It's taken me a while to get this up. Life with two is quite time consuming, plus
who wants to sit at a computer when you have a beautiful little newborn to
snuggle. I am so in love with this
little guy. I think it's silly I was so
nervous about having a boy. I didn't know what I was going to do with a
boy, but now that he is here I know what I am going to do with him.. love the
heck out of him!
I've debated whether or not to share this as it may come
across as whiney or me feeling sorry for myself. After thinking about it, that was part of the
problem with my health care, I was made to think I was being a handful for
advocating for the best for myself and my baby.
As I continue to try and get help for myself and my baby I'm still
getting this treatment and hope that getting this out there will encourage more
women to stand up for themselves.
Getting Koa here wasn't the easiest.
He joined our family three weeks ago on a Sunday. The Thursday before I started to have a
stomach ache and feel a little crampy. I
became excited and thought I might be going into labor. As Thursday wore on I realized the pain I was
feeling wasn't coming and going like contractions , but was rather constant and
it was getting worse. After midnight we
went into Mother Infant Care because the pain was becoming unbearable. I was given meds and an IV, it was assumed
the baby was either sitting on my 11 cm ovarian cyst or I was dehydrated
because I had been throwing up and was unable to keep anything down. Besides monitoring to see if I was in labor
with contractions (I was not), nothing
was done to diagnose what was wrong. As
the IV was administered I fell asleep for an hour or two and was sent home upon
waking up. When we arrived home I tried
to sleep but I couldn't as the pain was returning. I laid in bed until noon. Sean called our home teacher who came to help
administer a priesthood blessing. I
threw up shortly after and wasn't able to keep anything down since the day
before at breakfast. I didn't want to go back in for a number of reasons but
after the blessing I felt like that was the best choice for us. We went back in Friday afternoon, my pain was
almost unbearable so they gave me heavier medicines, another IV and I slept for
around 3-4 hours. They suggested
inducing me but I didn't want to go into labor exhausted and already in so much
pain, I truly thought I would be able to get it under control. We scheduled an induction for Monday. After
they sent me home I noticed that if I laid in bed a certain way that my pain
was tolerable so I didn't move from that spot until Saturday. At this point I think I maybe had 6 hours of
sleep since Thursday. On Saturday I was
so desperate for a diagnosis and no more assumptions. I had all the symptoms of appendicitis so I had Sean call and ask if
that was a test that was even administered.
They told us no. We packed our
hospital bags up again, extremely frustrated we went back into Mother Infant
Care. This time I had the one doctor who
had treated me seriously back in March when the other health care providers
just shrugged their shoulders. She had a
serious conversation with me and said that the pain probably wasn't going
anywhere and would only get worse. She
pulled an ultrasound out (something I had been asking for the past 2 days), and
found that the cyst had actually moved up under my rib cage, and that the pain
was from my ovary being stretch abnormally far in my abdomen. She also told me that on Monday a surgeon
specializing in difficult cases was flying in for other reasons and that she
would see if she could get him to see me.
She also found that the amniotic fluid surrounding Koa was low and that
we needed to be induced. I cried. This was not how I wanted things to go. I wanted to labor at home as long as
possible, show up at the hospital ready to push and leave the hospital right
after his hearing test. I hate
hospitals, medical interventions, feeling like I had my choices taken away and
in ten minutes everything was changing.
They tried to reassure me that I could get the epidural and that all the
pain I was in would go away. I hadn't
even started labor and they were already offering me the epidural. They must have thought I was crazy because I
told them I didn't want one and that I also would not be getting a heparin
lock. That was a fun conversation.
I had Sean call our doula who arrived around the time they
started my induction. I tried to get
labor started without pitocin, just a few hours in and they decided I would
need it. I think I labored and I say "labored" because I honestly couldn't tell when I was having a
contraction sometimes or if it was just the pain from the cyst, for maybe
around 6 hours and then when they told me I would need pitocin I requested the
epidural. After contractions really
started I realized that I would not be getting a break in between contractions,
that I was already exhausted, had no food in me since Thursday, had little
sleep and was realizing that I also had a marathon after I had the baby to
face. I was in so much pain from the cyst
that I couldn't even sit up in bed to receive the epidural, that I had to lay
down. After I received the epidural I
was out and slept until morning. It was the first real relief I had since the
pain had started on Thursday. On Sunday morning I woke up feeling beyond
rested. It was wonderful. Shortly after waking up it was time to
push. I requested that they turn the
epidural off, so I could at least experience that aspect of labor.
I really loved how labor went from this point. I have more positive feelings about this
labor than I did with Ely's because of how private and intimate this setting
was. I remember during my delivery with Ely I was so full of fear, but this
time I wasn't afraid and felt like I owned the situation. The only medical
person present was our nurse while I was pushing, and the only other people in
the room was my husband and doula. I
felt very ready for this and was glad that I could experience it this way at
least. It is so important that moms
know that this is an option... you can turn that epidural off at any point, you
don't have to be all or nothing! After
he started crowning our doctor came in.
At this point I could feel everything, and as crazy as this sounds I am
glad, this was an important aspect to me with this delivery. I wanted to feel
him enter this world, it was beautiful!
After he arrived my doula told me to look down. I am so glad we opted for delayed cord
clamping because I at least had the time he was on my chest until the cord
stopped pulsating. During that time he
was receiving oxygen from me.
They put him on my
chest and he was very calm. He hardly
cried. Sean commented that he was
looking at me, and he was, his eyes were
squinted but opened. I was so excited he
was chubby and noticed immediately that he had his daddy's chin. Because we opted for delayed cord clamping I
had that much time with him, which felt longer than 3 minutes thankfully. According to his medical paperwork he was
only on my chest for 3 minutes before they took him away to try and illicit a
cry. This upset me a bit, Ely did the
same thing and I insisted she stay with me, she hardly cried and they did all
testing on my chest. They took him away
and and I am not kidding when I say there were at least 20 medical professionals
around the warmer. I found that incredibly
unnecessary and I wonder who was there on a needed basis or to just see what
was going on. There were at least 12 of
them just standing around watching. Our
understanding was he was having a rough transition from the womb to breathing
on his own. Once they were able to get
him to breathe successfully they brought him to me. I was able to nurse him and
have skin to skin time. Sean was able to hold him and he had his testing done.
We continued to see Pediatricians and were told that he would need to receive
antibiotics which would mean a heparin lock for baby. I was not excited about this, I was not happy
they would not let Sean escort baby to the NICCU. At this point I was so over the hospital and
we were only into day 2 of our week long stay.
Koa handled the IV like a champ. I was having a hard time not being able
to get out of bed to do things. The pain
from my cyst had returned and I was unable to walk even to the bathroom
unassisted. It was so different from when I delivered Ely. I was running around the hospital room an
hour after I delivered her and this time I need help sitting up in bed. We saw
the doctor that decided to induce me on Saturday vs waiting until Sunday. She looked at baby and I told her I was still
in pain.
The surgeon came to my room shortly after having Koa. In that moment I didn't realize how blessed I
was to actually be seeing him. He was a
specialist from Guam, that had flown in to do surgeries on cancer
patients. I just happened to be someone
he could fit into his schedule during the 3 days he was there. We discussed when I would have surgery and
it would either be the very next day or the day after. The next morning mid breakfast I had them
come in and take my breakfast away and I got scolded for eating because I was
having surgery that day. Around lunch
time the surgeon came in again to discuss what it was I wanted exactly from
surgery. I told them I didn't want the
cyst drained, but removed, I didn't care if they saved the ovary, I didn't care
if they gave me huge incisions. I had
actually had this surgery once before, that was done poorly and the cyst was
never removed and grown back into the problem I was currently having. I think my last surgeon was trying to save
my ovary and make sure I didn't have a huge incision so she just drained it
instead of removing it. It eventually
came down to me telling the surgeon that I wanted the ovary removed, a cyst
couldn't grow back on an ovary that wasn't there. After our discussion the surgery was moved
until the next day, so we could thankfully have a family day.
Ely came to visit us in the hospital and it was such a
special experience having her come. My wonderful visiting teacher brought her
so we could have some time together before the surgery. When Ely entered the hospital room she
looked quite confused, and she wouldn't talk to us which was kind of odd for
her because she is a chatter box. It
took her a while to warm up to Koa, when she first held him she was quite
unsure about the situation. After a
while she started speaking to us and acting like her regular self. The doctor came into our room to take Koa
away for a procedure, as they wheeled him away, Ely started crying and was
seriously concerned that they were taking her little brother away and asked
"Where are they taking him?"-- Sweetest, most heart melting thing
ever! I am so glad we had a family day
before the surgery. It was such a good
thing we had Ely come to visit then.
The next morning I went into surgery and leaving my baby was
one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I left Sean lined up with 2
wet nurses who he had to contact and who I will be eternally grateful for. We were told the surgery would only be 45
minutes long. It ended up taking around
4 hours. When they got in there, it was
a much bigger mess than anticipated.
Turns out, the reason I was in so much pain was because my ovary was
stretched up abnormally under my rib cage and the cyst had caused it to torque
(something several doctors said was unlikely).
The cyst was also stuck to my liver and that in response to all these
issues that had happened my body had put a protective coat over the cyst. My ovary was dead. It had to be removed, I was just lucky that I
had requested it and knew it was happening before they put me under. The pictures are pretty gnarly and Sean made
sure he showed the nurses who treated me like I was being over dramatic about
my pain.
After all was said and done, I realized I wasn't just lucky
but incredibly blessed. There were several issues with my health care up to
this point. I don't think there was a
surgeon equipped to perform this surgery on Okinawa. My doctors had told me that doing a surgery
like this right after delivery would be dangerous and extremely difficult because
the uterus would be difficult to work around.
I am blessed that it acted up in the time frame that it did, that it
happened in such a way that I could be induced, have our baby, and then have
surgery just a few days later. This
surgeon wasn't here to see me, but I was blessed in that I was able to be seen
by him and receive the help I needed. He
saw me the day after my surgery to check up on me, and then flew out the
following day. Had that timeline been
any different I don't know how things would have turned out. With my ovary being dead, I don't know what
kind of issues that could have presented had it stayed in for another 6 weeks,
because 6 weeks post delivery was when all the other doctors on Okinawa wanted
to wait to do the surgery. I've tried to
focus on these miraculous positive aspects as I continue healing from
delivering a baby and then going through a major abdominal surgery. I am eternally gratefully to my Heavenly
Father for all the angels that blessed our lives during this time. It was hard on us but we were able to get
through with our amazing community out here on Okinawa.
Dr. Whittemore who delivered him.
Our amazing nurse! Seriously, so so incredible.
When Ely was able to hold him for the first time. She was so unsure at first you can see it in her face... which is hilarious because she LOVES babies!
He was FINALLY able to wear clothes. Because he had is IV in for so long we weren't able to dress him until the day we left.
So glad to be going home!!
