Didn't Go As Expected...But Still Worked Out Great!

Wednesday morning I went to the doctor because I had a soreness in my stomach since 4am.  I called the ob/gyn at 730am and went in at 8am to see the doctor.  After seeing the doctor, they said everything looked fine, I was still 1-2 cm dilated (which I was the previous Friday), but my blood pressure was a little high.  So they sent me for a Nonstress Test just to make sure everything was ok.

I went over for the NST and after sitting on the machines for a little while, I was told everything was looking great.  At this time it was 11am and they wanted to have the doctor come in and double check my dilation again before I left.  The doctor ended up getting called in to a couple back-to-back emergency c-sections and before I knew it it was 2pm. 

As I was laying in the bed half-naked, waiting for the doctor and texting my husband how annoyed I was that I was still stuck there...MY WATER BROKE at 2:03pm.  I called the nurse and she took me into a Labor and Delivery room.

They hooked me up to an IV and the contractions started at 2-5 minutes apart.  They gave me an IV pain killer that helped for about an hour and then started wearing off.  I was so afraid of an epidural (and the whole delivery process for that matter) but when those contractions kept coming and didn't seem to give me a break in between...I asked for the epidural. 

The epidural was a GOD-SEND!  I went from unbearable contractions to contractions that just felt like an urge to pee (though I knew I didn't have to because I had already had a catheter in).   THEN THE SCARY PART CAME!

The nurse and doctor came in at 7:38pm and said that they were having trouble monitoring the baby's heart rate and that from what they could see his heart rate kept dropping and rising.  So they put an internal monitor in and said that they will monitor his heart rate very closely for the next couple hours.  If his heart rate did not stay up (should be between 120-150), then they would have to take him via c-section.

About 20 minutes later, at 8:00pm, the doctor came back in and said that his heart rate is really low and they were doing an emergency c-section.  My husband said the monitor showed a heart rate of 75.  I immediately started vomiting from the news!  All of a sudden, the room was filled with people and my bed started moving towards the door.

When they got me to the operating room, my husband was still not there.  As people kept rushing around me, all I kept asking for was my husband.  He finally was brought into the room and a few minutes later we were told our son was born at 8:13pm.  I did not hear him cry so I then kept repeating "I don't hear him.  Do you hear him? I don't hear him crying." (even though the nurse said he came out crying).  Finally, I heard him cry and it was like nothing else mattered.  I didn't care that I was still on the table in the middle of surgery...I was just relieved that he was here and healthy. 

They then took my husband to see him and pick him up.  For the next 45 minutes, they worked on me and my husband sat behind my head holding our son.  Benjamin James was born a healthy 8 pounds 9 ounces and 21.5 inches long at 8:13pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012!  Even though the birth did not go the way I had expected, the whole process went very smoothly and resulted in a wonderful baby boy!