41 L&D Nurse Jenna and her surprise PFO diagnosis

Jenna is an experienced Labor and Delivery nurse established in one of the busiest L&D hospitals in the country. Tune in as she recounts her sudden and surprising diagnosis with PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) while pregnant with Baby #3 and how this rare condition impacted the natural delivery of her dreams.

To talk to Jenna directly about her Birth Story or about her favorite baby products you can contact her on Instagram.

Looking for a Virtual Doula to create a custom birthing experience and guide you through your journey to parenthood in the United States? Contact Heidi at www.mydoulaheidi.com

For additional free birth education resources and to purchase Heidi’s book, Birth Story: Pregnancy Guidebook + Journal, visit www.birthstory.com.

Want to share your thoughts on the episode? Leave a review and send a message directly to Heidi on Instagram.

TRANSCRIPTION

What does a contraction feel like? How do I know if I'm in labor and what does the day of labor look like? Wait, is this normal? Hey, I'm Heidi. My best friends. Call me hides. I'm a certified birth doula host of this podcast and author of birth story. An interactive pregnancy guidebook. I have supported hundreds of women through their labor and deliveries, and I believe every one of them.

And you deserves a microphone and a stage. So here we are, listen each week to get answers to these tough questions, birth story, where we talk about pregnancy labor deliveries. Where we tell our stories and share our feelings and of course chat about our favorite baby products and motherhood. And because I'm passionate about birth outcomes, you will hear from some of the top experts in labor and delivery, whether you are pregnant, trying desperately to get pregnant, or you just love a good birth story.

I hope you will stick around and be part of this birth story family. Meet Jenice lot. This episode is where I interview one of the top labor and delivery nurses in the country. One of the most busy hospitals in the United States, Jen is incredible. And she knew when she was pregnant, something wasn't right.

When she was losing vision in one of her eyes, this story unfolds and take some twists and turns that even I wasn't expecting get ready to learn from the most incredible labor and delivery nurse Jenice lot. Here we go. Welcome Jenna to the birth story podcast. How are you today? Q I'm good. Thanks for having me.

Well, thank you for reaching out to me. I was, I don't know, your email just kind of took me aback and I thought we have to hear from Jenna on the podcast today. So before we get started and let everyone know, like exactly what's unique about yourself. Story. Why don't you just introduce yourself, tell us who you are, where you live, what you're about.

Sounds good. Yeah, my name's Jenna. I live in grand Rapids, Michigan. I've lived here my entire life. I still live here with my husband and my three little boys ages, three, one and a half and 10 weeks. I'm a labor and delivery nurse at, uh, the biggest hospital in West Michigan. Let's see what else I love to run.

I like to bake I'm in graduate school to become a nurse practitioner. Not a midwife for now. I'm doing women's health nurse practitioner. Um, I could see myself eventually doing the midwifery degree as well, but I'm starting here so well, Jenna, you're really inspiring right now because I just got exhausted hearing.

You say that you have a three year old, a one and a half year old, a 10 week old and you're in gratitude. Cool. Uh, I'm a little bit, you know, shame on the rest of us who slept in today, you know,

feel that I'm a little bit crazy. Well, it'll all pay for it. You know, in a couple of years to like putting in the hard work and now, and then you'll have more time with your babies later. I'm sure. So while today we're talking about the birth of your 10 week old and then specifically your pregnancy, your labor, the delivery journey.

Um, we have so much to kind of bounce off of each other, Jenna, with me being a doula and you being a labor and delivery nurse. So you're the very first. L and D nurse that I have interviewed on the podcast and I'm really excited. Cause I feel like we can go kind of high level today for our audience, but then we can break it down too.

And so let's just start with like your three year old and your one and a half year old. Just give me the high level of how those. Pregnancies and labor and, uh, you know, your deliveries and when w being a labor and delivery nurse, and then just for anyone listening, we're really gonna focus on Jenna's really unique third pregnancy and really unique, uh, delivery.

So stick, stick with us. Yeah. So my first two pregnancies were, um, Perfectly normal textbook. Literally nothing went wrong, nothing was abnormal. I both of them. I carried to full term. I went into labor on my own with both of my first two. My first one was just after 40 weeks. And my second one was just a few days shy of 40 weeks.

So both were similar. My second one, like most dire was much faster than my first, but. I still got an epidural. I also did with my first, so that was my experience with my scripts too. Um, and I loved my epidural. It was amazing. But yeah, my first one was a 12 hour labor from start to finish. And my second one was a three and a half hour labor from start to finish.

I want to give you like a high five. There that's every mom's dream. And for anyone who's listening, that's really fast. So really fast. We didn't get to the hospital until I was eight centimeters. And then I immediately got my epidural, but then I only, uh, Once I had an epidural, I was completely dilated. I pushed a couple of times and he was out.

So that was, that was kind of an insane experience in itself, but it was all very straightforward and normal. Exactly how it should go. Just really fast. Yeah. So as a labor and delivery nurse, I like it every step of the way where you like, Oh yeah, this is what's happening. And this is what state, like, did you kind of know what stage you were at when you were at home and kind of know when to go to the hospital?

Was that intuitive for you? Um, it was well, so with my first, I actually didn't work in labor and delivery yet. I was a nurse, but I worked in a heart on a heart unit, so I didn't know as much, um, and was my first, you know, You don't know what labor is going to feel like. So I did actually go to triage and get sent home with my first whichever at the time I thought, Oh, my word, that's embarrassing.

But now knowing now I worked in triage. I know that that happens all the time. It's super common to send people home. Even when you have a doula with you. And even when you're dual is like, you know, I'm really not seeing signs of cervical dilation. And I'm really sorry about that. May look a little more like prodromal and, um, But yes, it is so common.

Let's just honor that if you go to triage and you get sent home, like this is not a failure or something to be embarrassed about, it just means the hospital is busy. And it means you that the early parts of labor long, you got a lot of work to do before, you know, we can. Take up a whole room in a, in a hospital.

So, right. We definitely take into account. If you're what we call it, prime up your first baby or a mall tip, meaning you have had a baby before. And so if it's your first baby and you're not making cervical change over the course of an hour, we definitely would send you home. And so that's what happened to me with my first and my second.

I labored at home probably longer than I should, because at that time I did work in L and D and I just kept saying, Oh, it's fine. The water hasn't broken yet. I'm fine. I'm handling this. Okay. Um, and I, I actually, with my first one, Or, sorry, second one. I checked my own cervix at home, which I do not recommend.

I don't think you should necessarily do that, but unless you're a labor and delivery nurse, because I'm an L and D nurse and I took some sterile gloves to check to check my cervix. I was able to kind of. Gauge how fast I was dilating. And, um, it, by the time I was six centimeters and I felt my bag of water bulging, I thought, Oh, we actually should leave because this is going really fast.

So that's when we finally left the house and the drive to the hospital is 25 minutes. And by the time I was there, I was eight centimeters. So yeah, that went really quick. That is really quick. Now did your water break on its own? Then you said that it was bulging when you felt it. Yeah, it was so I was prepared for it to break, but no, it actually, it didn't.

And with both my first and second, my, my OB broke my water just right before pushing. Oh, excellent. So, yeah. And you also wrote to me in your email that you had stripped your own membranes. Will you talk a little bit about that? So also something that you probably shouldn't do to yourself and even my coworkers were like, how did you even, how did you even reach up there?

But with my second, I, uh, I was 39 weeks and four days. And I had been feeling some signs of labor, you know, just some early contractions and stuff. And when I checked myself that morning, I was four centimeters. And so I thought, Oh, well, something something's starting to happen. I'm going to strip my membranes.

So I did. That's when you separate the, basically the SAC, the bag of water from the uterine lining, and it kind of sends a signal to your body that, you know, you're ready to go into labor. So when I did that. I mean, it kicks things off quick. So pretty much within an hour. I was contracting painfully after I did that.

And then what did you do at home for pain relief? Oh, just moved around a lot. I didn't really do much. I moved, I had my husband pushed on my back. That's it. I didn't, I didn't take a shower. I didn't get in the bath. It just didn't sound good to me, actually. I know some women love that, but it didn't sound good to you at the time.

Well, I have another question for you too, as an L and D nurse, because at least in my part of the world where I work as a doula, there is this gross misconception that getting an epidural is just going to lead to having us to Syrian section. Right. And I was like, well, if this was true, then labor and delivery nurses and OB GYN wouldn't get up.

And they saw that they just saw this going down all the time. Right. And so like, will you talk about that a little bit about your decision to know that for your body, you wanted to get an epidural and you're a labor and delivery nurse and kind of how your experiences may have led you to making that decision.

Well with my first baby, I actually wanted to try to do it without an epidural. You know, I was just curious if I could do it, how it would feel. Cause I didn't know. Um, and then when I was about five hours into labor with my first one, I just, I just couldn't, I just couldn't do it anymore. It was too painful.

I was having back labor. He was turned so that his, he was facing up and my back was just dying. So I got, I just got the epidural with my first, not really knowing. But you were eight centimeters daily. So that's also in transition. Well, sorry. What was the, my second that I was eight, seven. You were with your second?

Okay. I was like, that was really far along. How far were you along when you received your epidural with your first. I was about five centimeters. Okay. So you were well into active labor at that point, and you were about five hours into, into labor too. And would you recommend a question that I get all the time is how do I know when's the right time to get an epidural?

Yeah. So, sorry, let me back a couple of my first I was, I was about five hours into like painful contractions. So yes, active labor, about five, maybe five to six centimeters. I don't totally remember when I got it. Um, and that was mostly because of the back labor. It wasn't even my belly that was hurting so much.

It was the back. So I got it with him and it was amazing. And then it was my second. I think because I pushed so long with my first, I pushed for two and a half hours with him. That was my second. Even though when I got to the hospital, I was already eight centimeters. I was just nervous that I would push a Lyle again.

I mean, I knew it wouldn't be as long because, you know, cause working in L and D I just know that I wouldn't push as long, but I didn't know if it would be. 20 minutes or 45 and I just didn't want to push without the epidural. So I was eight centimeters when I got it with him. And then, yeah, barely. I think I only had it for about 30 minutes before he was born.

So what I tell my patients often about getting one is, well, first of all, that it's, it's completely, their decision, obviously pain is, is. Subjective. And I'm not the one who can tell them, you know, how much pain they're in and if they can handle it or not. But it's nice to know obviously how much and how quickly you're dilating.

So if I have a patient who really wants to try to do it without, you know, I'll, I'll kind of gauge. How she's feeling, how she's coping and then offer to check her cervix. If she's really feeling like she needs one, I'll offer to check her and see if she's close. And then if she's close, you know, I can, I can just help her as much as I can to hold off.

But if I have a patient who knows, they're going to get one anyway and is starting to feel exhausted or like they just can't cope anymore. I would usually then encourage them. They might as well get it because. Why exhaust yourself further. If you know, if you know you're going to get one, like if you're already set on it, then let's just get it.

You can relax. You can actually enjoy yourself getting an epidural. It's hard to answer that question because. There's so many factors with each patient that I take into account before I tell them or recommend when they should get one. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. And from a dualist perspective too, I mean, my role is the emotional and physical support person, but helping to guide them emotionally through making that decision.

Usually it's a pivot. Like, uh, well, I want to try to go as natural, as long as possible. And then knowing when to pivot, like when they're they get to that exhausted point, but one of the great points that you just brought up with your first was that Oop, or that face up, or kind of asynclitic even sometimes I guess more sideways position can cause a lot of pain on the back or the side.

And when I'm at home laboring with a client before we go to the hospital and I see. The what's called, like the uterus is kind of like hyper contracting it really early in labor. Like the conjunctions are like two minutes apart, but they just started labor and their back's hurting and I'm like, Oh wow, you got to get this baby into a really good position.

And so back LIBOR, I think is just one of those things. I just want to put out there since you mentioned it, like you said, you, you were interested in going naturally with number one, it sounded like, but then changed your mind. And that's so common. I just labored with a division one. Swimmer from Climpson powerful athlete and was absolutely going to have a natural childbirth until, you know, her uterus did this hyper contracting every two minutes from the get, go with an P baby.

And that baby, we just wasn't going to turn and, you know, and at some point, yeah, she pivoted to make the decision to say, you know, I'm really exhausted. Did Anne, miss Pat pain is not really what I was anticipating. And the epidural was a beautiful tool for her that allowed her to relax and sleep and eventually let the baby turn.

So, yeah. Um, so you got yours at five centimeters and you just have to, I mean, every patient has. So many different factors that make them unique and their situation unique. So you have to take into like, there's so many things you have to take into account, you have to take into account what they desire.

Of course. And then also, like you said, what what's their uterus doing? What is their contraction pattern look like? How long have they been laboring? What are they dilated to? You know, how. How are they coping? Like it's so it's epidurals are, it's hard to answer that question. Cause patients ask me that a lot when they're not even in active labor yet.

Like, so when, when do I get my epidural? And it's like, well, where do I even begin telling you about that? Cause we have to see first what your labor is going to look like and what you. What you want from it. Yep. And I've had many clients that we've gotten to that triaged, like you said, and then you get sent home and this is a really good time to talk about like advocating for maybe going home with something like a lot of times I say, if you've been in this prodromal labor for a day or two, and you're really exhausted and you haven't slept and you're, you're not getting admitted to the hospital and they're sending you home, there is always an opportunity to ask them.

For, um, there are different medicines that they can give you in triaged to go home with that can help you take the edge off or get some rest or get some sleep. So that maybe in a few more hours, you'll have some cervical change and could come back to be admitted. Right. And to have that epidural, if that's something someone was planning on doing at that time.

So well, Jenna, it sounded like you had really. You know, textbook kind of well on the short side, but textbook first and second labors. And then I'm assuming you delivered your second in the hospital that you worked at? Yup. Yup. I did. Okay. And then were like your coworkers. I can just like, imagine like, there's this red carpet and your coworkers are like cheering you on as you come in and labor, was there any of that going on?

You know, Yeah, a little bit. They knew I was coming. Cause I had been texting with a couple of them telling them what was happening at home. And, um, they had decorated the room for me and put up like a guessing, like a guessing game sheet on the door so that they all could write on the door of my room, like their guesses of what time he would be born and how much she would weigh and that kind of stuff.

So that was kind of fun. But. Also in our unit, we work at a really big hospital. I think we're number six in the nation for a number of deliveries and they in a year. So there's a lot of us. There's about 150 RMS, I think in L and D. And how that's a big hospital. Yeah. Yeah. And so actually we were recently featured on a few different news platforms because there were 32 of us having babies within one year, just from labor and delivery at our hospital.

So that's a really good news story. I'll Google it. I was definitely not the only one. So, but yeah, definitely. Are we celebrate each other as we're, as you know, we're all in this together. It's our field that we love. For our work and we also clearly love to have our own babies. Um, if you will give me the article, then I'll link to it in the show notes.

If I want to read it this badly right now, like maybe somebody else does too. Alright. Well now we're going to kind of take a turn and we're going to pivot into baby number three. And here you are. Still working in labor and delivery. And I mean, your children are, we're so close together. So yeah, I've either been pregnant or breastfeeding pretty much nonstop for almost four years.

High five. I love you for that. It's not easy thing to do. I was right there with you for several years. And I actually interviewed someone recently. I think she was nonstop for like almost 14 years. And I thought, Oh, that makes my heart like, feel warm and hurt for you. It's the same time. So, I mean, I really can't.

So you have, at this point you have two babies and I am, I'm just, I'm going to stop talking now and I'm just going to let you tell us. This journey that you then went on, um, with your third baby. So take us from the very beginning, you know, finding out that you were pregnant. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah, I can start real early then I guess.

So it was actually the day after Christmas of 2018. So not even a year ago yet. And I was still nursing my second child, which. I will say right now, because I'm an L and D nurse, and I should know this. I know that nursing is not birth control. I do know that, but after my first baby, I, you know, I didn't use any birth control and I was nursing and I never got pregnant.

So I thought, well, maybe this works for me, but if it doesn't that's okay. Like we wanted three kids anyways, so it's okay if we got pregnant. So I was still nursing my second. Um, I hadn't gotten a period yet. And the day after Christmas, I woke up and I was just, so I was so dizzy, the room was spinning and I just thought this is weird.

And because the room was spinning, I kind of nauseous. I laid back down and I had to go to work later that day. Cause I work second shift. So I had to go in at 3:00 PM. So I went to work and then I was like, you know what, I'm just going to take a pregnancy test. I know it's going to be negative, but I'm just going to take it so I can ease my mind.

So I was at work, got a pregnancy test from our pharmacy. Go to the staff bathroom and then sure enough, there's that little line and it was positive. And I all on my word, I almost had a heart attack right there. I just couldn't believe it. So I stuck that test in my packet. I went back out to the nurses station and I showed my friend, Sarah, Sarah, look at this and I showed her and she was like, Oh, Hey, congratulations.

And I was still just shaking. Like I couldn't even believe it. I mean, I was happy, but just, I think I was just in shock cause we weren't, we definitely weren't going to. Start trying to get pregnant that quickly. Well, that makes sense. Now why you were dizzy. A lot of times we can diagnose pregnancy when you faint, you know, I was nauseous and I mean, yeah, the, the, just the change in your hormone levels that early on.

Cause I mean, when I took that test, I was probably not even four weeks yet, but those hormones just made me feel that way, obviously. So. And the first person you told was not your husband. I, I, I laugh with you because that was the same for me. My husband was at a work conference with number two all day and I was like, well, what am I supposed to do?

I have to tell someone. Okay. Right. Yeah. So I basically told everyone before he found out. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. So number, number two, at that time, he was only 11 months old. And my first baby was, he wasn't three quite yet. So anyway, yeah, I told my coworker just because yeah, I had to tell someone, I didn't want to tell my husband over the phone because I was going to see him later that night when I went home.

So it was the day after Christmas. No. So I thought, well, I'm going to get creative here. And I went to the hospital gift shop and I actually wrapped that pregnancy test up, like a gift. So when I got home from work, I said here, Travis and I handed him and he's like, he's like half asleep. Cause I don't get home from work until midnight.

And he was like, what? What's this for? And I was like, Oh, just, you know, a little Christmas present. And so he unwrapped it and he was like, what. Are you serious? And it wasn't even necessarily a, Oh, are you serious? It was like, are you serious? Not like their reactions may never be exactly what we need them to be, but you know, we're probably just as freaked out.

I'm imagining because you were nursing. Um, so it was unexpected for both of you guys. Yeah. Yeah, we, we got to the point of being happy, obviously, but at first we were both just in a little bit of shock. I'm just nervous about having another baby so quickly because obviously I still felt like I was in the baby stage.

I was still in the baby stage with my second. So that felt overwhelming for both of us. But anyway, then my pregnancy. Progress. Normally I did have to get a date again, ultrasound, because I had no idea how far along I was, because I had no period. So that's normally when they count here, um, weeks it's starting from the.

Day of your last period. So I got a dating ultrasound, um, shortly after, which told me I was six weeks along, which I had guests based on when I took the test and a dating ultrasound is just where they measure the feet. Yeah. At that point and then project out the date from there and here, sometimes they have to do too where they do one and then they bring you back a couple of weeks later and then do a second one.

Did, did they have to do that with you or were they able to establish your date just with the first dating ultrasound? Um, just with the first, they were pretty certain and they got all the measurements they needed and they could already hear or see the heart feeding and get a heart rate, which was really encouraging.

So just one. Okay. And then before you jumped too far ahead, I had a question because you were nursing. So did your milk supply dry right up or were you able to continue nursing? Like what did that look like? I had already only been nursing like first thing in the morning and late at night. And so I already didn't have much of a supply last, so.

I just stopped because I didn't know. I didn't feel well. I never felt well in my first trimesters. And he was pretty much only doing it for comfort anyway, so I just stopped. Okay. So I was wondering about that. Cause some people, I mean, Some people go all the way through and then Tam nurse. So the reason I ask you, I mean, honestly, the reason I asked you that question is because I do know that there is a risk when you continue to nurse of that uterus contract.

And then, um, there is a small risk of changes in hormones and then miscarriage. And so many women will choose to stop nursing to eradicate that, that low risk. Of that occurring. So just wondering where you sit stood on that. Yeah. I, I honestly that I'd never really even thought about for myself. I know that happens, but for me it just, I was just ready to be done anyway.

So. I just decided, well, I'm pregnant. This is a great time to be done. Perfect. And yet you had an 11 month old. It was probably like chomping away on some good solid foods by too.

Okay. Now I'm going to let you, so tell us about the rest of your pregnancy. Yeah. So, um, everything was normal. Ultrasound looked great. We did find out that we were having a third boy and then around 20. Oh, what was it? 28, 29 weeks. I was, well, we actually, we had just gone on a family vacation, a road trip.

Um, and we got back in a couple of days later. I was outside with my boys and I suddenly noticed like an aura in my vision. And I thought that I would probably be getting a migraine because I've had auras with migraines in the past, only a couple of times in my life, but I definitely remembered what that aura looked like.

So I thought that's what was going to happen. And then when I didn't get a headache, I kind of thought, okay, well, this is weird. What's going on and I investigated a little further and, you know, I shot both of my eyes and I realized that it wasn't an aura. It was actually a blind spot in my left eye. So with both eyes opened, it just looked like a little distortion.

But with my right eye closed, I realized there was actually a full blind spot about a quarter of my left eye. Now we're going to take a short break to just share a few things with you. Thanks for listening to the birth story podcast. I am so excited to announce the launch of my book. Birth story, a 42 week guide for your pregnancy, a collection of these birth stories, a ton of doula advice.

And journaling prompts. You can order a copy [email protected]. It also will mean the world to me, if you'll spread it, the word about this podcast, so on Stitcher or on iTunes, just leave a review. Thanks. If anyone's listening right now, like me, like I'm sitting here like closing one eye and closing the other, I am doing this test, like, okay.

Yeah. Good. I'm just trying to like, imagine what you were doing. Okay. Yeah, it was unnerving for sure. But I still, still, in that moment I thought, well, whatever it's going to go away. And I was actually kind of casual about it. I had to work that evening again. So, um, I ignored it. And then I went to work at 3:00 PM and, um, my OB wasn't there, but her, her partner was there for a delivery.

And, um, so I asked her about it and she, well, first of all, she ruled out like other signs of preeclampsia, like high blood pressure, swelling, seeing stars and my vision. That kind of, you know, that kind of thing. And so, because that's, when you're pregnant, you always want to, that's why they check your blood pressure so closely, especially towards the end.

Make sure you aren't showing signs of preeclampsia, severe headache. Like I didn't have any. I don't have anything else that, that might point to priests. So define pretty, um, really quickly for our audience because eclampsia is mean seizure. And so some of the things that Jenna is talking about are markers.

For, you know, really being like a pre seizure state from having high blood pressure. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that? Cause this looked a little bit similar what you were going through. I mean, it was just, I mean, any kind of visual change, of course, as an Andi nurse, our minds jump immediately to Oh, visual changes let's look into for sure.

Blood pressure. So blood pressure is the main marker. Um, when it's high, either gestational hypertension, or if it's too high or stays high, then they would get the diagnosis of pre E um, well, we would draw labs and if the protein creatinine ratio is high, that's just a lab that we look at that tells us whether or not the patient has pre so yeah, like you said, a clamp SIA is seizures.

So pre just means that you're kind of getting close and we want to monitor. Blood pressure closely. Those patients are put on blood pressure medication sometimes if it's too high. Um, and usually I'm deuce early to make sure that nothing. Nothing bad happens or that it doesn't progress to something worse.

So you were experiencing an aura, you thought it looked like an aura to you before you realized it was a blind spot and frequently. Um, I think anyone who's listening to this podcast for a little while knows that I have like 4 million jobs and one of them is that I work in neurosurgery for an epilepsy device.

And so a lot of my seizure patients also experience these auras right before they have a seizure. And so kind of this blind spot, like seizure thing, like I think of course the very first thing everyone's thinking of is pre E. And so here you are like with your OB GYN partner and they're ruling everything out and they're like, okay, it's definitely not this.

Right. And then what I bled gray and my eye, I never got a headache. And those are the, those are the big things that we look at first is visual changes, headache and blood pressure relieved. Or were you now terrified? Well, I never thought I had pre because I knew right away that my blood pressure was always fun and I didn't have a headache so that I was never actually really that worried about that.

So I wasn't necessarily relieved. I just, if anything, I think maybe I was getting a little more scared because I had been relaxed, but then she, the OB, she was the first one to say the words, retinal artery occlusion. And I was like, huh. Well, that's probably not happening to me, but that sounds scary. So I started to get a little worried, but I still didn't think I was like, eh, no way.

That's not happening to me. She said to me, she's like, well, I don't know what else to tell ya. So you should probably just see an eye doctor in the morning. And no one was really overly worried. No, nobody was. And so I wasn't either. And I, she, um, actually I forgot about this. She, she knew a doctor at one of the ophthalmology offices in grand Rapids.

And so she, she actually called him at home that night from work and she told him what I was experiencing. And he said to her, Oh, I'm not worried about it. She can go home because she wanted to make sure he didn't think I should go to the ER right away. Okay. So he did say, yeah, it's fine. Go home. She should see someone in the morning.

So I went home that night. Next morning, I got in with the grand Rapids, homology, got an eye exam and that doctor herself, she couldn't tell me what was wrong, but she could tell that something was wrong. Like she said, she could see on my retina that something looked a little off. I don't even know the exact words she said, because it's in the moment.

I was like, Oh boy. This is getting a little more scary, but she told me I needed to see a retinol specialist, which I never knew. There was such a thing. As someone who specialized in retinas, did they refer you or did you have to find someone yourself? She did refer me, but she wasn't going to send me until the next day.

Cause they couldn't get me until the next day. And I, at first I was like, okay, that's fine. No problem. But then I went home and my mom was with my kids and. I'll admit at the time I was a little annoyed with my mom, but now I am. And in hindsight, I'm very thankful. Cause she was like, no, she just, basically she advocated hard for me.

She was like, no, you need to see someone today. And I was like, mom, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll see someone tomorrow. And she's like, Nope, you need to see someone today. And so she, I kind of got lucky. I had a lot of connections. My mom randomly knew someone. Who works for retinal specialists of Michigan, which was a separate office.

She texted a friend of hers who gave him, told me which number to call I called. And they were able to squeeze me in like literally about a half hour after I called. So. Thanks to my mom because she kind of pushed me. And then I was able to get in with these retinal specialists. So my mom stayed with my kids.

I basically, I turned right back around and I went to this other office and saw a retinal specialist who looked, did her thing, took some pictures and she could immediately tell that I had had a retinal branch artery infarction. So for everyone listening to my eyes. So what happened was a clot had lodged itself in an artery in my retina, cut off blood flow to that part of the eye and then caused the retina tissue to die from lack of oxygen.

So, and she told me right away, retinas don't regenerate. So you're not going to get this vision back. And that was, that was a big blow because my vision. It was at that time, it was very, very annoying. I mean, I could still see my right eye was fine, but everything, no matter where I looked, I could see this distortion in about a quarter of my vision.

And it was very annoying. And knowing that I wasn't going to get that back in that moment. I mean, I started crying. I was really emotional about it. And it was scary hearing the word stroke. Cause she said to me, you essentially had a stroke. And I was I've mean, you know, a stroke, a clot can lodge itself anywhere in your brain.

I was simultaneously thankful that it hadn't been worse, like with more neurological deficits. And I was scared because that had happened to me and I was mad that I lost part of my vision. So I was feeling a lot of emotions all at once when she told me that. Yeah, the word stroke is not a word you want to hear ever.

I mean, ever, I don't talk much about this. I don't know if I've ever talked about it, but my, um, my three-year-old actually had a stroke and it was like getting that diagnosis and it was his was in his brain. But, but just hearing the word stroke, I mean, like in, in your eye and your brain, anything like anywhere in your body, I mean, Scary thing because now as you're talking and the first thing I'm thinking is, Oh my gosh, well, you're pregnant.

And you're like in this hypercoagulative state. And so now what, you're only 28, 29 weeks a lot. Yeah. Okay. So kind of, what was the plan of attack from that moment to get you through your pregnancy? Safe. Yes. Well, in that moment, I still wasn't totally sure like how immediate I had to act on this, but basically as soon as that doctor and the retinal specialist, I could just see in the way she was talking to me and in her face, she was concerned.

She basically said this doesn't happen to people your age, pretty much ever, especially like I don't see people your age for this. And you're pregnant. So I'm really concerned. She said that right to me. She was like, you, something could be going on. We need to make sure that this isn't going to happen again.

And I'm going to talk to here, OB I've thought, you know, she's going to go out. She's going to call my lb, whatever. But no, she right there in the office with me, she called my OB straight up. Talk to her. And said so that I could hear her, probably she said, this is what happened to your patient, Jenna. And she needs to go to the hospital right now and have a stroke workup.

So I knew it was concerning. Um, and so I called my mom, called my husband in tears, telling him what happened. And of course they both then later met me at the hospital. Um, but then, so sorry, I left that office, drove to the hospital. My OB also called me too. And just wanted to check in with me, make sure I was heading there.

So headed to the hospital, got in the ER and they basically started doing a stroke workup right away. So, and because of my age, they. At least as I was your age or what, what, I guess this was last year. So what is your age? Well, I'm 31 and this was very young. Yes. Yes. So young. And I think, I think they did a lot more tests than they would have if I was older.

That at least that was my understanding and because I was pregnant, so, you know, they want to rule out other clots in my body, make sure it's not going to happen again. Make sure there's not going to, you know, clot getting into the placenta could cause issues. So, um, I ended up being admitted and inpatient for three days just because they wanted, they had to do so many tests and they took time.

So they, Oh man, they drew a ton of labs. I don't even know all what, but to look at like my coagulation blood clotting, blood clotting factors look for any genetic like clotting disorders. And then they also did. Ultrasounds of my legs and my carotid arteries to look for like plaque buildup or other like DBTs, which is a deep stands for deep vein thrombosis, basically clots in your legs, in the veins of your legs.

They did an MRI of my brain to see if they could, if there was anything else, any other clots or any other spots in my brain that weren't receiving proper oxygen, they did. Trying to even remember what else they did a echocardiogram of my heart, which is basically an ultrasound look at your heart function and the blood flow through your heart.

They did a full growth ultrasound of the baby to make sure he was growing well, while all this was going on, Jenna, you thinking like, I don't really even know how to phrase this, but like, were you thinking about like, Am I going to die or is my baby okay? Or are we both okay. Like, I don't know. I'm just kind of like, w what were you thinking about while you were in the hospital for three days getting all, like, were you like, am I going to have another stroke?

I mean, I feel like I'm jumping, I'm hearing your story, right. I, and I'm jumping to like, worse, you know, like where my brain would be panicking and you sound so calm. And so I just kind of wanted, like, what were you going through? So, no, it's weird. I was calm. I was actually very calm, which looking back, I'm kind of like, how, how was I so calm, but also I think I just, well, a, I, I love my job and I love the hospital I work at.

I think it's an amazing place and I wouldn't go anywhere else for healthcare. And so I felt very safe and taken care of where I was. I had a great team of doctors. My nurses were all wonderful. My family was with me. And so I felt very supported and I knew they were doing everything they had to do to figure out if something was wrong with me.

So that helped also my faith in God helped just, I knew lots of people were praying for me and I was praying and I, I just felt, I felt peaceful, which maybe sounds weird, but I actually was not. I was not thinking no that I'm going to die or. Is my baby. Okay. Because he, he was so moving a ton and like he had all long he'd been growing fine.

So, and then when they did the girls, the ultrasound, he was, if anything, he was big. So like he was growing fine, which, which made them believe there was nothing wrong with the placenta. No Claton placenta or anything. So I wasn't that worried about him, all of his non-stress tests that they did while I was there were great.

My husband, even later on once we were home and stuff, he was like, I, I was, so I was so anxious. I was so scared and worried. I don't know how you remain so calm. So like maybe cause I'm comfortable in the medical field. Like he hates being in the hospital. He just doesn't like anything hospital related.

Whereas that's where I work. That's what I love to do. I feel comfortable there. And that helps me a lot. So it was interesting. Cause normally in our relationship, I'm the more high strung anxious one and my husband is super steady, calm, like solid. And we were opposite in that situation. Hmm. It's good to hear, like, you talk about your faith though, too.

I mean, I feel like that's so important in those moments to just kind of tap into your relationship with God and like, just kind of, like you said, like have some peace and relaxation in that moment that you were taking care of by the best of the best were where you were at. And so slowly, it sounds like.

The tests must've started rolling in like at least the lab work and like, you know, one thing at a time. So did everything just start coming in negative or yeah. So everything was coming back normal though. The one thing that didn't come back normal was my echocardiogram. The ultrasound of my heart actually showed that there was a congenital PFO, which is basically.

Um, so when you're, when you're a fetus and you're in utero, there's several, like the circulation is different in fetuses through the heart. And when a baby's born those holes miraculously close up and the circulation goes basically to, to normal how it, how it is when you're not a fetus. So for me, one of those holes didn't completely close up when I was born.

And I never knew about it because you can live a very normal life with a PFO. In fact, they told me about a quarter of the population have PFS and never know about them. Cause they're the least serious of the congenital heart defects. Wow. So, yeah, so I thought, okay, well it doesn't sound super serious, but that is what allowed that clock to get to my brain because otherwise the way your circulation works, it wouldn't have been able to get to my brain.

It would have dissolved by at that point. So, and was it because you were pregnant also? Yes. Well, that's what they believe because when you're pregnant, your body is hypercoagulable meaning you naturally, normally far more claps than a non-pregnant person. Okay. But you have to break them down. So basically told over and over by every specialist that saw me like the MFM team, the neuro team, the congenital heart doctor.

My OB that like, this is so insanely rare. What happened to me, the clot that formed and got to my eye. It was just a total fluke thing, but that clot didn't break down that it just happened to go through that tiny little hole in my heart, up into my brain and into my retina. So like, Oh, my gosh. And right now you're talking, I'm like, but thank God it was your retina.

Right, right. Cause it could have been any, anything else in my brain could have been sort of deficit speech memory. I don't know, you know, like a lot of different deficits, obviously. So yeah. I was actually thankful even though. It still sucked. And so what do they do put you on an anticoagulant? Like, can you even do that when you're pregnant?

Yeah. So all the other tests came back negative except that hole. So we knew why the clock got through. And the congenital heart doctor did say that we need to close that hole after delivery. He wanted, he wanted to do while I was pregnant, but the MFM doctor put a hard stop on that. She was like, absolutely not.

You're not doing that while she's pregnant. So yeah, so they, they, after three days I was discharged, everything looked good. Everything else looked good, baby looked good. And they sent me home on a. Injection of Lovenox. So that is a blood thinner and it is safe in pregnancy because it doesn't cross the placenta at all.

So, baby. Yeah. And basically it just sends my blood at enough to ensure that I wouldn't be forming more clots. They put me on a pretty high dose because when you're pregnant, you are hypercoagulable. So I was on a pretty high dose. And I had to give myself little injections twice a day, every day. And where do those injections go?

Like in your stomach and your own arm and your leg? Yeah, so normally in your belly, but I just didn't feel comfortable with that being pregnant. So I put them in my, kind of like in my flank, I guess, like behind my tummy, just above my butt. Um, and that worked out well. I got used to doing it there. It wasn't super painful, so that's what I did.

And then they also had me on a baby aspirin. Okay. Yeah. And I'm assuming that they felt the reason they didn't want to do the surgery to close the PFO was because being on Lovenox and baby aspirin to them, like lowered that risk so much that they felt that this wouldn't happen again. As long as you were on those two medicines.

Yep. Yep, exactly. At that point. Was on that. I was at home for the rest of my pregnancy and I felt fine. Nothing else happened. And actually within, Oh, I don't know, four to six weeks. I started to not even notice that blind spot anymore, which I was super thankful for. Cause I kinda thought I was going to notice it for the rest of my life and be super annoyed.

But, and several doctors had told me this would happen that my brain would start to compensate for it. My right eye would kind of take over and I wouldn't notice it anymore. So as that started to happen, um, I was, yeah, I was very thankful for that. So now, I mean, with both eyes open, I don't notice it at all.

That is amazing. And the only thing I really could equate this to anyone listening is if you have a nose ring, because the first time I got my nose pierced, I could see that dumb ring and my nose for like a month. And then your brain does, it's like your brain erases. And if you know, compensate so that you can have a seemingly perfect vision again.

Yeah. And so today, right now, like talking to me on the phone, I mean, like if you look up down left, right? I mean, do you feel like you have restored vision? Yeah. I mean, if I really think about it and for sure if I close my right eye, it's still very clearly there, but with both of my eyes opened, it looks like I don't even think about it.

It looks completely normal. Wow. Yeah. So remembering that first day, when it looked like this huge aura in my vision, I'm just, I'm amazed that my brain can ignore that. Yeah, it totally does. What a gift, you know, like thank you God for making our bodies incredibly wonderfully special. I mean, yeah. So cool.

So then what happens? So then like, do they want to induce you early? Like, are you there, are they comfortable with you going all the way to full term? Yeah. So because I was on such a high dose of this Lovenox, they did want to induce me early because they, they did not want me to go into spontaneous labor knowing that my second labor was so fast.

Um, cause Lovenox, you need to give it a full 24 hours to get completely out of your system. So they wanted to induce me early so that I could plan ahead. Stop the Lovenox and then 24 hours later be induced. And then let's just explain that because when you say that, that makes sense to me. Right. But it just, everyone listening that may not make sense.

And this is so Jenna wouldn't bleed to death, right? Because you were on two blood thinners. So you believed during birth. Right. Yep. You bleed a lot when you have a baby, right. And you need to be, and now is when you need to clot. Right. You need your blood to clot after, after delivery. Exactly. So just being on that Lovenox, thinning my blood, we needed to stop it so that when I had the baby, I wouldn't, yeah, I wouldn't bleed too much if my blood was too thin.

Okay. So they picked a day about what? 39 weeks, 39 weeks, which made me a little nervous. Cause obviously people go into spontaneous labor a lot before 39 weeks. But the MFM doctor I was seeing was comfortable with that, knowing that my first baby went past 40 and my second baby was 39 and four. So she thought 39 would be just fine.

And obviously being an L and D nurse, I knew the whole time, like if I felt any sign of labor, I would just, I would not take my dose of lave and that Lovenox that day, but I never really did feel anything. So. I was fine waiting until 39 weeks. Okay. Now this time, did you check your cervix or strip your membrane right before you went in?

I tried. Oh, you did. Okay. I actually wanted to try to strip my membranes, knowing how fast it kicked me into labor with my second. Um, and I thought, Oh, if I just do that, maybe I won't need for Towson because it worked so well with my second. But this time when I tried, I did check myself. And I was, I was two centimeters, but my cervix was still really, really high and posterior and I could not, I couldn't strip my membranes.

So in hindsight, I'm thinking with my second, um, my body was probably already along the way, you know, already starting. To go into labor and I just helped it along a little bit. Whereas this time my body was not doing anything. It just needed a little bit more time to ripen your cervix. Okay. If you will just explain from a medical perspective, what high and posterior cervix, like what that means, and then like how your cervix position can change and how it changes as you, you get closer to when you would go into like spontaneous labor.

So, can you kind of explain that evolution to us? I can do my best. Yeah. My perspective when you're pregnant and not close to labor yet your cervix is usually not everyone's, but I'd say the majority is pretty posterior, meaning it's kind of a behind your uterus, a little bit kind of pointing towards your back or towards your butt.

And just basically just higher up in your body. And as you get closer to labor or during prodromal labor, the early stages, your body, your, your baby kind of slowly just starts to lower and that movement pushes your cervix down and forward. And as that happens, it gets thinner, softer, and starts to dilate from the movement of your baby.

Along with. Um, the prostoglandins that help, that's basically something that helps get soft and start to dilate. So those factors cause it to move forward and start to. Get ready for labor. So if your body's not ready for labor at all, and you're getting checked, then yeah, it's going to be a lot more uncomfortable.

Cause the whoever's checking your cervix has to reach a lot higher kind of bag. And usually they actually pull your cervix forward, which can be really uncomfortable to make sure that they're getting a good, solid check in there. Thank you as you're talking, I'm like, okay, I can visualize all of this now.

And like this makes as a doula who has never checked a cervix before, you know, I'm like, Oh, now I have a really good visual. Yeah. As to what that actually looks like. Yeah. I mean things we actually have to kind of pull it forward to make sure we're getting an accurate check. Whereas if that cervix is already forward and kind of pointing straight down, it's super easy to reach and check and make sure that we're reaching all the way through to the baby's head.

We want to make sure we can feel the baby's head. So we're getting an accurate. Check not only of the external part of the cervix, but the internal as well. Okay. Thank you. I was like, Jenna. Okay. So you tried to do this, but it's, you know, pretty unsuccessful. It sounds like. And then I'm assuming, do you go to the hospital for an evening induction or a morning induction?

Um, I went through morning because I wanted to get a good night's sleep. So, um, I went in the morning and I knew I wouldn't need Cytotec. Excited. Tech is a process of land and that helps ripe in your cervix. Like soften it and get it ready for contractions. But I was already two centimeters and my. My OB knew I wouldn't need one just because I'd had two babies before and my cervix was soft.

She said, I didn't need excite a tech. So I went in the morning, they started Pitocin on me pretty much right away. Um, 10, I think it was like 10, 15 that Pitocin was started and I was my. Sorry. Do you want me to just keep going? Well, one of the question I have is, um, was the balloon induction on the table or?

Um, no, they just wanted to start with Pitocin right away. Yeah, no, we didn't. So the Foley balloon, no, I didn't, I didn't leave. I needed that in my OB didn't believe I needed that. Cause I was already two centimeters and. Wait a minute. I was a multip and I was ripe. So she pretty much figured my cervix was just going to fly open.

Okay. This goes, this goes back to when you were saying every single patient or for me, client has. All of these different things that we look at and evaluate. So like, you know, all of those things that you just mentioned, how helped your gynecologists come to the conclusion that, you know, a little bit of Pitocin to, um, jumpstart you is all you are going to need.

Yep. Yep. And I'm lucky I have an amazing OB who also was very, like, she cared about my input as well. So I kind of said to her, like, I really. I even at first thought I wanted to avoid the Towson and just try breaking my water. But after arriving at the hospital, I'm kind of talking it over with my husband.

We thought, you know, Rather than just break my water and see what happens. We wanted to just get the show on the road. So we decided to just start the Pitocin. Okay. And so what time did they start Pitocin at 10, 15:00 AM was the first was starting it and then every half hour we turned it off until the patient's in a good lap labor pattern and getting pain painful.

So like, um, contractions every two to three minutes. Apart lasting about 60 to 90 seconds. Yes. So my intention started printing trade away, but they weren't uncomfortable yet, or they were uncomfortable, but not painful, just kinda crampy, but they pretty quickly got to that two, three minutes apart. And I was moving around.

I was sitting on the birthing ball. I was walking and I was honestly, I was kind of just having a good time cause my. Her husband was there. My sister, my sister in law, and my mom were all there. And they had not been there for my first two. I just invited them to come. Cause they had never seen a birth. So planning to have a natural childbirth or were you planning to do your epidural again?

I was planning to have an epidural. Okay. Well I will say I sought out good enough that there, there was a tiny little. Tiny little idea in the very back of my head that if somehow everything goes just right and just click an ass, maybe I wouldn't get one, but that was really more of like a fantasy. I didn't actually think that would happen.

Okay. So. So you have a party in the room, basically with all of the people that love you and are supporting you. Did you get like one of your best friends to be the nurses that you worked with? Or how does that I chose my nurses. I actually ended up having two of them in the room because one of my friends kind of got me started with my induction and, um, The other one was actually the nurse who was my nurse for my first two.

And I wanted her to be the nurse for my third as well. But she had worked night shifts the night before. So I told her, I was like, you have to go sleep and then come in. So she just came in a little later, but I ended up having both of them in the room. So yeah, it was a party. It was a lot of fun. Anyway until, well, let's see, I, I think around one 45 ish, two o'clock I started actually getting painful where I was writing the contractions more like a seven or eight out of 10 on the pain scale.

And then around two 30. Yeah, two 30. My OB came and she. At this point I had just started using the nitrous oxide gas, like the laughing gas kind of from the dentist. Oh yeah. I'm glad that you have that at your hospital. We just recently got that. Most of the hospitals where I met in Charlotte, North Carolina, but still not all of them have it, but yeah, you've got nitrous oxide.

Yeah. Same here. I think not many have it yet. It's kind of like a new, I mean, we've had it for several years, but it's somewhat newer, but I wanted to try it both as a patient, but also because I had no idea what it was like, and my patients always ask me about it. And I wanted to have that perspective to speak from when I'm telling my patients about it.

So I decided to use it and it actually was wonderful. Not everyone likes it, but I, I really liked it. I thought it was very helpful. It didn't take the pain away, but it definitely took the edge off and kind of helped me relax a little. But, so I was starting to use that at two 30 and my OB came and checked me and she broke my water at that time.

And I was four centimeters and a hundred percent faced, meaning my cervix was completely thinned out and the baby was already at zero station, meaning pretty low. So, so, so low. But let me just back up though, because you're, you rated your pain level of seven out of 10, and so, um, and we're just using. Yeah.

And so you, at this point you weren't like hello or. Where's my epidural, I'm thinking seven out of 10 is really that's, you know, that's really up there. Yeah, it was, I, I don't know, in the Heights, I was still moving around a lot and using the birthing ball and with the nitrous, like. Yeah, it was painful, but I was, I was really handling it.

Well, I was still talking with my family between contraction bins and like still joking and just having fun. And then, um, after she broke my water, the contractions very quickly went to a 10 on 10. Wow. Say by 3:00 PM, they were a 10 out of 10. And at that point I was like, okay, just, just a few more contractions.

And I want my nurse to check me or I want to be checked. So. Actually, I think they didn't end up checking me until three 30. I just, I was still, I was coping. Well, I was doing well. My husband was very helpful, like massaging my back and like through each one, it was just very much mind over matter. I just like was like, all right, I'm just going to get through this one.

And I'm doing good. I'm still doing good. I'm okay. You know, I just took it one at a time. So then three 30, my nurses, both of them came in, checked me and I was, I was eight. So. Wow. That was fast four to eight, eight, a hundred. And that was plus one station. And I was like, Oh, cause I was thinking, okay, I'm about to get my epidural.

But my, my nurse, you know, she knowing me, she knew how fast my second one went. And she said to me very direct in my face. Cause I was in a lot of pain and she said, Jenna, Do you want to try to do this without an epidural? Because you can. I know you can. She was super encouraging and direct with me. And I just looked at her, I think, with a look of terror.

Cause I'm scared. I had never gone past eight centimeters without an epidural. With my water broken. And so, but I just thought about my second baby, how fast he came out. And I said, I said, okay. Yeah, let's just do it. Let's just keep going. I'm so proud of you. Wow. I need to be able to make that decision in the moment when you're planning to have an epidural.

And then, I mean, that's a really. That's a really hard decision. Throw your epidural out the door when you're a 10 out of 10. So, well, good job, Jenna, and good job to your nurse. That was like your cheerleader. What a great dual issue wise. She was, she was, she was both of them. They were so encouraging and helpful.

And so is my family. And I think it was just there, there must have that desire to do it without an epidural. Must've been. Bigger than I thought it was because yeah, in that moment it was hard to make that decision. But I, I did decide I wanted to do that. And so I did and I just kept, well, she also said to me, she said, I bet, Jenna, if you get on your hands and knees, you're going to be complete, complete meaning 10 centimeters.

You're going to be complete in no time. You can just push and have this baby. And so I went from sitting. I had been sitting on the bed using that nitris I leaned forward and gotten hands and knees and the easiest way for me to do that was to put my hands at the foot of the bed. Cause I was just the way I was sitting.

So I'm in the bed then hands and knees. My hands are at the foot of the bed and my butt is towards the head of the bed. And my OB was in the room at this point. And five minutes later, she checked me and sure enough as completely dilated. And I mean, at this point I was sobbing because I was scared and I was painful.

My whole, all my, my sisters and my mom and the husband are all crying too, just cause they're seeing me sobbing. So we're all crying. And my OB is basically climbing on the bed behind me to, to try to see what's going on and deliver this baby. Cause at this point I'm already like pushing without even trying to push.

If anything, I was, I was actually scared to push because the pain was so intense and I'd never felt anything like it before that. I mean, it's hard to even describe, like when this baby's coming out, I literally felt like I was going to explode. Not trying to scare anyone. No, but yeah, the pressure, the pressure is overwhelming.

I mean, it's really hard to describe, like I have moms that say, well, how will I know when to push? And I'm like, it will, if your natural league. Your body just does it. I mean, it's not anything to know or not know if you're unmedicated, um, that ejection reflex trick triggers and, uh, you're just, you know, you're just pushing, but yeah, that pressure is unbelievable.

I couldn't even, I don't know. I don't know how else to explain it, but I was like even being an L and D nurse, I was scared and thought, Oh, my word, my bottom's about to explode. That's what it feels like. Cause this, yes, it's, it's so much pressure and the head, the head is obviously not small, so yeah. So I, um, I'm going to tell a really funny story real quick, then right before you get to the grand finale, I like, I love a good Instagram post and I have like all these videos from my birth birds, and I can't put them online because I'm just going my butt.

There's so much. And it's like, they're really barest thing. I mean, I thought I wanted these like beautiful birds. Yeah. I didn't care. I'm like, can we play this back without volume on it? I mean, yes. So if anyone's listening and you're having a natural childbirth, it's just a lot of pressure, you know, it's overwhelming pressure.

It's a lot of. Pain to sleep still having those contractions. But yes, the pressure is very overwhelming. And I mean, in that moment, yeah, nothing really sounds good. It's very, I think I was saying some similar things. I kept. Actually, I forgot about this until my nurse told me later, I was yelling. I'm hoping I wasn't, I wasn't.

It was like, even though it can be very normal when you're pushing, I actually wasn't. It just, it, it feels like the biggest poop of your entire life times a thousand. So, and I was. I was screaming. My husband said he had never heard me be so loud in my entire life because I didn't know what else to do in those moments as I'm pushing, except just scream, which also I know as an L and D nurse, we tell our patients, try not to scream, like hold your breath and put all that, all that energy into your push.

But that's very difficult to do when you're not epidural. So I was having a hard time with that and it ended up being only a few, a few contractions and a few pushes, and he came out. Um, and my, my OB yeah. Kind of delivered him in hands and knees. And so, Oh, auntie had a double nuchal, meaning his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice and he still tolerated labor just fine.

Like he didn't have any decelerations in his heart, which is actually pretty amazing where the double nuchal. Yeah. That is amazing. Yeah. So she unwrapped it and delivered him and. Just set them on the bed below me. Cause she's like, I didn't quite know what else to do with them at the moment. That's what she told me later.

Um, and my nurses just said to me, gentlemen, look down. So I looked down and there's my baby below me. And I sat back. I pulled him up on my chest and it was just all very, very surreal. And I was, I felt a ton of adrenaline in the moment. I felt very, very empowered and like just amazed. I was, I was really proud of myself.

I'm really proud of you too. It is a very different experience, right? Like I had a beautiful birth with my epidural and I had a beautiful birth with my natural. I had a natural induction also. And, um, yeah, I mean, it's just, they're different. They're very different experiences, but they're both. Yes. Yeah, they're great.

And they're their own rate too. So, so since then, okay, now I've got a couple of final questions, but like since then, have you had the opportunity to now get in someone's face? That was eight centimeters dilated, bless on station and say, mama, keep going. You don't have that opportunity kit been given back to you yet.

Not yet. I am still on maternity leave. Oh, you are? Oh my gosh. Well, good for you. Most people I feel like are right back at six weeks. So at 10 and a half weeks, you're still home. That's really good. How much maternity leave do you get then? 12 weeks. Okay. Love your hospital. Even more than everyone who wants to move to grand Rapids.

Yes. Yes. Come to grand Rapids. It's a great place. I will say though, I'm, I'm very excited to go back to work, especially now having this experience under my belt, because I feel like it'll, it's given me so much more. To offer my patients in terms of my perspective, because I've had, at this point, I've had everything, not everything.

I haven't had a C-section, but I've had induction and I've had spontaneous labor. I've had to Towson and Novick Towson. I've had an epidural and no epidural. So I feel like I'm excited to have patients cool. Wow. To go all natural and do what I did and to be able to speak from that experience and to be the one.

Like you said to be the one on the other side, getting in their face, encouraging them. Yeah. Well, I know that the opportunity is going to come pretty soon after you go back to work, especially if you guys deliver that many babies a year, but there's probably always a shift for you to pick up and get an on.

But before we go, Jen, I mean, I think like you had, it's such a beautiful birth story and it was really like cool and empowering and you just. Surrendered from 28 weeks on to like, what was going on. But like, I just, can't close out this interview without knowing like, okay, well, how are you doing now? Like, are you, did you have that surgery or you kind of have the surgery, you know, what's what's how do you move forward now with this diagnosis of the PFO and making sure that we keep Jenna safe so that you can raise these three babies without another stroke in your eye.

Yeah, that is a good question. So yes, I stayed on Lovenox the blood thinner until I was eight weeks postpartum because it takes about eight weeks actually for your hormones and your clotting factors to go back to normal. So they kept me on that to make sure that my body would go back to its normal state of, of coagulability or clotting.

And then I'm still on aspirin and yes, I'm going to have that. PFL closed. It's an outpatient actually, Katherine. Cath lab procedures. So they placed a small device in the hole, and then your body creates cardiac muscles kind of over that device. So I have to have that done. And now it's just the question of when, because once I have that done, I have to take a drug called Plavix, which is an anti-platelet drug.

And I can't breastfeed when I'm on it. Because it's, there's no research on it and it could cause bleeding in your baby. And that's just not something we're willing to take the risk on. So lately I've been a little bit, you know, for my health, it's like, well, we really should just do it as soon as possible, but I've been more emotional than I thought about the idea of cutting him off from nursing.

So we're, we're still trying to debate. Do we do it like now? When he's four months old when he's six months old. It's yeah, it's hard. Breastfeeding is so what's going really well with him, which it, it didn't go as well with my first two. So it's just, it's really emotional to think about just having to stop cold Turkey like that.

Will you just keep lifting that up to God? And I know that he will give you an answer and like give you some peace in your heart about that. You know, so, you know, and one of the things too is that you may also find something to meet in the middle to where you could continue to provide breast milk. If there is maybe a donor in the grand Rapids area.

You know. Yeah. That's always another option too, where sometimes we give up the bond, but then we can still provide, um, you know, breast milk. So well on that note, well, anyone who's listening, you want to lift a prayer up for Jenna and ask God to bring her some peace. Over that decision, you know, we just welcome those prayers for you.

So, and then we hope that the surgery goes really well. And that word I'm now thankful hearing your story. Like it was a weird way to find out that you have a PFO, but like it could potentially have saved your life, you know? Um, from citing, you know, more devastating down the road. So in the end duetta, beautiful blessing.

Well, Jenna, thank you so much for being on the birth story podcast today and sharing your story and like teaching us all of the things. And I really liked learning a little bit more about like your place of employment and all of the, like. Just the great people that you work with and the care that you got.

And so I'll absolutely link in the show notes to that article about all 32 of you guys being pregnant at the same time. I think it's wonderful. And before you go, Jenna, are you on any like social media? Like if anyone is hearing the story and has this. Similar experience wants to reach out to you or is in the grand Rapids area and like wants to request you as their labor and delivery nurse.

How can we find you? Yeah, I would love that. I'm on. Well, sure. Graham I'm Jenna slot, J E N N a S L O T like spot as in like a slot machine. And then my email is Jenna dot [email protected]. And that's probably the best way, but Instagram or on Facebook, I'm jumping. Yeah, just look for Jenna slat, S L O T. So any of those would work just fine.

Alright. Well hopefully you like, I'm just like dreaming right now. There's someone in grand Rapids. That's just going to listen and they're going to show up and they're going to go. I listen to your podcast and like now you're my, you know, L and D nurse. It's going to come full circle. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

I just really loved listening to you today. So thanks, Jenna.

Thank you for listening to birth story. Michael is you will walk away from each episode with a clear picture of how labor and delivery might go and that you will feel empowered by the end of your pregnancy to speak up plan and prepare for the birth you want. No matter what that looks like.