February 10, 2009: The BIG day!!

I tossed and turned all night. I was in so much pain; it was making me sick to my stomach. At about 1:30am I called for my nurse and told her I needed more Oxycontin. I had never asked for two at a time, let alone a dosage in the middle of the night. As a precaution, she hooked me up to the monitor and saw that I was contracting 2-3 minutes. She told me before she gave me the drug she was going to call Dr. Watts (he was the hospitalist that night) to let him know what was going on. About 2:00am, Dr. Watts came in. I told him it felt the same as the previous nights, but my contractions were just a little bit more intense. He said he would check my cervix for change just in case. I saw the look on his face as he was checking me. He said in a hurried, serious tone "get the ultrasound machine, stat." I was at an 8-9. (for those unfamiliar with childbirth, you start pushing when you reach a 10.)

Dr. Watts wanted the ultrasound because he couldn't tell which part of the baby was engaged. That made me a little nervous, but his head had been down the entire pregnancy so I wasn't too nervous. It took 4 minutes for the machine to roll into my room, and it took Dr. Watts 2 seconds to determine that the baby was in the transverse position. This means his butt was the engaged part and his head and feet were up high in my belly. He was essentially in the "v" position. Dr. Watts calmly looked at me and said I would be having an emergency c-section. I told my favorite nurse, Logan, to call John. Logan was my nurse on my first night, and she happened to be on the labor and delivery side that night. She is also Dr. Watts' daughter in law! She called John with my phone (I think he answered, Hi babe, haha) and Logan told him that I was dilated to a 8-9, but that the baby was in a difficult position and I was going info an emergency c-section. She told him to drive safe. As the nurses were quickly getting me ready for the surgery, Dr. Watts asked to call John again. He told John to drive safe because I was going into surgery now and there was no way he was going to make it for the birth so he might as well make it here safely. I texted John at 2:25am and told him I loved him and that both baby and I would be fine.

I was wheeled into the OR and was given the best epidural I have ever had. Granted I only had one prior to this, but this one went in smoothly and I was numb quickly and evenly! I was given some oxygen and we were ready to go. The only thing we were waiting on was the Neonatologist to arrive. About 10 minutes later, and after a stern look from Dr. Watts, the Neonatologist arrived and the c-section began.

It was a lot of pulling and tugging. The first thing I heard was Dr. Watts ask the resident who was assisting him what specialty he was going into and the resident responded "Radiology." Wow, talk about reassuring...not!

Then at 2:50am I heard the most beautiful sound in the world..a little cry that sounded like a mix between a bird and a kitten. I couldn't believe he was breathing let alone able to cry. The whole room was very excited that he was crying. But he was whisked away to the Neonatology team (in the same room), before the surgical team could tell what gender he was. I kept hearing, "is it a girl?", "is it a girl?"...I was thinking to myself, no way I have pictures and he is not a girl! Finally one of the neonatology nurses said "No, this is all boy" The nurse by me turned to me and said "sorry to get your hopes up" I just laughed.

As Dr. Watts spent the next 45 minutes putting my organs back inside my body with what felt like a sledge hammer, the neonatology team said the baby's first two APGARs were 8 and 8 and that was very good. He was breathing on his own, and looked very, very good for a 30 weeker. They said he was a good size at 2lbs 15oz and 17 inches. I didn't get to see him, but I saw his little head as they were working on him, and it was soooooo tiny.

I was wheeled into recovery, where Logan came to see how I was doing. I had told her previously that John and I really wanted Dr. Watts to be the delivery doctor and we both wanted Logan to be working the night I had the baby. She laughed and said "looks like you guys got your way...but I would have been on 4 days a week for the next 6 weeks!"

At about 4:30a.m. (it actually felt like only minutes after I was wheeled into recovery), I saw a tall figure dressed in sweats come to my side: it was John! He looked a little nervous, and conflicted. He checked on me to make sure I was fine, but then asked the nurse where he could see the baby. Being the guy that he is, he asked me if it was okay if he went and saw the baby and I said YES!

The next time I saw John was when I was taken to my Postpartum room. We both tried to get some sleep...but we ended up waking up at 5:30-6:00am to start texting everyone our news!