A Baby Story, Part 3: The Time They Pumped Molten Lava Into My Veins

I realize that's a slightly dramatic title, but I feel it's actually warranted in this instance. A major component of the treatment for preeclampsia is magnesium sulfate. You can read about it here. I did before going in for induction, and it was a little bit frightening. But, what can you do? Might as well prepare for the worst, right? Maybe not...

Tuesday morning rolled around, and one of the first things that happened was my introduction to the two nursing students who were assigned to me for the day. I have no problem with folks who need to be trained, but it is a little awkward to be wearing next to nothing and have a female AND male nursing student hanging around all day. It definitely made me fidgety with my johnny(sometimes known as hospital gown). 

They, in addition to the regular nurses, spent gobs of time taking my blood pressure, oxygen levels, and temperature all day. This is not an exaggeration: I had my blood pressure recorded about 70 times on Tuesday (that I remember). And, that cuff was suuuuuper tight. I got a little grumpy about it.

These two nursing students from U. Mass Boston really got the biggest bang for their buck with me on Tuesday (February 26). I'm not sure what they were expecting to observe during the day, but man, they got to see a lot of stuff go down. Lucky them...awkward me... The first thing that got up and going was my Pitocin drip. After the Misoprostol and (ahem) procedure, the doctors were just waiting for 8:00am to roll around to start my Pitocin (you know, the only thing I ever thought was involved in induction. Hmph. People do not share enough information. They really don't. And by the way, they actually started the Pitocin at 4:00 a.m.) Unfortunately, for me (and anyone who is close to me knows this was a horrible start to my day), I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to eat or drink anything all day. WHAT?? They put me on fluids, but y'all know that is NOT the same as being able to drink anything, especially for a girl who regularly drinks around 115+ ounces of water a day. I knew they would restrict my intake, but I wasn't planning on it starting at the crack of dawn. I was allowed ice chips, but they only let me have a certain amount, so I spent most of the day trying desperately to get my mouth not to feel like a sandy patch in the Sahara.

The Pitocin was really not bad at all. I had contractions, but I'd been having contractions all night, so it wasn't too dreadful.

Then, they started the Magnesium (to be referred to as Mag from here on out). 

Even with the reading I had done beforehand (NOT webmd.com...my Daddy hates when people read webmd and think they know everything, so I avoided it in his honor) and the discussions with my doctor (wherein she did not mince words and told me straight up that it would be miserable), I was not prepared. The nurses also explained the symptoms, and I thought I had mentally prepped myself for the discomfort.

Not. Even. Close.

Maybe it was good that I had no idea what was coming; they probably would have had a hard time strapping me down to get it started.

The plan was to have me on the mag all day until delivery plus 24 hours after Claire's birth (which did happen). However, to get the ball rolling, they did an intense infusion for 20 minutes before settling into the regular dosage. Regular dosage: 2 ounces every hour. Initial infusion: 4 ounces in 20 minutes.

The infusion symptoms set in far more quickly than I anticipated. As the medicine began the drip into my wrist - and by that, I mean they began pumping molten lava into my veins, I started crying in pain from the heat and sting. I can't even think of how to describe the intensity of the burning. I wanted to rip the hep lock out of my wrist just to stop the burn. It felt sort of like someone cutting my hand open, strapping it down, and pouring a bottle of rubbing alcohol into it. Or maybe dousing it in gasoline and setting a match to it. The pain was so intense that it triggered the nausea. And the headache. And the next thing I knew, my whole body was on fire from the inside out. I felt like flames were eating me alive from head to toe. 

The nurses (and students) started soaking towels in icy cold water and wrapping them around my neck and face. The chill from the towels was useless to me in less than two minutes. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. In the heat of the moment (pardon the pun), I'm not sure I wouldn't have decided to take my chances with the eclampsia rather than the mag. 

Just kidding.

Mostly.

Brad just held my hand and kept telling me how proud he was of me (which, I'm not sure I deserved...as I was crying and not feeling brave at all). When the first 20 minutes was FINALLY over, I hoped that there would be instantaneous relief. Didn't happen. I just kept sweating and hurting and vomiting. 

At least I had my epidural to look forward to within the next couple of hours.