Andrew's Arrival-- Part 4

Now that things are settling back down from the busy holiday weekend, let's see if I can finish this up while the little guy is napping.

Things are stabalized. I'm stuck on my back at some funky angle. It's going on 11AM. My doctor (well, the one on call with the practice that day-- not my "official" listed doc) makes it to the hospital and checks me. Still about a 9. She orders the epidural be turned down so I can start getting some sensation back for being able to push... expecting we'll be to that point within an hour.

I try to relax and rest a bit... especially after the scare with his heartrate. My mom asks some questions about what they had done regarding the scalp probe on the baby, etc. I am impressed that the hubby can answer them all--- he really DID pay attention in childbirth prep class--- and the nurse is there to fill in any missing details. She also hands hubby a set of scrubs and explains that if we go through all of that again, he is to start putting them on and be ready for a c-section because if it comes to that things will move very fast and she wants him to be ready. Once everyone is calmed back down and settled, the nurse leaves for a while, saying she'll be back to check on me in a little bit.

Mom, the hubby and I sit there and talk... trying to take everything in. It's clear we're all still worried about things, but do our best to lighten the mood. Hubby comes over and sits at my side to hold my hand. We're chatting with the very faint sound of baby's heartbeat in the background. (The nurse had turned the volume down so it was just enough to be heard, but not enough to drive you insane with the constant thump, thump, thumping). Something about the heartrate caught my attention so I looked up at the monitor and saw his heartrate had dropped again. I said something about it to the hubby, who immediately hit the nurse's call button. No need for that. She was already on her way into the room, having seen the drop on the monitor herself. (all the monitors feed to the nurse's station at our hospital so they can all be monitored from there)

No sooner than my nurse had made it into the room and my doctor followed... and then what seemed like a million other people. I know the resident was one of them, and another nurse or two, but it all gets a little hazy after that. They all start working and doing their things. My doctor checked me, and I was at a 10, but baby's heartrate was most critical at that point. The doctor was pushing/scratching on his head, trying to get it to come back up. She couldn't feel any part of the umbilical cord, so it wasn't a prolapse, but she was pretty certain he was somehow laying on it causing the heartrate drop. They jostled my positions and pushed on my tummy trying to stimulate him... but his heartrate remained low so they said that was it. Off to the OR. It was right around noon.

The anesthesiologist met us in the hallway and started explaining to me what would happen. They got me in the room and moved onto the table. They hooked the monitor back up, and baby's heartrate had come back up, so he was doing okay... but given the situation, my doc said no chances and they prepped for a c-section.

I had the epidural in, so the anesthesiologist started pumping me full of medication. The drape was up, so I couldn't see what they were doing to my abdomen. From the feel of things, lots of cleaning and scrubbing and then poking with something sharp and pointed until I told them I was numb and couldn't feel the pokes anymore. Next thing I knew, the hubby was sitting next to me, rubbing my arm. I couldn't really turn to see him, since I was so numb and shaking like mad, but he was there. I think the seriousness of the whole situation finally hit me when I could hear him crying. Then the doctor started the first cut and the anesthes. called the time... 12:15.

The anesthes. was great. He talked to me the whole time, explaining what exactly I would be feeling.... pressure, pulling, stretching... and then he said "here comes that elephant on your chest I warned you about" which actually meant they had pulled baby out and set him on my chest while they cleared his lungs. Baby boy. 12:18. It only took 3 minutes from cut to birth. He started fussing and crying almost immediately, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The doc held him up over the screen for just a few seconds so we could see him, then he was taken over to be examined. NICU was present to make sure he was okay, since they didn't know about oxygen levels with his heartrate dropping. Apgars of 8 and 9 and seemed perfectly healthy.

As the doctor pulled him out, we heard her say "Well there's the problem" which she later explained. The "problem" was that in all of his uterine acrobatics, Andrew had wrapped his umbilical cord around his body 3 times, in various locations. A vaginal delivery would never have been possible... at least not without extreme risk to him and/or me.

While they cleaned Andrew up, the doctors took care of putting me back together. Baby peed all over the floor. And it took about 5 minutes for him to find his fingers and start sucking on them. They did his footprints, including one in his baby book for us. Measured and weighed and all that routine stuff. Bundled him up and handed him to the hubby, who brought him over for me to see our beautiful, little boy. Hubby and baby sat right by my head for the rest of the surgery. They finished up, moved me to a "real" bed, handed me Andrew and had me in recovery around 1PM.

By the time he was an hour old, we were at our first attempt at nursing. He only went for a few minutes, but he took right to it and has been great at it ever since. The monster amounts of drugs played with my blood pressure and had them concerned for a while. At one point it was around 70/40... though I don't remember the exact numbers. So... they pumped me full of fluids in an effort to bring it back up... and monitored it very closely for the next several hours.

I was in the recovery room about an hour. They cleaned me up and gave Andrew his bath. My mom and my in-laws got to come back and see me and meet Andrew. And then they moved me upstairs to a post-partum room, where we spent the next few days getting to know each other and recovering. Baby and hubby stayed with me the entire time. Friends and family came to visit. And on Wednesday... we came home... with a healthy baby in our arms. Family of 3.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm pretty sure I don't even need to say it. We're all quite clear on what I am most thankful for this year. So, instead, let me just wish you all a happy turkey day!!!

Andrew's Arrival-- Part 3

Let's see. So... I just got the epidural and am feeling much, MUCH better. Hubby came back in and started making phone calls to let people know I had been admitted and this was it. After he got through the list, I had him call my mom back and remind her to call my dad. Turns out, she was up and dressed and getting ready to head to the hospital. I guess she decided the birth of her grandson was more important than singing in choir at church that morning!

Mom showed up and her, the hubby and I sat around for a few pretty uneventful hours. I'd feel just a bit of pressure with the contractions, but was not having any pain or discomfort. I tried to nap a bit, but was much too excited. And, in all of this, I couldn't get rid of the "shakes." From early on while laboring at home, I'd get the shakes in my legs. Uncontrollable shaking. For a while at the hospital, it was my whole body that would shake. After the epi, the shaking calmed back down and was just the occassional deal. Until I started getting further along and the contractions getting stronger. Then it was back to my whole body shaking again. Really made it hard to nap through. But, like I said, I was too excited to sleep anyways.

After a couple of hours, the nurse checked me and I had made it to 8cm. I was still progressing, so still no breaking my water. Somewhere around 10:15 AM, my nurse checked me again. She said my water was so far down into the canal she could barely do the check for fear she might break it. But, she was guessing me to be at about a 9. We talked, and since I was so close at that point and it was right there, I agreed to let them break my water at this point. We figured it would be just the thing needed to get him to drop that extra bit and get me dilated the rest of the way. So... the nurse went to call my doctor and to tell the resident and have her come do the procedure.

The resident came in, went to do an internal check, and broke my water while doing it since it was right there. She agreed with the nurse that I was about a 9 and it shouldn't be more than an hour or so and I'd be pushing this baby out. That was at 10:37AM. (the nurse actually gave us the exact times later on). At 10:40AM, nurse was suddenly shifting my position around in the bed and pushing the call button for extra help. Andrew's heartrate had crashed and wasn't coming back up.

I was immediately surrounded by a half-dozen people that I'm pretty sure just materialized through the walls. They cathetered me, put a scalp monitor on the baby, put me on oxygen and continued to poke and jostle and shift. The resident breifly explained what was going on and said they needed to be ready to do a c-section if his heartrate didn't come back up. Thankfully, it did... though they had me sign the consent form, just in case.

They had found a position that baby was happy in and basically told me I couldn't move from there. It was not at all comfortable, but after all of that, I wasn't moving an inch! All I cared about was keeping his heartrate steady and keeping him okay. I was scared to death in all of that, yet managed to stay very calm. I think I was too worried to freak out, for fear it would make things harder on Andrew. It also helped that while everything was happening at such a lightening speed, the doctors and nurses remained very calm. There was definitely a sense of urgency in the room. But never a sense of panic... which made it easier on all of us.

Story Interruption

We're sorry. But the birth story you were expecting to read has been momentarily interrupted. In its place, is a shameless pic of one really cute baby. (Andrew's hospital pics arrived in the mail today!) We will resume our normal story telling, as soon as possible.

Andrew's Arrival-- Part 2

So where were we??? Ah, yes. The doctor told me to labor at home for a while and I pretty much told her she was crazy. She agreed we could go to the hospital and said she would call them to let them know we were on our way. That was just a little after 3AM.

Got off the phone and got ready to go. My bag had been packed for weeks, so the hubby just had to put it in the car. And it was the middle of the night, so we both had to get dressed. That part took the longest. Going to the bathroom and then trying to put on clothes while contracting every three minutes with contractions that were lasting two minutes really, truly sucks. We finally left the house at 3:30... though it took almost another 10 minutes to pull out of the driveway by the time I was able to get enough of a break in the contractions I could actually climb up into the truck.

On the way there, I told hubby I didn't care what my birth plan said, I wanted an epidural. For that to make sense, you have to understand that I was TERRIFIED at the thought of an epidural. To me, that was the scariest thing about facing childbirth and I was adamant I did NOT want to have one. It wasn't about being all "natural" or drug free... just about not putting a needle in my spine. And, in my birth plan, it stated that the thought of an epidural scared the bejeezus out of me and I didn't want one. And if I did ask for one, it meant the pain was unbelievably intense for me.

Fortunately, the hospital isn't far... and at that early hour there was very little traffic, so we were sitting in the hospital getting checked in by 4AM. Clearly, the registrar deals with this often... she was very good about not trying to talk to me during contractions and being very patient while I breathed through them until I could continue. I had already preregistered, so there were just a couple of things to sign. And, since one of them was for the baby, the hubby was able to sign it so I could keep breathing. Then they put me in a wheelchair and took me upstairs to triage.

The nurse came in asked me a gazillion questions and put me on the monitors. Like everyone else we dealt with at the hospital, she was very patient and never tried to rush things while I was going through contractions. She asked if I wanted and epidural, and I told her I had said "No way" my entire pregnancy but was now seriously reconsidering. The monitor showed I was definitely having contractions (DUH!), baby was still doing just fine and upon checking I was already dilated to 5cm. HA! And the doctor said I probably wasn't doing much! The nurse left to call the doctor and let her know what was going on.

I again told hubby I was getting the epi. And, just as I had coached him a thousand times to do, he asked me at least a dozen times if I was CERTAIN that's what I wanted and reminded me of how much I had said I didn't want one. Yep. Give me the epi. I already hadn't slept in 24 hours. I was dealing with some blinding pain. And I was getting absolutely no rest time between contrax because they were lasting so long. I wanted to be able to relax a little bit and to fully enjoy my son's entrance into the world, rather than be totally exhausted and in so much pain. Of course, hubby agreed it was my choice... he just wanted me to be sure of it and not something I would regret later. So... and epi for me.

The nurse came back in , with wheelchair, and said the doctor agreed it was time to admit me so we could have a baby. She said the dr approved my getting the epi at this point and also wanted my water broken once it was in. And, then she helped me get in the chair and off we went to our labor & delivery room.

Got to the room, went to the bathroom and then the nurse called anesthesiology. She tried to start an IV on me... something I've never had a problem with... but after the thing blew in two different spots, she gave up and said she'd have the anesthesiologist do it when he came in to do my epi. She had the second try in and offered me some Nubain to "take the edge off," which I agreed to, but the IV blew as she was putting it in... so I don't know that I got much of it. If so, it didn't seem to work worth a darn.

Hubby went down to get a few things from the truck while the anest. came in to do the epi. Thankfully, he understood my fear and was very good about explaining every little thing to me. And the nurse stood right in front of me and held my hand and talked me through the contractions while he was working. Between contrax, she was good about just trying some chit-chat so I wouldn't be focused on what the anest. was doing. I have to admit, he was very good and other than the initial stick for numbing, I never felt a thing. It was over in just a few minutes and a couple of contractions later, I was feeling relief. Thank goodness!........

Andrew's Arrival-- Part 1

I know many are waiting to hear the birth story. Am going to try getting it posted over the next couple of days and posts. Mainly, because I'm sure it will be lengthy, and am just as sure the little guy won't give me a solid block of time enough to do it all at once. At least not with the way he's been eating the last couple of days. I swear I don't know where he puts it all! But anyways!

I woke up around 3:30 Saturday (11/11) morning to go to the bathroom. While up, I got hit with a contraction like I'd never felt before. It hurt and definitely required some focused breathing, but was over in a minute, so I didn't think much of it. I continued to have contractions like that the rest of the morning... though without any regularity to them. At most, they were about 20 minutes apart. Just long enough that they kept me from getting any more sleep because just as I'd finaly doze off, the next one would come along and wake me up again.

We got up around 7 or so and went about our usual day. Showered. Figured out what errands we needed to run. Ate some breakfast. I continued to have the off and on contraction, some fairly painful, some nothing more than the braxton-hicks I'd grown so used to, and still nothing ever closer than 10 minutes apart... but generally closer to 20-30 minutes.

We went to the mall to visit my friend at Build-a-Bear and walk around a bit. If this was indeed pre-labor, I figured the walking might help. Chatted with J for a while and purchased the latest animal for our collection. The walking made the contractions stronger... to the point I had to stop and wait for them to pass sometimes... but, once I stopped walking, the contractions stopped too. At this point, I was still convinced they were more of the BH and they were just getting stronger, as they had been doing all week.

From there, we went to Target to pick up a couple of things and then went home. The lack of sleep and contracting had me feeling overall yucky, so I ate some soup for lunch and took a short nap. Was hard to sleep, so my nap only lasted about 30 minutes. The day wore on and turned to evening and the contractions got stronger and started coming more often. We decided to try timing them. Still nothing closer than 10 minutes. By 9:30, they had stretched back out to almost 30 minutes. Clearly, I was still dealing with the obnoxious pre-labor stuff and the "real thing" was not going to happen until my induction scheduled in two more days.

We went to bed around 11 or so, and I laid in bed and watched TV for a bit while the hubby snoozed. I couldn't get comfortable, no matter what I tried, and was feeling very restless. Finally, I fell asleep around midnight. The sleep was very short-lived. At 12:45 I was jerked from my sleep by a very strong, intense, painful contraction. I couldn't even move it hurt so bad! Once it passed, I got up and went to the bathroom, where I experienced another contraction like that. Went out, got a blanket and sat on the birthing ball as yet another contraction started. That made 3 in 15 minutes. Poor hubby. When the 4th contraction started, he was awakened by my punching his leg and shouting "Get UP!" in a none-t0-pleasant voice.

He got up and started timing the contrax, and would rub my lower back through each one to help me get through the pain. I stayed on the birthing ball, because standing made them sooo much worse. My doctor's orders were to call once the contractions were 5 minutes apart and had been going on for at least 2 hours... which meant we had a while ahead of us. Mine had started at the 5 minute mark and stayed there. Occassionally, they'd stretch to 7 or get as close as 3, but 5 was pretty much the norm.

Unfortunately, instead of the nice "feel it ease up, get stronger and stronger, peak and go away, lasting for about a minute" contractions they described in our childbirth class and in everything else I had ever read.......... my contractions started strong, stayed strong, and lasted 1 1/2 to 2 muinutes each time. We were going on 3AM, I'd been contracting for 2 straight hours like that, and was already exhausted having been awake for close to 24 hours at this point. Time to call the doctor.

The on-call doc returned our call very quickly. She asked what I was dilated to at my last appt, which was Friday (11/10) and at that point I was only at 1cm. Described everything to her and she said she felt like it was still early enough that the contrax were probably not doing much yet to change my cervix, and suggested I continue to labor at home. I told her they were feeling really intense and I was having a hard time getting through them, so she said I could go to the hospital if I wanted, but be prepared to be sent home if I wasn't dilated enough yet.

So little did she know............

Home at Last

Thanks for all your Congrats and well wishes!! We are home and all doing well. Andrew's birthday certainly had it's moments of scariness, but we are thankfully home with a beautiful, healthy little boy. Many details to share, but it's late and he's ready to eat again. (Such the champion nurser already!!) However, I had to show off my little man:

In the OR, just a few minutes old:


Mommy's first time holding Andrew:


Two days old:


Getting ready to go home:


Our new family:

He's Here

Andrew Eric Jay. 7lbs. 19 1/2 inches. 12:18pm via emergency csection. Will post details when home in few days.

Can You Keep A Secret????

I wrote this post months ago... when we were in the process of painting baby's room. I've hesitated to post it, for reasons you'll soon see... but, while dealing with contractions at 6AM this morning, decided it would be okay to post now. The world will know within a few days anyways:

I'm too excited to keep it a secret any longer. So... I'm going to show you the one element in Baby's room that NO ONE in our families has seen. Nor will they see it until after Baby is here. I'm trusting ALL of you to keep this secret. I suppose it helps to know that none of you know any of our family members. And, for the most part, you don't even really know me... in person anyways. To the best of my knowledge, I have only one family member who even knows about this blog... and I fully trust her to not tell. So... here it is:



Yes. That's his first name. The cool part, is that coincidentally his name has 6 letters in it... and the quilt has 6 animals in it... so we painted one letter to match each animal:




His name will go on the wall, between the giraffe and zebra, above his crib. Call me crazy... but I think the whole deal with the letters and animals matching up is so neat... I've been excited about it ever since we picked the name and the nursery theme and I realized they would match up. It's been driving me a bit nuts that I can't show them off to people. Like I said... I'm a little crazy.

PS-- No promises this post will remain up. Even with knowing no one will ruin our surprise, I'm still a little nervous about putting it out there... so I may just take it back down in a few days. We'll see.

40 w 4 d

Yes. Still here. Still pregnant. Another NST and visit with the doctor today. Baby is still doing just fine and is VERY "reactive." They like to see at least 2 accelerations/decels in the heartrate within 30 minutes while on the machine. He had 4 or 5 in twenty minutes. Pretty standard for him, as he HATES it when they strap all the monitors on my belly. Really gets him agitated. But, at least we know he's healthy.

Blood pressure was fine. And... after 8 straight hours of contractions yesterday... I'm a whole 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. Yep. 8 hours worth. They started around 1:30AM after I got up to use the bathroom. 15-20 minutes apart. By 6ish, they were about 10 minutes apart. And around 7:30, they moved to 5 minutes and were feeling more intense. I was beginning to think we might actually be getting somewhere. But... by 9:30 they had completely stopped and I finally was able to get a little more sleep.

Can't say they were completely non-productive, since I did have a little cervical change. But they certainly didn't do a whole hell of a lot. The effacing part is the best news though, since it should make for Monday's induction to go a little smoother. At this point, we're looking at a baby sometime Tuesday.

Although.... there are still one or two things that will have him come before then... just because he's been that ornery. The doctor I like the least is on call all weekend... so I can see him coming for her to have to deliver... just because. OR... I can see us heading off to the hospital sometime Monday morning in labor... just because the induction is scheduled that evening. My friend's 3-year-old, when asked this evening, said he'll be born on Monday... while giving her a look and a tone like she was completely stupid for even asking because it should be common knowledge. He also said the baby doesn't cry a lot and has a little bit of dark hair. Am very anxious to see if his predictions prove correct.

40 w 1 d

Had dr. visit yesterday. Blood pressure is back to a nice, healthy 118/64. Spent 30 minutes on the monitor and baby is doing fine. Cervix is still long and closed. UGH!

Appears he's not coming out without the doctor making him. Will see. Having contractions more and more often.... just not often enough for them to count for anything. It seems I have a stretch between 7 and 10 every evening that the contrax start happening 7-10 minutes apart and last a few hours... and then nothing.

I took a list of questions about induction with me yesterday and the nurse sat and went through every single one with me until I was satisfied. Not like I had anything better to do while I was hooked up to the machine.... and she was quite happy and patient to do it. I'd still prefer he come on his own, but I do feel a little better about the induction option, should it come to that.

One way or another... we should have a baby by Tuesday.

Still Here...

Sorry. Not off having a baby yet. Just feeling constantly tired and an overall feeling of general yuckiness today, so haven't been online much since Friday. Figure I should get the rest now, while I can. Will need it for labor... and certainly be missing it once he's here.

Went to the mall yesterday morning and walked. Lots of contractions at the time. Stopped as soon as we got in the car and I sat down.

Mom came over last night and cooked dinner for us. Tacos. YUM! And... just in case there was any question... we debunked the "spicy food for labor" myth. Baby was very active after I ate it... and I had contractions at 7 minutes apart for about 2 hours... but, they stopped, I chewed a couple of TUMS, went to bed and slept great all night long.

Contractions at 10 minutes all through church this morning. Then nothing.

Seriously... enough of the practice. Let's get this show on the road! Maybe tonight's full moon will do it...

39 w 4 d

Let's see.... at 10 weeks I went to a perinatologist and was labeled "high risk" for preterm labor. We monitored my cervix every two weeks for months... until we got to the point that baby had a decent survival rate if he had come early.

Now... at 39 w 4 d... just 3 days before my due date... we have an induction on the schedule should he decide to come late. I could only laugh.

I'm convinced, even moreso after this doctor visit, that things will go one of two ways with my cervix. It's either never going to dilate or change on its own, leaving me with a c-section... or it's going to go really, really fast. I'd prefer the fast option... as I really, REALLY don't want a c/s.

Dr visit today showed no change in my cervix. She seems to think I'll still go sometime this week and we won't need the induction... but wanted to get it on the books, just in case. And, we scheduled 2 NSTs for next week to keep a close eye on things and make sure baby is still doing okay on the inside..... a place he evidently likes a lot. Induction is scheduled for evening of the 13th... which means a likely birthday of the 14th.

Don't really want the induction option, either. Will take any prayers and labor vibes you care to send this way that this little boy decides to pick a date of his own... not wait for the doctor to evict him.

STILL Haven't Had That Baby!

Amazing, isn't it? Here I am, 4 days before my due date and I STILL haven't had my baby. And my doctor is okay with that. What a SHOCK!

Okay... without so much sarcasm now. Still hanging around and waiting for the little one to decide what his birthday will be. We made it past Halloween, so I'm fine with any day he should pick now. I just sooo didn't want a Halloween baby. I kept insisting that was the only day I would cross my legs for. But, it didn't come to that, so no worries.

I do find there to be some sort of irony in the fact that early in this pg, I was labeled at "high risk" for pre-term labor. All that extra monitoring. And now, I sit here at full term. Still very pregnant. And beginning to fear he's going to be just ornery enough to come after his due date.

I have been having a lot more contractions the last two days. They hurt way more than they used to. But there is still no rhyme or reason to them, which means they aren't yet "real" labor. The last two mornings they've woke me around 4AM and continued off and on for a few hours. Plus, I've been feeling rather icky in general. So... I'm hoping that means we're getting close. The hubby and I are both very anxious to meet this little guy. Go to the doctor tomorrow, and with any luck, there will be some progress.

Hoping to be posting a birth story soon...