It's A Boy...

During my pregnancy with Little Miss I was addicted to birth stories.  I love the unpredictability of birth.  I love hearing other people’s story of how they brought their child into the world.  I love hearing of how it happened and how they felt.  It has taken a little while but I have written down both of my birth stories and thought I’d share them.

The Boy is four years old and I have never written down his birth story as of yet.  Why?  Well when the clarity was there it was still to fresh and traumatic.  I wasn’t ready.  Once it wasn’t so traumatic I just didn’t want to sit down and relive it.  The time has come though because, traumatic or not, it was the day I became a mama and my first blessing arrived. 

I had a relatively healthy and uneventful pregnancy.  Had some bleeding at first but baby was fine and growing so all was well.  We told our families and everyone was excited for the arrival of our first.  After I failed the glucose test, twice, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) in the latter half of my pregnancy.  That was pretty much the biggest complication I had.

At my last OB visit I was 39 weeks + 3 days and due to my GD it was decided I would be induced on my due date.  Looking back I really shouldn’t have went through with the induction since during that visit a cervical check determined that the baby was still high and probably wasn’t ready to come.  I was a first time mom though and didn’t (and of course still don’t) want to do anything to harm the health of my child, I also like most women at the end of their pregnancy was very ready to have the baby.  So I consented. 

The morning of my due date, October 19, 2012, we arrived at the hospital and got the induction started.  They got an IV started with Pitocin and my water was broken. I had forgone any medications for pain and it was getting close to unbearable after lunch time, about 5 hours in.  I waited for my OB to come back to the hospital (as she was back and forth seeing patients in the office as well) to check my progress before I made any decision to get an epidural.  She arrived a little after 1pm and started the cervical check.  Right away she told me that I was 5 cm but in the next breath, it felt like, she patted my leg and calmly told me that she needed me to roll over and, for lack of a better term, put my hind-end up in the air because the cord had prolapsed and she would have to do an emergency C-section.  A prolapsed cord is where the umbilical cord passes the baby’s head and therefore every contraction that pushes baby down and out also pushes baby against their own cord and can cut off their oxygen supply.  This could be life threatening without intervention. 

The one thing that I DID NOT WANT going in to all of it was a C-section. During my whole pregnancy I said I was flexible about a lot when it came to childbirth but I didn’t want a C-section.  However in that moment nothing else mattered except for my baby’s life and health!  Funny how something you worry about for months no longer is of concern.

They rushed me to the OR, leaving my mama and Hubby standing alone in what was to have been my delivery room.  I have been immensely blessed in life to have a mother and a husband that have a wonderful relationship and I have been thankful for that many times over in past but never as thankful as that day.  I am so glad they had each other.  It was stressful and scary and the thought that one of them would be left alone standing there after all that happened would have been awful.  I, on the other hand was alone, surrounded by many medical professionals, but alone with my thoughts and God.  Praying He would take care of my baby.

Since I hadn’t had an epidural placed and it was a true emergency the doctor quickly explained that they would have to put me under general anesthesia but that they would have to wait until the last minute so that the anesthesia wouldn’t affect the baby.  I laid there staring up as they disinfected my lower abdomen praying again, praying that no matter what that the Lord would protect my little guy!  I kept thinking that there was no way they’d be able to get me knocked out before they needed to start the surgery and I was telling myself that that was going to have to be okay.  That was the last thought I had though.

The Boy was born at 1:26pm.  The doctor told Hubby and my mama that they got me ready for surgery and him out in 5 minutes.  I believe that too!  I, of course, was out of it for a long while and when I woke up in recovery the only thing I wanted to know was how my baby was!  Hubby was quick with a photo on his phone of him and told me that when he was born they cut his head while they were cutting me and he had to have stitches.  Bless my baby’s heart!

Once I was stable enough they wheeled me up to the NICU to see him and hold him but they said that they were going to keep him in the NICU because they were afraid he might have a lung infection or problems breathing because he was grunting when he breathed. 

They ended up keeping him six days in the NICU.  The six longest days of my life!  Turned out that he was perfectly fine, no infection, nothing wrong with his lungs or breathing.  However they had started an IV and was giving him Dextrose (basically sugar water) so he didn’t have much of an appetite.  They had to wean him off the IV fluids and get him nursing/taking a bottle and he had to keep his weight up, then they’d let him go home.  The day finally came, out with the stitches and we got to bring our sweet boy home. 

Four years later and some days I still get sick at the thought of what could have been.  Instead he has absolutely no issues surrounding his birth.  Thanks in part to the quick action of my OB and the precautions and availability of the hospital I gave birth in.  But the biggest thanks must go to the Lord for answering those frantic silent cries to Him.  I know He has a plan for my boy and I just hope I can be the mama he needs to get him to his purpose in life. 

So what about you?  Comment below with your birth highlights!  I'd love to hear them!