Kayleigh's Story
 

The story of my second pregnancy actually starts about a year after having Joshua.  After his early arrival and the 75 day NICU stay, we wanted to take all possible steps to avoid a recurrence of that situation in another pregnancy.  I met with a specialist and underwent laparoscopic surgery to see exactly what the situation was with my uterus, and to take any appropriate action to correct any problems.  From the pictures the doctor took while he was doing the procedure, it appears that I only have a single uterine cavity that is slightly heart shaped, and there is a layer of tissue running down the center to my cervix (prior to my pregnancy with Joshua, it appeared that I had 2 cervical openings, a continuation of the septum; however, since delivery, only one cervical opening has been seen).  During the procedure, the doctor attempted to remove as much of the septum as possible; afterward, he said that he felt fairly confident that he had been successful, and at my follow-up several weeks later, he said that everything was healing up properly and that all systems were "go" for a second pregnancy.

Well, we waited another year, and then found out in November of 2006 that we were expecting baby #2.  We were excited but nervous - this meant another "high risk" pregnancy (even if the surgery was 100% successful, I would still be considered high-risk because of my past history).  But having been through what we did with Joshua, we felt much more prepared this time around.  Of course, it also helped to have the "blessing" of my the specialist to go ahead and get pregnant.

At 8 weeks in, one of my doctors (Dr. Dennis, the specialist) sent me in for a 3-D ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy and to double-check the status of my uterus.  At that time, they saw the baby (that little heart was beating so fast!), and they also saw two distinct uterine chambers.  This meant that the surgery I'd had was unsuccessful, and that my risk status had just increased a great deal.  We were devastated!  I was so looking forward to a "normal" pregnancy - I think that in the back of my mind, I was expecting that the doctor would take a look at me, tell me that everything looked completely normal, and send me on my way to a happy, uneventful pregnancy.  WRONG!

I got established with a new OB-GYN, Dr. Keeley (I left the practice that I was with when I had Joshua for several reasons, one of which was to get in with a doctor who delivers at the hospital where I planned to deliver).  After taking a look at my situation, talking with me, and getting a picture of what all was going on, he recommended OB visits every 2 weeks, and surgery to put in a cerclage at 12 weeks, along with progesterone shots starting at week 16 and going through week 36.  He hinted at the possibility of bed rest, but didn't say that it was definitely in the cards.  So, we headed into high-risk pregnancy #2.

Things went pretty well in the beginning...no major upsets and no real surprises.  We scheduled my cerclage surgery for February 1, and other than some delays in getting into the operating room (on the doctor's end, not mine), everything went as planned.  I had it done under general anesthesia this time, because of my terrible reaction to the spinal anesthesia I had last time.  I really liked the anesthesiologist, and she seemed to think that using general anesthesia (in as small a dose as possible) was a good option for me.  She and I agreed that they would not give me any of the usual "pre-anesthesia" drugs that help "calm" you, and that they would only give me the anti-nausea drugs that they usually pump into you on the back end of anesthesia if I showed signs of needing them.  Everything went off without a hitch, and Dr. Keeley felt like the surgery had been successful.  It took  me longer to recover from the surgery this time, but I made it through and continued on with my life and my pregnancy.  Exercise was a no-no, and with the hints at bed rest, I restricted my activity as much as possible so that they wouldn't take me out of work.  I didn't stand up in front of the class to teach - I sat at an overhead at the front of the room; I put my gym membership on hold; I tried to rest as much as possible (as much as you can with a 2 1/2 year old at home); and I just generally tried to take things as easy as possible.

The 28-week mark came and went - I felt like I'd hit a big milestone (that's how far along I was when Joshua made his appearance)!  I knew that 31 weeks was also a big milestone (the risk of cerebral palsy drops significantly at that point), so when I hit 31 weeks, I was thrilled, and pretty much considered myself "full term" at that point.  We scheduled my cerclage removal for July 6, right at the 36 week mark, and the Friday before Dr. Keely left town on vacation for 2 weeks.  I had my shower on the 2nd (what a different experience to have a baby shower BEFORE the baby arrives!) and got lots of great things.  At that point, I was GIGANTIC, and ready for the baby to come, so I was 100% prepared for the arrival of a new little one later that week (I was thinking it would be pretty cool to have a 7/7/07 baby, which was entirely feasible if they took the cerclage out on the 6th).  I went in that Friday to have the cerclage removed.  What a miserable experience - I'd read other women's stories and was prepared for it to be uncomfortable, but from all my research, it seemed like the experience should not be painful - WRONG!  He dug around for what seemed like hours and finally clipped the knot from the stitch and pulled it out.  He didn't think he'd gotten the entire stitch out, but felt confident that he'd gotten all the knots out, so even if there was still suture material in there, there were no knots holding the stitch (and therefore my cervix) closed.  Based on what he saw while he was doing all that, he sent me home with the expectation of seeing me back at the hospital that night or the next day.  Without making any guarantees, he said that he would bet that he'd see me back that evening.  I asked if I needed to make an appointment with one of the other doctors for the following week, and he said that I probably didn't, but to go ahead and make it because it would be easier to cancel it than to have to call back and arrange it.  So I made my appointment for the following Friday (the 13th) and we headed home, made arrangements for my parents to help us out with Joshua, called Chris's parents and let them know to be on "standby" (they planned to come down as soon as the baby was born).  And we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  That evening came and went, Saturday came and went, Sunday came and went, and I felt no signs of labor. 

I went through the following week, and kept my appointment with Dr. Harding (one of the other doctors in the practice).  At that point, I was 37 weeks along (considered FULL TERM!!!), and I was more than ready for the baby to arrive.  I was even more gigantic than I thought I could possibly get, my feet and legs were swollen beyond recognition, and I was ready to buy a trampoline and help this baby along.  Dr. Harding stripped my membranes, which is supposed to help move things along - I was 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced at that point.  I went ahead and made another appointment with him for the following Friday, the 21st, hoping that I'd have to call and cancel it.  Well, the only thing the membrane stripping did was make me feel awful.  It gave me cramps and made me feel like my insides were all going to fall out, but not even the part of my insides that I wanted to fall out did.  I was back in his office the following Friday with no change whatsoever in my situation...still 2 cm, still 75%, still no baby.  Dr. Harding seemed to think that the part of the stitch that was still in my cervix was preventing me from progressing, and that it would be a good idea to get it out.  He had me make an appointment with Dr. Keeley for the following Friday, the 27th (my sister's birthday), for a "routine" check and with the suggestion that we look into getting the rest of the stitch out.

I saw Dr. Keeley on the 27th.  After talking with him about  my situation and what Dr. Harding had said, he agreed that we needed to get the rest of that stitch out.  He made an appointment for me at the hospital for Saturday, July 28, to have the rest of the stitch removed.  Based on my "tolerance" of the first removal attempt, he felt that it would be beneficial to give me some drugs that would allow him to do what he needed to do to remove the stitch without me being in too much pain.  He also said that he wouldn't be able to induce me because he already had an induction scheduled and apparently they can only schedule one per day (which was fine with me because I really didn't want a chemical induction anyway).  While he didn't come right out and say it, he did indicate that he would do everything in his power to naturally induce me, because I was now at 40 weeks and it was basically time for this baby to come (since my uterine cavity is still only half-sized, letting the baby go too long created the risk of problems like growth restriction).  He even went so far as to tell me that I should bring my hospital bag (but leave it in the car so they don't think I'm planning on being induced), and made the comment that he might "accidentally" break my water while he's doing the cerclage removal.

So, I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 on the 28th.  They took me up to triage, where the procedure was to be done, and got me all set up there.  I had to have my IV moved because the first nurse had a hard time getting it in (she told me my veins are crooked...?) and once she did, it was painful.  I waited around for quite awhile - it was after 10:30 before Dr. Keeley made it in to start the procedure (he said that it had already been a crazy morning - he'd been called in before 6:00).  He gave me a combination of Stadol and Phenergan to basically ease the pain of the procedure and make me woozy enough not to care about any pain that I did feel.  I've never felt so drunk in my life!  The bed started to spin, and at first I thought I was going to be sick, but then everything steadied out and I just felt drunk.  Dr. Keeley dug around for what I think was close to a half hour, trying to figure out the best way to get that stitch loose without causing too much damage to my cervix.  He finally decided how he wanted to do it and I felt a "snip, snip, snip" feel and he was done.  I don't know how much time passed (only a few minutes, I'm sure), and he checked  my cervix to see if it had changed - I'd gone from 2 to 4 centimeters almost immediately.  He told me that based on that, he was going to admit me, and depending on how things progressed, we'd probably be having a baby that day or the next.  He also said that according to the monitor, I'd been contracting some all morning, but I hadn't felt anything that I considered to be contractions...particularly nothing with any kind of regularity.  At some point during the procedure, he'd also stripped my membranes again, so that may have been helping move things along, too.

They took me upstairs and got me admitted to the labor and delivery floor, and Dr. Keeley came up and checked me around 12:00.  I'd progressed to 5 centimeters in the time since he'd done the procedure, so he said that he wanted to break my water and get things moving along.  He said that if I didn't fall into a regular contraction pattern after he broke my water, he'd probably start me on pitocin later that day.  He came back in around 12:30 and broke my water (all clear, so that was good).  I laid there and rested for a few minutes, and started feeling like I was beginning to have some contractions around 12:45.  The nurse, Nancy, started getting things set up for delivery, and they were getting a regular labor and delivery room ready for me across the hall so they could transfer me over to deliver.  By about 1:15, my contractions were pretty regular - about 3 minutes apart.  I got up to use the bathroom around 1:30, and had 3 or 4 contractions right on top of each other before I could get back to my bed.  I made it back to the bed, but another one hit me as soon as I climbed in, and from there on out, things moved fast.  I managed to get situated back into the bed about the time I started feeling like I needed to push (around 1:45).  They called Dr. Keeley in to check me, and as he came in, I had another contraction and told him that I felt like I needed to push.  He told me that I wasn't ready yet and to try not to push, and that he'd be back in a minute to check me.  The next contraction, I tried as hard as I could not to push (actively "pushing backwards" to try to fight the urge to push).  It was a good thing that Dr. Keeley was coming back in the room, because I told him this, he checked me, got this surprised look on his face, and very quickly started getting everyone in place to deliver, telling me that I was fully dilated and ready to go (this was a little after 2:00).  Everything is pretty much a blur from there - everyone scrambled into place, they took the bottom of the bed off and got me into a position to push, and everyone started counting to 10 (whoever decided that 10 was the magic number?).

When I said in Joshua's story that the delivery wasn't the painful part, that it was really just the contractions, I didn't know what in the world I was talking about!  I guess pushing out 2 pounds 6.5 ounces of baby is significantly easier than pushing out one at full term.  I have never experienced such pain in my life!  Stupid me - why did I say that I wanted a drug-free delivery?!?  As I started to push, I told Chris that I was a wimp and that I wanted drugs (Dr. Keeley had told me that even though I didn't want an epidural, I could have another dose of the Stadol and Phenergan during delivery if I decided I needed something to take the edge off the pain).  Chris relayed that to Dr. Keeley, but I don't know if he saw that I was too far along in the process for it to do any good, or if he sent the nurse for it and she wasn't able to get it back in time, but I never got that extra dose of the drugs.  I pushed several times before I felt this burning sensation, which I remember one of the nurses calling the "ring of fire" (which triggered a line from a song that got in my head and stayed there for over a week), and then I gave one more push and felt this great sense of relief.  Kayleigh Elayne Levering came into the world at 2:18 p.m. on July 28, 2007, weighing in at 7 pounds, 1.9 ounces.  She is absolutely amazing, a perfect little girl!

Once again, I progressed too quickly to make it into one of the actual labor and delivery rooms, but I think I would gladly miss out on the accommodations to have such a quick labor.  All in all, it was a good experience.  It is MUCH harder to push out a 7 pound baby than a 2 pound baby, and I don't know if my "nether regions" will ever be the same, but I'm so glad I was able to carry to term!  Kayleigh was born one day before the original due date I was given at my OB-GYN's office, and on the due date that I was given based on the last ultrasound I had.  We stayed at the hospital that night and the next, and headed home on Monday, July 30, 2007.

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