Pregnancy Journal

You little eager beaver you! You were born by emergency c-section at 6:46pm at Northside Hospital in Atlanta on June 5th, 2008...a Thursday evening, 31 weeks and 4 days. It was a LONG labor, that I honestly hoped they would be able to stop! On Wednesday night I noticed some "crampiness" after dinner. Just a general "blah" feeling too. Around 11:30pm, I started getting ready for bed hoping that I would feel better in the morning. By midnight I was contracting, but it was irregular...I tried sleeping. At 2am I still hadn't slept and I decided that they were feeling more "pattern-ish" to me, so I started timing them...7 minutes. I changed positions, got something to drink and relieved my bladder. I woke you dad up shortly after 3am. We called for back up for your brother since it was in the middle of the night and arrived at the Cartersville hospital just before 4am.

Yep, I was in labor. Contractions were every 4 minutes and becoming uncomfortable. No dialation yet. So here come the drugs. Oh boy! I received three shots of a drug similar to terbutaline that made me extremely sick to my stomach, a dose of procardia and IV's full of magnesium sulfate. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper. I also wasn't allowed to eat or drink since I thought it was planned all along for me to have a c-section. So, my last meal was at 6pm the night before, and I was completely parched for liquids.

Around 1:30pm Cartersville decided you and I were stable enough to be transferred by ambulance. We even got to have the lights and sirens blasting (aren't we special!). By the time we got there, I was 3 cm dialated. More blood was drawn (I'm surprised it wasn't in solid form!) and I have an ultrasound. Head is down, fluid is at 4.7, dialated now to 4 cm...let's have a baby. I'm told we can have a natural delivery. I"m both pleased and exhausted. It is now 4pm and I've been in labor for 14 hours.

I'm taken to another (nicer and roomier) labor room. Our family (grandma, poppa, great-grandmomma and aunt sonya) gather round. I'm finally given some relief in the form of an epidural. I wanted to KISS him!! After that, I'm checked once again. Water has broken, 6 cm, cord prolasped....CORD PROLAPSED!!! Dr Middleton holds your cord in with her hand and she sends rush orders for a c-section immediately. Your dad had just sat down to eat dinner, but is now rushed for scrubs.

Off to the OR we go. They begin before your dad even gets inside. In about 5 minutes (probably less actually) you are out. I barely hear a small squeak and they rush you over to the warmer and intubate you. You have arrived.

Well little man, it seems you  just like the drama of center stage huh? (that's my boy!) But seriously...you need to stop it! I thought I was in preterm labor with you yesterday. I think you nearly gave grandma a heart attack! It seems I have already lost my mucus plug ( I know TMI) but at least I'm not dialating so they sent me home after monitoring me for contractions. I only had a few and they were irregular in nature...so we just have to keep our eyes open and instincts on alert.

I was worried because we had to have two infusions in 48 hours this week. We went in on Wednesday for a tap and an infusion. You were too squirming for a tap. I don't know how you do that when you don't have any fluid to move in, but you find a way everytime! Then I was having contractions during my infusion, so every time I had one...the needle would pop out of place due to the muscle tightening. On the last one, the needle wasn't put back in all the way to the amniotic sac. So, we filled up some space between my uterus and the sac. Didn't feel too good let me tell ya. With some of the fluid outside me, we decided I couldn't make it through the weekend, so I was back on Friday morning (early!!) for an uneventful infusion.

But with all the hoopla, my uterus was a little irritated. When I saw bloody streaks I called the doctor immediately and was told to come in for monitoring. I'm glad it was just irritability and my plug. They say you can go a few weeks after you loose your plug...hopefully that will be the case for us. We really want to make 34 weeks. Just 3 more weeks to go! I'm one day away from 31weeks. We've made it so much further than I ever thought we would...especially after that admittance scare in week 28!

We also met with your pediatric urologist, Dr Kirsch. He seems really nice and personable. I think you will like him too...at least I hope since you'll be seeing him yearly from now on! Your surgery has been a constant worry to me, but the doctor relieved my anxieties and told me about the quick turn around. Only one overnight stay for the procedure! Goodie!

Well, we are going to Uncle David's birthday party tonight at his house. Aunt Kristen is  making ziti. Hope you enjoy your Italian feast. Doctor appointments on Monday and Tuesday. YOU BEHAVE in there!