Mic's Grand Entrance

This post may contain TMI- so quit reading if it bothers you! :) On Tuesday, December 14th I made one of my many visits to the Dr. I was scheduled for a Non-stress test along with seeing the Dr. My blood pressure had been border line high, but never too high and never protein in my urine- until this day. My blood pressure jumped 20+ points and I had protein in my urine. The first thing she said as she walked in the door of the exam room was "How would you feel about having this baby next Thursday?" I told her it was a terrible to date to have a baby (the 23rd)! :) She agreed and said that the earliest she'd be able to get me home would be the 24th and that was if everything went perfectly. So, she looked at the calendar and said that I would for sure be having this baby on Tues. the 21st. BUT if things didn't improve by my next appointment on Thursday she felt like it was time to throw in the towel and get this baby here. The NST was good and Dr. Blackett did an ultra sound to make sure of the baby's position and the cord's position. The baby was still sitting high- but we knew that wouldn't change until my water was broken- because I had so much fluid. The good news was that the cord was all up at the top my uterus so hopefully there wouldn't be much risk of it coming out first. I left the Dr.'s office and went to the mall to pick up a couple of things from Bath & Body Works. I should have picked up some other things on the way, but I was in shock! It occurred to me that I might be having a baby in 2 days and Christmas was just a few days away and I wasn't 100% ready. Luckily, my mom had a couple of hours the next day and she went with me to finish it all. I spent the next 2 days in a little bit of shock and worry. Shock because I really wasn't planning on this baby until January and worry because I knew that I would only be 36 weeks on Thurs. and I was concerned for this little baby inside of me. Thursday morning we arranged for a neighbor to come help Doug give me a blessing. It was a great blessing. I was told that according to my faithfulness my baby would be strong and healthy. I was promised that I would have the strength to get through the next week. "We know that this next week will be busy and stressful but you will have the strength to endure." I knew then that this baby would be sick, but would only be in the hospital for the week and I also knew I would be able to handle whatever would come. I held onto that knowledge throughout the next week. I ran a couple of errands on the way to the Dr. hoping that today wouldn't be the day but being very aware that it could possibly be. I was suppose to go to work that day and had many other things that really should be done... But after spending 1 1/2 hours at the Dr. office. Having a Nonstress test and my blood pressure checked 4 times (it had risen more) and visiting with the Dr. It was decided that today was the day. I left the office at 11:30 and had 1 hour to get back to the hospital. I had one Zoning client who I felt like I really needed to get zoned so I called her and told her to meet me asap at the salon. At the salon I told them everything that was happening and they all had a fit that I was there- which I was thought was silly since I didn't feel any different than I did the day before. I was back at the hospital by about 12:30. I was checked in and had my blood and blood sugar checked and hooked up to pitoccin by 1:30. My Dr. came and broke my water. We knew that I had a lot of fluid, but wow! there was a lot! The nurse had to push down on the baby's head to make sure he would get down into the right position. The whole time she kept commenting on how much fluid there was. She moved 4 big heavy towels and said usually a woman has 1 towel that heavy. It was crazy! After the water came I was more comfortable that I had been in months! I told the Dr. I'd be happy to carry the baby for another 4 months! :) Too bad that wasn't possible... This progressed along really well and really quickly over the next few hours. I was comfortable and wandered around all they would let me (not very much) I was using essential oils and loving them and by 5:00 I was dilated to a 5. With my other deliveries by the time I got to a 5 I moved very quickly so I thought for sure I'd be delivering this little guy by 9:00. Things don't always go as expected (especially when it is me and babies...) I totally stalled at a 5. They kept raising the pitoccin, by the time I delivered the baby I was up to 34ml/hr. The nurse had told me earlier (when I was only at 4ml/hr) that the highest she had ever seen a woman go was 32ml/hr. I actually had to have them turn the machine around because I would get so discouraged at how high the number was. I had told my birth coach, the Dr. and the nurses that I absolutely didn't want an epidural. Thank goodness I told them that because by 1:00 in the morning I was so tired (I hadn't slept for a few nights before either) I didn't think I could do anymore. Luckily Doug and my birth coach were so wonderful! They talked me through each contraction and helped me rest in between so that I would have the energy to get through the rest of the labor. At 2:00 a.m. they checked me again and I was at about a 7. I had spent most of the labor sitting in the chair. As I was sitting there my labor coach asked me if I was feeling pressure at the end of contractions. I said "Maybe a little". After a few more minutes she told me I probably should get into the bed or I was going to be having the baby on the floor. I thought there was no way the baby was coming so soon and didn't want to get checked and only be at an 8. But I agreed to get into the bed. I moved onto the bed after the next contraction (they were getting harder to work through). Just as I sat on the bed a major contraction came. I help onto Doug's arm and about twisted it off- poor guy. Still not convinced that I would be ready to have the baby I swung my legs up onto the bed. The whole time the room had begun swarming with people. Including my Dr. (who slept at the hospital because she knew when this baby came it would come fast) the nicu nurse, my nurse and the respiratory therapist (because the baby was early). Just as I swung my legs up onto the bed I said (quite loudly) "I'm gonna' push!" They encouraged me to go ahead and do it. I was able to move the baby down quite a bit and then got nervous- I couldn't remember what I was doing. I think it was such a shock to go from working through the pain to pushing so quickly. I stopped pushing in the middle of the contraction. The Dr. told me I could push on my own or wait for the next contraction. I decided to wait. I pushed through the next one and out Mic came! I was so amazed! I hadn't planned on having him put on my lap immediately but I wanted him there. So they let me hold him for a minute. I watched Doug cut the cord and got to touch and hold him for a minute. It was an amazing few minutes! I felt so "in the moment"! The nurse took the baby and Doug went with Mic. I could tell by the look on everyone's faces that he wasn't 100%. Dr. Blackett reassured me that he looked pretty good for as early as he was and explained that he would go the the NICU for at least 1 hour while he received "early lung treatment". I was so grateful to my birth coach (who happens to be a dear friend of mine and who is very much a professional but doesn't deliver babies anymore she just did it for me as a major favor!) who stood and held my hand and told me how strong I was. I felt amazing! I really had the most peaceful, powerful feeling I had ever had. I knew I could do anything- I am a strong woman! Side note: Out of my 4 other deliveries I had never seen a placenta so I asked Dr. Blackett if I could see it. I thought she'd think I was crazy, but she excitedly showed me how cool it was and how it had two layers and how it attached. It is a pretty amazing organ!!! And my body made it to take care of my baby. (Of course that's also what caused the gestational diabetes but we'll forget about that!)