Flashback Friday (4 years to be exact)

This was me, four years ago exactly (well officially at 8 p.m. CDT). We were getting ready to welcome our first born, W into the world. I had an appointment on Friday, May 18th, and had elevated blood pressure and was swollen to a +3 Edema. My OBGYN thought it would be best to induce (I did have the option to object, but was quite the naive first time mother who never did her research). I was just so excited about meeting our first born, so we made the arrangements to check into the hospital the following Sunday (May 20, 2007).

I was given an iv hep lock (in case pitocin and saline would be needed), my first dose of Cytotec to induce labor, and then placed on the monitors for an hour. During all the blood draws, needle pricks, etc. Jess thought it would be a good opportunity to eat a snack... I didn't want him to starve while I was in labor...silly husband!

I didn't really start feeling contractions until around 10pm, and decided it would be a good opportunity to start walking the halls. The walk definitely helped, because I ended up only taking two doses of the Cytotec (my OB thought it would take me at least 3, because I was only dilated to a 1 when I checked in) before my contractions started coming closer together. Jesse filled the tub for me to soak, so I could relax before bedtime. It definitely helped my comfort level, but that nor the sleeping pill they gave me helped me sleep that night.

I was pretty much in labor from about midnight on, and thought there was a chance I wouldn't need pitocin to help augment my labor. However, that all changed when my first nurse of the day came in to check my cervix. I was only 3 cm dilated, and was just a tad bit disappointed. I thought I would have been more dilated than that, especially with the intensity and timing of my contractions. My OBGYN arrived shortly there after to break my bag of water, and we were hoping and praying this would really help labor to kick in and help me to dilate without the help from pit... we were wrong.

I finally asked for vitamin E (epidural) after having hard pitocin induced contractions and I was also progessing pretty good, 1 cm an hour. W handled all my contractions extremely well throughout the day. However, we were all wondering when our little man would come. I finally dilated to 7 cm(at 6:00 p.m), his head was only at -2 station. I dilated to 8 the next hour, but his head was still floating up there. My epidural was starting to wear off, but declined to get more, because I wanted to make it easier to push. Around 8:30 p.m., I stopped progressing, and then the fire alarm went off. Now, labor was already stressful enough, and now we have a FIRE?!?! My O.B. comes into my room wearing surgical scrubs, and I knew my hopes for a vaginal delivery were shattered. Thank god the fire turned out to be a "false alarm". Jesse and I just broke into tears when we heard "c-section" come out of my doctor's mouth. I've never had surgery before in my life, and I was so scared. However, I was so anxious to see my little boy, knowing I've been in labor for 24 hours.

I was wheeled into surgery alone, and was given a spinal. That was the worst experience in my life. The spinal went up too far into my chest, and I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I started screaming, so of course I could breathe, but it didn't feel like it. So, they gave me some "oxygen" to calm down, and they progressed with the surgery. Jess kept stroking my forehead, and I could feel some tugging, but it never hurt at all. Finally, my doctor said he'll be here in just a few seconds. Then, on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 9:47 p.m... we heard the loudest cry, and of course DH and I were bawling our eyes out. Jess went over to see him, and I was given a dose of "happy medicine" to help me calm down a bit. I was starting to get a little worried when I didn't see W right away. His first APGAR score was at 7, and he was having difficulty breathing. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and was 21 inches long. Jesse followed W into the nursery. They finished up my surgery, and wheeled me into recovery.

As I was "recovering", W's pedi came in to tell us how he was doing. He had a double Pneumothorax in both lungs, and a fever (I gave him one, since I spiked a fever at the end of delivery). A Pneumothorax is a sudden collection of air or gas in the chest that causes the lung to collapse in the absence of a traumatic injury to the chest or lung. So, they were giving him chest xrays. His pediatrician told us if it was severe enough on the xrays, they would have to give him a chest tube. Thank god it wasn't that bad and W didn't even have to stay in the NICU. However, he did stay the night in the Continuing Care Nursery, and I wasn't able to hold or or see him until 12 hours later.

W overcame all of his problems the night before, and was able to stay in our room until we left on Thursday, May 24th.

Our First Family Photo (we look so tired)

I can't believe W will be a 4 year-old tomorrow. He has many exciting and fun things coming his way over the next year. He will attending his first summer day camp in June and then he will start preschool in mid-August.

Jesse and I thank our good Lord everyday for blessing us with one of His children. W definitely keeps us on our toes day in and day out, but without that, we would be living pretty boring lives. Happy 4th Birthday to my first born! May all his birthday hopes and dreams come true.

Here is W's first birthday video montage: