I thought this baby boy (that's what we had to call him for a long time because we couldn't come up with a name) would be early. My pattern has been that all of my kids have been early and each one was a few days earlier than the last. According to me at least, Adam was due on January 29th (which was a Thursday). The early ultrasound said the 30th, but the date printed on it was a day later than the day I actually got the ultrasound. I figured having my mom come the Saturday before that due date would work out just fine. I figured I would either have already had him or he would come a day or two later. Well, he had other plans. My mom came on Saturday and I felt great, too great. The week wore on and I still was feeling and sleeping all too well. Finally, on I think Friday, I started to have more contractions that were actually strong enough to tell me the baby wasn't too far away. Saturday evening, David and I went on a walk to try to get things going (this wasn't the first one of such walks, by any means). The contractions started to come again and this time they stayed fairly constant and were much stronger. After we got the kids to bed, I decided that this was the real thing if the contractions would just come a little closer together (they were plenty strong enough). We decided to go ahead and go get gas and either head to the the hospital (if they kept up) or find somewhere to walk around. We decided to go to Walmart in Little Rock. Every time I had a contraction I would just head down an aisle (like I was suddenly interested in toasters or something) and wait it out. They were still about 10 minutes apart, but then they started getting very intense and a little closer and we decided to just go to the hospital. Of course, they stopped when we got there, so we walked around the hospital for a bit until they came again and decided to just go up to Labor and Delivery.
We checked in and they took us to triage. It turns out I was actually having quite a few contractions, just some were a lot stronger than others, but I was only dilated to "almost a 2". It took two nurses to determine that because they couldn't reach my cervix. Well, I just knew we were going home, but they said they would call the on-call doctor and see what she said. She said to keep me for an hour and see what happened. I decided to walk around for a while, but I wasn't very hopeful. Well, while I was walking around, the contractions came fast and strong. Finally, I had to go lay down to wait out the rest of the hour. When they checked again at 12:30 Sunday morning I was a 4 and they checked us into a room. I was so relieved!
Everything went smoothly at first. They got me situated and then gave me my epidural. The nurse told me that his heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction, but that wasn't too alarming. They kept putting a pillow under me thinking changing positions might help. David and I both rested while we waited. Then, a bunch of nurses came running in and kept on turning me in every position you could think of and put an oxygen mask on me. I breathed as deeply as I could, trying to get the baby's heart rate back up, which finally happened. They called Dr. Owens and told her she needed to come right away. They watched his heart rate closely, but it was back up in the normal range (though still lower than average). His heart rate had been lower than average (and much lower than at our doctors visits) the whole time I had been at the hospital. It was averaging around 115 or so. After the nurses left and all was calm again, I lay staring at the monitor that showed his heart rate and David stood close by doing the same. Finally, Dr. Owens got there and broke my water. They kept checking to see if I had made any progress, but I was still only about a 7. Then, they broke the news to us, he would need to be born c-section. Though his heart rate wasn't so low anymore, it wasn't normal. A normal heart rate goes up and down regularly, but his wasn't going up at all, just down and then back up to the baseline, but never up. She said if we could deliver him quickly maybe we could avoid it, but I wasn't progressing quickly (which is normal for me).
So, the preparations began for a c-section. It wasn't a rush, rush situation at that point. When they were ready, they wheeled me down to the OR. They upped my anesthesia, scrubbed me, and did all the other things they needed to. David waited in the hall. Then, the nurse said she was going to check his heart rate again. After she did so, she said loudly, "We need to get this baby out now!" They sent someone out to get David and they started right away. As David walked in they were taking Adam out. They did the c-section in two minutes flat, started at 7:06 and finished at 7:08. All I knew is he was crying a healthy baby cry. He had arrived and he was healthy. They wiped him and wrapped him and gave him to daddy while they finished up. Everyone's comments were about how big he was. They didn't have a scale in the room, but someone finally went and got one, so they could all know how much he weighed, 9 lbs. 8 oz. I was awake, but kind of out of it at this point.
Recovery from a c-section was kind of hard for me. I didn't feel much for the first little while. They leave in your epidural for the first 24 hours and then give you lots of pain meds. So, mostly I just rested, watched HGTV with David and took care of my new little baby. After 24 hours they took out the catheter and then I could get up (with help of course) and try to use the bathroom. It was so nice when I finally got to take a shower! I stayed at the hospital for three days and then I was ready to leave. I was glad to get home, but glad I had lots of help. Everyone said after you come home that it gets a little better everyday and you should be up more and more, but it didn't happen that way for me. I felt worse after I got home and it took a week and a half before I saw any improvement. I had a sharp pain on my right side every time I got up to go to the bathroom or took a shower (which are the only times I ever got up). I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even get in and out of our high bed, so I just stayed in our recliner and David stayed close at hand to help. Eventually we put Adam's bed next to me so I could put him down, get up and do what I needed to and come back and sit down and pick him up. I didn't even go downstairs to eat, but had a kind mother and mother-in-law who made food for my family and brought some up to me. It felt great when I could finally get downstairs and eat with my family and then even help make dinner.
Now he is a month old and I feel pretty much normal. I can't wait until the weather gets nice and we can get outside and start walking. I am grateful for a happy, healthy baby (who sleeps through the night already) and a great family.
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