This time I planned to go all out and do things different with this birth, since its going to be my last. Little did I know that it truly was VERY different from any other birthing experience that I had before.
This pregnancy was very difficult. VERY difficult. I stayed sick practically the whole 9 months. I had one ailment after the next but anyhoo, I decided that since this was my absolute LAST child I would do things a bit differently.
I decided that I would have my baby at a birthing center in the whirlpool tub. I had always wanted to do it, but there were no facilities in my area. Since I live less than 5 miles from one, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge, especially after the tour and orientation that the midwives gave me.
When I was 33 weeks pregnant I went back to my hometown an started having contractions. I spent the night in the hospital and they stopped the contractions. A few days later I started having neck pains. I brushed it off thinking I slept wrong and had a crook in my neck. Everyday the pain got worse and worse until on a scale of 1-10 it was an 8. The pain was constant with no let up. It was actually worse than labor. Seriously. I thought that my chiropractor could work my neck out and the pain would go away, but he left early for the weekend and I had to suffer for 2 whole days, 48 hours, 2,880 minutes, 172,800 seconds of excruciating non stop pain. For 4 days my chiropractor worked on me and for the first 2 days it bought the pain down to a manageable 4 but the last 2 days it was back up to level 8 on the pain scale. What does this have to do with anything? I'll get to that.
That Thursday I had my regular check up with the midwives. Here you check your own weight and protein levels in your urine and when my levels werent normal I let them know of course. The midwife said it was one of two things. Either I had something minor like a bladder infection or my blood pressure was high. Well unfortunately it was the latter. My pressure was 170/110. This is extremely odd for me because my pressure runs low and I have NEVER had high blood pressure.
Of course I had to go strait to the hospital to be monitored. They did an ultra sound and not only was my amniotic fluid low, but my placenta was failing. I was 8 months pregnant but the baby was only the size of a 7 month old fetus. All that was code for immediate c-section.
Imagine my shock. Going from the most natural non invasive, least expensive method of childbirth to the most invasive, unnatural, most expensive method of childbirth. I am thinking Im going to my Drs visit and end up in the hospital for an emergency c-section. It made my head spin.
Aisha was born on November 6th at 12:23 pm and weighed in at 3lb 7oz and was 16 3/4 inches long. She stayed in the NICU for 3 weeks with no complications and I am VERY thankful for that.
So what did all that neck pain have to do with anything? In hindsight my midwife said that the early contractions I had that had to be stopped was a sign that my placenta was failing. My liver and other internal organs began to signal the body that the baby was a foreign object that needed to go and that made my blood pressure go sky high. High blood pressure can manifest itself thru pain and this is the reason for my severe neck pain. It as amazing that as soon as she was normal my pain went away.
