Birth Story

I'm going to write two separate entries about the hospital- a birth story and the hospital stay. Unfortunately, my hospital stay was pretty scary and traumatic because of my lingering health issues. However, I don't want to include that with the memory of when Davin was born.

On Monday morning, April 7th, I went to Sky Ridge for my routine labs. I had been told there was a slight possibility that I would be induced that night if things weren't looking good. Needless to say, things were not looking good. My blood pressure had gone up to 160/100 and the fluid around Davin was really low. After awhile, the nurse let me know that my doctor was admitting me to the hospital and they were going to put me in a Labor and Delivery room to start the induction.

As soon as my doctor showed up, she was already talking about a c-section. She was afraid Davin wouldn't be able to handle labor because his heart rate was already showing distress and the fluid was so low. She spent about 10 minutes acting like she *might* let me try labor and then started prepping me for the c-section.

Brian barely made it to the hospital in time.

They finished prepping me in my room and wheeled me into the OR. Sara was standing outside the door and I saw her for a brief second before they brought me back.

They brought me in and got me on the operating table and had me sitting up for the spinal. The nurse practitioner who had been overseeing some of my care at the hospital was in the operating room, which made me feel so comforted. I had developed a strong bond with some of the hospital staff, particularly the two NP's from the Perionatoligist group. She held my hands and head while they got the spinal in, which wasn't a huge deal- just uncomfortable.

I laid down and between the numbing block and the morphine I was pretty zoned out. After a quite sobering 9 months, my body was in shock from the drugs. They did all the unpleasant stuff (like putting in a catheter) and then brought Brian in to sit with me. We talked and joked for what felt like a few minutes (or an eternity) and then all of the sudden we heard a baby cry.

Brian got up and went over to where the nurse was assessing Davin. She wiped him off and wrapped him up and Brian brought him over to me. They laid him on my chest and I was just kind of awestruck. There isn't a whole lot you can say about that first moment, because many times you're just overwhelmed (and a bit out of it, too).

For the first day or so, I was pretty heavily medicated. I was on Magnesium Sulfate to keep my blood pressure stable and the morphine was making me itch like a crack fiend. It wasn't until much later the next day when I was spending a moment alone in my room with my son, that it all caught up to me.

I was a mommy and he was absolutely perfect.

I am very lucky that Davin was only born at 36 & 4 and had no problems whatsoever. He got off to a rock star start.

I continue to say, I'd rather be the one with the health problems than him. It would break my heart to see him go through pain. I'll update more about my hospital stay and recovery later.