| Post Partum Hysterectomy |
| Marianne's Story |
This page is about my post partum 'ordeal' with my second child, Lauren. It is meant to be informative and by no means is it meant to scare anyone (although living it was scarey). All told I had a fairly normal pregnancy with Lauren. This was my second pregnancy and I pretty much knew what I should expect. At the time around Lauren's birth we were finishing up with building our new home. We were living with my parents at the time as well as raising a 20 month old busy girl! To say I was anxious to be done being pregnant is an understatement. Most women would agree that those final few weeks are excruciating. You can't wait to meet the new baby! You are sick of being so tired all the time, not to mention the aches and pains, and oh, the heartburn... |
So when my obstetrician said that I could be induced, going on my 41st week, I was ecstatic (with the thought in the back of my mind that I wouldn't need to be induced because she'd come sooner). I arrived at the hospital on December 3, 2001 at about 8:30 a.m.. It was a Monday and the OB department was quite busy already. I was scheduled to be induced so I gowned up and got comfy (as much as possible in a hospital bed anyway) in the bed. The nurse had asked me most of the questions for admission the week prior when I had a bout of 'false labor' (by the way, it DIDN'T feel false...) so there was very little paperwork to go through. My husband, Duane, was a major chatterbox, chatting with me and the staff. They started me on Pitocin drip soon after. I was prepared for the Pitocin (at the time I wasn't a big fan and now, considering what has happened and the possibility that Pitocin may have played a part I am much less a great fan of Pitocin and induction in general) being that with my first experience with birthing I was placed on Pitocin due to slow labor (my waters broke naturally but I sat in the hospital for hours without anything happening, that was a 21 hour labor). I started having some mild contractions (nothing to write home about, nothing strong enough to 'naturally' break my water), my obstetrician came in to see me several hours after being on Pit, said he'd like to break the water to get me started. I was agreeable, anything to get labor over and done with. I fully expected it to go quickly, being my second baby and all. When he manually went in and broke my water it was horrible, excruciating pain. The baby (and water bag) were still in high position so he really had to get up there to break it. I felt like someone was ripping apart my insides...it finally was over (after a good 15 minutes of horrible discomfort), thank goodness. On with the Pit. Hours passed. About noon, the nurse asked me about my pain. The contractions were becoming somewhat more uncomfortable (after they upped the dosage) so I was agreeable. They gave me a dose of Stadol, I was as high as a kite. My mother in law came in, I was flying and chatting it up. My OB came in and sat with us a bit, I was still flying, very relaxed, chatty (unbelievably chatty, I don't remember much about the conversation but I remember sticking my foot in 'it' with my mother in law and making my OB laugh several times). Finally the Stadol wore off. OUCH. The contractions were pretty severe. I had only dilated to about 5 cm (from 1 cm when we started...the crotch checks were extremely uncomfortable for me as well being that the cervix was high up). My stress level was rising. I was beginning to feel 'doomish'. I dismissed those thoughts... |
As an aside story... For the last few weeks prior to being induced I felt like this pregnancy could be 'it' for me, by 'it' I mean my final hurrah. I felt very strongly, I would put my firstborn Madeline to bed every night and think (I couldn't stop these thoughts) that "this could be the last time I put her to bed". I'd cuddle her and hold her extra long. I had some sort of premonition about this whole thing. After my 'ordeal' my mother reminded me that as I was leaving the house the morning of my induction I had said: "I really don't know why I am going through with this. A big part of me is telling me to stay home and be here with Madeline and just let this happen naturally..." |
| The tale of labor induction |
 |
| Marianne & Lauren, Lauren 5 months old |