If you're just tuning in to this post you need to start here (Charlie's Birth Story: Part 1) . I've been working on writing Charlie's birth story over the last few weeks, so the posts have been a bit spread out. Thanks!
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As I was leaving the doctors' office my mind entered what I can only describe as a state of shock. It was very much like I was watching myself in a movie and my body was just going through the motions. Looking back on it all it's very hazy and "other worldly," and that's not just because it's been 7 and a half weeks since it has happened.
Sweet Sosha walked me up to the front of the office and offered to go to the house when she got off of work so that she could bring me my bags. I was obviously concerned about not having them. I was so frazzled she had to explain to me to take my key off of the ring to give to her! I was also quite shocked that in my current state the girls at the check out counter were asking me to go ahead and schedule my 6 week follow up appointment! Yeah, ok, like my head was really clear to think about my schedule!
Before I even got out the doors of the office I was on the phone with JD. He was leaving work mere minutes before his big meeting. It was around 2:30 in the afternoon at this point and his meeting was scheduled for 3:00. He asked if I wanted him to go ahead and call our parents. The plan had always been for him to be in charge of making all phone calls. I told him I wanted to see him first and at least wrap our heads around what was happening. I did tell him to go ahead and call our friend Josh though. Josh is a nurse anesthetist and we knew that if I got an epidural he was the only person in the world that I would trust to do it. He had been at the top of our list of people to call on the way in because he said he would come in for me even if it was his day off.
Fortunately Valdosta isn't that big of a town and the hospital is less than 5 miles from my doctor's office, and JD's office is also less than 5 miles from the hospital. We both pulled into the parking lot at the same time. JD parked right away but I was so frazzled I tried pulling into the parking spot beside him at least 5 times before giving up and having to park somewhere else. By the time I parked and got my door open JD was standing right there waiting for me. I got out and gave him a huge hug and told him we were about to have a baby! I remember feeling like I was supposed to be crying, but that I was just very numb instead. Again, it's like my body went in to auto pilot mode and was just moving on its own as I stood back in utter shock. My plan? How I thought it would happen? Yeah. It was all out the window. We were flying blind.
When I get nervous and anxious I tend to talk a lot and really fast. I also get into a very take charge, here are the facts, down to business mode. I tried explaining everything to JD the best I could, but all the while still feeling like I had no idea what was going on. That became very evident as we checked in as well. The conversation with the girl at check in went something like this...
"I'm here to have my baby."
"Ok... But you're not in labor." (Obviously)
"Right. But my doctor told me to come here. Now. To have my baby."
"Why? Does labor and delivery know you're coming?"
"I have no idea. I'm just here to have my baby."
Several phone calls later we were sent on to registration where the conversation repeated itself. While we were sitting there and I continued to say over and over again that I was here to have my baby the weight of the whole situation hit me. I simply turned to JD and said to call my mom... NOW. He went back out to the lobby and called both sets of parents while I finished registration. I also sent a text to my best friend Allison that simply said "Call JD. 911." I'm sure that was fun!
When I was finished with registration we had to wait for someone to take us upstairs. JD told me he hadn't been able to get in touch with Josh, so I called his wife Terri and filled her in on the details and asked her to try to find Josh. It turns out he was already on call and working that day and at the hospital! How easy!
At this point JD was on the phone with his mom. Apparently all JD had said to my mom when he called her was something like, "Jessica is having the baby. You need to get on the road and come down." God bless my mother. She didn't even ask questions! She just said OK and hung up! It must have hit her what he said because she started calling back while he was on the phone with his mom. I talked to her and started explaining everything. It was SO surreal. I couldn't help but laugh when she said that Daddy was at the gym and she'd have to wait for him to get home before they could leave! No big deal!
I had also realized that waiting for Sosha to bring our bags from the hospital wasn't going to work. My oh so important epidural paperwork was in the bag, and I knew I needed it if there was any chance of me getting one. I didn't know what the plan was for the afternoon or if I could stand to wait until 6:30 to get my epidural. This is why we texted Allison. Thankfully she works at school with me, and the school is only a half mile from the house. I knew school would be ending shortly and asked Allison to go by the house to get our spare key and then bring everything to the hospital for us. God love that girl, when she heard what was going on she just told her paraprofessional and another teacher she had an emergency and walked out the back door of her classroom before school was even over! No questions asked!
By this point Transport had come downstairs to take us up to Labor and Delivery. I might have just been self conscious, but I feel like I was getting some strange looks being wheeled through the hospital. I obviously was not sick or in pain and I had this good looking man in a fancy suit following behind me!
We got upstairs and were sent into one of the triage rooms to get my vitals taken. I was glad at this point to have taken a tour of the second floor when we had our hospital classes. I knew exactly where we were going and what would happen. As I was getting on the scale (202 lbs), my nurse, started asking all about what was going on and why I was there. It became more and more clear that I had beaten the info from my doctors office to the hospital. Everyone on L&D knew I was coming, but they didn't quite seem to know why or what to do with me. Alyce told me that she needed me to explain my baby's condition because she didn't know much about it. Her exact words were "I was trying to Google it on your way up but I figured you could probably tell me more about it yourself." First of all I wasn't sure what "condition" she was talking about. I assumed she meant the IUGR since that's what seemed to have me here. It turns out she meant the Mega Cisterna Magna. Second of all, don't tell your patient that you were Googling her condition on the way up!
As I explained things to my nurse (whom I ended up loving), I was taken to room 2007 and given a gown to change into. The nurses still weren't sure of a game plan, so they just told me to change and get comfy in the bed while we waited for more information. Everything was very much in slow motion as I processed that THIS was it. The room where in *hopefully* a few hours I would be having my baby!
Not long after I got changed and was getting settled in bed, Allison showed up with all of our stuff. She was SO excited! It was nice to have her as a distraction while Alyce got all of my monitors hooked up and started going through the routine questions. Since Valdosta State University is minutes down the road I also had a nursing student. I can't remember her name for the life of me, but she was nice. She fluttered around the room as Alyce worked too.
By now it was about 3:30 and everyone was under the impression that I was just checking in to be monitored for a while. It wasn't until I explained that my midwife said I was having the baby TODAY did everyone realize what was actually happening! Thankfully Teresa showed up minutes later and got the show on the road. She checked mine and Charlie's monitors and said that we both seemed to be doing well. Everything started to happen VERY quickly! Allison had to leave and it's probably best that she did. Teresa explained that I was indeed going to have my baby TODAY one way or another. The plan was to break my water, start a pitocin drip, and see how things went from there. I had heard horror stories about Pitocin, but all along my birth plan was "Happy healthy mom. Happy healthy baby. They're the experts." I said ok and things got going.
A few minutes after 4:00 Teresa came back in and broke my water. I can't even describe that situation. JD stood by me and held my hand as I made some of the ugliest faces in the world and stared at the ceiling so hard that I'm surprised it didn't come down! It was quite uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt either. Teresa have me a warning what was about to happen just seconds before I felt the gush. Oh it was the strangest sensation, and I'm not even sure I could describe it. Let's just say I'm glad it happened in a hospital bed and NOT in the middle of my classroom when I wasn't prepared for it!
Before I really knew what was happening I realized Teresa was doing something else down there. She was attaching the kind of monitor that screws into Charlie's head. Honestly I was NOT happy about this, not because I really had any medical reason to be unhappy, but just because I hated the thought of something being SCREWED INTO HIS HEAD. It was already over and done with before I could ask why we were doing it or voice any opposition. This is probably the only thing about the whole experience that really upset me. I just had to trust that everyone knew what they were doing and why. As Dr. Yarborough and I had said throughout... They are the experts
My IV was put in at some point by now and they started me on fluids and my Pitocin drip to start increasing contractions. They had my monitor set up right by the bed where we could see the contractions. At this point they were only minor tiny rolling hills that would get up to about a 1-2 on the little scale and they really didn't have any regular consistency time wise. It looked like we would be here for a while, or at least until they turned up the Pitocin!
I was officially all set up. It was baby time... Or I guess LABOR time!
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