June 17 - Alexander's Birth Story and short update

Hello Everyone,

I am sure by now, most of you know that Alexander has been brought into this wonderful world of ours. Through the technology of cell phones, text messaging and internet on cell phones, I have been able to let most everyone know of Alexander's arrival. However, there have been many people who have wanted to know about his birth story. Well, now that I am somewhat recovered and can't sleep, I figured now would be a great time to share with everyone his birth story and give updates on how he is doing.

I do want to warn everyone that this may be long and there may be points where you might think I have provided a little too much information, so for those who are sensitive, I suggest you might want to rethink reading this.

Based off my last post, I told you all that I was concerned because the doctors were starting to see a downside to my progress. Well, during the night, Friday night, I kept on having elevated blood pressures. My headaches also did not want to go away. After my evaluation from the resident doctor early Saturday morning, he said there was a strong possibility that I would be induced that day. He was going to call the high risk doctor and talk to him about what was going on with me and make a decision from there.

Robert was asleep and I hate telling him things while he is half asleep so I tried to get him to wake up, go to the bathroom and splash some water on his face. After he did that I was going to tell him that we were going to be parents sooner than we wanted. Well, as lovely as my husband is, he still did not get up. My nurse for the day came in and said to me "Are you ready to have a baby today?" Well, Robert heard that and jumped up so quickly. I told him that I was waiting for him to wake up fully, but he just didn't do it. I guess if I just said that I was being induced, it would have woken him up from his coma-like sleep, but I was just trying to understand it all myself first.

Well, after I was told that I was going to be induced, things started happening so quickly. Robert and I started packing up all the stuff in my room - there was a lot of stuff in there also because after all I was in there for 17 days. I was hungry, but I was told that at that point, it was clear liquids only for me. Yuck! I should have just eaten from my breakfast tray that morning. I asked for a quick shower because I hadn't showered since Thursday. Friday had been a bad day and I stayed in bed for most of it and never got up and took a shower. The doctor said no because he didn't want to risk me getting any seizures while in the shower. I at least was able to brush my teeth though. The doctor checked my cervix after I changed into the ever so flattering hospital gown. He told me that it wasn't open at all, but it was a little soft which was good for us. I didn't figure that it would be dilated at all since I was only 32 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

We were moved into a labor and delivery room where I was started on an IV drip of magnesium sulfate. Just a reminder, the magnesium sulfate is used to help prevent seizures. I was also given my first dosage of cytotec. It is a pill that is inserted vaginally to start softening my cervix. The resident doctor who administered the cytotec told me that she would check on me in 4 hours to see how it was working. Well after four hours, they decided to change the cytotec to an oral administration instead. They said it was because the oral form of it was easier to control and is absorbed into my system a lot faster.

Fast forward through Saturday. I felt a little pain, but was given some good medicine to help the pain go away. Robert and my friend Pam stuck with me through the whole process. All day long, I had nurses and doctors come in to check on my and see how I was doing, however, not once did anyone check my cervix to see how I was progressing. During the night, I had a nurse who seemed to never let me sleep. They were having a hard time keeping him on the external monitor, so the nurse spent the majority of the night trying to keep him on the monitor which meant I was being forced to lay down in the most uncomfortable positions.

Sunday morning around 9am, one of the doctors checked my cervix to see my progress. I heard the words "nothing new to report" and was a little upset because I was hoping that there would have been some progression. They told me that they would up my dosage of the cytotec and just keep on truckin' along. The nurse I had was great and you could tell that she knew what she was doing. She allowed me to rest and was not too concerned about keeping Alexander on the monitor all the time.

Around 2:30pm, another doctor came in to check my cervix and said I was 1cm dilated. I was so happy to hear that there was some progression. Also, while she was doing that, she did something that made my water break. I told me nurse that there was leakage down there and she verified that it was definitely my water that broke. By the way, I was never told that checking your cervix was going to hurt so much. The nurse explained that it hurt in the beginning because your cervix is further back and of course not open. She also told me that their policy was to not check your cervix a lot because it was prone to cause infections especially now that my water had broke. I was given pitocin to help contractions along. My nurse told me to let her know if I needed any medicine for pain.

We also discussed an epidural. I already knew that I wasn't going to brave enough to have a natural birth because I have a low tolerance for pain. We asked if there was a certain point of dilation when an epidural would not be given. I have always heard that there was a certain point when it was too late to have an epidural, but we were told that I could get an epidural at any point I wanted. They want to make sure their patients are happy so they will do what is needed. Afterwards, I was given some medicine for my headache and I eventually fell asleep. Robert and Pam said that while I was asleep, they could see my stomach jump consistently. It looked like Alexander was trying to escape through my stomach.

It was shortly before 5 (I think) and I woke up and decided that I wanted something for the pain. I called my nurse and told her. She asked if I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural or get some medicine through my IV. I told her that something through the IV was fine. She disappeared and then a doctor came in and said that if I was going to eventually get an epidural, then it might be in my best interest to get it done now since the epidural would just affect me and not have to go through my IV and affect Alexander. I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. The anesthesiologist was with another patient and would come see me when he was done. It seemed like forever and I wanted pain relief so they ended up giving me something in my IV anyways until the anesthesiologist was ready. The pain medicine made me loopy but helped me when I got my epidural because it made me more relaxed.

I fell asleep (again) after my epidural and woke up with pain on the left side of my lower back and stomach. I think this was after 7 because I had a new nurse on duty. She was actually one of my nurses that I had while I was on hospital bed rest. That made me feel better too that I did not have the same annoying nurse from the night before. I explained to her my pain and she called the anesthesiologist to come talk to me. He explained to me that epidurals only take away 80% of the pain, not all of it and there was a possibility that it did not hit all the nerve spots and that was why I was feeling the pain I was feeling. He said he could try to up the dosage and see if it would help and I told him to try it because I was not going to have this pain.

He left the room and during that time, I broke down and just knew that I wasn't going to be able to go through this birthing process. I had it. If he wasn't going to be able to take the pain away, I just wanted them to go in and take the baby through a c-section because I just knew I couldn't labor through the pain. Robert and Pam were able to calm me down, but it was just very emotional for me.

This whole time, my nurse was having a hard time getting Alexander on the external monitor. After the anesthesiologist changed up whatever he had to change, I felt the changes. I was not feeling anything anymore. Did not feel like I could move my legs where before I felt like I could get up and run laps around my room. The nurse called the doctor in to check on me because of the monitor. I guess the decided that they would put in an internal monitor instead to keep an eye on the baby. Please remember that this whole time, I was told that they would not check my cervix to see how far along I had progressed because of chance of infection. The doctor said that since I was only 1cm dilated at 2:30, there wasn't going to be much progress.

He went to go put the monitor and had to check my cervix (how else was he going to get the monitor in). I remember him saying "you are complete plus 3" Can you imagine how I felt? Robert's reaction was priceless. I just wished I could have seen his face. He asked the doctor what it meant for me to be complete and he said that it was time to have a baby. From that moment on, it was a complete whirlwind. The doctor gave orders and next thing I know they were telling me to roll over on my back and they were lowering the bottom part of the bed. Remember, I had just had my epidural "fixed" and could not move my legs at all. I had to get help to roll over and move upward on my bed.

I remember looking at the clock and seeing that it was 8:15. Next thing I know, the nurse and Robert have my hand and tell me to tuck my chin in and push. I had never gone through childbirth class, but had seen enough shows and read up enough to know that was what I was supposed to do, but I was still in shock that I was about to deliver my baby. I remember Robert telling the doctor that we had not gone through any childbirth classes, and that was when my nurse took over and guided me through it all. They eventually let go of my hands and had me grip onto something on the bed while pushed. I believe I had a series of 4 pushes (a series being pushing for a count of 10, quick pause for a deep breath, pushing again for 10 count, quick pause, and another 10 count) and the nurse telling me I was almost there and his head was out. On the 5th set of pushes, he was out. I was now a Mom!

From first push to delivery was around 15 minutes. Alexander was born at 8:27pm. He was taken straight to the NICU nurses that were in the room to check on him. He cried for just a little bit, but nobody seemed concerned. After they cleaned him up, one of the nurses brought him over to me so that I could see him and give him a quick kiss before they took him off to the NICU. Robert was able to go with him. All the while, the doctor was fixing me up. I had a second degree tear and he was stitching me up. Pam had stayed with me during this time. Nobody told me that after you deliver, you start shaking uncontrollably. I guess that was normal because nobody was concerned. Robert texted Pam his measurements. Imagine my surprise when I was told he was 6 pounds and 17 inches! Remember, I delivered him at 32 weeks, 2days. Imagine what would have happened if I went full term. He definitely would have been a big boy!

I was able to go see him after a few hours because they wanted to make sure I was stable. He was the most beautiful thing I had seen. They had to place a breathing tube in him because his lungs were still a little underdeveloped and was also given a dosage of cerfactin (sp?). It is supposed to help with lung development. I had to be on the magnesium drip for 24 hours after delivery and was dismissed from the hospital Tuesday morning. It was so hard to leave the hospital without him, but it had to be done.

Alexander is doing ok. He is still in the NICU. They are still working on his breathing. The only thing they are concerned with now are his oxygen levels, but they gave him nitrous oxide today to help open up his blood vessels and it seems to be working. The difference from what he looked like this morning compared to tonight was great. He looked much better.

I appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers. This is definitely going to be hard with him in the NICU, but it will be worth it because he is in good hands. I will try to keep you all posted, but no guarantees. I plan on spending as much time I can up at the hospital. Our first concern is getting his breathing tube removed. I am hoping it will be by Friday. That would make the best birthday present for me!

48 hours old!

24 hours old!

a couple of hours old!

Taken within 30 minutes of birth!