October 10, 2013

I never thought I would be writing this post this early, but then again I am loving that I already have my baby, and can snuggle, and love on him all day long :)

{Sorry if any of this is a little TMI, but I want to remember everything about Parker's birth.  Plus I love telling the details of it all because it was so special, and so sweet.  Beware though, it's a lengthy one!}

Things started Wednesday night, October 9th.  Chris and I had just finished eating dinner and were watching our weekly shows and relaxing in the basement.  I started to feel some contractions that were more than normal, but nothing that was consistent enough to track.  I tried, but they were too inconsistent to easily keep track of.

We went to bed that night like any other night.  I woke up halfway through the night to go to the bathroom, and then an hour later did the same thing, which was not normal for me, especially since I didn't drink a ton before bed.  But I was half asleep and didn't think much of it.  I will note though, that at this time I was feeling more contractions, but then again I was half asleep, and didn't pay attention to them.

That morning I woke up and felt a little "off".  I had a feeling that my water had broken.  I didn't have any type of gush of water like you hear about, but again I felt a little off, and not like I had before, plus the inconsistent contractions were back, not painful, but back, and I had some slight lower back pain.  I texted Chris and asked him what I should do.  We both decided that I should call my OB's office and ask them about it even though I had my 38 week appointment that afternoon.  They called me back a few hours later and said that I should go to the hospital up to Labor and Delivery to get checked because if my water did break, I would need to be admitted then and there.  So I called Chris and told him the news, and he left work to pick me up.  While I was waiting for him to come, I was packing our hospital bags (and slightly freaking out thinking that this could be it...was I ready??)

Chris arrived, we loaded up the car, and drove the two minutes to the hospital.  We went up to the 5th floor, and checked in, and was lead back to a labor and delivery room where I got changed and waited for the nurses to come and check things out.

I had a great nurse named Chelsea that started me out.  She got me hooked up to the machines to monitor Parker's heartbeat, and my contractions, as well as checked my vitals.  She explained that she was going to do a strip test (forgot the name of the actual test...) to check to see if my water had broken.   If the strip turned blue it meant there was amniotic fluid, if not blue, then no fluid.  She did the test twice and both were a no-go.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed.  I knew in my heart that something was going on inside my belly because I felt so different. 

The nurse then decided to check me to see if I was dilated and what not.  She said I was to a 3, which is another cm from last week, but then she let out a little noise and said that she thought something either tried to grab her finger, or kick her!  She decided that she needed to go get the ultrasound machine to see where the baby was positioned.  5 minutes later Chris and I were seeing our baby boy on the screen - we hadn't seen him for almost 20 weeks!  It was a sight for sore eyes indeed.  But that sweet feeling soon went to a bit of anger because we found out that Parker was breeched!!  What a stinker!!  He had been head down, ready to go, for over a month, and of course towards the end of my pregnancy he decided to turn...I was a little annoyed.

The nurse decided to give my OB a call to see if she wanted to come and attempt to flip him while I was there at the hospital.  A few minutes later the phone rang in our room and it was my OB.  She talked to me for a bit about trying to flip him, and that if it was successful she wanted to induce me at the same time to prevent him from flipping back.  But if the flip wasn't successful due to him not wanting to, there being no fluid to do so, or he went into distress, then we were looking at a c-section.  As soon as she said that I freaked out.  I did NOT want a c-section, and my OB knew that.  So I was definitely willing to do whatever it took to get this baby to flip so I could avoid getting cut open.  She told me that she was going to finish up with her patients and then head over to the hospital.

We waited for what seemed like forever, which it ended up being about an hour and a half, for my OB to arrive.  During that wait I was starting to feel some action happening...and also like I was peeing the bed.  I remember I kept looking at Chris and saying "I'm literally peeing the bed...this is embarrassing!"  I couldn't get up to the go to the bathroom because I was all hooked up to the monitors, so thankfully I had a pad under me...so yeah.  Haha.  I also was starting to have some contractions, these ones were consistent -- not painful -- but consistent.  Chris and I were watching the monitor and they were about 3-5 minutes apart, and lasted for about 60-90 seconds, so this meant baby.  Right then my OB walked in, along with the two nurses that had been taking care of me, and the anesthesiologist.  I was a tab bit freaked out because there was a sense of panic among them all.  

My OB sat down on my bed and asked me if I had been having some contractions.  I answered her back with a "yes", and she decided to do an ultrasound to see where the baby was at, and if there was any amniotic fluid left to flip the baby.  There was nothing...my water had broken, no ruptured.  She looked at me and I knew right away what this meant ... c-section.  I immediately started to cry.  I was scared out of my mind.  Chris was great though because he came and held my hand and stroked my forehead and told me that everything was going to be ok.  I couldn't have asked for a better husband and support though this all.  My OB turned to the anesthesiologist and told him to get ready to prep me.  Then she did the best thing in the world -- she sat with us for at least 45 minutes to talk to us about everything that was about to take place.  She told me what was going to happen from start to finish, what I should feel during the surgery, what would happen with baby, and what I would experience afterwards.  She made me feel so much better about the whole situation.  I am so grateful for her!

After we finished talking, the anesthesiologist came in and got me prepped for my epidural.  Now that was an experience!  He told us that for a normal delivery, he would give about 7-10 cc's of an epidural to the patient, but with a c-section he gives about 30 cc's...yeah I was totally numb.  Getting the epidural was a bit painful for me, but I was super emotional, and still scared, that I think I made it a lot worse than it really was.  But before I knew it, the medicine was flowing and I was beginning to numb.  It was the craziest feeling ever...I couldn't feel ANYTHING from mid chest down to my feet.  When the epidural kicked in fully, I had the biggest urge to move, and I was getting so frustrated because I couldn't.  I kept telling Chris to lift my legs up and down to see if that would help relieve some of the annoyance of not being able to move.  Before I knew it, it was time for me to go to the OR to get our baby boy out.  Chris and I were able to have a few minutes to each other, and then he got dressed in his gear, and I was then being wheeled into surgery.

I had such a great team of doctors in the room, including my wonderful OB.  They all were so nice, and it just made me feel even better about everything.  I couldn't believe that I was just minutes away from seeing our little boy.  I was so excited!  I got switched over to the surgery bed, and they started hooking me up, and putting the drapes up, and I got this sweet balloon heater thing that was draped across my upper chest and shoulders to keep me warm because it was a bit chilly in that operating room!  Before I knew it things were underway.  The anesthesiologist was filling Chris and I in on what they were doing.  Chris actually stood up at one point and watched my OB cut into me and just had this look of awe on his face!  My anesthesiologist was awesome and kept grabbing my face softly and asking "how are you doing my darling?", which I guess he's famous for saying at the hospital.  It was so nice and calming to me to have them fill me in on what was going on, but to also have Chris right by my side, holding my hand the whole time.  I couldn't believe how incredibly calm I was during the surgery.  I was even cracking Grey's Anatomy jokes with the doctors!  

It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes before Parker was out of me, and they were lowering the sheet so that I could see him.  He was beautiful!  I started crying right then and there because I couldn't believe that it was my baby, and that he was really here!  Chris left to go watch them clean Parker up a bit and wrap him up before taking him down to the nursery to give him a bath and everything else they do.  I got to kiss his little cheek, and say hi to him before they left.  It was all too fast for me!!  I just wanted to hold him and kiss him.

I couldn't believe I was a Mom!

Chris left with Parker, and the doctors finished closing me up, and got me ready to move to recovery.  I was surprised that I barely felt a thing through the whole surgery.  The only time that I felt some pressure was when they pulled Parker out, and when they were sewing me back up.  But nothing was painful at all.  They finished everything up, and wheeled me back to my room in Labor and Delivery to recover for an hour.  This time killed me because I couldn't see my baby!  I just had to wait until they gave me to ok to move down to my new room.  But before I knew it was moved down, and they brought my baby in, and I just held him close and tight.  I couldn't believe he was mine, and that he was here!  It was such a sweet moment for Chris and I to experience, and I didn't want it to end.

We spent the next few days recovering and just loving our little boy.  We both held him every chance we got.  I don't think either of us wanted to put him down!  He even "watched" his first BYU football game while in the hospital :)

Thinking back to this experience, I'm so sad that it's over because it was such a special, sweet moment for us, that I wish we could go back and live it all again.  But needless to say, I am so grateful that we had such a wonderful OB and nurses that took care of us, and that we are now home with our baby, starting our new life as a family of three!