My Sweet Jason,
Here is the story of how you came into this world.
I must write a little bit of a foreword on your story. In November I had scheduled Sarah’s
well-child check but Dr. Babcock rescheduled because her son had HIS baby and
she went to go be with him. So, we
re-scheduled for Monday, January 6th. In the meanwhile, throughout December I was
having to watch my blood pressure because it was registering slightly
high. Nana and Doctor Nelson weren’t
super concerned but I did go in a few times for an NST to make sure you were
okay. And you were active and healthy as
ever. So, a week before Sarah’s
appointment Dr. Babcock called again to reschedule. I had an appointment already for me on
Thursday the 9th so I scheduled it right before mine. I had prepared Sarah that she might need a
shot and she assured me she would try to be brave. Well, she didn’t need a shot but she did need
a quick finger poke to take her iron count.
And she was SCARED! It took quite
a bit of wrestling and talking and convincing and finally prying her finger
away from her hands so we could get her blood pulled. It was awful.
I was a mess afterwards. I had been
pretty stressed about making sure we would make it to the hospital in time for
you. I also was having lots of labor
symptoms in the previous days…so I was on edge already.
After we finished with Sarah’s appointment I was pretty
worked up. And when it was my turn to go
see Dr. Nelson and they took my blood pressure it was 130/100. Dr. Nelson said that my body was not overly
ready for any impending labor…I was 1cm dilated, 40% effaced, and at a -4
station…meaning totally no baby coming soon.
But when it was time for me to leave she took my blood pressure again
and it had not gone down – even after resting for a bit. Dr. Nelson thought it would be good for me to
get another NST at the hospital. It was
pretty special to get an NST that day because Nana was working and the hospital
was pretty quiet in l&d. So, there I
went with your sweet sisters. I had a
small premonition that I would be spending more time than I thought so I
brought lots of snacks and things for the girls to do. We had the tablet and charger, my phone,
coloring, lunch boxes, and other goodies.
I brought my hospital bag and car seat for you also.
When I arrived, Nana ushered me into the ‘big room’ 713
which is a corner room that is extra large.
I laughed and told her she was going overboard because I probably would
get sent home. But we snuggled in and
Moly was our nurse. She hooked me up to
the monitors and to the blood pressure cuff.
I was quietly praying that somehow we’d be able to stay and I could be
induced because I was so worried we’d never make it to the hospital in time
otherwise. The ferries don’t run at
night and we didn’t make it with Allison – I didn’t want to do that again. So there I was hooked to monitors and somehow
I was completely blessed with what happened.
Each time the blood pressure cuff would take my blood pressure, I would
have a pretty strong contraction that would elevate my blood pressure. It was kind of funny actually. I had no contractions prior to arriving at
the hospital but as soon as I was hooked up the contractions grew stronger and
stronger. (I had had some pretty strong
contractions the night before but they eased up after a long shower). So there I was – registering high bp readings
and having contractions that were coming every 4-5 minutes.
Around 2pm, the nurse in charge (Debbi) told Nana she should
just take off from work. The charge
nurse knew (as did Dr. Nelson and all the nurses) that I really wanted to be
induced (I was scheduled to be induced on Sunday evening anyway, but they could
not induce any sooner than that without major medical reason) so she kept a
very close watch on my BP. She came in
after a while (an hour? Two? I can’t remember) and said that she put in a
call to the Dr on-call to talk about my options since my bp was not
stabilizing. Dr. Spiro called and
expressed concern that my BP was not simmering down. He asked if I thought it was due to
anxiety. I told him I thought at first
it could be but really as I was relaxed at the hospital in a safe place with my
mom that I was calm and not feeling overwhelmed that it should have gone down by
then. (I think at one point my BP was as
high as 153/110 if I remember correctly)
Dr. Spiro said he didn’t think it was safe that to stay pregnant any
longer and that an induction was the safest choice for us. So he said that night he would place a
suppository near my cervix to get it ready and dilated for delivery in the
morning (using Pitocin to induce contractions if necessary). The great part was that my Dr, Dr. Nelson,
was scheduled to do deliveries that next morning so we would be able to have her
deliver you! Dr. Spiro hung up then and
I promptly called dad at work to let him know I was being induced. I wanted Dad to be there when they placed the
Cervadil because I was scared and nervous and anxious about what would happen –
I’ve read it can make you crampy and uncomfortable. And frankly…you were getting closer to coming
and I was excited and scared all at the same time! While all this was happening my contractions
were still coming steadily at 3-5 minutes apart and were getting a little stronger.
Nana left then with your sisters once we knew that Dad was
on the ferry over to see us. As a side
note, we were due for a major wind and rain storm that weekend. Dad arrived and we were so happy to be
together. Dad was excited because he
knew how scared I was that we’d miss our ferry if you decided to come at an off
time. Dad was also happy just to be with
me…and soon to be with YOU! The Dr came
in at that point, since he was due to place the Cervadil soon, to tell me he
couldn’t place it because my contractions were too close together. He gave me a few options – we could wait and
see what my body does, they could give me Pitocin to kickstart big time
contractions, or we could wait a few hours and place the Cervadil if my
contractions slow down. I opted for the
third suggestion. We would just wait it
out and see where it would lead us.
After Dr. Spiro left we asked if I could walk around for a while. So the nurses unhooked me and I got to do
some laps around the hospital floor. Dad
and I walked lap after lap, hand in hand, giggling at our little jokes,
examining the minute details of the laminate floor, and I panted through a few
pretty strong contractions. I was
getting uncomfortable and tired and I had to pee so we stopped walking. The nurse (Toni, LOVE HER!) came in and joked
about how we were quitting our laps early.
I smiled and said I was getting tired.
So, I settled back into bed, and rolled to my side. Dad and I were just talking and laughing and
killing some time when all of a sudden it felt like you’d karate chopped me big
time while also my whole insides felt jarred.
It was a crazy feeling – super intense.
I looked at Dad and said, ‘I think my water just broke!!’ I was in shock – and scared. ‘Should we call the nurse?!’ I exclaimed to
dad – and he was calm as can be (or seemed so) and said yes. So I pushed the call button and Toni came
in. I said I thought my water had
broken. Toni called Dr. Spiro in and he
checked me. He said, ‘I don’t think your
water has broken but you are dilated to a three so that’s good’ as he moved his
hand away, sure enough, there was a huge gush of fluid – gross, yes – but there
it was. I was staying (did I mention
through out all of this I was somehow convinced that I would get sent home and
that this wasn’t real) until you were born for sure now!
After my water broke I started to panic a little bit since
it was so much more real. Nana was on
her way and we expected her around 9pm.
I needed antibiotics for a small infection I had so that you wouldn’t
get sick after you were born. I knew
that when my water broke with Allison I didn’t have much time before she was
born. So I was anxious to start the
medicine.
Because my anxiety was so bad regarding the pain and the
impending epidural my nurse gave me some medicine through my IV that made me a
little goofy. Once I got it I got the
giggles and couldn’t stop. Dad was
laughing too…he’s never seen me so silly.
I remember thinking I was floating – I could still feel the pain but it
made me a little more calm and I was breathing more normally which was good for
both of us.
Nana arrived soon after I started to get the antibiotics and
that’s when my contractions started to get very very painful. I read a lot of birth stories before you were
born, Jason. And I never planned on
going through labor without medicine to take the pain away but I remember
reading the stories of women who did.
Most of those women did a lot of powerful breathing. And so I breathed through those contractions
while I held on to Nana’s hand and Dad’s hand.
I remember staring at Daddy’s face and getting lost in his eyes. It was so very helpful to have a man whom I
knew loved me more than anything to help me through this pain. And the reward to getting closer to meeting
you was so beautiful!
I was in line to get an epidural from the
anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist
on call that night was actually the same doctor that gave me an epidural when I
delivered your big sister Sarah! I was a
wreck. I was so scared. I knew I needed to stay still while he was inserting
the needle into my spine. And the pain
was so great with each contraction I was scared I would wiggle and mess up his
concentration and needle insertion.
Well, I hunched over and Nana rounded my shoulders and breathed with
me. Dad held my hand and helped me
focus. And guess what? The needle in my back was not bad! It stung a little when he put the numbing
needle in first but then it was okay.
And I did have a few contractions while he was putting it in but the
breathing worked and I did it. After the
epidural the pain was so much better.
While the pain was so much better – the contractions I was
having slowed WAY down and were not as strong.
And the scarier part was that your heart rate would drop really low when
I did have a contraction. Nana and my
nurse were very careful in trying not to alarm me but I could sense there was
an underlying panic. Later, Nana would
tell me that she was praying (and I was praying a LOT through out because I was
scared too) that I would hurry up and dilate so you could be born and then you
would be okay. She knew you had the cord
wrapped around you somehow, in fact she thought you’d be all twisted up in it
given how bad your heart rate would drop.
The nurse would keep rotating me from one side to the other to try and
get your heart rate to maintain but each contraction made it drop again. Finally, once I was far enough along in my
antibiotics the nurse started me on Pitocin to get my contractions stronger and
closer together. They start the drip out
very slow (it’s numbered so I started at a 1) and gradually increase it as time
goes on. I only got to a level 3 drip
before I was ready to push! I remember
the nurse and Nana were standing at the foot of my bed. I had dilated to a six and we needed me to be
a 10. So, they let the Pitocin do it’s
job…and they watched your heart rate drop over and over with each
contraction…and I kept saying, ‘oh! That’s a good one!’ because they were
getting stronger and stronger even through the epidural numbness! After about 20-25 minutes Nurse Toni decided
to check me because I was feeling a lot of pressure – and lo and behold, in the
manner of both of your sisters, I dilated super-mega fast once I got
going! I was complete and ready to go!
The hustle and bustle of getting the room and bed ready for
delivery began at that point. I noticed
a few nursery nurses came in with a machine (I still don’t know what it was)
and Nana introduced them to me. Well, I
knew one nurse, Carla and the other nurse was named Peggy. I asked if they normally came in for
deliveries because it seemed weird and Nana assured me they did. Later she admitted that they were called in
because of how low your heart rate was dropping and they didn’t know what they
were going to find when you finally arrived.
They were there just in case something was wrong with your breathing or
anything really.
The nurse told me I could try pushing real quick. The doctor was not there yet and I asked,
“Are you sure?!” I think I gave a quick
push and she told me to stop that we could wait. So the Dr arrived and I got ready to push,
push, push for you! And that’s really
all it took – 1,2,3 pushes and you were out.
We have a tradition in our family that Daddy announces what the babies
are, boys or girls. So, once you were
out I waited for him to announce whether you were a boy or a girl. I remember the look of joy on his face. We were excited either way about a boy or a
girl – but I knew Dad would love to have a little boy to call his. The look on his face said it all, he was
beaming! He said, ‘We got our
boy!’. I haven’t felt that kind of joy
in a long while…since your sisters were born.
Once they set you on my chest I felt love at first sight. Oh my gosh.
It was instantaneous. We waited a
long while after Allison was born to have you, Jason. And my heart was full as soon as you entered
this world. You were so quiet when you
were born. I was so worried still – even
with such joy in my heart. I kept
wanting to tell the nurses to rub you harder or take you away so you could be stimulated
enough to cry. I was desperate to hear
you wail. Nana said you had the cord
wrapped around your neck and that’s what caused the heart rate scares. I wanted to make sure you were healthy and
full of vigor! And soon enough you did
start to cry. It was nothing like the
cries of your sisters – although they were also a little quiet when they were
born…but you seemed so calm. Like you
were saying, ‘It’s cool, Mom. I got
this. Don’t worry.’
No comments:
Post a Comment