The Day We Became a Family

Tuesday October 18, 2011

I guess its best to start at the beginning, two days before on Sunday October 16, 2011.  I was having some pain in my neck and shoulders so I told Daddy that we should go and get it checked out.  I thought that maybe I was having some signs of high blood pressure and since that would be dangerous for you it seemed like the best choice.

So we got to the hospital at 2 a.m. and made our way up to Labor and Delivery.  Once I got there they hooked me up to some monitors to make sure your heart was doing what it should and also to monitor contractions.  They had me hooked up for what seemed like forever in that small triage room, and at about 6 a.m. they told me they saw some things that they wanted to monitor further and that I was being admitted.

Sunday went by without any real answers except that they saw your heart dip a few times and they weren't comfortable sending me home not knowing why.  So they wanted to keep me there until at least the morning to see what else may or may not happen. They also did an ultrasound to measure you and to check the fluid levels. During the night while I was sleeping your heart rate dipped again a few times and when I woke up in the morning on Monday they told me again that they weren't comfortable sending me home and they wanted to keep me there for observation.

Monday was a little more eventful.  They did an OCT scan to see how you would react to labor.  They hooked me up to an IV and gave me some pitocin to stimulate contractions.  This was an order placed by the high risk labor and delivery doctor since that is what this situation now was, high risk.  The nurse that was administrating the test stopped the test before she was supposed to so that made the test inconclusive and meant that it would have to be redone the next day.  So they told me to fast at midnight and they would do the test in the morning.

Tuesday morning came and the high risk doctor (Dr. W) came in to talk to me and explained what they wanted to see in the test. If your heart rate didn't dip at all during the test then I got to go home, if it dipped even once I had to stay for observation, if it dipped for two or more of the contractions, then they were going to deliver you that day.  The day seemed to go on forever and the testing never seemed like it was going to happen.  At about 3 p.m. I asked if there was anything that I could have for the headache I was having.  Not having food or water for over 15 hours was draining on my body and not good for you either.  So the nurse gave me a pain medication and as soon as she Dr. G  came in and asked if the nurse had given me the medication yet.  Of course she said she had which then meant that I had to wait another hour before I could do the OCT scan since the medication would make me sleepy and also make you sleepy.  So I made the most of the situation and took a nap.

When I woke up from that nap the Dr. G came in and told me that since I had been fasting for so long that I should just go ahead and eat dinner since they didn't know when they would be able to get to the scan since they were so busy and the test requires on-on-one attention from the nurse.  I was so excited to get to eat.  But that was short lived, Dr. G came in again right as dinner was brought to my room and told me not to eat it.  She also said that during the time I was sleeping I had a few contractions and that your heart rate had dipped yet again and she wanted to go over the tracings with Dr. W.

At about 9 p.m  or so the Dr. G came back, she walked across the room and turned off the T.V.  Inside I knew exactly what this all meant but I was so scared to admit it.  Dr. G told me that her and Dr. W both agreed that keeping you inside me wasn't going to be beneficial to you.  That it didn't matter if we waited another day or another week, your heart rate dropping meant you had to come out and you had to come out now.  Dr G also told me that since you were going to be born before 37 weeks that you would be considered premature, a late term premature, baby and that there might be complications.  The main complication she was worried about were your lungs and if they needed attention then you would have to go to the NICU.  The only problem was, the NICU in Irvine was full and that meant you would have to be transferred to Anaheim.  This scared me and broke my heart, I didn't want to be separated from you so quickly after you were born but I knew also that the doctors had everyone's best interest at heart.

So Memaw called your daddy who was having dinner and getting a shower at Grandpa and Grandma Harrell’s and told him you were going to be delivered that night and he needed to get back to the hospital.

I was shaking the whole time I was waiting for daddy and I shook the whole way to the operating room.  

I got into the operating room at 10 p.m and I got my epidural and just waited a little longer.  I waited for Daddy to come in and hold my hand, I waited to hear you cry for the first time.

At 10:29 p.m that's when I heard it.  The most beautiful sound I had ever heard in my life.  It was you.  You had some lungs on you it sounded like which made daddy and I very happy.  I remember when I heard you cry I looked at daddy and said, "I'm a Mommy." And he replied , "and I'm a Daddy."  We both were crying even though daddy doesn't think that he did.

Since you were born early they rushed you to the NICU for a mandatory observation and your daddy went with you.

They checked your lungs and heart, and they were perfect.  You were perfect.  You didn't have to be transferred, which of course made everyone so happy and excited.  I didn’t get to see you until 2:30am because I was in recovery.  Holding you for the first time was amazing, it made me realize how beautiful life is, how miraculous God is and how crazy it was that just a few hours before you were inside me and now you were here.  You made our lives complete.