Birth Story

Make a bowl of popcorn, sit back and relax as you read the VERY LONG birth story (that was already previously written and I didn't feel like editing it for the blog!)

I woke up at 5:30 am to go to the bathroom. As I was getting back into bed, I felt a little pop and a small amount of fluid. Thinking it was just from me not completely emptying my bladder, I got back up to go to the bathroom and fluid continued to come out. Once I sat down on the toilet, I felt a huge gush and knew right then that my water had broke. My first thought was to call Paul and let him know. He was in complete shock and immediately got ahold of his flight commander to start the process of getting out of Altus. Meanwhile, I was feeling fine and (mentally) okay as well, so I took a shower and woke Cassie up. We made my bed, packed the rest of the hospital bag, let the dogs out, and called to see who the on-call OB would be. I was told that Bobby was coming on at 7:00 am and it was a huge relief to hear a familiar name as their answer. I texted Mom, Rochelle, and Celeste to let them know what was going on and continued to cry and feel absolutely horrible that Paul would be missing the birth. I went downstairs and researched plane tickets and tried to figure out the fastest way to get him home. His leave was approved and he was on his way to Dallas because that gave him the most flight options (instead of flying out of Oklahoma City.) 

We finally packed up the car and headed to the hospital, stopping at Dunkin Donuts so Cassie could get a coffee. I checked in at registration and we were taken up to the 7^th floor. I settled in to the labor room and was hooked up to the monitors, which were showing that I was having contractions but I wasn’t feeling anything. Cassie was supposed to have a mandatory meeting at Chilis that morning (and work a double shift) and when she called to tell them she wouldn’t be coming in for either, she was told that if she didn’t go to the meeting then she may not have a job. She was really upset and didn’t know what to do. Meanwhile, they started an IV on me and also did a cervical check-talk about painful! I was 5 cm dilated, 100% effaced, and +1 station. The nurse said I “labored beautifully”. That’s when reality set in that Paul definitely wouldn’t be there, as we (nurses included) had all hoped I may be able to hold off until that evening. Cassie was still going to go to the meeting (I insisted) but as she was leaving, she met Dr. Slate in the hallway and he said they were taking me on as soon as anesthesia got there. 

Ready to head into the OR.

Everything that happened from then on out was pretty quick. I had fluids running through my IV, signed consents for surgery and was on my way. Walking into the OR was so surreal. I sat on the edge of the table and received a spinal injection. It wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. My legs almost instantly got heavy and tingly and the preparations began. All kinds of people came in (15-20), the drape was hung and Dr. Slate “tested” the effects of the medication and gave the okay to being Cassie in. I kept telling the anesthesiologist that I was afraid I would feel pain and she laughed and said “They already started!” Before I could really even wrap my mind around what was happening, I heard Ethan’s cry. Tears started instantly streaming down my face and I couldn’t wait to hear Wesley’s-except I never did. He was very quiet when he came out but I was told everything still looked okay. Ethan’s APGAR was 9/9 and Wesley’s was 7/8. 

5 minutes old.

Cassie went into the newborn nursery with them while I was getting stitched up. At one point they turned the radio on and started playing Christmas music. I was wheeled into recovery and spent about an hour or so there, drifting in and out of sleep but trying to stay awake so that they would let me go to my room faster. I was wheeled into room 716 but not before the NICU doctor stopped me in the hallway to tell me that Wesley was having a hard time breathing so he had to go into the NICU. I was still a little groggy at that point and wasn’t quite sure what to think. I got settled into my room and they brought Ethan in. The next few hours are very much a blur and I’m not sure who was in my room or what really happened. The next thing I know, Paul was arriving at the hospital. He sat in a chair beside my bed and his leg was shaking as he held/met Ethan for the first time. I later asked him if he knew it was shaking and he said it was from being a little scared and also the rush of emotions from becoming a father. We went into the NICU to visit Wesley and he was on a CPAP breathing cannula. They told us it was probably due to fluid in his lungs and that it should only take 12-24 hours to clear. 

Sweet Ethan.

Around 2:30 in the morning (Sunday), the NICU doctor came in to the room to tell us that he had unexpectedly taken a turn for the worse and would need a breathing tube. He was put on an oscillator ventilator which was only used with “very sick babies” as I was later told. I went to visit him Sunday morning and just started sobbing the minute I saw him. He looked so, so sick. That was when I was informed that his lungs were premature even though he was born at 37+ weeks. They didn’t have enough surfactant, which made them stiff, causing him to have labored breathing and ultimately tearing a hole in his lung, causing it to collapse and for him to need a chest tube. I remember going back to my room and hugging Paul and crying so hard in his arms. I told him that Wesley looked so sick and that this was not supposed to happen because I had done everything I could to keep them healthy. Paul went to see him in the NICU with Rochelle and said that he immediately started bawling when he saw him and had to sit down. We were scared, very scared, at the all too real possibility of losing him. His oscillator vent was hooked up to a bubble machine and as long as there was still a hole in his lungs, the liquid would bubble. When the liquid stopped bubbling, that meant that the hole had healed. We spent a lot of time looking at that box, wishing the liquid would stop bubbling.

This was what Wesley looked like when I walked into the NICU Sunday morning.

 In the following week, we enjoyed our time with Ethan and visited Wesley several times a day. He made remarkable improvements that the doctors and nurses couldn’t even believe. He was taken off the oscillator and put on a “common vent”. He spent a couple of days on that before being taken off and going straight to room air. Usually babies go to a CPAP cannula, then nasal cannula, and then to room air but Wesley skipped the two middle steps! He was slowly weaned off the Morphine (for pain), Versed (sedation), and Dopamine (low blood pressure) and we were excited to see his eyes for the first time and to see him moving around a little bit. He had lots of prayers being said for him and lots of people wishing him a speedy recovery. One of his nurses told Paul and I one evening, “Babies just don’t do this-they don’t recover as quickly as Wesley did. I mean, they are very resilient, don’t get me wrong, but his story is like no other.” In his time spent in the NICU, Wesley was on an oscillator, regular ventilator, and CPAP machine. He had a chest tube, two arterial lines in his belly button, several IVs (in his hands and feet), an air line in his mouth, and a feeding tube. After all was said and done, he spent a total of 13 days in the NICU and came home on December 13, 2012 (the day of the originally scheduled c-section).

Our first family picture at 3 days old.

The End. (Finally!!)