Tuesday, April 15, 2008

THE Delivery of Abigail

I did a really long post below if you haven't checked in awhile to update. I just wanted to take a moment to blog about Jessica's delivery of baby Abigail. It was beyond crazy...beyond disorganized...beyond me how it all happened as it did...

So, they checked into the hospital at like 9:00 or somewhere thereabouts. The nurse that was assigned to her hooked her up to the monitor, checked her progress, etc. We should have known at that moment that things were going to be weird. The nurse said, "I'm not really sure if that is your cervix or not...I'm going to get someone else......" Hmmm... Turns out it WAS her cervix and she was at 3-4 dialated. The 2nd nurse left and this nurse said that she wasn't getting any regular, good contractions on the monitor so she might give Jessica a muscle relaxer and send her home. Let me clarify that this was her 3rd baby...she was having contractions every 3-5 minutes...she was at a 3-4 dialated and 100% effaced. WHAT?!? Jessica was really upset about it and after the nurse left was crying about it all saying, "They CAN'T send me home! I will have this baby in the PARKING LOT!" She told the nurse, "You may not be SEEING any mountains on your monitor, but I'm HAVING mountains and you need to adjust the monitor...I'm in active labor!"

So, after talking to the doctor, the nurse said that they were going to monitor her a bit more. By 11:05, Jessica was at a 5 and decided to get her epidural due to intense back labor (she was practically crawling up the bed rails and trying to get out of the bed...sound familiar, Meshellyn?). :) She never did get that epidural... The goofy nurse (which there were many, many more goofy things that I'm not remembering at the moment) stuck her twice for an IV. Another nurse came in and stuck her twice for an IV. The anesthesiologist came in and on HIS second stick (I would have bet money that he crawled out of bed and down the hall to her room...he was a wreck) finally got an IV started. They blew FIVE veins and didn't use ANY lidocaine to numb her arms in the process!!!

So, they got the IV started and Jessica said, "This baby is coming. I'm not pushing, but my body is. She's coming right now." The nurse said, "Don't push...it's not time." Jessica said, "I'm NOT, but my uterus IS and the baby is COMING!" The nurse said, "No, she's not." The doctor came in at that point. He broke her water and was kind of moseying around the room. He chatted with me. Jessica was screaming bloody murder and saying that she was delivering. One nurse grabbed her head and said, "JESSICA! YOU HAVE GOT TO GET CONTROL OF YOURSELF! Your baby is NOT coming yet! You are only at 8-9 and she's not coming! You have got to pant!!!" Merely 2 minutes or so later, out comes Abigail...onto the bed...the doctor had 1 glove on...the nurses had no gloves on...the baby nurses rushed in...the doctor quickly got his other glove on and suctioned Abigail out...I was in there on the other side of the room (there was a couch)...it was all just insane! I really can't describe it as anything BUT insanity!!! It was mainly the fact that nobody believed her when it was her THIRD baby that it was happening. They could have saved a LOT of money by having her at home... :)

All's well that ends well, though. Jessica and Abigail were fine and both continue to do really well. The hospital expressed their deepest apologizes (sp?) and gave them a gift certificate for a restaurant. They are currently doing an investigation into the labor and delivery. Oh, yeah...HER doctor was never even called to tell that she was in labor. AND, with her history of tachycardia (racing heart rate), they never, ever had her hooked up to a blood pressure cuff or pulse monitor. Her doctor was really mad and he's the one that called for the investigation. Of course, I'm not so sure about him in general, though, because he never even came to see her the day after delivery. NO DOCTOR CAME TO SEE HER the day after her delivery. NONE! She had no check up.

SO, that's the BIZARR-O story. Hope you enjoyed it. Cassie's done with breakfast and wanting down, so I'd best go get her. Peace out.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Poor Jessica, glad she's home and putting that craziness behind her. Sounds like a big mess to me, that should never have happened. She must have had a newbie nurse questioning her vag exam like that...

Rebekah said...

Sheesh, that sounds like a health care story from Florida! Scary! I can't believe no one came back to check on her! That's just wrong. Wow. I just feel really sorry for Jessica! BTW Devon, do you know when her mom is leaving? I was thinking about making her some frozen dinners.