Caitlyn Elizabeth Rodriguez

[I'm in and out of wireless availability, so I'll edit later. Sorry for any typos!]
[Ok, edited a little more. Somehow the end of the third paragraph ended up at the end of the last one, my bad]
[Also, CJ_ATC is dead on, the halloween costume is Princess Leia circa Episode VI, Scene 1 - not Episode 1 as previously stated ... I was mistaking real world chronology for plot chronology]

Well, long story long. We're still at the hospital. I'm home for a second before symphony rehearsal so I'll try to tell the story as succinctly as possible.

I'll apologize first for the brevity of my last post, I totally didn't mean to sound so vague.

Anyway, Crystal awoke on Tuesday around 5AM with early labor contractions. We kept them timed and when they dropped to under six minutes, so we decided to head to the hospital around 10AM. Over the weekend we had already been there because there were some preeclampsia fears, though all our lab work has come up negative. While there, her blood pressure was high only while lying down on her back, but nevertheless they decided to go ahead and admit her. The staff didn't feel comfortable letting her go home given the fact that there was no real explanation for the high blood pressure.

After a quick cervix check, it was decided that they would go ahead and induce pregnancy. So at 1:50PM Tuesday they inserted the medication, which induced natural labor over the course of 12 hours.

Sure enough roughly 12 hours later, at 1:00AM Wednesday morning, she was contracting steadily about every 3-5 minutes, sometimes as close as 1 minute apart. The pain of course, was driving her insane, and I can't imagine how any of you women do it. The induction insert was removed, and she continued to contract normally. Around 2AM the baby began pushing fiercely (already positioned head first) downward on her cervix, causing her ridiculous amounts of pain. The only difference was that there were no breaks, just a constant pain more severe than her contractions for about 10-15 minutes. So we called to the nurse's desk to request some medication, to which they happily obliged. The medication greatly reduced the pain, allowed the contractions to continue more relaxed, and gave her and I a couple of 5 minute naps between 2 and 4AM.

Around 6AM, the pain-killer was wearing plenty thin, but by 7AM on Wednesday they were already switching the staff out, and we were just waiting then for the Midwife and the Anesthesiologist. The Anesthesiologist administered the epidural (which we had decided on a long while ago), and 30 minutes later she was numb from the waist down. Relaxed, she slept for a couple of hours, waking only for fluids, labs, and blood pressure checks. Around 11 AM the Midwife checked her dilation, and decided it was time to start pushing. The room was prepped, delivery procedures were given to Crystal and I, and we began.

Labor was incredible. At first, I was rather intent on standing by her side, but as per the Midwife's request, I held one of her legs for a birds eye view of the action. The whole delivery thing wasn't nearly as bad as I though it would be. You're so amazed and intent on making the environment safe and comfortable that you will yourself to be desensitized to the rather graphic nature of the whole thing. Not only that, but with the epidural, I wasn't subject to the probable cacophony of explicatives I had received the night before. Crystal was comfortable and diligent with her breathing and pushing, which you have to do mentally since you cannot feel your muscles.

The top of the head was visible, but as she was pushing the head through the monitors were detecting too much stress on the baby, so the midwife chose to perform an assisted delivery with suction. This was a bit scary, as in rare cases applying suction to the head of the child can cause subgaleal hematoma, causing the blood from the brain to pool in the head, effectively ending the life of the child. However, the chances of that were explained as rare and she let us know that she had never failed at successfully delivering a child in this manner.

We proceeded, and though scary, the head of the child soon popped out. She quickly suctioned the nose and mouth (as there were some Meconium issues) and then completed delivery. The body of the child slipped out with relative ease, all compact and not unlike a transformer before you transform it (everything fitting together neatly). Caitlyn instantly cried and flailed her arms, eyes open, with a sort of "Where the fuck am I?" look on her face. On the warmer next to us she was cleaned, though they had to remove her to do more detailed work due to the Meconium having passed while in the uterus.

The baby spent about 5 seconds with Crystal before they rushed her off, and then the Midwife continued delivering the placenta. The placenta looks alot like what you'd imagine a Ziploc™ freezer bag would if it were filled with dark liquid, contained but fluid like.

Here's where things get weird. The placenta came out clean and smooth, passing rather easily. There was blood loss, but nothing unusual, by my estimation. The Midwife continued removing debris from the delivery and massaging Crystal's uterus. Upon inspection, however, the Midwife's expression changed just enough to concern me, and she simply stated "I think we have an inverted uterus."

Most people interchange the terms inverted uterus and retroverted uterus. Before I continue, you should know that an inverted uterus is NOT the same a retroverted uterus, the latter being a reversal of the uterus's position before pregnancy, which is of no real concern. The former is more like a sock being flipped inside out. The inside of the uterus protrudes through the cervix into the vagina, occasionally becoming exposed externally. Unfortunately, the uterine wall is lined with blood vessels, and these continue to actively bleed while the uterus is inverted. The blood loss involved is rapid, and coupled with her level 2 laceration from delivery, required emergency attention.

From what I hear this is rare, how rare I don't know because I can't find any numbers regarding the rarity. Soooo, ipso facto ... let's just say it's rare. One nurse we had said it was only her second, and from what I've read on some medical discussion boards, one doctor stated in the 35 years he had be delivering, he had only seen 20 such incidents. An internet search revealed the line I attached above, but no real detailed information.

At this point, what concerned me the most was the urgency of whatever situation this was, coupled with the fact that blood was still actively flowing from Crystal. Before I knew what hit me, there were people rushing in and out, surgeon's called, anesthesiologists called, OR's prepped, etc. My parents and hers were removed from outside the delivery room, and taken to the waiting room. I myself simply stayed composed and out of the way, which as it turns out was the only reason I was allowed to stay in the room as opposed to joining the others. An OB/GYN was rushed in, and instantly began the process of flipping the uterus right side in. Numerous nurses attached more IV's, and gave Crystal some injections to decrease the flow of blood.

Crystal herself was fine at first, but kind of afraid. Still, the blood loss had her going into shock for a bit. She was pale, eyes rolling, disoriented ... so much so the nurses gave her a couple of slaps to keep her awake. Later on, one student nurse would later comment to us that she was definitely near coding, as in Code Red ... or Blue ... or whatever Code you never want to hear.

Fortunately our outstanding OB/GYN flipped the uterus back into place and the medicine slowed the bleeding. Crystal recalled later that the instant the uterus had been put into place she immediately felt better. Three hours later, once stitched up and cleanded, she was able to finally hold Caitlyn.

I think the OB/GYN said it best this morning. You are able to intellectualize the situation, in that Crystal is ok, and Caitlyn is ok, and everyone is ok. Yet, at the same time we were still very traumatized by the experience. It was in so many ways surreal, knowing that I was as close to losing my love as I ever want to be.

But onto happier times, she and the baby are recovering fine. One more night in the hospital and Friday morning or afternoon we should be out and home again. Just in time to try on Caitlyn's Princess Leia costume (circa Scene 1/Episode 1).

I'm glad so many of you tuned into my posts. I apologize that yesterday wasn't more eventful on the blog... but that usually means it was eventful outside of it. Look forward to seeing her meet you all someday. Then she'll know what kind of people she should be hanging out with.

Then again...

Much love,
Jimmy Crystal and Caitlyn.


Here's a snippet: