David's Birth: He Just Could Not Wait Any Longer, Thursday

Since I was pretty out of it, I asked that Joel write this portion of the birth story from his view.  So, the following is written by Joel.

After the doctor removed Jen's cerclage, her bleeding slowed but the contraction pain increased to levels only a mother could understand. I felt so helpless. Nothing I said or did affected her positively. Beads of sweat were glistening on her forehead from the intense and tortuous labor. I started to wonder if she could handle much more. When the nurse came in, she asked Jen if she would like to get an epidural. Jennifer gave a resounding yes, and before I could ask her if she was sure (she didn't want one with Emma or Ryan), she gave another resounding yes. It took quite a while for the pharmacy to fill the epidural order, long enough that I began to wonder. Jennifer barely felt the epidural needle as the contraction pain was so much worse. They had to steady her as the contractions were right on top of each other at that point. Within minutes of the infusion of the medication, Jennifer was fast asleep. It was night and day. One minute she was in excruciating pain and the next minute she was fast asleep. About two hours elapsed before the nurse came in and another 30 minutes until Dr. Desmarais came back. She performed a speculum exam and determined that Jennifer was 7 cm. The doctor decided she wanted to move forward so she inserted a long metal tool with snips at the end and ruptured the sack and prepared for delivery. After breaking her water, things moved pretty quickly. They moved her from her labor and delivery room over to the OR. They had me put on the hat and the shoe covers and gown. I felt a little unsettled about how quickly things moved. I didn't feel that great about the epidural or the way doctor Desmarais ruptured the sack so early. Once we were in the OR, it was a matter of getting everything set up. Getting all the tools, cloth, equipment, and personnel in place. At last we were ready to go. Dr. Desmarais asked Jen to try to start pushing. Dr. Desmarais inserted her hand and felt the baby's head and again asked Jen to push. Jen did the best she could considering she was completely numb, and before I knew it, little David Christopher came out. He had a full head of hair and he was crying. It was amazing. It almost wasn't even real. A little baby boy had been born, with his whole life ahead of him along with all the accomplishments and disappointments and joy and sorrow that would come along with it. This little boy will meet and touch the lives of so many people. That is why the feeling that I felt in that OR was so special; a child of God was born. That one moment represented the beginning of so much to come, and I get to be the one, along with Jennifer, to raise him up in truth and light and help him on his way. They held him up for us to see for just a moment or two, and then they sent him off to the NICU.

They rated him an 8/9 apgar. I felt a sense of peace and calm, as if his cry had somehow remedied our worry. I think it was a few hours before I went into the NICU to see him. After the delivery, I turned to Jennifer and said "I can't believe we have a little boy!" She looked at me, smiled, and said "I know." She was so tired that she fell fast asleep. However, I couldn't fight off the temptation to think "what if he could have made it just a few more weeks?" I think I felt that way because I truly didn't want David to struggle. It wasn't because I was being selfish and didn't want to spend the time in the NICU with him. (I still do have fears though that he will be a reflux baby like Emma.) However, only time will tell. Whatever his future, we will love him and support him 100%. I know Heavenly Father will have His hand in everything. We are so glad he made it safe and sound even if he was about 10 weeks early! What a blessing! 

Welcome to our family David Nyland Christopher! We love you so much.

David Nyland Christopher
Born May 2, 2013 at 2:48am.
3 lbs. 1 oz. (1380g) and 16 inches.

Leading up to David's Birth: Part IV Wednesday

At 4am, it was time to get started for day: take procardia and vitals, use bathroom, FB emails and note taking.  I find that I can't stop eating those pretzels Lisa dropped by.  I am now completely unhooked from cords and equipment and feel comfortable enough to go back to sleep at 5:15am.

6:15am Woken up and hooked up again to the IV for antibiotics.

7am New assistant RN emptied my urine.  The industrial toilet flush woke me up...again.  Did I mention that I had to use the bathroom every 1.5 hours or I felt like I would explode?  The nurses said I had fantastic "output".  Lol.  I was an ice-water drinking machine.

7:30am Rounds with Dr. Acuna and Bethany (nurse with short dark hair).  She wants to send me home on procardia and wants me to keep taking progesterone shots.  I am to be on strict bed rest with bathroom privileges, and don't need antibiotics after I leave.

8:30am Rounds with Dr. Sharon Desmarais.  I asked her if I should keep my 4-hour glucose test appointment.  I had failed my 1-hour test, but I am sure it was because I had eaten before it because they said I didn't need to fast.

9am Breakfast: eggs and bacon with banana bread and pudding.

9:15am First bowel movement since I arrived.  What a relief.

9:30-10:30am Shower and get dressed.  More pudding, procardia pill, gather personal belongings, brush teeth and comb hair.  Rest.  That tuckered me out.

11:00am They take my supply cart away that holds IV kits, needles, disinfectants, and other medical supplies.  I try to charge my phone and catch some shut eye.

11:10am Discharge instructions from the nurse.

11:40am I past the NST with flying colors.

12-12:30pm Figuring out child care schedules, canceling and rescheduling doc appts.

1:30pm Lindley picked me up and I left the hospital. I didn't have time to finish my lunch, burger and fries, so I brought it along. The nurses said oddly enough, everyone else on the floor got a fish sandwich and veggies. Weird.  Lindley brought Kallie and Jayda. The nurse brought me down in a wheelchair. I had some crampy feelings, and despite my better judgment I chalked them up to packing up my stuff and moving around during the transition.

Lindley dropped me off and no one was home. I got settled in, poured myself water, and filled up my pitcher. Trying to stay hydrated and drinking enough water at home has always been a challenge.

3:00pm I had a panic moment. I realized I was due to take my procardia pill at 4pm, but forgot to pick up my prescription from Walgreens. Joel was still at work and he had the car. (Meanwhile, Emma was with Kim Hunt and her kids. She was letting me rest without worrying about Emma.)

I ended up asking Lena  if she would take me to pick up my prescription. She came to pick me up and brought Emma and Lexi.  I was so happy to see Emma. She seemed well, busy as always, and looked so old and grown up. It was amazing how much older she looked to me after a few days. I missed her terribly.  We tried going through the drive thru but had to wait about 30 minutes in the car. Lena ended up going inside and got me some Fiji water. I laughed because our friend Alisa says it's the best. By the time I took the procardia, my contractions were 2 minutes apart. I tried to remain calm and tell myself they would magically go away after I took my medicine. They didn't.

I told Lena and Lexi to just leave Emma with me since Joel would be home soon. We watched Dora together and some other Netflix shows. She held my hand and did the foot balance thing on the coffee table. I watched her and studied her face almost the whole time in wonderment and adoration. When Joel came home and found out what was happening, he was upset with me for not asking for help. He was worried about the baby and me.

After the contractions didn't stop, I finally called the doctor. Some spotting was happening now. I knew the baby was coming soon. The doctor on-call was Sharon Desmarais, the first doctor I saw at WPJ. She told us to go to the hospital.

We gathered up my stuff and since we weren't expecting to go back to the hospital so soon we didn't have a care plan for Emma. Since it was still early, we decided to bring Emma with us and have Joel drop me off at the hospital and then drive Emma back home to put her down in time for her bedtime.  We also needed to find a babysitter so he could come back up to be with me.

After he dropped me off around 7:30 pm, I checked back in and they wheeled me back up to the same triage room. They took a urine sample, and by this time, the bleeding had increased considerably. I warned the nurses that starting an IV would be difficult and demanded a nurse practitioner right off the bat instead of being a human pin cushion. Luckily, they requested Dr. Acuna from ROC to be on-call. She was the one who originally placed my cerclage. She checked me to see the status of the cerclage. She determined it needed to come out because of the excessive bleeding and because the contractions were not going to stop.  Dr. Desmarais told me we would not do another round of magnesium sulfate because we already had done that and I had already received the two betamethasone shots for David, so there wasn't much more to do than to try to prevent the ripping of my cervix by the removal of the stitches.  David was going to have to come.

I cried during the whole process of the IVs and cervical checks because the pain of the contractions was  so great.  Dr. Acuna held my hands as they tried and failed several times with the IV.  I remember her face and she was very concerned for me, in a very compassionate way.  I was very glad she was there. I really didn't want David to come early, but I sadly accepted it.  I prayed he would be okay.  This experience of the contractions was a lot more painful than the first time I came in.  As I laid on the exam table, I texted Joel to see if he had found someone to watch Emma and wondered when he would be coming. I really wanted him there.  I suggested we should call Kathy Thomas.  I called and talked to her and she agreed to watch Emma while she slept at our apartment.

Joel finally arrived just after they transferred me to my room in Labor & Delivery around 9:00 pm. The contractions were terribly painful by this time, and the bleeding continued to worsen.  With every comtraction I could feel a gush of blood. They wheeled me into the surgical room.  When they transferred me from bed to table, I was sitting in the most massive pool of blood that shocked even me.  I was very worried, but calm, mostly for David's sake.  The procedure didn't last very long.  Dr. Acuna removed the cerclage inbetween my very painful contractions that were coming every minute on top of each other at this point.  I could feel the tautness of the pulling of the stitches inside me.  It was a pretty surreal experience.  They offered me 1ml of morphine which I regretted taking because it made my neck hurt.  I felt like it slowed my recovery too.

When we got back to the room, it was a waiting game.  I was completely exhausted by midnight and wondered how much longer it would be.  My contractions had been a 9/10 for hours, and I didn't know if I could do it much longer out of sheer exhaustion.