RV Life

From November 2019 to April 2020 my family of 3 lived full time in an RV that was over 20 years old... It was a very small space for 3 people. About 232 square feet, to be exact. We did not have our own washing machine and dryer or shower so during that time we borrowed other people's.

My son's birth story

Here is the story of my son's birth:

Total labor time was about 26hrs, starting when I had my first contraction. I was happy to have gotten the doctor I wanted for delivery. She was great.

When my contractions started they were not very strong or close together. I didn't even know for sure if they were contractions. I went to bed at 1am & woke up at 4am. The pains were getting stronger and closer together. I started Googling real labor vs false labor. My due date was June 10 so it was still a few days away. I started timing the pains & they were petty close together. I had an app on my phone that made it easy to time them. Still not sure if they were contractions, I texted my sister for advice. She said they were probably the real thing, and that I should call, so we called the labor & delivery to see about coming in to get checked. They said to come in. An interesting little fact is that the woman who did my ultrasound said he was  more likely to be born around June 4th, which was the day I went into labor! I told hubby to grab my hospital bag, and that it was time to go. 

My last contraction before heading out the door was so strong I had to sit & wait for it to pass before I could leave. We left the house to go to the hospital at 8am on June 4th. On the way there we hit the morning rush hour traffic while I was in labor! Thankfully we didn't have very far to go. When we got to the hospital they checked me and I was at 2cm. They said they would wait & see how it progresses. A few hours later I was at a 2 & 1/2. By about 2pm it was at 3cm. They decided to admit me since I was progressing. I was very happy since I did not want to be sent home and I had heard most places would not admit you until you were at 4cm. 

At this point they also gave me an IV with some pain medicine called Fentanyl. That was some wonderful stuff & I was able to get some sleep. That lasted about 30min, then wore off. They gave me some 2 more times. Then the anesthesiologist arrived & started my epidural. They kicked hubby out of the room for that, which I thought was kind of silly, but they probably have their reasons. Baby did not seem to like the epidural very much; his heart rate dropped a little bit when they started it, so they gave me some oxygen for a while and then baby's heart rate went back to normal and he was good. 

I was not allowed to eat anything after I got my epidural. It would be almost 24 hrs total I would go without any food! The next time they checked me, hours later, I was still at a 3cm, so they decided to break my water & give me Pitocin to increase contractions & get me more dilated. Hours passed & I got some more sleep. I could not feel the contractions anymore, the epidural was wonderful. 

They checked me again around 9pm & said I was at a 9 & 1/2cm. It was almost time to push! They turned the epidural off & began to prep me for pushing. When I did start pushing it turned out that the baby was "sunny-side up" which means he was is facing up instead of down. It makes for more difficult labor, & harder pushing. I had pretty strong pain in my lower back & ended up pushing for about 3 hours. Hubby was holding my leg on one side and helped me count down with each contraction while I was pushing. I pushed & pushed & by the end I was begging for contractions. I had also spiked a fever of 102 degrees for the last hour or two. They put a cold cloth on my forehead to try and keep the fever down. Soaked in sweat & nearly passing out from exhaustion, I gave it my all & after three hours of pushing and over a day of labor, I did it!!! 

The moment he came out they practically tossed him at me. They put him on my chest and said, "hold your baby." It really was instant love for me. Such an incredible, overwhelming feeling. Looking at his face, holding him gave me this amazing sense of love like nothing I could have imagined. 

So at 1:43 am June 5th, our baby boy entered the world. Hubby had brought our camera with us so when baby came out he took pictures of baby's first moments in the hospital right after birth. 

For the baby's first hour of life they do what they call "skin-to-skin" which is where baby sits on mommy's chest & gets all warm and cozy, before they measure & weigh him or any of that. Babies aren't good at regulating their own body temperature or staying warm, so it's really good for the baby to do, & it was a great bonding time for us. 

Since he had been born sunny side up & is my first baby, I tore pretty badly. The doctor stitched me back up, but since the epidural was wearing off I could feel the needle when she stuck it in. It hurt, but luckily she did it pretty quickly. 

After the hour of skin-to-skin they asked me if I wanted to try breastfeeding. I tried it our and my baby latched on instantly & was sucking away like a pro. It was amazing! Even the nurse seemed really surprised & said happily, "It looks like he's got it! I guess you don't need any help with that."

After an another hour or two we were moved to the mother/baby side of the hospital to a new room. It was smaller than the labor & delivery room, but still decent. I was finally allowed to eat & drink again, which was wonderful!! It was like rediscovering food for the first time. I scarfed everything down & it all tasted like heaven. 

We had a bunch of family come visit & meet the baby & we stayed the night at the hospital. The nurse showed me how to take a pad & ice pack-pad & she gave me some mesh underwear to put on. There was a lot of blood and soreness. At one point I got up and thought i was just dripping some blood but I accidentally peed all over the floor. Apparently bladder control was not quite back to functionality yet. 

I was released the next day, in the evening. Discharge seems to take a long time. They gave me a bunch of ice packs, pads, cleansing bottles, etc, and a friend of mine had set up a meal train account online for us which was a total life saver!! So many people helped out bringing meals for us! That was such a blessing. 

The next few days we took care of our new baby around the clock and hardly slept, but were kind of running on adrenaline & didn't even get very tired anyway! We love being parents!! 

The delivery was very smooth & quick. I was also very thankful that he came a few days early (rather than later) & that I had barely over a day of labor. I know with first babies a lot of mom's are in labor much longer. I can't even imagine! I was blessed to have a quick delivery. 

But then things got complicated. 

I woke up 5 days after my son's birth with pain that I hadn't felt before. It was bad. It felt like a burning, stinging pain down below, leaving me in tears. I tried to be strong & get through it, but it got to be overwhelming. I called the hospital and they told me to come in & get it checked out, so I did. My doctor was not there so they had another doctor check me. I didn't think it would be anything major, but when she checked me, she was very concerned. She called my labor & delivery Dr, the one who had delivered the baby & they wanted me to go back to the hospital, straight to the emergency room & get there right away. She said my doctor would be there waiting for me, & the operating room would be prepping for me. They said I had a hematoma (which is a blood clot) and that I had a pretty bad infection. Some of the skin tissue had died, which would prevent me from healing. Before we left for the emergency room, the doctor numbed me up, removed the blood clot, & told me I needed to go to the ER right away. They said they may end up having to do surgery to remove some dead skin tissue from my vaginal area so that it could heal properly. So hubby & I went home and grabbed a few things from the house, then he drove me to the emergency room. 

Once at the emergency room, when my doctor came to check me it hurt so bad I had tears streaming down my cheeks as she poked me & checked out the damage. I probably sat there in tears for a good 30 mins, while they were talking to me. I remember wiping tears away but unable to make them stop. I was so overwhelmed & in so much pain. I didn't know why this was happening. I had my blood drawn five or six times while we were still in the ER waiting for a room of our own. They needed to confirm my blood type, "in case I needed a blood transfusion." Apparently the first time they had drawn my blood it was bad... something about the blood cells being split, or cracked. Something like that. Anyways, they needed more, so ultimately they took a lot of blood, to the point that I nearly refused to give them more. I finally said ok but I told them, in my most serious face possible, that I was already pretty dehydrated so they better not need anymore. 

My son was there with us & all I could think of was needing to pump him some milk or nurse him. We had brought my breast pump with us, but there was no privacy there. Absolutely none. They hadn't gotten me a room yet and I could see all the ER staff through the glass and they could all see me. Thankfully my son was sleeping & happy, totally content & unaware of what was going on. 

Finally, they got us our own room. Unfortunately it was not on the labor & delivery floor because they said now it was full, so we were at the very end of a hallway on the first floor, right across the hall from some patients who had sheriff's watching them outside their doors. I think they were actually prisoners! This experience was not as much of a nice one. The nurses on that floor were okay, but not quite as wonderful as the ones in Labor & Delivery had been. 

The doctor decided to put me on antibiotics and keep me overnight, and said that tif the antibiotics were effective, I would not need surgery in the morning! They had the O.R. prepped just in case and my husband and I would have to wait overnight to see what happened. My husband and new baby were only able to stay until visiting hours ended at 9pm, then they had to go home. It was so incredibly hard to be without my sweet newborn baby boy. On top of that I was not allowed to give him any breastmilk because the antibiotics were not safe for the baby. I had to pump it out and dump it. Pump and dump, they said. I remember that night I started crying & couldn't stop for almost an hour (even after continually telling myself to stop, & that it was gonna be okay). It was probably due to a combination of pain, hormones, & just overwhelming emotions. This was the most time I have ever spent in a hospital in my life, & being there overnight alone after just having my baby was so overwhelming. 

Later they had me do a "Sitz bath" with one of the nurses, which is basically where you're on the toilet and you add the Sitz bath & it sprays warm water through a little tube up at the vaginal area. You have to do it for about 15-20 min with another person helping, holding the bag of water till it runs out. I don't know if it was from pain, or my emotions or what but I found myself with tears streaming down my face again while this was happening. There was a lot of tears those two days. 

I had been communicating with people through texting and on Facebook throughout the whole thing & I was blessed to have a number of people praying for me & encouraging me. When the morning came, at 7am the doctor checked me & said that the antibiotics were working great against the infection so I would not need the surgery, thank God! They would send me home soon & I would continue the antibiotics for 10 days. Unfortunately, they wanted to put me on some really strong antibiotics, 2 separate ones, & one of them, called Flagyl, would have meant that I had to continue to "pump and dump" my breastmilk & could not nurse the baby for another 10 days. That would be on top of the two days I had already been on antibiotics, so 12 days total. I was very concerned that by then Chase would have trouble latching if we fed him bottles for that long. We asked the nurse if there was another option but without even asking the doctor she was pretty firm about it & said this was the best option for my condition. Thankfully later when my mom was visiting she asked another nurse who said she would ask the Dr, & we were able to just take one strong antibiotic before I left the hospital & the one at home would only be one that is safe for breastfeeding. They also gave me some pretty strong pain meds, & eventually I was discharged & sent home. At home I took some of the pain meds the next morning when I first woke up, & found myself nauseous & throwing up. I later realized after asking a friend about it that I needed to eat a good amount of food before taking them. Oops!! After that it was just a slow process of recovering. Thankfully the infection completely went away. 

In the end I wish I had been better informed of the risk of infection when I had my baby because no one had mentioned that to me, not once. I was only told much later, when I was in the Emergency room for the infection, about cleaning myself down below every time I used the bathroom. When they had discharged me after giving birth, they just gave me the cleansing bottles & said, "you can use these to clean yourself."

I believe that everything happens for a reason, but I also believe that my situation could have been easily avoided had I been informed. I had researched so much before going in to the hospital to have my baby. I had found lots of helpful websites and information prior to giving birth but nothing I had read mentioned the risk of infection after giving birth, or how to properly prevent infection, so I was not aware of the risk. It was definitely a traumatic experience. Ultimately, the most important thing to me is that my sweet baby boy was completely healthy & happy. He passed his hearing test & all the other tests with flying colors, not a single health concern whatsoever. 

So... Would I do it all over again? I really don't know. 

Is my son the most amazing thing that every happened to me? 

Absolutely.

My son was born on June 5th, at 1:43am. He was 7lbs 3 ounces.