

After this, I kind of tried to nap and had lunch. 

11:05am: Started to get some cramps. Thinking and hoping that it's working! All my blood work came back fine. 

12-1pm: I was able to get up and walk around. Went to the healing gardens and the chapel to pray. I finally let myself cry at the chapel. The scare of the pulmonary hypertension was pretty difficult to handle and then the utter relief of everything being ok... Things just did not start the way I hoped or expected because of that. 

Just to note: walking around in a hospital gown around a hospital is kinda weird. Especially when you don't have underwear on. LOL. 

1:35pm: Re-apply cervical ripening for a 2nd time. But no real progress on dilation, which was a big disappointment. 

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilated: 1cm
• Position: -2

3:00pm: I went to the restroom and there was a lot of blood on my legs and in the toilet. Finally, a REAL bloody show! Things had to be happening now, right? (Nope, not really - but I was hopeful.) My blood sugar was also really low, at 69. They gave me snacks and juice, but it only went up a little, to 79.

4:00pm: Re-apply cervical repining for a 3rd time. With the prostaglandin, they can only apply it 3 times, then they move onto something different. Can you believe it --- absolutely NO changes. I was getting worried at this point that maybe I'd have to have a C-Section after all.

5:30pm: Since my blood sugar was so low, they only had me take 1/2 dose of insulin.

6:30pm: We move onto cervical ripener #2, Cervidil. This was the most painful thing I think I ever experienced... was them putting in the Cervidil. It looks like a white piece of ribbon and they insert it into your cervix. I screamed and cried with this one... it's no joke. After they put it in, you can't walk for 12 hours. You have to be VERY careful when you go to the bathroom, that you don't accidentally pull it out. The string hangs out of your vagina, kinda like a tampon string. I started getting major cramps throughout the night -- that I couldn't sleep. They had to give me a sleeping pill to help me sleep, which I was hesitant to take. I could've taken another one if I wanted, but I only opted for one. It helped a little... By this point my blood pressure was back to normal. Yay for small miracles. If my blood pressure had continued to be high, it would've been bad for me and the baby.

That's the end of Day #1. More to come with Day #2 and then finally the birth of my son on Day #3.

I'd like to add that the entire time during the induction, I was strapped to monitors:

• Monitoring the baby's heartbeat. There's a strap around my stomach. 
• I was connected to the IV. 

Getting up was a hassle, since I had to unhook from the baby heart monitor and then push my IV stand with me anywhere I went. It was also hard to sleep, since anytime I would move or switch sides -- the monitor on my stomach would need to be adjusted. Sleep during induction? I wish it was possible. Very uncomfortable. Not to mention the beds in L&D are designed for giving birth -- so they're highly uncomfortable to begin with. 

All in all, Day #1 -- not much progress with induction!