Evan is Here!

Looking back on the last two years of miscarriages, surgery, frustration, pain, I can safely say it is all worth it and would do it all again just to have my baby.

Evan was born last Monday morning.  Of course he came into this world with  flare for drama.  I was scheduled to be induced on Monday at 12:30am.  Sunday, I woke at 4 am with contractions about 26 minutes apart. This went on for 5 hours.  I never went back to sleep.

At 7pm, they started up again.  I wanted to go out for a big dinner because I likely wouldn't eat for a full 24 hours.  At the restaurant, they were about 7 minutes apart.  Not too painful.  We got home and waited to go to the hospital for induction.

At 1am, we were taken to our delivery room.  The previous Thursday, I had been 2cm.  They immediately started me on pitocin.  Very quickly the contractions got painful. They said I could have the epidural at any time but be mindful I would be stuck in bed for up to 18 hours. 

My husband went to sleep, despite me panting loudly. They came in to break my water.  I thought this hurt, it was like the most invasive internal exam of you life.  And then the flood gates open.  You continue to leak and leak.  They said it would leak through delivery.  They put a towel between my legs to make it more comfortable. Around 3:30 it got what I considered unbearable.  If I could cry during the killer contraction that put me over the edge, I would have.  When it ended, I yelled to Greg who was somewhat far away on the couch to wake up, page a nurse, and get my epidural.

Around 3:45am, I was prepped.  At this point, my body was uncontrollably shaking, which they said is normal.  The epidural was no big deal.  He said it could take between 3 minutes and 45 to get it in the right place.  Luckily, he got mine in relatively easy.  First they give you a shot to numb you.  It barely hurt and I didn't care at that point.  They it feels like this weird pressure but doesn't hurt. 

Once it was done, they let Greg back in the room.  I could still feel my legs in a good way.  Each hour you turn from side to side because the bottom half gets more medicine.  Since I had some feeling in my legs, it wasn't too hard to turn. I could feel contractions to the extent I knew they were happening and was slightly uncomfortable during big ones, but it was totally doable.

At this point  I had been up for 24 hours.  I tried to sleep now since  I had pain relief.  It didn't happen but I was resting.  Around 6 they came and put oxygen on me and said the baby's heart was dipping with contractions and this should help.  Apparently it did.   I had heard this was common, especially with induction.

At 7:30 the doctor came in.  She said she had a c-section at 8 and would come by after.  She said I was 5cm and 90% effaced.  She said if there were any issues, another doctor from the practice would come in to see me.

At 8am, I had just dozed off and the nurse screams, "Dana, turn on your other side!".  I do.  And thirty seconds later she shouts, "go back to the other side."  In the next couple of seconds, 8 people literally run in the room, including the back up doctor.  I was so scared, there aren't even words.  Greg wakes up to this stampede.  They shouted to me, "get on you hands and knees now!"

Apparently the baby's heartbeat dropped to 56.  It should be between 120 and 160.  I started pleading with the doctor to just take him out now, I don't care about a c-section, just get him out.  She just rubbed my back and said, let's try this first.  They had me in this modified child's pose for 30 minutes, while his heartbeat got up to an acceptable range.  Pitocin was stopped.

At 9am, my original doctor came back and said she wants to give it another hour but he hasn't dropped enough, I am not dilating fast enough, and we are expecting a large baby which she didn't think would fit through me, but she wanted to give it a shot.  At 9:45  I hadn't progress and he wasn't tolerating contractions very well.

She said I could wait longer but at this point my c-section would bump other people scheduled for one and didn't want to make it an even more critical process.  I said get him out.  Within five minutes,  I had signed consent forms, my meds were adjusted for surgery, Greg was in hospital garb, and I was being wheeled to the operating room.

Once inside, I internally freaked.  At this point my legs were completely numb and they make you move yourself onto this skinny board of a table.  Then they adjust you by people holding sheets up in the air to roll you.  I thought I was going to end up on the floor.  I thought I was going to hyperventilate and asked for something for nerves.  They said they could but the baby would get it so I said forget it.  They put up a drape so I couldn't see my body and they brought Greg in.  They have your arms outstretch on these tables, so we were able to hold hands through the surgery.  I heard a couple scary things during the surgery, such as "I am having trouble getting him out" and even more alarming, "they are donating the cord blood as a benevolent act, I am not sacrificing their care for the blood, get back here".  At that point I was freaking again. 

Meanwhile you don't feel pain but you do feel pressure. When the pressure got intense and the baby wasn't out yet, I got nervous.  A minute or two later a nurse said, "he is coming soon".  About a minute after that, Evan Carter was born crying.  I started crying too.  I was so relieved and so happy.  They put him on the warmer which I could kind of see to the left of me.  But I was so tired and dizzy from sleep deprivation it was hard to stay focused.  Greg got up to cut the cord.  He took pictures so he could bring them back and show me.  The baby cried the whole time and then they swaddled him up and gave him to Greg.  He immediately stopped crying and looked at him with wide eyes.

They finished me up and at this point I could care less about what was being done to me.  Once I was transferred to the bed to wheel me to recovery, I got to hold Evan.  He is so adorable.  Oh, and the kicker, he weighed 7 lb 14 oz, not the 9.5lb they were expecting.  How crazy is that?

We stayed in recovery for 2 hours and then got transferred to my room.  I stayed four days.  He has been such a good mellow baby. And shockingly, we have been pretty mellow too. 

For those who have had a myomectomy, the pain of that surgery is about 10x worse then a c-section.  It is completely manageable and the pain absolutely pales in comparison to having a fibroid removed.

Here are some pics.

And here is one of the two of us.

And him in all his cuteness: