Farewell Appendix

Apparently my body likes to get rid of body parts after having a baby.  After Breanna I had my gallbladder removed.  After Ethan I had a root canal (ok....doesn't really count, but was not fun).  After Luke I had my appendix removed.

About 9 days postpartum my afterbirth pains were almost gone and very tolerable (they were really painful for quite awhile with the 3rd baby, yuck!)  But, I started getting "episodes" of pain.  I would feel like I was having a contraction start and then it would feel like it wouldn't end for an hour and a half.  And....it wasn't pretty.  It was so painful I couldn't walk/talk/move.  I had painkillers at home b/c of having the baby so I would take one and it pretty much would do nothing....I just had to wait it out.

Believe me, an hour and a half is a long time when you don't know what's wrong.  I had one wake me up at 2am.  I had another one the next day at 8am.  Then one more another time that I can't remember.  The rest of the time I felt fine.  Tender down in the lower abdominal area but no extreme pain.  I thought I might have an infection in my uterus or something so I got an appt. for Mon. morning and went to the OB/GYN.

They checked and there was no infection.  Dr. said that he wanted me to get a CT scan just in case to check everything out.

The CT imaging place said they would get me in the next afternoon b/c I needed to fast for 4 hours before the scan and it was too late in the day to do it Monday.  So....Tues. 3pm was my appt.  Fasting for 4 hours is not fun when you are nursing (especially cuz you can't have anything, including water)!!  They were running behind and didn't get me in til 4pm.  Scan went quickly and I went home.

We had a BIG dinner cuz I was starving.  Right before dinner I got a phone call (about 5:20PM) from the on-call OBGYN.  She said she wanted me to come back to the ER and get checked out.  My appendix looked a little sketchy and they wanted to check that and also I guess the uterus looked like there was maybe leftover stuff from the birth and so I needed an ultrasound to check that out.

I cried and Rob decided to stay with the kids and send me and we would see what happened....if it was nothing I would come back home and if it was something then he would figure out something to do with the kids.

My mom was in California (she had left that morning) to help my sister Michelle move.  She and my dad decided to send him down to the ER for moral support.  I'm so glad he came!!

It was the craziest experience ever.  I have never been waited for at the ER.  The nurse and Dr. both checked me out, I was given an ultrasound, had a urine and blood test and the surgeon came to see me all within an hour.  Seriously!?!?

Withing 2 1/2 hours I was being brought to surgery for my appendix.  The surgeon said it looked borderline.  My white blood cell count was borderline and the only thing that made him for sure want to take it out was the physical exam.  He said there was a 10-15% chance that it was healthy but he would remove it anyways.  As he was forcing the paper to me to sign consent for surgery my Dad was trying to slow him down, ask questions and make sure that it wasn't the leftover in the uterus that might be causing pain.  The Dr. said that the radiologist said anyone 13 days postpartum would have remaining stuff after giving birth so they ruled that out.

My dad was wondering why he was rushing so much, thought maybe the guy just wanted to get home....but apparently not (my dad saw him there hours later).  Just wanted to cut me open I guess!

They rushed so much that thankfully my dad was able to coordinate with Rob and come up with a plan for the kids.  Rob's parents were amazing and immediately left and started driving to our house to take care of our kids (including the newborn).  He was able to get to the hospital, but everything went so quick that it wasn't til I was in recovery after surgery that he made it.

I was a bit in shock as I was up in pre-op as they hurried me along.

 Random side note #1: The nurse who was taking care of me in pre-op is actually lives in our basement apartment! We have become kind of friends and it was so nice to have a friendly face beforehand.  She also offered to help watch the kids if we couldn't find any one to do it...so nice!

Random side note #2: The anesthesiologist was the same guy that did my epidural less then 2 weeks before. I think they could all tell I was scared and so he put something in my IV before they even rolled my bed down the hallway.  All I can remember is he said, "You were such a good patient last time, you get something special this time." And then I was out.

When I woke up all I could think was that appendix better have been infected b/c I hurt!  Yes, I had appendicitis and it needed to be removed, the surgeon told me this after the surgery.

I was out of the hospital the next evening by 5pm.  Rob's parents stayed til 7pm and were wonderful.  My mom came at 9pm and helped me through the night for the next few nights b/c I could barely move, plus I had a newborn to take care of.  She took care of him all night for several nights, just waking me up to feed him.

My sister in law came up on Friday and helped take care of us all day!  My sister took the kids for about 4 hours on Saturday for us.  The next week our ward helped out by volunteers taking my kids (just the 2 older ones) for a couple of hours every morning.  Rob would take them to the daycare in the gym in the afternoon and then take care of them the rest of the evening when he was done with work.  We also had meals provided for us about 5 nights of the week.

I am feeling good now, 2 weeks after surgery and 4 weeks after having a baby.  All I can say is I am SOOOO grateful for all the help that we got.  Also, I don't want to go back to the hospital for a LONG time!

The birth

Luke's birth was way different then our other 2 children.  I was scheduled to check in at the Parker Hospital at 9pm on Dec. 27th.  It was so wierd knowing that I would be having a baby soon, yet not being in labor yet.  The whole day was long b/c I knew I needed to accomplish as much as possible before leaving for the hospital.  I cleaned, did laundry, played with the kids and cleaned some more.  My sister Michelle came over in the afternoon and cleaned my whole fridge (inside and out) and vacuumed the whole house for me!

We left at 6:30 to bring the kids to my parents house.  We put them to bed around 7:30ish and then hung out with my mom and dad, Michelle and Todd.  We ate lots of Christmas leftovers and goodies.  At 8pm I called the hospital to see if we were still being induced and they said yes, come at 9.  We hung out and then I was given a blessing before we left the house.

We drove to the hospital and talked and laughed as we drove.  We walked into the hospital with smiles on our faces....signed papers with ease and then were shown to our luxurious room.  It was huge!!! I was told to change into the gown and then I was monitored and baby was monitored for an hour.  After that I was hooked up to an IV and started getting antibiotics (I had tested positive for strep B).  This was the plan for the WHOLE night, so she said she wasn't even going to check me....just for us to relax and sleep if I could and pitocin would be started at 5am.  I was given an ambien to sleep and then actually slept for about 4 hours (i've never slept before birth b/c I've been up all night with contractions.)

Rob actually had a full pull out bed, we each had our own pillows and slept semi comfortably til 4 or so...that's when nurses started coming in and out of the room.  I wasn't started on pitocin until 5:45am.  Then I was checked and I was.....drumroll.....dialated 2 cm.  What? Are you kidding me?  I had been contracting all week and so I was for sure it would have been a 3.  Disappointment set in.  Baby's head was also stationed at a -3, so that's as high as they measure I believe, so that also was not great news.

The nurse slowly increased the pitocin every 1/2 hour.  The contractions were where she wanted them to be, strong and 2 minutes apart, an hour and a 1/2 later.  She told me that if I wanted an epidural I could do it at any time.  She also warned me my Dr. would come in around 7ish and break my water.  So, I opted to have her call the anesthesiologist and get the epidural before my water was broken.  The epidural went ok but only numbed 1/2 of my body the right 1/2 could feel pretty much everything.  So....when the Dr. came in he thankfully said he would come back soon to break my water after the epidural was properly working.  The anesthesiologist readjusted the epidural, but hours later I was still completely numb on one side and the other side just semi numb.  It was quite an odd experience.

My Dr. ended up not coming back for 4 hours.  He had a c-section that ended up transferring to the OR, which I think means it was not good.  He also was happy at 7am and grim at 11am.  From 7am to 11am the nurse checked me a couple times.  I dozed in and out of sleep (so obviously I was only semi feeling anything) and Rob went and had breakfast in the cafeteria.

At 10ish I was a 3, maybe a 4 but the nurse felt something funny and wasn't sure it was the baby's head so she freaked us out and had another nurse check and she said everything was fine, and I was a 4 during contractions.  Head still at a -3.

Dr. came and broke my water at 11:30am.  I was then told that I was a 6.  He would be back to check in awhile.  The nurse had me sit up so gravity could help move baby's head down.  I told Rob to go get lunch so that he would be ready.  Called my mom (who was watching the kiddos) and told her it might be a good time to get down to the hospital.  She got there 40 min. later.

While Rob was gone I started feeling a lot of pain and by the time he got back I was freaking out telling him get the nurse my epidural is broken.  Nurse had just changed something on the epidural so I thought she didn't do it right.  She came 10 min. later.  Just as she came my Mom had just arrived.  I was crying and holding the bed in extreme pain wondering what was going on.  Nurse said well let me check your epidural, make sure it's not pinched....they had to turn me a tiny sideways and WHAM I felt a huge pain/pressure down there.

Okay, let me check you the nurse said as I was hyperventilating.....okay, it's not your epidural, you're having this baby.  Let's get you set up to push.  She also called anesthesia...they put something in my epidural to help out which would take 10 min. to kick in.  I started pushing (which felt way better then just sitting there). After 10 min. I felt so much better, still pushing but had relief from pain.  Then the nurse said let's try a different pushing position b/c baby was having a hard time getting around the pelvic bone.

2 pushes later she said, "STOP Brooke, STOP".  Luckily my Dr. walked in the room put on gown and gloves and then they let me finish pushing the baby out.  He almost missed the birth and I would not have been able to wait any more then I had to.

I was incredibly lucky and did not tear or have an episiotomy.  I went from a 6 to a 10 in an hour or so and from -3 to +2 in that same time.  It was insanely quick once the water was broken.  The whole process took from 5:45 till 1:04pm.  Realistically the contractions weren't close til 7AM, so 7 til 1pm.  Shortest and easiest (even though labor and birth is not easy) process yet!

He's Perfect

Luke Alexander Douglas
Born 12/28/11
1:04PM
8lbs.
21 inches long