Disclaimer: I wrote this under the influence of pain medicine.
We were scheduled to arrive to UK for an induction Thursday, June 7th and were disappointed to receive a phone call saying the labor hall was crazy busy and that we were going to be "on call". The nurse told me that we would receive a phone call by morning. Morning rolled around and no phone call! After waiting 41 weeks to meet my little boy, I was getting very upset. Finally, a date was set to for me to meet my son and instead of meeting him, I got to wait even longer! I was pretty confident that he was NEVER coming!
God has really taught me a lot during my pregnancy and waiting upon Him was one of them. During my pregnancy, I had to really give control of my life over to God. I have been struggling with trusting God completely for a season and tended to doubt Him with a lot of areas of my life. Pregnancy is impossible to control so God used a great tool to capture my trust!
I had to wait until God was ready for Maddox to enter my life and it had to be done God's way. We were hoping to go into labor or to be induced before our due date to avoid paying another deductible, but in order to be induced, my cervix had to be favorable. After several appointments, we came to terms that our baby was not coming before July 1st, my cervix just did not progress at all nor had the baby dropped until the week of his due date (but still not low enough). If we were induced, the risk of a cesarean section would have increased and we decided we would just wait until the Lord was ready and we knew He would provide the finances to cover the deductible.
We did not receive a call Friday morning, but by 1:30pm they were ready for us. It was so exciting knowing that we would not be coming home alone! We arrived at the hospital and after they examined me and found that my cervix is stubborn, methods of induction were discussed and began to be administered. That night went smoothly, but the medicine wasn't working magic. I began to have consistent strong contractions ( I was contracting when I went in). By morning, I wished I had went ahead and gotten an epidural when it was offered before I went to bed just so I could have gotten some sleep. I was in a lot of pain, but my cervix was stuck at 1.5 cm.
I was on the last dose of the medicine they were giving me at the time when I decided to stop pretending like I could sleep. I just came back to from the bathroom and hooked every thing back in when my nurse came through the door to adjust the monitor. At first, I didn't think much of it since she and Maddox had been playing games all night trying to keep him on it, but this time she had me turning every which way and told the girl who followed her in to inform the doctors the baby heat rate was low. Poor Rob woke up to seven nurses and a doctor running into the room, flipping me all around, injecting me with a shot to calm the contractions down, checking my cervix and putting an oxygen mask on me which was all done with seconds. Rob just stood there feeling helpless and clueless. Once they left, the baby's heart rate was normal and through the oxygen mask I asked Rob if I was laying upside down, which I practically was. It had happened so quickly, I didn't know what had just taken place!
Now being confined to my right side, my doctor arrived and the next method was discussed to continue the induction. My doctor wanted to start the pitocin, but with my contractions already being two to three minutes apart and intense, they decided to go with a "folly bulb". ( Not sure if that is what it is really called or how it is spelled.) This method would dilate my cervix, but not exactly cause me to go into labor and it was very painful to insert! After everything going smoothly for a while with my wonderful nurses keeping a close watch on Maddox's heart beat, the doctor decided it was time to speed things up with pitocin. Already being in pain and knowing that it could be still be a couple of more days before I delivered with the way my body was progressing, I asked for an epidural. I have never been a big fan of the idea of an epidural, but I just could not lay there for hours after hours in pain. Well, the epidural application process was a huge pain! The anesthesiologist had a hard time, for some reason, to get it right! And, no, he was not a resident!!! Rob sat at my feet that were dangled over the bed and one of my nurses supported me, while also having me smell alcohol pads, taking a cold wash cloth to my face and trying to keep the monitor on the baby. Even with the numerous numbing shots, I still felt a lot of the pain and with the position I had to stay in, I became very nauseous and almost passed out. My nurse was getting very upset with the anesthesoilogist as was Rob who could only hold my feet.
After four attempts, the epidural was in place. My back still looks like a pin cushion! I was extremely exausted and could not keep my eyes open and with the pain not keeping me awake I was able to take a wonderful nap while Rob went to get himself lunch....nurse's orders. At one point during my nap, in came the my nurses, the doctor and the anesthesiologist.....Maddox's heart rate had dropped again. They turned off the pitocin and reduced strength of the epidural. My doctor informed me that it was probably time to discuss other options and she would wait until Rob came back. After texting Rob, he quickly returned and the doctor explained to us that she had no problem doing inductions that take three days, but with the baby's pattern she was getting worried. If I had been close to delivering, it would not have been such a risk, but with my body not progressing and the induction medicine having such a negative impact on the baby's heat rate, we may want to consider a cesarean. She said at that point, it was not an emergency and she could not tell us that we had to have one, but we may want to consider it. Rob and I discussed it and decided that we felt it would be best for our baby to go ahead and have the cesarean.
The preparation had began for a c-section. I was a little upset that a c-section would change how the first minutes of my baby's life would be handled. If we had had him vaginally, then I would have gotten to hold him as soon as he was born and Rob would have had to wait about an hour after we had enough skin to skin time and his first bath. Now, Rob got to hold him and I barely got to see him. I was taken to the O.R while Rob put his scrubs on and waited until he was invited into the room. I was placed on the table that I felt I was twice the width of and the anesthesiologist (yes, the same one) worked his magic to numb me. This was probably the most uncomfortable part of it. I began to get super nauseous and was burning up! The nurses kept offering me blankets thinking it was cold for me. Right after the drape was placed to prevent me from seeing anyting, they put some kind of plastic thing across my arms that blew warm air claiming I would be cold once they cut me open...that didn't happen.
A cesarean has to be the most surreal thing you can ever experience. There is no pushing, sweating, or anything you ever imagine your the birth of your baby to be like, just a few tugs and a then there is a baby. I didn't feel anything while they removed the baby, besides them compressing the top of my stomach to force the little guy out. He was a fighter! As they were removing him, Rob was allowed to stand up watch over the curtain as I heard them say, he had a short cord and it was wrapped around his neck. The doctor and us were so thankful that we decided to go ahead and have the c-section. If we had choses to wait, it could have gotten very scary.
Rob was a proud daddy of a very handsome 6lbs 9oz little boy with a head full of hair. As daddy got to hold his little boy, they began stitching me. It takes no time for them to cut the baby out, but it takes forever for them to sew you back up and I felt a lot of it. I was so anxious to hold my little boy and was upset that I was not able to until later. Maddox had a bowel movement right before they got him out, and thank God they were able to clear it all out of him! He also came out peeing and pooped on the table. He was not happy about leaving mommy's belly. Once he was wrapped up, Rob brought the baby to me to show me our wonderful gift, but I could only see his nose!
I was moved to the recovery room where I was cleaned up. I had a very hard time staying awake, but the desire to hold my baby kept my eyes open...but, it could not keep me from throwing up! After getting cleaned up, I was finally able to hold my baby, but only long enough to feed him. That thirty minutes was the best thirty minutes of my life. All I could think about was how perfect he is.
Once in our room, I continued to throw up in front of my family who was waiting to meet the baby. Maddox was brought to the room after his bath and everyone was able to hold him for a brief minute before Rob had to ask everyone to leave and visit another day. I could not keep my eyes open and needed medicine to help stop throwing up. The nurse asked if we wanted them to keep Maddox in the nursery so I could rest and I was confined to my bed anyway. Rob told them that he would take care of him and he did a wonderful job! I was out pretty quickly after everyone left and vaguely remembering the nurse and doctor having to change my bandage. Rob commented the next day that he hated watching them rip the tape off of me, but I assured him I barely remembering them apologizing about it.
It was a very long 41 weeks and very rough day for Rob and I, but we have such a beautiful son as a product of it. I am going to go snuggle with my little boy now. Good night and thank you for those who prayed for us during the process!
