...but today I learned that after a 4.5 year break from dentist visits I have no new cavities!! I was quite shocked to learn the news. Now, before you think I'm suggesting that regular visits to the dentist aren't necessary, let me finish because I definitely learned my lesson the hard way...
Had I actually gone to the dentist even once within the last year, I most likely could have avoided the root canal I had when Dylan was only 5 days old. I realize I haven't shared the details of Dylan's birth with the blogging world, so this story may get long. Feel free to skip this post, but I feel I need to document it for posterity's sake...or maybe just in case someone cares. {For the condensed version of this post, just skip the smaller text and move to the end}
You see, on November 31 (just one week before my due date) I called the dentist because my tooth had been hurting all weekend and after inspecting my mouth it appeared an existing filling had cracked. They were able to squeeze me in that day. The dentist informed me that my filling hadn't cracked, but that it appeared that a cavity had formed just to the side of it and the hole I was feeling was actually where my tooth had CRUMBLED! She then took an x-ray and noticed that the cavity appeared to be quite deep, but said she'd drill it out to see if we could get away with just a bigger filling. While still drilling out the decay, she reached the pulp of my tooth which mean...(bum bum bum)...a root canal. She referred me to her endodontist and I had an appointment set up for the next afternoon.
Well, that next morning I had my weekly OB appointment. Because I had been having pretty regular contractions, I decided to pack up the car before going to the appointment with all of our hospital stuff (I'm still not sure why I did this). At my appointment my blood pressure was high and so was my glucose. My blood pressure had been high at my last appointment and I had been having heart palpitations for the last few months of my pregnancy so my doctor decided it probably wasn't best for me or the baby to wait any longer...I was to be induced! I mentioned to her the fact that I had a root canal that afternoon, which she advised against--if my blood pressure was already high, imagine what the stress of a root canal could've done--so I called my dentist to confirm that it would be okay to put off the root canal for a few days and she said it was fine.
So off we went to the hospital, which only took 5 minutes since the car was already packed and my doctor's office is on the same block as the hospital. En route we called and cancelled the root canal appointment (which I later learned usually comes with a hefty cancellation fee, but I think they waived it given that childbirth is a little unpredictable). We also frantically called and texted quite a few people letting them know that Dylan would be born within the next day or so...and my wonderful mother magically dropped everything she had going on and changed her flight to arrive by 10:00 PM!
The nurse that was getting us set up asked when the last time I ate was...which had been breakfast (it was now 1:30 PM). Shane asked if I could eat since we knew we had at least 12 hours before they even started the pitocin. The nurse said she'd have to get an okay from my doctor, but showed him where some saltines and apple juice were, which apparently were fine. However, Shane also found peanut butter, which he slathered on some crackers for me. Upon discovering this, the nurse had to change the time of my last meal to 1:30...oops.
Shortly thereafter I was started on a topical medicine to help get my body ready for the pitocin since I was only dilated to a 1 and was 0% effaced (that's right...he probably would've stayed in there quite a bit longer). This medicine was supposed to was supposed to stay in for 12 hours, but after 1 hour I started having pretty strong contractions on top of each other...usually about 3 at a time before I got a break. The first nurse told me this was normal. The second nurse commented on my contraction patterns and asked about my pain level (which I told her was bearable, but definitely in no way comfortable). Then, this wonderful woman considered the treatment plan they had in place for me (1o more hours of ripening before the pitocin) and called my doctor to see if I could have any food besides clear liquids...and my doctor agreed! So I got one last meal...sadly I don't remember what the main course was, but I do remember I got cookies and french fries with it. The pain got progressively worse as the contractions got stronger and longer (still occurring on top of each other), but we did our best to distract ourselves by watching Law & Order reruns and texting friends and family.
Then, the night nurse came on duty when I had been on the medicine for 7 hours. She introduced herself, asked about my pain and told me about my options for dealing with it if it got to be too much, and then left the room. About 15 minutes later, she reappeared to inform me that she looked over my charts (for the last 7.5 hours of contractions) and realized that I was reacting way too strongly to the medicine. She called my doctor, explained, and they agreed to remove it and try and start the pitocin. I thanked this nurse profusely for realizing that it wasn't normal...and when the contractions didn't stop after the medicine was removed, we both agreed that it was time for me to get an epidural (even though I was only a 1.5).
Once the epidural was in, it was almost smooth sailing... They eventually started the pitocin at 1:30 AM. After a few hours and a few adjustments to the dosing, the baby's heart rate kept dropping at the end of each of my contractions. The put me on oxygen to try and help with this problem and broke my water so they could better measure the strength of my contractions...and we waited to see what would happen.
After a few hours with little progress (I think I was a 3) they explained to us that they had to turn off the pitocin for the sake of the baby and that they would call the doctor to see what she said, but that if I didn't progress without the pitocin we may need to "consider other options" (aka c-section). Luckily my doctor wanted to try pitocin again, and told the nurses to start with the lowest dose possible and step it up in 30-minute increments to see if there was a dosage where my body would still progress but the baby would be fine. Thank goodness for my doctor's wisdom!! This worked, and we were back to smooth sailing (except for the annoying oxygen mask on my face all night). To avoid the "other options" I told myself that at my next check I would be a 5...and I was! So then I aimed for an 8 and when the day nurse came in, I was an 8! So then I aimed for a 10, and at my next check I was a 10!! Granted, this all happened over a period of 5 or 6 hours...
Finally, we were ready to push...hooray! I only had to push for about 10 minutes or so (at least it didn't feel long to me, but maybe I was confused) before it was time to call my doctor. Although her office is only probably a 2-minute drive away, it somehow took her 40 minutes to arrive (something big must have been happening because we saw her RUN from her car to the building and she was so flustered when she arrived). Because of the wait, Dylan popped out with the next push...and there he was at 11:06 AM, almost 24 hours after we arrived at the hospital...and the rest is history...
Oh, I forgot the moral of this post... Shortly after getting my epidural, which I thought meant relief from pain and possibly some rest, my tooth began to hurt, to ache, to throb (I can't describe it in words, but if you'd have a bad toothache, you know). Sadly, I was unable to get any good rest during the waiting time with the pitocin because of the pain. Then, after after he was born, most nights I couldn't sleep while Dylan was sleeping because my tooth would be hurting. Two days after he was born, I called and set up an appointment for a root canal, which surprised the endodontist, but also helped him understand the pain I was in. I was so excited for the pain to be gone that I had no fear or stress for the procedure (which was actually painless and not near as bad as I expected).
The dentist called me after I had the root canal to see how I was doing and to tell me how sorry she was that I had to deal with all of this while dealing with having a baby. At the end of the call she casually mentioned that had I been coming in for regular check-ups the cavity would've been caught by an x-ray when it was much smaller and I wouldn't have needed a root canal. She's the nicest lady so I know she didn't mean it as an "I told you so," but more as a casual reminder that regular maintenance is important...
So, make sure you go to the dentist for regular check-ups, or else you'll find yourself saying that the worst part about childbirth was your toothache!
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