Nine Months and a Birth Story!!

Joshua is nine months old today!! I can't believe he's already so old. In honor of his reaching this milestone, I thought I'd do his birth story, since I haven't told that yet.

On Thursday September 9th, 2009, Steve and I woke up early to make our dining reservations for our trip to Disney that was scheduled for December. We got up around 6am and went down the basement so we wouldn't wake the kids. We had trouble using the online system (it wasn't working for anyone) and ended up having to call and anyway, it took forever. About 7:30, I went upstairs to the family room and laid on the couch and soon fell asleep. I woke around 9ish and went upstairs to get ready for a doctors appointment that I had scheduled for 10. See, two days prior to this, they had decided we would move up my scheduled c-section to that following Monday, because they just didn't want to take any chances with the baby's condition. So, Wednesday, I went down to the hospital for a steroid shot, to make sure the baby's lungs would be developed enough (I was right at the 37 week point), and had a doctors appointment, ultrasound and second shot scheduled for this day. So anyway, I went upstairs and stood in the closet looking for something to wear and I suddenly felt a little pop and then some liquid running down my leg. I was in complete shock and disbelief. This was how my labor with Noah had started and I've read so many times how unlikely it is for your labor to begin with the water breaking, but here it was again. I knew that's what it was, but I still couldn't believe it. So I grabbed my cell phone and called Steve who was two floors down in the basement and told him what happened. He said to call the doctor and see what they wanted me to do. I did and they told me to come in anyway.

So I panicked.

I thought I had all weekend to get everything ready as far as bags packed and everything, and I had nothing ready. I needed to have my bag packed, Steve's bag packed (we knew he would be staying at Children's with the baby), Noah and Abby's bag packed (they were going to stay with grandparents) and I had to get it all done in like 5 minutes!! So we all scrambled and I just kept shouting:

"Get two shirts"

"Get your toothbrush"

"Get pajamas"

"Get the cameras" (the battery on our camera was dead of course, but luckily my mom had her camera and we were able to get pictures of the birth!)

We finally got everything in the car, including the baby's car seat, which we just tossed into the back of the van (it's funny because it stayed there until the day we brought him home and we actually installed at the hospital). We drove to the doctors office in Mason while I sat on a stack of towels! I was so embarrassed when we walked in, because I was leaking A LOT and leaving a trail! They were so kind to me though and made me feel comfortable! The doctor took one look at me and told me to go on to the hospital. I was so disappointed because my doctor wouldn't be able to deliver me that day, he wasn't scheduled to be at the hospital.

We drove down to Christ hospital and I had not actually been there before (all the hospital tour classes were full when I called), so I ran up to the help desk and they pointed me in the right direction. Steve and the kids went to park the car while I went up. I walked up to the desk in the labor and delivery floor and the lady actually made me stand there (still leaking) and had me fill out paper work!!! Oh well, it's her floor to clean!!

Well I got to a room, they checked me and I was actually contracting though I didn't feel it. Lots of family made it before the delivery and about two hours after we arrived, I walked into the operating room.

My anesthesiologist was Bill. He was the best!! He was so sweet and comforting. It would've been so much more traumatic to me, had he not been there. I got my epidural and immediately began to shake. I shook so bad I couldn't keep my arms on the table. The doctor came in and I thought he was preparing to cut, but he was actually already cutting. I guess you get numb fast!! Before I knew it, baby Joshua was out and they showed him to me real quick over the curtain. He didn't cry right away, which scared me to death. But when he finally did, I was so overwhelmed with joy.

We didn't know exactly what to expect as far as his appearance went with the cyst growing in his abdomen. At the time, his belly didn't seem to be that big to us, but looking back at the pictures later, we can now see just how swollen it was. He was totally healthy other than the cyst, was breathing on his own, was pink and got 8 and 9 apgar scores. I only saw him for a minute in that room before they whisked him off to the nursery. They had to insert a tube into his mouth to keep anything from going down into his stomach and they wanted to run some tests on him before he left.

After my surgery was finished, they took me to the recovery room. While I was there, Noah and Abby and our mothers were able to come see me. Steve was with the baby the whole time. The transport team from Children's had arrived and was ready to take him over there. They brought the baby into the recovery room so I could see him before he left and so that Noah and Abby could see him. It was hard to see him in that incubator all packed with monitors and tanks and all kinds of scary things. I got to reach in and touch him and so did the kids. I wouldn't see him again for two days.

Steve and Joshua left (Steve had to follow, they wouldn't let him ride in the ambulance) for Children's. Joshua's the only one in our family to ride in an ambulance! I got moved to my regular room. I spent Thursday evening, all of Friday and Saturday morning at my hospital waiting with much anticipation about what was happening with the baby. I had horribly high blood pressure (so much so that they medicated me for it) and very low potassium levels requiring me to remain on the iv for the entire stay. I had lots of visitors from family and friends, but there were times when no one was there and it was lonely. On Friday, I had two nursing students assigned to me. They were really sweet, but I felt bad that they didn't get to have the experience with a newborn.

My regular doctor stopped in Saturday morning. I had previously been told by the doctor who delivered me (who I did not like one bit, and was very unhappy with: he didn't even know Joshua was breech until he delivered him), that I wouldn't be able to leave until Sunday. Well when Dr. W came in Saturday, he sat down with me and told me that as long as I promised to keep checking my blood pressure, he'd let me go. He had been with us through all of the ultrasounds and tests and was a real partner in Joshua's prenatal care. So I promised and got ready to go!!! I remember that I wanted to get a quick shower before I left, but I was waiting for Steve to call so I could tell him to send someone to get me, so I stood in the doorway of the shower (it had a long shower hose thingy) and tried to clean quickly while leaving the bathroom door open enough to hear the phone!! It was crazy!! Steve's mom came to pick me up and I made it to Children's one hour before Joshua's surgery and was finally able to hold him before he went down. During the surgery, we went down to the ER of the hospital and had them check the blood pressure, it was VERY high, so we called the doctor and he told me to just try and relax. He believed it was just due to my situation and not a real medical reason. He turned out to be right. It went down a few days later and hasn't been a problem since. But because it was so high, I had a horrible headache the entire 5 hours we waited for Joshua's surgery to take place.

Sometime soon, I'll go into more of what happened with his surgery and hospital stay, but that's it for today!! I wanted to be sure to write out this much before I forget any details!! The pictures are from when he was at Children's. The pictures of his birth are on my mom's camera and I haven't gotten them yet. I need to!!! The one of he and I is the first time I got to hold him, right before his surgery.

Having a scheduled c-section really bummed me out. I wanted our baby to come when he was ready and when it was his time. I was so relieved when that actually happened. I got to call my husband with the "honey, I think it's time" call and that felt good too. God does take care of the desires of our hearts. I didn't get everything I had hoped for, but the ones that I did were so sweet and so perfect. Joshua was born exactly when he was supposed to be and he survived his health condition because of that. It was a very surreal experience. To be so happy for the birth of your child and so worried about his condition at the same time was a very emotional time for me. I'm glad that scary part is behind us and we're all about the happy times now!!