The story

Well, I guess I should tell everyone the story of how things went down last week leading up to Aaron's arrival.

As I may have written, my blood pressure has been ever so slightly elevated for the last month or two. Nothing to be alarmed about, however prompted a couple of tests of my blood and urine. All came back negative. I went in for my appointment on Wednesday, Dad and Dana were already here helping me around the house with stuff I wanted done, and my blood pressure was still slightly elevated. The doctor told me that she would like to consult with her staff and OB/Labor and Delivery. When she got back she explained to us that she felt comfortable diagnosing me with pregnancy induced hypertension (I never thought in a million years that I would have hypertension). She said after talking with the other departments, they were fairly slow on Wednesday and usually induce at 39 weeks for this type of thing, so "How is today for you?" Her exact words...sorry Dr. Nijjar, if you're reading this. I just stared at the floor and Chuck's face just got all red and I told her that I definitely felt my blood pressure rising if it was any consolation. I asked Chuck why his face was so red and he said he was reacting to my reaction, absolute shock at that point. I had no idea that I would be going in, all intact, and going home within the next 2-3 days (hopefully) with a kid! So we decided that we would go home, gather our stuff, Chuck had to get off work, and we'd be back to the hospital by noon (this was about 10).

So that's what we did, made our way home, gathered the rest of our stuff, went to Burger King for lunch, Walmart for thank you notes (I still wasn't done), and went back to the hospital.

We got there, got checked in, in a gown, and, without getting too graphic, they put this thing inside me to make me dilate to 3-4 cm quickly. Well, it went REAL slow. So I decided that I would get up, use gravity to my advantage and get the thing out ASAP. I was standing about 45 minutes (mind you I'm having pretty menstrual cramps and labor pains for about 4 hours now), and I just felt like a contraction wasn't going away for about 5 minutes. Oh, yeah, plus I had pitocin going this whole time. I felt like I was going to pass out so I quickly layed down cattywompus on the bed and then the next thing I know all these people start rushing in asking me how I was feeling. This was about 7pm. They were asking me to lay on my side because the baby's heart rate has dropped significantly and they needed to get it up (come to find out much later, it was about seven minutes that it was down). Chuck said by the time everyone who came in came in, I had about four family practice docs and two OBs in the room at one time. They put me on oxygen, took off the pitocin, put a hair net on me and were putting up the bed railings. They were wheeling me out of the room faster than you could say what's going on and they wheeled me straight into the operating room. Basically it was just in case. They wouldn't even let Chuck in because if they had to do a C-section I would have been under a general anesthetic and he couldn't be there. This made him VERY nervous! But the heart rate went up and all was fine. They decided to put in the epidural at this point in case it happened again, that way I wouldn't have to be under a general.

That was scary!! They wheeled me back to my room after a while and things slowly got back to normal. We hung out, watched TV, and tried our hardest to convince my dad and sister to go back to our house because nothing was going to happen that night, not much had changed. Right when they left (around midnight), probably as they were walking out the truck, another episode took place. No rushing to the O.R. but they had me laying on my sides, on oxygen, trying to get his heart rate back up. Things turned out fine but the family practice staff came in and told us that we should make a decision as to whether we wanted to continue our journey to a natural delivery or make a turn towards a c-section. We called Dad and Dana back so they could know what was going on, just in case we decided the latter. So they came back, Chuck and I talked about it and decided that going for the former would be the best option for him and for me. So we decided to stick it out.

I slept off and on throughout the night. Chuck didn't get any sleep he was so worried about what was going on and what could happen. I tried to get him to go downstairs to the radiology dept where they had actual beds but he didn't want to.

By morning things weren't getting too far, maybe 5 cm and 75%. A change but little. Around 9 or so I was having some major back pain, enough to make me cry, so they brought in the anesthesiologist to give me some narcotics (that's what he thought was best). Basically it would ease the pain around the band of muscles around my back and ribs, he was pushing up really hard. The pitocin had been decreased and just about stopped at this point; my body was having it's own contractions.

The doctor came in around 11 and said that I was 9 1/2 cm and pretty much completely effaced, just when Dad and Dana were leaving to get Mom from the airport. Dana was pretty upset just at the thought of having something happen after all this time and she would even be there. When they got back the doctor had checked me again and decided with her staff that she had possibly read me wrong and that I was around 8 cm and a little more effaced than previously thought. This, to me, was not good news. Then she came in around 3pm and decided that I was even more effaced. What I heard was that I was actually moving backwards. This, obviously, was not what I wanted to hear.

The next thing I know there are a couple OBs in my room trying to reposition him. My doctor had already broke out the ultrasound, along with Chuck, and tried to see what position Aaron was in. So the OBs were trying to turn him. I noticed at that point I was definitely feeling more than what I was feeling previous to the narcotics that came earlier in the day. After talking amongst themselves they decided to confront me with their take on the situation. Basically:
1. Aaron was turned transversely (he was facing one of my hips).
2. His head was cockeyed a little towards one of his shoulders.
3. My pelvis was a little small.

So the OBs suggested that we take the next step and go for the c-section. This was not music to my ears considering I had already endured so much to have the vaginal delivery (24 hours at this point). I was really upset and I think it made them a little nervous but I was just so tired an so irritated at that point, I didn't really care what was going on. So they came in, prepped me for the motor block they would have to give me for the surgery and gave me oxygen and a hair net. Then Chuck had to leave to get dressed so he could be there. Everything was making him a little nervous I think.

We got into the operating room and they tied down my arms because I was shaking so much (I think it was nerves and it was cold). Chuck got in there. The anesthesiologist said that I wouldn't be able to move my toes. I guess that should have been the first inclination that something wasn't right, I could move my toes. Basically things were really crazy on my end. I knew they were cutting me very low on my abdomen but I could feel everything up near my ribs. I felt a little pain, obviously some pressure and pulling, but I think I was feeling more than I was supposed to. I know I was moaning a bit, I remember telling Chuck that I was going to pass out, and I know that I blacked out because I don't remember much more. I remember feeling a lot of pressure being relieved when they pulled him out and that he didn't cry very much. Otherwise I just remember trying to open my eyes and not be able to see very well, I saw double everything and it kind of hurt. The next thing I know I'm back in my room and my family is trying to talk to me, telling me to open my eyes.

Later Chuck tells me that the doctor had given me ketamine which is used as a date rape drug and club drug. This explains A LOT because during the procedure I could hear what they were saying but it played out in my mind as this bizarre tetris-type game, like they were trying to put me back together. I saw double for the next few hours but otherwise I felt fine. And I could finally feel my legs which was great; I hadn't felt those in about 20 hours.

So this is the end of the arrival of Aaron. I'll be writing more about the next three days in the hospital and the first few days at home. Let's just say that it's been a ride!