Blake Emory's 'After' Birth Story

For those that read Blake’s birth story you know I was not planning on things turning out the way the did, but, I still believe I was blessed through the whole experience and each doctor and nurse that took care of me were placed there just for me. Here is that story..

From the moment I arrived at the hospital and was talking with Dr. Shakfeh about his “plans” he assured me that “yes, we are in a hospital so things will be different than you had planned for, but I want to do things as natural and close to what you were wanting.”

I’m not sure what all was said between him and the nurses but they all seemed very clear in knowing that I was supposed to have a homebirth with a midwife instead of being in a hospital before I even said anything. I did say something to almost everyone of them though because I wanted them to know that yes I was planning on having a homebirth but I understand I need to be here for a reason and I’m not “anti-hospitals”. I wanted them to know this because I know from experience that a lot of people in the medical field think people who want to do things “naturally” are crazy, they also think that people who want to do things naturally hate hospitals and avoid them like the plague because they are evil. I know this because I know some people who do feel that way. But I’m not one of them. Yes, I hate hospitals (who actually likes them?). But Stefen & I said over and over during this whole experience that they are there for when you need them. You don’t go to a hospital when you’re well, you go when you need help, and we needed help.

I liked talking with the nurses and doctors about this because it was fun to hear their responses once they realized I wasn’t “crazy”. One nurse asked me, “does your midwife have a doctor over her? in case something goes wrong? Did she go to school to become a midwife?” I thought that was pretty funny, and as hard as it was to not say something like “no she didn’t go to school. I just found her in the woods and asked if she’d deliver my baby” I answered her honestly explaining that no she doesn’t have someone “over her” because she is the “main person” and yes she went to school just like doctors do and is very experienced and knowledgeable in what she does. The nurse just had a puzzled look on her face the whole time. I was asked a lot of questions like this throughout my stay in the hospital and I’d like to believe that maybe I was there to open their eyes a little.

When I was originally admitted into one of the labor & delivery rooms they told me for a c-section you have to stay 48 hours until you’re discharged, and that I would get to stay in that same room till then. If you’ve been to SH Regional you know what rooms I’m talking about.. A giant cozy room surrounded by rooms full of others moms either giving birth or who have just had their babies. Well, early Tuesday morning a nurse came in and said I was being moved upstairs, to a small not so cozy room, next to rooms full of..sick people. I guess they knew I’d end up staying longer than 48 hours.. They said I could take my time and would be moved up after I ate breakfast. Time must have went by really fast because next thing I knew the nurse was back, I didn’t eat breakfast yet (it was next to me, so close, just waiting to be eaten…) and she was ready to get me out of bed! Lying there I told her “I’ve only gotten out of bed once since the c-section and that was last night, and all I did was sit on the side of the bed and then stand up for a few seconds. So, I’m kinda nervous about this”. She looked at the other nurse with her and then back at me, “they told me you’ve been up and moving around?” “Nope. I just had him Sunday night”. She said, “Ok well just take your time then”. Which I definitely did! Both nurses were tiny (aka smaller than my swollen, blown up, unmoveable self) I told them I felt really weird having the two of them help ME get up and out of the bed. They laughed and said I was crazy. hah.. This process was probably the hardest part of the whole c-section experience, and the one time that I asked if maybe I should take something stronger than motrin. Thankfully it was time for me to take motrin again so I took that and was fine.

Once I got into the new room I remembered I didn’t eat and was starting to feel a little shaky. I was also getting nervous and could feel my bp rising even more (it was starting to go down some in the first room) because I was in a new place again, and was now going to have all new nurses..

Shortly after getting settled in, the first new nurse came in. She was an older lady who seemed like she could be kind of firm. So instantly I wasn’t feeling any less uncomfortable. She took my bp and it was back up really high. She immediately started saying how bad it was and that I was probably going to have to increase the bp medicine I was on.. I tried to explain to her that it’s been high and although yes it is bad, it wasn’t a “new thing” since I’ve been there and would probably continue to be high for a while. They did end up increasing my bp medicine, but it never seemed to help.

Around 11am I fed Blake for almost an hour total which was his longest feeding so far. He fell asleep for a few hours after that and I eventually took a nap myself. I woke up to him crying uncontrollably. Tanya was there holding him, and her & Stefen were both trying to calm him down. I tried to feed him for a little bit off an on, but we had a couple other visitors and then nurses kept coming in to check on me and/or him at different times so we had a hard time. He eventually calmed down and fell asleep in Stefen’s arms. Shortly after that another nurse came in to check his vitals again. She said he had a high temp. (