The Birth of our Son Micah Kato "Mikato" Drake Dreith!

The day Micah was born. I woke up that morning thinking if only I can make through one more day I will 37 weeks pregnant and full term. I had been having trouble keeping my blood pressure down and I was having protein levels in my urine. Possibilities of Hypertension were hovering over my head too. I had tried upping my consumption of protein, being on bed rest and acupuncture. My midwife Jeni came over that morning and took my Blood pressure. It was a scary 160/110 she and I made a plan to have her intern Christina come over and check my B.P. later that afternoon. So I spent that morning watching T.V., playing on the computer and eating lots of protein. Jeni made an appointment for me to get more acupuncture. When Christina came over around 1p.m. She checked my B.P. and it was still elevated. She checked my urine and there was still too much protein leeching out of my body. So we went to Jeni's office and did a more thorough check. Tory headed to the office to meet us there. I had brought our hospital bags. After much thought and conversation we decided to go to Boulder Community Foothills Hospital to get me stabilized and see what else we could do for the situation. I was having back spasms from a vertibrae being out. I was also experiencing minor contractions and was dialated to 1 cm. but no effacement. Baby was at zero station. We got to the hospital and got me checked in. My B.P. was still elevated. They drew some blood and started an I.V. buff cap. We got to talk to the on-call OBGYN. He got my blood labs and gave it to me straight. He told me that we could go ahead and induce labor and that it would maybe take me several hours or days. He said that even if I was induced there was a 50% chance that I would have to have a C-Section anyway. He oreded an ultrasound. So I was not ready to give up. I asked to talk with my midwife and husband about the situation. We talked about all the pros and cons of the situation. I said that I would like to talk to the anesthesiologist before I would consider a c-section. We did the ultrasound and decided to go ahead and find out the sex of the baby. So during the ultrasound we found out that our baby was gonna be a Boy! They measured his head and body and thought that he was small for his gestational age and guessed his weight to be about 4lbs. 11ozs. So at that point the reality of my situation became more clear. We talk to the anesthesiologist about the difference between a spinal, an epidural and a general. At that point I asked myself if I could make it through labor and delivery feeling the way I did. I remember feeling completely run down, tired and just up to risking my life and our baby's life. My health was deteriorating and I could have a seisure and risk my baby's life and health. Tory, Jeni and I made the decision to go ahead with the c-section. This broke my heart because I was set on my home birth and my ability to be a strong woman and birth my precious baby. I felt like I didn't have that ability to do what I so desired. I was devistated with the situation. They started me on an antibiotic to reduce my risk of having any infections. They got me ready for surgery. I felt numb and beat mentally and emotionally. We entered the operating room and I recieved a drug to help me relax into the situation. When they gave me that drug I went from nervous to feeling like the room was spinning and I might have had about 20 margaritas. Then the anesthesiologist started to do my spinal. He numbed my back and then put the needle in my back which I still felt. the thought of that memory still makes me kinda queasy. Moments after the spinal I was all tingley and felt like someone had put me in to some sort of unnatural trance. I kinda still felt them put in my catheter. I mentioned that to the anesthesiologist. He said to give it a few minutes and tested to see if I could still feel anything below the spinal. At that point I could only feel pins and needles in my feet. Shortly after that I felt tugging and movement, but not like I was in my body. Pretty soon I heard them say that baby was out and he was fine. Tory was with me the whole time. When baby went to get checked out my mom came in and was with me while they sutured me. I got to kiss my son and love on him for about 5 minutes after Tory cut his cord. When Tory went with Micah my mom stayed with me. I then heard what sounded like a staple gun. It turned it was a staple gun. They got me all closed up and rolled me out into the recovery room. I laid there and shook uncontorlably for a long time. My whole support crew was there with Tory and Micah. So that was My mom, Tory's mom and dad, Tisha, Jeni and Christina. We found out that Micah was 3lbs 13 oz. 16 1/2 inches long. His head was 12 1/2 inches circumference. I eventually got to sit up and breast feed my son. I laid in that recovery room for a what seemed like a long time. We were taken to the NICU. Our room was an adjoining room to Micah's NICU room. They laid me in bed and I stayed there for the next 2 days. I had to have help getting up and getting to go see Micah. Someone else had to change my pads and clean my genital area. When I did finally feel everything the pain was unbelievable. I had a catheter in for about 2 days. After 4 days and lots of progress I was discharged. We were able to stay with Micah in the hospital until he went home. The room was considered Micah's and we are his parents so we could stay as long as Micah had stayed. After 10 days here Micah is back to and just above his birth weight. we may still be here for about another week or 2. He needs to gain weight and hold his own body heat. Be able to have a good oxygen level and be able to consume all of the breast milk on his own. I am still experiencing some Hypertension and elevated Blood Pressure. Which means that my milk production is slowly coming in. I am hopeful that I will able to produce enough milk for Micah by the time we get to go home. I am pumping so that he can consume my milk in addition to donor milk. I love breast feeding with Micah and learning how to be a great mom. The lactation consultants are concerned that I am not producing enough milk yet. My feet are still swollen and I am still taking Vicodin for the pain. Today is the first day that I have noticed leakage from my breasts which makes me think that my breasts may start producing more milk. I will continue to write about this experience so as to be able to get through it all emotionally. I still feel like someone put into an induced dream like trance and when I woke up I had not abdominal control, lots of pain and a beautiful, Handsome baby Boy! I feel like I was supposed to be able to labor and feel the contractions and feel my baby take the passage through the birth canal. I feel like I was robbed that whole experience. I still have the option of being able to do that with the next child. My OBGYN Dr. (Dr. Plotnick) told Tory and I that the chances of Pre-Eclampsia were 30% if Tory and I have another baby together. I hope that I can a have healing experience with our next baby. Don't get me wrong I love Micah and I would do it all over again if I had to but I hope that I can have a natural child birth the next time.