Surprise!!!

As I mentioned, baby was scheduled to come via c section of 1/17...but I guess he had plans of his own! I woke up at 3:50 am on Sunday, 1/12 with contractions stronger than any Braxton Hicks I have ever experienced. I began to time them and they were consistently 10 minutes apart for over an hour. After that I stopped timing them and had fitful sleep until around 6 am. Between 6-7 am I started timing them again and they had started to be between 5-6 minutes apart. But I still wasn't exactly sure what was going on. So around 9 I called my doctor and he said to wait a little bit and see how I felt. He said they should be getting stronger if I was really in labor. So Paul took the kids to Church and I rested in bed for a while trying to figure out if I was in fact in labor. I called Domi for advice - she has had 4 kids, is studying to become a nurse, and most importantly, she is someone I trust completely. Domi cleared her schedule and said she would come up to be at our house with the kids in case we needed to go in to the hospital, which she thought we should. At first I was hesitant...I didn't want her to drive up if it was nothing and waste her day. Plus, I had a lot I needed to get done that day too and I didn't want us all to be sitting around with nothing actually happening, which at that point, I figured it was all in my head. But, Domi and Caroline drove up and we sat around for a few hours timing the contractions and trying to tell if they were getting stronger. My doctor had told me to call back if they got stronger and not to eat or drink anything in case I needed to deliver that day. So finally around 1:30 or so I called him again because I didn't know what to do and I was hungry and thirsty and starting to get a bit shaky from not eating or drinking anything. He immediately told me to go into the hospital since the contractions were still happening. So, I quickly packed a bag, grabbed the camera, and we headed off to the hospital figuring we would be back again in a few hours. Luckily, we decided to grab a quick family picture just in case this was the real deal.

We got to the hospital and my doctor had already called ahead and ordered an IV.  They hooked me up to the contraction and fetal heart rate monitors and at this point my contractions were getting much stronger.  It was also at this point that we discovered that my blood pressure was elevated.  So we waited for a while, watched the contractions, and hoped my BP was high because I was nervous, which I really was.  This wasn't happening today...right?  I wasn't ready!  The nurse called the doctor and it was quickly decided that he was going to come in and we were going to have the c section.  I couldn't believe it and almost started crying - it was scary as this was not how it was planned!  I have had 3 scheduled c sections... I know how this goes and this was not it!  But they prepped me for surgery and Paul had just enough time to run out to the car, grab our bag and camera, get into his scrubs and get into the OR.  The surgery started at 4:52.

And at 5:00pm, this little guy came into the world crying!!!

 

He weighed in at 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  For the first time, in 4 c sections, I actually got to hold him in the OR.  It was wonderful.  Paul held him for a bit and then he went to be washed and checked in the nursery while my surgery finished up.

While I went into recovery, Paul went to check on the baby and call in the good news.  Aunt Domi was able to bring all the kids to the hospital to see him in the nursery.  They couldn't hold him quite yet, but they got to see him and apparently they were all very excited!

Cute!

Checking out their new brother...here are our 4 children!

Meanwhile, I was still in recovery and things were not going very well.  My BP continued to rise despite the fact that surgery was over, I was on morphine and should have been totally relaxed.  You are supposed to be in recovery for about an hour before being transferred to the mother/baby unit and being reunited with your baby.  But as we approached the hour mark, it became clear that wasn't going to happen.  It was determined that I had preeclampsia and so they put me on the magnesium drip, which in most cases is the cure.  Unfortunately, my body wasn't really responding to it.  So, they tried another drug and while that seemed to help my BP come down, it also made my pulse rise, which wasn't good.  So after a third medicine, things started to come down ever so slightly, yet not quite consistently.  I was hooked up to a BP monitor that took the reading every 10 minutes.  It was scary as we sat and waited for each 10 minute reading to see if the medicine was working and then discover that it was not and then hope again that in 10 more minutes it would work!  They finally did bring the baby down to me, which was good as I desperately wanted to see him. 

Finally around midnight it was determined that my BP was coming down, but they didn't want to transfer me up to mother/baby unit quite yet.  I stayed in recovery overnight with a nurse that checked on me frequently.  She became concerned because my pupils weren't contracting with the light.  She told me she would google why that was happening, at which point I asked her to please just call my doctor.  He was not concerned about my pupils, but the nurse persisted and found my anesthesiologist, who checked my pupils and said they were OK.  Whew, another thing to worry about!  But at least I had my baby close to me.  Isn't he cute!

It was a long night and I was scared for a lot of it.  Paul started to get really worried when telemetry called my nurse to alert her to the fact that my BP and pulse were increasing.  But eventually it started coming down.  I am so thankful to Domi for staying the night with the kids - things were a bit scary for a while late into the night and I was so glad Paul was with me during it, which wouldn't have been the case if he had to go home to watch the kids.  Thank you Domi!!!  The next morning I was transferred to the mother/baby unit finally, although I was still on the magnesium drip and being monitored closely.  But things were looking up!