My Birth Story

Well, Baby DBud is exactly 2 weeks old... and it is time for me to tell the story of his Birth.

It all started at my 38w4d appointment, when the Doctor checked my cervix for any early signs of labor. Can you believe it? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Our little man was still high up, and my cervix was completely hard and closed. I had felt a few slight contractions here and there... but nothing to really report. It was at that moment, that we decided (along with my OB) to schedule a c-section. I was pretty much done being pregnant, and he seemed to have no plans of coming out, so he was getting evicted! They ushered us over to the office manager's office where we sat with her to schedule the procedure. We left the office with our c-section scheduled for Monday, October 22nd. That later changed, when we started looking at our schedule, and everything we needed to get done. We actually tried to have it re-scheduled for Wednesday the 24th, but that date wasn't available, so we had to schedule it for Thursday the 25th. **A little background about why we wanted the 24th - DH's Birthday is 2/24, mine is 5/24 and we got married on 1/24... so naturally, we would've liked the baby to be born on 10/24 ;) Anyway... we were scheduled and ready to go, with our pre-registration taking place the day before, the 24th at 9am. We got up that morning, grabbed breakfast, and headed to the hospital to finish filling out all the paperwork, etc. 

We ran a little late, and actually didn't get there until about 10am (I actually wasn't feeling great, and was praying to the porcelain gods before we left the house - I chalked it up to "nerves" getting the best of me). We went ahead and filled out all the pre-registration paperwork, and were sent over to where the nurse would meet us to run a few tests. All was going well... until they checked my blood pressure. It was somewhere in the 150s over 90s, which was high (especially for me, Mrs. 120/70). I found it strange, because at my last appointment, the day we scheduled the c-section, it was higher than normal as well... not "high" necessarily, but high for what my norm is. The nurse took it a couple more times, to check, and it was not getting any lower. She actually went ahead and called my Doctor to let him know, and see what he wanted to do. Meanwhile, they weren't really telling me much, she just gave me a couple of small bottles of water to see if that helped, but at that point, nothing did. She had me pee in a cup, and have my blood drawn, before sending me up to triage to put me on monitors. The baby's heart rate was fine, but my BP remained high. Within a few minutes, my OB arrived (one of the two from the practice I visit). He was performing a c-section that day, and was able to come and check on me. Well, apparently, I was having some contractions every 4 minutes (which I did not notice). My OB told us that with his experience, high BP only got higher, and that his instinct was to get the baby delivered that day... within 1 1/2 - 2 hours! Oh..My..GOD!!!!! Here we were, in the hospital, a couple of hours from meeting our son... with no hospital bag, no nice expensive camera that we bought to take photos and videos of our son with, and no family members! My Mom was at work, his parents had a Doctor's appointment, and NO ONE expected this. Mr. DBud started calling and texting everyone, letting them know what was going on, as they whisked us off to pre-op. Before long, I was wheeled into the OR, where I got my epidural and was prepped for the surgery, and before much longer time was called, and Mr. DBud was brought into the room. By this time, I was pretty nervous (and worried) watching my BP skyrocket to the 200s/100s. Mr. DBud kept his cool... but he was very worried :( Within a few minutes... I heard him. My son! He had the sweetest and softest cry and all I could think was how I wanted to see him, and hold him. They had Mr. DBud cut the umbilical cord, cleaned him up, weighed and measured him, took his foot prints, and swaddled him before placing him on my chest. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I looked at him - my Son! It was love at first site. The three of us posed for our first family portrait, before they wheeled him to the nursery, with Mr. DBud in tow. I stayed behind to get sewn up, while the Doctors chatted about all sorts of random things like Eddie Murphy and the movie "Coming to America", etc. When they were done, I was moved to another bed and rolled to recovery. 

While in recovery, my BP remained high. They called my OB, and asked what medicine to give me... but apparently, my system LAUGHED at the first two they tried. Neither had any effect, and my blood pressure remained where it was - through the roof! Finally, the last medication they tried worked, and it started to come down. Unfortunately, this made my time in recovery go from about 2 hours (which is the norm) to about 4 1/2 hours, and landed me a stay in SICU. I tried to rest up a bit while still in recovery, in between Mr. DBud coming to see me and being checked every once in a while by the nurses. After a few hours, I was surprised by a Nurse who took pity on us, and brought the baby to me in recovery. This is normally not allowed at this hospital, since the babies have alarms attached, and are not exactly close to the recovery area... but she got special permission, and brought him to us. I tried to feed him with the formula she brought (which I wasn't too happy about because I wanted to breast feed since day one, but needed to get approval from the Pediatrician because of the meds I was on), but because of all the IVs and everything I was attached to (including a BP cuff that went off every 15 minutes, oxygen, etc.) I couldn't. This made me sad :( I wanted to be free to hold him and caress him... and I wanted to breast feed him :( After a little bit, she took him back to the nursery, and I was moved into a room in the SICU. Mr. DBud would go visit him when he could... but it broke my heart to know that he was in the nursery all the time, without his Mommy and Daddy, while all the other babies could be with their Parents :( It was extremely depressing. 

I was in SICU until the next day, when they finally decided to put me in a regular room next to the nursery. It took a while, even after I was told that I could be moved, for me to get moved... but it finally happened. And not long after that, our sweet baby boy was brought to the room, and was with us constantly! Finally, my Mom was able to see and carry her Grandson (her first!) and my Mother in Law was also able to be with us carry him :) We had quite a few visitors over the next few days, and little by little I started to feel normal again. It felt so good to have the IV and all the other cables and monitors removed, and of course with the right amount of pain medication every certain amount of time, I was able to get out of bed, and move around a bit. Baby steps ;)

Now, 2 weeks after his Birth, I am feeling great. My c-section scar is healing well (had the staples removed at my 1 week PP appointment, and replaced by steri strips which have begun to fall off as well), and I am actually functioning well without any form of pain medication. Baby DBud is breast feeding (sometimes constantly) and we were able to get him completely off the formula. He has even been sleeping for a nice long stretch at night, giving us about 5 hours straight of sleep! He is a wonderful and beautiful baby - I couldn't ask for more. I am SO incredibly blessed. 

So, what can I say? This has definitely been an emotional ride. Even though, in the end, I was fortunate in easily overcoming my issues with IF, trying to get pregnant was hard, at times. My pregnancy was pretty good, for the most part, but my delivery and the first 24 hours of recovery in SICU sucked, for lack of a better word... but, you know, all I have to do is look at him - my SON - and it is ALL worth it. It is true when they say that everything "negative" you experience seems to disappear when they are finally in your arms. He is the light of my life, and I can't imagine how I lived all these years without him. We are completely head over heals with our sweet baby boy. To everyone out there who is TTC, whether you are experiencing IF issues, have TTC for a while or just begun... there IS a light at the end of the tunnel - and it is even brighter than you think it is!!! Thank you all for following my story, and for all the support over these past couple of years. I don't know what I would've done without being able to share my story, in moments of happiness and woe. This blog has been such a huge part of my TTC process, and I am extremely grateful to be a part of it :) Thank you!

As I wrap up this, my final post... here is a song for my Son. I love you with everything that I have, and everything that I am. You have made my life complete, and I thank God everyday for making you mine.

Christian Javier

October 24, 2012

2:33pm

7lb4oz, 19 3/4 inches