This is how the (first) day began...
With a scheduled trip to the doctor for my weekly check-up. I was exactly 38 weeks on this day. Thank goodness we did have enough wits about us that morning that we decided to go ahead and load the packed bags and pillows in the event that my doctor had me stay at the hospital. Mom was still in town and decided to take me, as I had not been feeling well and was still on "strict" bed rest. These are some pictures that mom wanted to take before we left. Notice that I do not look amused. Ha ha. Little did I know that these were going to be some of my only and last maternity pictures. Woo hoo...look at that belly!!!
I love my expression: I am huge, uncomfortable, huge, have a headache, am grumpy and feel really huge. Please do not stand there and ask to take my picture again. Let's get in the truck and go. Following my appointment and ultrasound we were told by my doctor that due to the teetering blood pressure I had been having, the beginnings of a headache and the results from the biophysical profile they had from the ultrasound that had just been done, they were going to keep us at the hospital overnight and induce labor first thing the next morning.
Ha ha...the next phone call I made was pretty funny. It kinda went something like this:
Me: Hey babe! Well, we just got done with the appointment and the Doctor says that she is going to admit me and wants me to stay here. She is planning on inducing me first thing tomorrow.
Lee: What?! Tomorrow? But I have a herd to work tomorrow. Could we wait till Thursday?
Me: Um...okay, well regardless of that...we're having a baby tomorrow.
Lee: ...Huh...Ok, well let me make some calls and get some guys lined up to cover for me and I guess we're having a baby tomorrow. Wait...how are you? Is everything okay? What do you need me to do?
It was so funny listening to my husband switch from "work mode" to "husband/soon-to-be-a-daddy mode" in a matter of seconds over the phone. Little did we know that he would have had plenty of time to work that herd and still make it for the grand finale! Ha ha. He just might not have had a happy wife at the end of the day.
Here are some pictures and a little commentary on how the next 48 hrs went:
This is Lee getting to the hospital and us being soooo excited about what was to come!
Taken: 5/17, 8:33 pm
Me...feeling GREAT! I have been having contractions for about 2 1/2 hrs now
and still doing pretty good.
and still doing pretty good.
**We are missing a few pictures in here that we took**
Unfortunately, as time progressed, my body really had not. I had been given Cervadil, which is a prostaglandin, the night before to get things going and had been on Pitocin since 6:00 am to induce labor. My body was just not responding at a very promising rate. It was very slow going for everything but my contractions, which continued to build throughout my labor. I cannot tell you how many times I prayed and thanked the Lord throughout this time for anesthesiologists.
This is me on 5/18 at 10:33 pm. It had been a long day.
Did I say long...I mean very long day. This is on 5/19 at 12:44 am.
At this point, these guys had been kicked out of the room. This was the family waiting in the lobby/waiting room to get the big news. Lee's parents actually flew in and arrived around midnight. It was a long (and obviously uncomfortable) night for everyone.
 |
| My dad |
 |
| Lee's dad |
 |
| My mom |
This, my friends. This was my very best friend during my stay at the hospital. This is the bag of drugs that ran into my epidural and the machine that would administer a bolus when I pushed a little red button. It helped A LOT early on. Towards the end...maybe not so much. I was the first patient the anesthesiologist said he had ever had to refill their bags. Ha ha. Like I said...it was a very long day.
This next one was taken around midnight on 5/18, and this is my doctor. To say that she was phenomenal was an understatement. She pulled an all nighter and stayed with us through the whole entire thing ladies and gentleman. Saw me at 4 pm on Tuesday for my appointment and delivered my baby at 3:23 am on Thursday morning. She did whatever she could to keep me from having a c-section, while ever-so closely monitoring both myself and my unborn child. She would see something on our monitor from wherever she was (her office, break room, nurse's station) and would be in our room in within seconds, round the clock. She encouraged me, supported me and was stern with me...whatever the situation called for. We laughed later at her lack of a poker face. It's true. We all knew when she walked into the room, she meant business. But...she would smile and love me right back to OK with a hug when I needed it too!
When I saw her later on Thursday morning, she had already performed 3 surgeries. She loves what she does, and it shows. I am honored to be her patient.
We don't have any "immediately after" pictures of Gage because everything happened so fast! I was being checked every 2 hrs (odd hrs) by the nurses and my doctor, and at 3:00 am, we were finally there! It was also at that point that the fetal heart monitor started going crazy and it looked like we were both beginning to be a little stressed from the long labor. When those kinds of things start happening, you see everyone (nurses, doctors, etc.) jump into a different mode/speed. After all the hours we had spent making such slow progress, even contemplating a surgical delivery at one point because my body seemed to be regressing, we had a baby in our arms in 23 minutes!
This, my friends, is the first picture that Lee took after the delivery. This was exactly 3 minutes after Gage David Burton breathed his first breath of air. Thinking back to this time, makes me a little sniffly. To think of all that we had been through in the last 30-something hours and knowing that our precious little boy was being whisked away to the Neonatal ICU downstairs to check out things we didn't understand the names of. Lee was told to go down with him while the doctor finished taking care of me. This period of time is somewhat a blur. I remember some of the conversations and things that were taking place, of some of the things that happened but I was extremely dazed. Looking back now, Lee and I agree that this experience has most definitely deepened our relationship in ways we never expected. We shared more than I ever imagined possible. We laughed, cried, faced fears, tried things we had never tried, did things we never thought we'd have to do and saw things we thought we'd never have to see. I'm convinced that it's those times that we really grow. I know we did.
Several hours later, once we were both stable and I was able to move, we got to go down to the NICU and see our son for the first time. I remember this being quite surreal. At this point, we could not hold him, but could touch his tiny little body with our fingers. It was hard to believe this was our little baby. This is all 6 lb 10 oz of him on a warming table with all his little tubes. Surreal is all I can say.
This was the first time that Lee and I got to go down and hold Gage. I think we were both still in shock and amazement that this little guy was here and he was ours! Oh, he was sooo precious and sooo perfect! This picture was taken later in the day on Thursday. There are some funny stories of Lee trying to ever so gently roll me around the hospital in the wheel chair. If you think of it one day, ask me about them.
Amazement
This is a picture (of the picture) that Gage's NICU nurse took of him and gave to us to keep in our room. He had to stay in the NICU Nursery the entire time we were at the hospital, so we never got to have him in our room like we had planned. I loved having this picture out on the table in our room. That way, at least all the visitors we had, had something to see. I also have to say here that the NICU nurses that we dealt with were AMAZING. I don't know how they do they job that they do, but know that they are special people. We were blessed by each one of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment