Prozac 2.0 - Heart Surgery

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Finally made it home. It's 5pm Monday. We were at the hospital since 7am Sunday. Mrs Prozac is still there for the foreseeable future.

I cannot stress enough how awe inspiring and magnificent Mrs Prozac is.

She went right through until about 1am without any piankillers, no epidural, no pethidene, no gas, nothing more than sitting under a hot shower in the birthing suite!

She was determined to have a natural birth and her efforts were truly magnificent!

Unfortunately it was not to be...

At about 2:30am the doctor (who was a cold Female Doggo) made the call that they would try to vacuum the baby out in theatre. This meant a spinal tap.

I was separated from Mrs Prozac who was taken into the theatre while I put on scrubs.

Now full disclosure, Mrs Prozac suffers from claustrphobia, massive amounts of anxiety and cannot stand loss of control, she suffers severe panic attacks.

I was forced to wait out in the corridor while all I could hear were her screams and cries, it broke my heart and the feeling of sheer helplessness to protect my loved one was overwhelming, I'd happily cross post this in the manly tears of manliness thread.

After the fact I was informed that she was held down by 4 orderlies and was unable to move, then suffered drug induced paralysis to the lower half of her body, taking control away from her.

Finally I was allowed into the theatre while they tried to vacuum my son from his valiant mother. I was able to calm her, thankfully.

After multiple attempts at the vacuum, the surgeon made a cut, that if it were to happen to a man would result in homicide, suicide, or both.

Continued vacuum attempts were unsuccessful.

Mrs Prozac was forced into a cesarean, the one thing she wanted to avoid above all others. she succumbed to a massive panic attack and I had to convince the doctors to give her general anaesthetic. They thought the issue was that she was worried that she'd feel them cutting into her flesh, which was blocked by hte spinal tap, they didn't realise the issue was the severe amounts of trauma and terror that they had subjected her to!

I was ejected from the theatre and forced to wait outside. Manly tears of manliness ensued.

at 3:23am, almost 24 hours after the ordeal had begun I was taken into a second room to meet my son while they put together the broken pieces of his mother.

I will admit that the event was eclipsed by my concern for Mrs Prozac and it wasn't until I could present him to her several hours later that I was able to enjoy the moment or form any kind of connection.

While Mrs Prozac failed in her goal she strived fantastically and made a herculean effort.

There is no shame in striving so hard and coming up short.

She is a remarkable woman,
She is strong in the broken places,

She is my Hero.

Damn.

Gratz on 2.0.

Sorry about the hospital madness.

Congratulations! I'm terribly sorry to hear about the craziness that went on.

Much love and happiness to you and yours!

Congratulations on the new addition to your family. Glad to hear that he got here in one place, but not so glad to hear about all the trauma your wife went through.

Three attempts to finish reading that, sweet Jebus man! For some reason there was too much dust in this room.

Joining you in those tears, and understanding those fears, glad it all worked out in the end. Be there for your wife (as I'm sure you will be).

She hasn't failed, she has triumphed.

Man, that is a messed up combination of horrible and happy. Congrats to you & your wife, and a big FU to the doctors. Was there any specific medical reason the doctor decided to induce labor when she did?

Prozac wrote:

She got induced because according to the OBGYN's dates she was 2 weeks overdue. Mrs Prozac thought and felt she was only one week overdue and there were some scans with due dates on them that supported that, but because the doctor signed off on the other date and Mrs Prozac didn't want to put our child at risk by second guessing the medical professional she let them induce her. You've read the result.

Was her normal doctor involved in the decision? It sounds like no one there bothered to talk to her beforehand.

She got induced because according to the OBGYN's dates she was 2 weeks overdue. Mrs Prozac thought and felt she was only one week overdue and there were some scans with due dates on them that supported that, but because the doctor signed off on the other date and Mrs Prozac didn't want to put our child at risk by second guessing the medical professional she let them induce her. You've read the result.

As for why they tried to intervene with mechanical assistance with the labour she had been at the last stages of labour too long according to the doctor.

I have to say though that the midwife with us did an amazing job and worked really hard to help with a natural birth.

Stengah wrote:
Prozac wrote:

She got induced because according to the OBGYN's dates she was 2 weeks overdue. Mrs Prozac thought and felt she was only one week overdue and there were some scans with due dates on them that supported that, but because the doctor signed off on the other date and Mrs Prozac didn't want to put our child at risk by second guessing the medical professional she let them induce her. You've read the result.

Was her normal doctor involved in the decision? It sounds like no one there bothered to talk to her beforehand.

Pretty much...

Just to echo what's already been posted, congrats on Prozac new edition, hope that MrsP recovers soon and can get over what sounds like some shoddy treatment. I'm sure this isn't your first thought at the moment, but a complaint to the hospital's Senior Administrator or similar seems to be in order.

Awful story. Hope Mrs Prozac is alright. Congrats on the son though!

Prozac wrote:
Stengah wrote:
Prozac wrote:

She got induced because according to the OBGYN's dates she was 2 weeks overdue. Mrs Prozac thought and felt she was only one week overdue and there were some scans with due dates on them that supported that, but because the doctor signed off on the other date and Mrs Prozac didn't want to put our child at risk by second guessing the medical professional she let them induce her. You've read the result.

Was her normal doctor involved in the decision? It sounds like no one there bothered to talk to her beforehand.

Pretty much...

At the risk of getting on my soapbox (disclaimer: I'm a health professional), frontline healthcare is badly understaffed/underfunded in Oz, and proper patient care like that is one of the first casualties. Drives me nuts. Davet010's suggestion about contacting an administrator is a quite reasonable one, although there may not be much they can do if the doctor's conduct was simply due to exhaustion rather than genuinely being uncaring. If you were at a public hospital, it may be better in the long run to send letters to local politicians.

As a corollary for the future: your doctor is probably working around 80 hours a week and so mistakes like that are all too easy to make. It's good to be cautious about second-guessing something like interpretation of symptoms, but with something like dates it can't hurt to say something like "on the scan I think it said xyz".

I am going to focus on the fact that you have an adorable baby. Congrats to both of you!

Congratulations! Your wife is apparently a warrior straight out of legend to charge through all that. If I had a hat, I'd doff it.

Congratulations! And remember, she'll have the joy of the little one to help her recover.

Congrats, and my sympathies.

I'm sorry the delivery was so traumatic. Congratulations on the birth of your son, however! That will make up for almost anything, trust me.

Congrats to you and your wife. I went through a similar scenario with my wife needing to have a C-section, and it not being her original plan. She too suffers from anxiety and panic attacks and it was horrible to go through for both of us. We were lucky in the fact that the staff we worked with was excellent, and our doctor was there that night. Having to leave my wife with our baby while they finished the procedure though was extremely difficult.

The recovery too was difficult, as my wife really didn't know how the pain was going to affect her after surgery, and was breast feeding so pain meds made her nervous for our baby's health. If your wife knows anyone who has gone through this recovery process, have her talk with them. The more info she gets, the better she will be able to gauge her own pain and recovery process. Also, you now need to be a super husband. If you can, take off this next week or two from work, and be there for her. She will be frustrated with not being able to do simple things because of the pain. Lastly, enjoy the baby. They are amazing little miracles.

This brings back memories. My wife had to have an emergency c-section the first time and because of the difficulties the first time we planned on a c-section the second time. With that first one her water had actually broken at week 32.. and so she was bedridden to give the baby some extra time to get to week 35 (when the lungs are ready). Anything after week 35 and the baby, though a bit of a premie is generally ready to face the world.

She tried to have the baby the natural way, but either she wasn't dilating enough or whatever it might be.. the process was taking too long. She started to show a fever and the babies heart rate had accelerated. A decision had to be made and we did the c-section. It was amazing how fast the process was completed from the moment they recommended and we decided to go for it.

The epideral (spinal tap) was scary, but after all was said and done she appreciated it. When it was time for the second c-section, she wanted it that time too.

It was scary and emotional to the 11th degree. But the doctors want your wife and child healthy, no doubt about it.
Sure you're free to complain. They could've been more sensitive maybe, but I would humbly just say that now the most important thing is that your wife and child are healthy and recovering. If you chose the hospital, as a reputable one, well, they see a lot of births and just maybe they know what they are doing.

There are so many alternative outcomes. My brothers wife, ended up having her c-section delayed for hours after she had gotten the epideral, long enough that it had worn off. Despite her claims to the contrary, she went into and endured the c-section with little to no anesthesia. THAT was a bad situation and I'm surprised they didnt complain more.. but you know.. in the end.. they focused on their new bundle of joy rather than look back at that.

I don't mean any criticism, just saying that birth c-section or not, emergency or not, seems to be extreme for all. You'll do what you feel you need to do or just say to get it off your chest.

All I want to really say (after all that) is congratulations to you and your family. I hope everyone is doing well and I wish your wife a quick and full recovery. What beautiful baby pictures.

As for why they tried to intervene with mechanical assistance with the labour she had been at the last stages of labour too long according to the doctor.

Or, just possibly, it was getting late and the doctor wanted to hurry the process along and go home.

Also: that woman obviously did not consent to the procedures. She was PHYSICALLY FORCED into them. That sounds like lawsuit material to me.

Malor wrote:

Also: that woman obviously did not consent to the procedures. She was PHYSICALLY FORCED into them. That sounds like lawsuit material to me.

Or a Doctor had to make a judgement call when the welfare of the mother was at stake. I would like to live in a world where doctors aren't sued just because you didn't like what they did. Let's maybe save the lawsuits for actual malpractice instances.

Congrats on your new little bundle!

Losing control is a really scary thing. We had a scheduled c-section for April 1st, but our twin boys did not want to wait for that day (when I would have had my most amazing doctor) and they came during PaxEast..in Boston...not in the state that we live in. I was thrown into a hospital I had no clue about and saw many professionals that I could not even tell you their name. When I learned we would not be sent home, but instead were facing a c-section in mere hours, all I could do was cry, for hours, that this was not the plan. This was not my plan. In fact, we had a 30 minute ultrasound to check breathing functions, what would be our last ultrasound actually, and I cried the whole way through it..repeating over and over that this was not our plan.

It was a really scary time for me for many reasons, but one of the biggest was the unknown. One of my other biggest was my babies would need the NICU (being 35 weekers) and that they would discharge me and keep my babies and I would have to go home to another state. (our babies were perfectly healthy upon delivery)

My c-section went pretty smoothly (aside from having anesthesia/spinal complications) and it all worked out in the end..knowing that I had to do whatever I had to do to get my babies here healthy was my focus, and the ultimate goal, whether it was by way of my plan or someone greater's plan.

Let your wife recover, hopefully this experience did not traumatize her too much. My recovery from my c-section was amazingly easy, and I hope your wife's is too. Many people go on to have VBAC deliveries for future children, so that should be something she can focus on for next time and talk with her doctor about. With so many lawsuits out there and malpractice, perhaps the doctor was airing on the side of caution and wanting the baby out in a very rapid time frame. Perhaps it would have all been fine had they waited and been more patient, but there is always that tiny chance of what if.

IMAGE(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/10de2b957adcec23ea5b86bc383874c440dc8aec498808cf6922ec76d10be92a5g.jpg)

"COME AT ME, BRO!"

First of all: congratulations on a healthy wife and baby! That's the whole goal, regardless of the methods used to get there.

Secondly: I sympathize. Our first wound up also being an induction that led to an emergency cesarean with the wife under general anesthesia, so I know how stressful that is. It is not an experience I wish to repeat.

That being said, it was probably a fairly logical progression of events. Do you know what induction agent they used? How they ripened her cervix (foley bulb, prostoglandin like Cytotec, etc.)? Any heart decelerations of the baby on the monitor, or uterine over-stimulation? These are the things that often lead down the road to emergency c-sections. There can be so many issues that can arise: baby spends to long in the birth canal, risk of life-threatening infections increase exponentially; heart decels, every second can mean permanent brain damage -- that sometimes patients feel as though the decisions are being made too fast for them to keep up, simply because they have to be.

Unfortunately, some things are rushed so much now due to a nasty case of CYA syndrome, largely in response to things like this:

Malor wrote:

Also: that woman obviously did not consent to the procedures. She was PHYSICALLY FORCED into them. That sounds like lawsuit material to me.

Which, merely by Malor's penning of the statement, drove up malpractice insurance (and therefore health insurance premiums) by 3.2%, as well as making 7 doctors retire early and 5 more quit the field altogether.

It may be worth having a conversation with administrative staff over working conditions, but I really don't think any sort of malpractice claim is warranted here. It sounds as though they did the best with the information they had.

Again, congrats! I thought recovering from a cesarean was really easy.

This is Prozac's thread and I'd rather see it focused on the happiness they have welcomed into the world,

But I gotta be honest. I'm shocked that anyone would see lawsuit here. My counterpoint would be that I see the doctors escalating from the wished for 100% natural no anesthetic vaginal birth, to after hours of still honoring that wish, layering in some anesthetics and a common incision intended to make passage simpler, and then again, even going to mechanical assistance. All of these things ring of them trying to keep to a vaginal birth. And from there, to finally being at the point that, for the welfare of mother and child, they feel an emergency c-section is necessary. Once that decision is made, the baby is out a lot faster than people who havent been in the process will realize. All this time, the baby is not just waiting for its moment calmly, it is undergoing stress throughout the birth process.

This was a difficult birth experience, but maybe most of them are. It seems successful in the areas that count, a recovering Ms Prozac and a healthy Prozac 2.0. You guys will surely always have a tale to tell Prozac 2.0 at how brave mommy was and how big an entrance to the world Prozac 2.0 had.

Thanks all for all the support. I've had a good nights sleep and will be heading back to the hospital.

As far as malpractice, there wasn't any, it was just a less than ideal set of conditions that came into confluence.

Due to the trauma of the situation the hospital, by default, arranges a return visit at 6 weeks for a debrief with the staff that were present during the process, so if there are any questions or concerns they can be raised and addressed.

I'd appreciate that we stay on topic, as this is much more about the good things we wanted to share with our extended GWJ family.

Prozac, I only have this to say:

YOU MADE ANOTHER PERSON!

Good job.

Congrats on baby Prozac!

Give Mrs. Prozac extra TLC, and if she needs it, reassure her that needing a C-section doesn't mean she's failed as a mother somehow. ("baby blues" + deviation from plan = bad mental state ... and being a first time parent comes with a lot of second-guessing anyhow as you figure out how to fit the new person into your life.)

Oh yeah, good call. Baby blues are a Female Doggo and a half, and if my wife and several female friends are any indication, a lot of them feel like "failures" for only giving birth through cesarean. Which is obviously untrue; I blame the modern natural movement (which is good) for instilling these feelings (which are bad). She did awesome.

Salutations baby Prozac!

For all of that I'm glad everyone made it through, may you all have a smooth and trouble free adjustment to family life from here.

Oh noes!! More Prozacs! He is probably left handed too, check for the mark of the beast!
Congrats man! Glad everyone is in one piece and healthy, hope Lady Prozac is back in shape soon.

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