Our little Tennessee was due on October 11th. I was certain that he would come that day because 8 1/2 months before October 11th, I had signed up to run my first ultra marathon through the Navajo Lands of Canyon De Chelly... on October 11th. I had just finally come to terms with the fact that I was never going to get to hold a third little baby in my arms and had decided to schedule the race as something to fill the hole that was left. Shortly after signing up for the race, I was reminded, yet again, that I will never have total control of the timing of life (and I couldn't be more thrilled). Because of the coincidence, of the race and the due date being on the same day, I felt certain that October 11th was to be the day of his arrival.
The pregnancy had progressed perfectly with nothing unusual until about 3 weeks before my due date. The doctor noticed that my belly was measuring large. She figured we'd watch it carefully and we did as the next week my belly measured... extra large. She decided to order a growth scan to "make sure we aren't dealing with a 10 pounder."
A few days later I went into the fetal medicine department for my scan. The ultrasound technician did several measurements and said that the baby looked to be about 6 1/2 pounds... but she did raise an eyebrow at the amount of fluid surrounding the baby. She called in the fetal medicine doctor who repeated the measurements and told me that I had close to 3 times as much fluid as the normal average measurement at this point in a pregnancy. This could mean several things. Apparently excess fluid can be a sign of gestational diabetes, a problem with the baby's digestive tract, it can be associated with birth defects, or it can just be bunch of fluid for no reason.
We had done all of the prenatal testing. In one test, they were able to extract the baby's DNA from my blood and could verify with 99.9% accuracy that the baby did not have any of the common birth defects. So that was off the table. The ultrasound showed that the kidneys and bladder were functioning, so we could check that concern off of the list. I had to repeat the gestational diabetes test to verify that I had not developed some sort of late term version of the disease, but the tests came back negative. It seemed that baby boy just had an extra large hot tub to swim in for no apparent reason.
Unfortunately, having massive amounts of excess fluids can be a concern in itself. The extra fluids prevent the babies head from being pushed down into the cervix helping it to open in preparation for child birth. Despite weeks and weeks of strong contractions, and the fact that I had easily dilated and effaced with both of my previous pregnancies, I was just not progressing this time around. The doctor was concerned that without the baby's head in place, if my water were to break, the umbilical cord could prolapse which would lead to an emergency C-section. Apparently extra fluid causes concern for possible fetal distress, an increased chance of meconium poisoning and, in some cases, stillbirth. All of this mean that I got to see my little guy on scans and listen to his heart beat for 20-30 minutes 2 to 3 times a week until the end of my pregnancy as they did fluid checks and stress tests.
The doctor said that while these concerns were enough to make her want to suggest an induction before my actual due date or soon after, the fact that my cervix was unfavorable made her hesitate. Starting an induction with an unfavorable cervix increases the risk of the induction being unsuccessful and again ending in a C-section. I had hoped not to be induced at all and was still banking on baby boy coming on his own on October 11th. Just to give him that extra nudge, I continued walking 4 miles a day in hopes of moving things along.
I had an appointment a few days before my due date, and it was then that I realized it probably was not going to happen. The contractions had continue to increase in intensity and frequency, but I still had not progressed at all. October 11th came and went. By October 13, my doctor decided that, even though I had still not progressed, the risks of waiting were beginning to outweigh the benefits of keeping our little guy in my belly. She would give me until the night of the 19th until she would have them do an overnight induction. (In an overnight induction, the mother is given a medication in an attempt to ripen her cervix overnight before the Pitocin is added to increase the contractions and jump start labor.) Breaking my water and seeing what happens without medication was just not an option because of my unfavorable cervix.
When she left the room, I cried. I pulled myself together, went out to my car and cried some more. This just wasn't how I had wanted it all to go. I wanted this to be the one pregnancy that ended on the babies terms. I didn't want to force him out before he was ready. I definitely did not want to have to get Pitocin or any other drugs to get things going. Then I remembered that I really don't have control over when/how these things were going to happen and that I was supposed to go with the flow rather than against it.
Luckily the girls had that Thursday and Friday off of school and we were all able to have a fantastic final weekend as a family of 4. Sunday night, the girls went off to have a sleepover with Neema and Jared and I headed in to the hospital. It was finally time to meet our little guy.
We got checked in around 7 pm and the nurses got me all set up with the induction. The one funny little thing I want to always remember about my labor with Tennessee is that through that night, between drinking a ton of water and having, consistent contractions, I was getting up to use the bathroom about every 45 minutes. About half way through the night, I suddenly started singing to him every time I got up to go I would sing "Imagine me and you, and you and me. No matter how I tossed the dice it's meant to be. The only one for me is you..." I only know a couple lines of that song, but I only sang it when I got up to use the restroom. Never when I was in bed or sitting. Such a funny random thing. (Now that he is here. I still find myself randomly singing that song to him as we snuggle during quiet moments in our day.)
The labor was long and included a few kinda scary moments including a couple possible preps for a C-section and some fetal distress. Luckily our happy, healthy, sweet little boy came into this world at 3:47 pm on Monday, October 20th SCREAMING his cute little head off. He was SOOOO mad to have been evicted from his nice warm home, but we all fell in love at first sight. When I first looked at him as they placed his screaming little self on my chest I was so overwhelmed with emotion. I could not believe that after waiting so long for this little person to arrive he was finally there. He was perfect in every way and I just could not wait for the girls to get to meet him.
I will never forget their darling faces as they walked into the room to meet their little brother. Naiya's eyes welled up with tears as she held him for the first time. Eva was grinning from ear to ear. It was awesome to get to watch them fall as instantly in love as Jared and I had each time we had met our babies for the first time. They ooohed and awed over his yawns and sneezes. They rushed to his side at the slightest sign of a cry. We all spent countless minutes just staring at him. (Truth be told, we still do.)
The first night at the hospital when it was time for Jared to take the girls home, Naiya was so upset. She offered to sleep on the floor and wake up at 5 in the morning so that she would make it to school. In the end, she had to go home, but I'm not sure how much sleep she actually got.
The next day Jared took the girls out of school a couple hours early and brought them back to the hospital. Eva just sat staring at him and said to me "Now I understand why you always tell us not to grow. I want him to stay like this forever."
It has been so fun to watch the girls get to know their little brother. They have been the best big sisters. In fact they have both told me at different times not to tell the other but they "want to be Tennessee's favorite sister." Something tells me they both will get to carry that honor from now until forever. He couldn't ask for more loving sisters to tend to his every need, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to complete our little family.
No comments:
Post a Comment