High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy Leads to Emergency Cesarean

I had a good pregnancy with my son fifteen years ago, but my labor was complicated. I went to all my doctor visits, took my vitamins (most of the time), and stayed active.

Nov. 6th

The day after my initial due date, I went in to see my doctor. To my surprise, my blood pressure was extremely high. The doctor wanted to put me in the hospital that day. He scheduled me to be induced for labor the next morning at 7:00 a.m. I was so terrified! I had heard some horrible stories about being induced, that the pain is twice as bad as it would be if you were to go into natural labor. That evening, the doctor came in and put a gel inside me that would help soften my cervix. I began having pain through the night.

The Next Morning (Nov. 7th)

My doctor came in and explained how they would be inducing me, etc. The nurse placed an IV in my arm which began inducing my labor. In the first few hours I started having mild contractions.

There was this machine that had a switch on it to make the contractions come closer together. My doctor assured me everything was good, except I was only dilated to one that evening. He then moved that switch on the machine to increase the contractions. OUCH!! I began having hard contractions through the night. By the next morning, I had only dilated to three. I don’t remember if they broke my water that morning when they induced me or that evening.

Nov. 8th

I had only dilated to three by morning, so my doctor again increased the contractions. Now the contractions came even harder and by that afternoon I was in unbearable pain, still only dilated to five! My doctor gave me something for the pain that only relieved it for 15 minutes. I think that made the pain even worse because when the pain started coming back, I couldn’t handle it! I started hyperventilating. My doctor decided to do an emergency c-section. I can still remember the total chaos around me. I had an IV hooked up to my arm and tubes going inside me that had been attached to the baby’s head to monitor him. They began disconnecting me from everything.

5:00 pm, Nov. 8th

I remember being wheeled out on a stretcher in a rush as I saw my family all standing outside the waiting room crying and looking worried. That scared me more because I thought they thought I was going to die.

In the Operating Room, all I remember is being prepped for surgery. There was still chaos around me. The nurse then placed a mask over my mouth and nose. She told me to start counting backward from 100. I probably only made it to 90 because the next thing I remember is being woken in the recovery room by a nurse telling me I had a Son. (That was the happiest moment of my life!) I was so thankful to God, my doctors, and nurses for saving my baby and me.

After the Surgery

The recovery pain for me was far less painful than labor. I had an incision cut from my belly button down because they had to do exploratory surgery. The healing was much quicker than I had expected. I was released five days later and had my stitches removed in two weeks.

I was limited to the normal things after major surgery, such as no walking up and down stairs, no heavy lifting, etc. for six weeks. For the next few weeks, I did experience a lot of stiffness where my incision was.

My baby was perfect! His face was round and didn’t have the look that some babies have after vaginal birth.

Now, fifteen years later, he’s a Freshman in High School, honor roll student, served five years on the student council, performs in concert choir, is in wrestling, and weight lifting. He plays the bass guitar and has been working on forming his own band. He loves me and respects women. I’m a proud Momma!