a somtime blogger hits the big time...

Well, not really, but it's big for me anyway. I'm actually writing a guest post at Mother in Israel this week. Crazy, right? The first half of the full story about David's birth is on her site, this is just the part about my c-section.

It took 2 hours to get me checked into a bed after my water had broken, and I was subsequently ignored for the next 4 hours, as I wasn't in active labor. Finally someone stopped in to check my dilation. An hour later they applied some gel to help me along and then ignored me again for 4 hours. Finally 12 hours after my water had broken, they decided to put me on pitocin. I was OK with this, having had it on both prior births. I started having gentle contractions over the next hour or so. They upped my dose to hurry things along, and the next time I was checked, the midwife got the "panic" look on her face. She felt not a head, but an elbow. not the end of the world in my mind, but she seemed to think it was VERY problematic. So, they backed off the pitocin to give the baby a chance to re-adjust. Then they (the 2 on-duty midwives) felt again and still felt what they thought was elbow, and one doctor who also said elbow but the doc they called in said it was a heel. They brought in the mobile Ultrasound (my nemesis) to look at the baby's position, and one said the baby was head down, one said he was feet down, one said she couldn't tell. They were all yelling at each other in the delivery room about what should be done and who was the most incompetent. It was a nightmare for me, having gone through so much to get to this point and being so opposed to surgery. They decided to do another ultrasound, my 3rd in less than 24 hours, and this time the one doc overrode the midwives and said I needed an emergency c-section. It was 3 AM, I'd been awake for almost 24 hours and I was worn down. So, I signed the papers and was wheeled, sobbing, into surgery. They refused to let my husband come in with me, which only made things worse. I spoke with the anesthesiologist and he told me he'd give me something to calm me down as well as for the pain. from that point on, I remember only hearing the baby cry as he was born, being told I couldn't touch him, and even if I had tried I realized my arms were strapped down to boards and spread out crucifixion-style. All I wanted to do was comfort and nurse my crying baby, who was instead being held by this stranger-doctor. I still have nightmares that the baby is crying and I can't get to him because my arms are strapped down. My only comfort at the time was that my husband would be able to hold him, which I later found out was not what happened. They let him only touch the baby for a moment before wheeling him away into the nursery and telling him he couldn't come. It would be another 14 hours until they would "let" me have the baby.
The next day I was even more upset to have one of the consulting docs tell me in a very superior way that the baby had been head down after all, so I probably could have given birth normally. The day after that, the doc who had tried to convince me to abort the baby came in while I was nursing. I didn't even want to speak to her, but I did want to show her that my boy was just fine thankyouverymuch. All she had to say to that was, "we'll see" in an ominous tone.
I am still very upset about the way things went down. I definitely want to do VBAC next time, even if I have to hire a private doctor to ensure it happens. After 3 years here and 3 births here you would think I would know how to work the system, but I still don't, and now I'm more nervous than ever about medical intervention during pregnancy and birth. My husband isn't excited about the idea of a home birth, so that's not really an option either.

Any one used to the Israeli medical system care to weigh in?

I edited this to add these links to my Husband's reactions at the time. Part one, Part two.

the one where I end up in the hospital.

Health care in Israel is different than you think it is. It is universal, but not in that scary, everyone gets horrid care kind of way. We actually have excellent doctors and facilities, considering that the country is only 60 years old. Little did I know last week that I would be testing the extent of those facilities.
I went to the Beach on Tuesday. It was a women's only beach in the Tel-Aviv area a gorgeous day to swim in the Med. Shevy and I came home tired but happy. Half way through the night I got up to go to the bathroom. As I sat down to take care of things I felt nauseated and dizzy; not a feeling I am unfamiliar with, as I am prone to fainting. The next thing I know I'm flat out on the bathroom floor (ick) wondering what happened. After calling out to my DH, waking the baby, and hosing myself off in the tub, my DH decides I'm dehydrated and runs up to the 24 market to get me some gatorade. Meanwhile, I puke my guts up onto some dirty laundry piled next to my bed. (I always notice how dirty the house is when I'm sick and can't do anything about it.) Despite my mom's voice in my head warning me not to eat or drink for an hour after throwing up (mom doesn't say puke) the DH convinces me to drink some gatorade. About an hour later I throw up again, fortunately this time into a large bowl. An hour later DH is also throwing up and also having to run to the bathroom every hour, so we figure we both have some virus and decide to just let it run it's course. Then Shevy starts having leaky diapers, and being other than her normally happy self. By this time it's afternoon on Wednesday, so we decide to take her into the clinic. While there, the Doc is very concerned about the bump on my head (I'm pretty sure I hit it on the door when I passed out) While she's examining me, I lose consciousness again, and throw up again. She freaks out and orders me to be admitted to the ER. We get a taxi to the big Hospital (Haddassa Ein Kerem) which also has a mall attached--another story--and after going a little nuts they send a Medical explorer to come take my blood. He provides me with a running commentary of his incompetence (failed to insert a Heprin lock, just barely got the blood they needed after 4 sticks) and I promptly pass out again. So they admit me to the trauma unit, the Doc gives me the *worst* Hep. lock IV I've ever had (docs usually suck at basic procedures, by the way. get a nurse to do it) and they start pumping me full of unwarmed saline. I hate that feeling. So, they CT me and X-ray me and take more blood and 12 hours and 4 bags of saline later have no idea why I passed out (not surprised) but want to keep me in the Hospital for a week to run tests to find out why I faint. I have a 7-month-old at home so I say No way, which really annoys the Israeli Doc, who is used to being obeyed like a god. I know all the tests he wants to run can be done outpatient and my DH has had the baby *alone* for 12 hours and is going nuts with what to do. So I check myself out of the hospital AMA (against Medical advice) and take a taxi home, where my daughter nearly turned herself inside out with delight at seeing me after us being separated for the longest time since I gave birth to her. That's all I have the time or energy to type right now. I need a nap. maybe next time I'll write about the Drunk Ethopian in the ER or the poor lady with Fibromyalgia and 2 broken wrists.

Photo contest winner, that's me!

So, because my daughter is a first child there are already an unholy number of pictures of her. Some of these are better than others. I have a hard time deleting bad ones. How could I possibly delete my precious baby, even when she looks stupid in a picture?


See! even in bad pictures she is adorable! you actually want me to delete this? Cretin!





Ummm, Yeah. Don't judge me.


Anyway, the upside of this plethora of pictures is that every so often you get a gem. The following is a perfect example:

Yes, I know we have a huge cat. That is an 11 pound kid next to him. He weighs more than the kid, for now. But, oh the cuteness! i can has cuddles? I know it makes your ovaries do a little jump to look at these kinds of things. Maybe I should make a LOLcat out of it and submit it to one of my fave sites, icanhascheezburger.com
Just one more dose of cute before I go:

How can you stand the cuteness? Give her whatever she wants! And what she wants is for you to please comment. We see on google analytics that you're reading, so leave me a note while you're at it.

Cheers!
The Rabbi's Wife