Apparently my uterus did not get the previous memo and continued to contract sending me to the hospital last Monday where I was hooked up to a monitor for several hours. I was contracting every 5 minutes, but because I was still only dilated to 1cm I wasn't considered to be in active labor and was sent home. Actually I was sent to Long John Silvers (the only thing I wanted to eat after being told I couldn't have anything to eat or drink from 9am until 3pm - not easy for a pregnant lady!). Then we went home. The only encouraging information the nurse gave me that day was that if I had progressed any more at my appointment with Dr. Davidson the next morning she might do the c-section Tuesday. Later that evening the contractions had slowed down to just a few an hour. I was not feeling hopeful.
Tuesday morning I got up - not having any contractions, mind you - got ready, did NOT eat breakfast and headed to the OB's office. Drew dropped Cash off at his parents' house just in case we ended up at the hospital afterwards and met me just before they called me back. I told him I wasn't expecting to have a baby that day, but would love to hear that I'd at least dilated to 2cm...
While we were waiting to be called back the sky turned a nasty grey and it started raining. Really hard. Actually, it was pouring. Everyone kept commenting on how dark it was outside and how nasty it looked. It was starting to turn green almost. I, however, was not focused on that. I just wanted to know what the heck my cervix was up to...
The nurse called us back, we did the usual - weight check, blood pressure check and then we waited on Dr. Davidson. She came in, measured my belly, listened to Corrinne's heart rate and checked me and said the best words I could've heard, "Well, you're...4cm!" 4 glorious centimeters!!!! Corrinne was on her way and the best part was - it was my mom's birthday! Since I found out I was pregnant with Corrinne, Mom had talked about how neat it would be to get a grand-baby for her birthday. So after getting instructions and signing multiple consents for the surgery we headed on to the hospital and I called mom to tell her she was getting her birthday wish. I still hadn't really noticed and/or cared about the fact that I was walking to my car in a torrential downpour - I was having my baby!!!!!
We were told the surgery was scheduled for 12:30 that afternoon. It was about 11:15 when we arrived to the hospital where my admitting nurse told me that there was no power in the O.R. and we'd have to wait - so 12:30 wasn't going to happen. Fine with me, half the family wasn't there yet and my Ft Wayne family was still getting notified at that point. We could wait.
Then we got word that the hospital was on "lock down" status and no one was allowed to enter or leave the hospital because the roads were flooding due to the rain. Thankfully, our families were able to make it in before we found out the surrounding roads into the hospital were closed!
I got my IV and found out that it would be more like 2:30. Still good...Drew got his scrubs to wear during the surgery and was told to get dressed by 1:45 because we'd be heading back around 2 to get things started. So we just chatted with the family and waited...
and waited...
and waited....
until about 2:00 when my nurse came in and told us Dr. Davidson couldn't get away from the office so it'd be more like 3:30. So we waited some more. Finally around 2:45 the family gathered around my bed and prayed for the surgery: prayed for me and Corrinne, prayed for Dr. Davidson, and prayed for a speedy recovery. I was feeling really anxious and excited but just wanted to meet my baby and get the surgery over with. Since I was having a repeat c-section I walked down to the O.R. with my nurse, climbed up on the table to receive my spinal block. Drew had to wait outside while that was being administered but the nurses were going to call him back once I was prepped and ready to go...so I'm sitting on the table and the anesthesiologist is getting ready to scrub my back for the medicine when the lights went out in the O.R. You could feel everyone (and I'm told you could hear our family in the waiting room) let out a huge sigh and "are you kidding me?!" I immediately started panicking thinking way too much about what I was about to go through, how alone I felt sitting in that sterile room with no lights and/or AC on. I started to have a mini panic attack and just needed to see my husband. So I asked if I could go be with him and immediately walked out and told him I wanted to go home and didn't want to have the baby that day. HA!! Thankfully Drew knows me well enough to know that wasn't true, I just needed to chill out a bit. So we went back to our room where my mom came in and helped calm me down. We talked with the nurses about some different options as far as anesthesia (the whole walking to the O.R. and climbing on the table freaked me out - I wanted to just go in there numb, get it done, and get out.) Around 4:30 I got an epidural- in our room with Drew next to me - and shortly after my Dr walked in, assured me that everything was going to go smoothly and by 5:30 we were in a fully-functioning, air-conditioned O.R. getting started.
It is a strange feeling laying on a table knowing exactly what's being done to you (thanks to watching way too many episodes of a Baby Story). I didn't feel pain but I could definitely feel pulling, them wiping my belly with towels, and the nurses pushing Corrinne out of the incision. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. But at 6:00 on the dot, I heard the best noise a mom can hear - my baby girl's first cry. It brings tears to my eyes thinking of it now. From what they said, her head wasn't even totally out yet and she was crying -- she was mad! They quickly got her out and showed us her purple, bloody little body over the drape and whisked her off to get cleaned up. Dr. Davidson asked for guesses on her weight and I quickly yelled out, "7lbs 15oz!". They laughed at how certain I sounded...but when they weighed her and she was exactly 7 pounds and 15 ounces they really cracked up. The next 30 minutes seemed to last an eternity as I kept trying to get a good glimpse of my daughter between nurses checking her out (she scored a 9 and 10 on her apgars - thankyouverymuch!) and feeling like I was going to fall asleep at any minute. (A side effect of the morphine.) Finally at 6:35 they laid her in my arms and I instantly knew why God had given us this baby at this point in our lives and felt ashamed for even questioning it. She is perfect and beautiful and my heart is overwhelmed with love for our children. As I've watched Drew with her, Cash kissing and hugging her, and stared into her eyes over the last few days I have thought to myself, it just doesn't get any better...
