August 17, 2011

 Well, the big day was a long time coming. It was exhausting, trying and I could not have done it alone. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely. This little miracle was totally worth it.

It all began last Tuesday. I went into the doctor's office and told her how I was doing. She checked out William on a sonogram and then looked at my vitals. She looked very serious. "We need to check your blood pressure again". It was very high. The second test confirmed the first. They gave me five minutes to rest and tested again. The third time my pressure was 160/95, not an acceptable level. "We are going to need to induce today. We are a little concerned about preeclampsia. Go home, get your stuff and we will notify the hospital." I went into a bit of a panic, but had the clarity of mind to call my mother and Francis. My mom and Christian headed in from Plano and Francis left work. He took a little bit of time to get home, and when he did his eyes were as big as the moon. It made me smile a bit to see him rush around. I was a bit calmer, probably because I knew I needed to keep my blood pressure down. I ate lunch (Francis for some reason had not appetite) and we left for Seton Medical Center Williamson. We checked in and after an extended process of answering every question known to man, the nurse got me started on Cervidil to “ripen the banana” as the nurse said. When they hooked me up to the machine, I was already having contractions. I had been feeling things the night before, but didn’t know that they were contractions. The Cervidil had to be in for 12 hours before starting on the pitocin. I was in for a long night.

The next few hours were manageable. My sisters and parents were there to keep me entertained and the contractions did not pain me significantly. The only snag was the hospital bed. The bend in the bed was hard when it laid flat. My hip could not get comfortable ergo I could not sleep. They tried everything, but sleep was elusive. Francis was able to sleep on the queen size pull out bed in the room. It was comforting to know he was rested. At 3 am, they took me off the Cervadil and all the machines so that I could shower and freshen up. It was nice to be clean before the big work began. My mother (who is a saint, by the way) came back up the hospital to support me so Francis could continue resting. She stayed by my side through the entire day and the day following. After my hour off, they started on me the pitocin. I made slow progress throughout the day. Francis’s parents arrived early that morning, which made the waiting room party complete. They were surprised to see my contractions didn’t hurt, but glad to see I was doing well. When Dr. Brown came to visit at lunch, she told me I was at 2 ½ cm: not the best news. She did tell me I could have lunch though, and that certainly helped my mood. 5 more hours passed and I only made one cm of progress. I was exhausted and sleep deprived. My doctor gave me two options: I could either take an hour break, get some dinner and take a walk or I could break my water right away. I chose door number one. I had food and took a restful walk. They then put me back on the pitocin and Dr. Brown broke my water. I must admit this phenomenon was a bit of a shock. Not to be too detailed, but it felt a bit like someone sticking a needle into an underinflated balloon and then yanking it out. Not pleasant, but oh my goodness did it jump start my labor. Contractions got much more intense and before long they put me on pain medication.

A few hours into the evening of day 2 (Wednesday), I requested an epidural. A natural birth was never in the plan and I was beginning to realize just how tired I was. They inserted the needle and after a while, things started to feel better. I even got a couple of hours of rest. About 4 am on Thursday, the nurse made the call that it was time to push. I started to think I was in the clear. I was going to make it. After the first hour of pushing, the nurse changed out my bag for a new bag of epidural. This is where the problems started. I began to feel a hot spot in my leg, and each time I pushed, my ribs on my left side felt like they were breaking. Deep into hour two of pushing, I could feel much of what was going on in my stomach and boy did it hurt (we found out later that the heat from the loading dock might have deactivated the chemicals in the bag). Dr. Brown came in at the beginning of hour three of pushing because she thought we were close. Boy was she wrong! Two more hours of pushing and feeling everything and Dr. Brown told me that she thought I would have to do a C section if he didn’t come in the next 20 minutes. I became frightened and relieved at the same time. I looked at Francis and my mom. They had been standing this whole time. “I can’t do this anymore,” I told them. “I am out of energy.” Francis nodded and squeezed my hand. The following ten minutes are a bit of a blur. I gave it all I had and more, praying with each push that it would be the last. Just as I thought I would pass out, I felt and heard a pop. A light blue body appeared in my line of vision. “You did it,” my mom said softly with tears in her eyes. I couldn’t believe it. I had brought my beautiful baby boy into this world! (I found out later that they were prepping the room for my C section when I delivered. Talk about a close call!)

They placed William on my chest after they cut the umbilical cord. Francis was crying with the look on his face that I have only seen once before: on our wedding day. I was too exhausted to cry, but I tenderly touched my little man and introduced myself. They took him to the side of the room to clean him up, weigh and measure him. He was 8 pounds even and 21 inches. He was born at 8:21 on Thursday August 11, 2011. Over the course of the morning, my sisters, my parents and Francis’s parents all held my beautiful baby boy in turn. It was one of the proudest times of my life.

Finally we were moved to a mother/baby room. I worked on nursing and learned how to take care of myself. Francis supported me every step of the way. We received tons of flowers from family as well as Francis’s work. Everything seemed to be going great. Even the heart murmur which they had heard originally in William had cleared up (as expected) by that afternoon. Francis’s sister and brother in law came to visit that evening from Houston. The families were complete. William had met everyone but his cousin Abby. I am sure they will meet soon.

By mid morning Friday, everyone except my mom had headed home. William received his circumcision that afternoon and with that procedure William’s difficulty eating became worse. I had met with a lactation consultant twice and many nurses, but William’s pain overrode his need for food. My Grandmother (Mom Noble) and my Aunt Camille came to visit that evening and got to see sweet William. It was a special time. After their departure, the nurse did the Bilirubin test. The results were not favorable. William might have jaundice. Throughout that night I got up and attempted to feed William regularly. I prayed over each and every part of him and dedicated it to Our Heavenly Father. Only He knew what would happen and without Him, I could do nothing. The midnight test came back with an equally negative result. In the early hours of the morning, William was put under a warmer and phototherapy began. All say Saturday, he was only allowed out of his bassinet to feed. He hated not being able to see and the sensors on his body irritated him. It was hard to hear him cry, but I knew he needed the treatment. Francis could tolerate his crying even less than me. He is already a caring and awesome dad. We spent a lot of time praying and crying that day and not just from exhaustion. The only thing that kept me from completely losing it was the fact I could sleep on the pull out couch bed in our room instead of the horrible hospital bed (which was a bit possessed as it was constantly adjusting to make you “more comfortable”). Rest was infrequent, but not completely absent. The doctor came in and “discharged” me so that my insurance would not be charged for another day, but I was allowed to stay in my room with William and receive help getting my milk to get in. The best way to help heal Jaundice is to get William to go to the restroom and flush out the Bilirubin. I ended up having to use an SNS to supplement my milk until it came in.   

 Saturday night/Sunday morning, they did another Bilirubin test and the results were more promising. He was at 13.2 (which was holding steady from the test before). They took William of the Phototherapy machine. A few hours later, the Bilirubin count was down to 12.1. William was going to be discharged!!!!! I was so happy I could bust. On top of that, I was finally getting the hang of breast feeding with the SNS. God is awesome. After the pediatrician saw William, we were good to go. The nurses all said goodbye to us. Having been there nearly a week, I think they had grown rather fond of us.

Since we have been home, my mother (the saint, remember?) has been taking the night shift to help me get at least a little rest. I only have to wake up to nurse. She handles the rest. We have been to our new pediatrician. I LOVE her and am so glad that I found her. We have also had our first portraits. William is like his daddy: he doesn’t like pictures. Francis has headed back to work and best of all, my milk has finally come in. William has maintained his weight and is now beginning to gain. I look forward to seeing what his weight is at his next appointment next week.

William is an angel. He is so curious and learning all the time. He is so strong that he has already flipped himself from back to front. I won’t be able to ever leave this guy unattended. He is laying on me right now and I can’t help but think about how blessed I am. I have so much to learn about him and yet I already love him so much. I thank God for him daily and look forward to the awesome man he will become. I can't believe he is already one week old!

Welcome to the world, William!