Monday, I woke up slightly early in the hopes to be on time to school, I'll admit I had been greatly struggling with being timely. I drank some milk and ate a small breakfast, my stomach was a little upset from acid-then promptly spent the next 15 minutes throwing up.
I was late to school.
I wanted to have my students just watch videos, but I was prepared in advance so used my intended lesson- section review for 9, test revision for 8.
During 5th I kept losing my breath and didn't know why. The students actually asked me if I was in labor-I said no, as I honestly thought that the baby was just bouncing on nerves.
I left school early at 2:50, because I had a scheduled dr appointment at 3:20-it takes that long to drive from my school to my obgyn. Twice while walking to the minivan I had to stop walking because of supposed nerve pain.
I arrived at the doctors office, waited my turn. Dr. James Lamoreax checked baby heartbeat-strong, size of my uterus-measuring 38 cm, then he said, "I'm going to check your cervix."
His face said more than his words. "Amy, are you having contractions? Are they painful?"
"yes, but I'm alright."
"you are dilated to a four and completely thinned out."
"I don't know what that means, it's my first pregnancy."
"it means I am going to request an ultrasound and find out the position of the baby. And you have a very high pain tolerance."
I got ready for the ultrasound-but first got dressed- in the process my mucus plug came out completely. The nurse escorted me down the hallway the whole time saying, "take your time, slow down, don't rush.". When we reached the room she asked, "so, if you don't go back to school tomorrow, will your sub be okay?"
"I have someone lined up, they should be fine." at this point I thought that the dr. was going to put me on bed rest.
Ultrasound showed that the baby was a footling breach. I had another 'nerve pain' while at the ultrasound machine, dr felt my belly and said, " you are in labor my dear and he's breach which means I'm sorry but this will have to be a c-section. Reason being that babys bum is smaller than his head and if he tries to come out he could get caught and suffocate. So, Where are your kids?"
"at home with my husband."
"call a neighbor to watch the kids, tell Andrew to meet you at the hospital."
"I have the carseats, can I drive home and pick him up?"
"how far away are you?"
"5-10 mins"
I wasn't too freaked out... I mean labor can last a long time right? I went home, called my mom to watch the kids, called my sub for my class, Andrew threw together a maternity bag, I never had time to pack and 30mins later we were at the hospital.
Nurses checked my cervix-dilated 6+, contractions 2.5minutes apart-I wasn't in a lot of pain...And I was progressing very quickly. Within less than 1 hour I was prepped, received an epidural- that makes you feel like you are flying, Andrew was in his cute white scrubs outfit and "let the party begin!" said Dr. Lamoreax One c-section later. Baby came out feet first, I felt the pressure as they guided out his head and hear the cute little squeals of my baby. 7:23pm 7lbs. 11 oz. 19in. (dr said if I went full term he would have been 10-12 lbs. He was 4 weeks early.
He has a high pitched little squeal. He stopped breathing for a second and so I only saw him for a brief moment before he was taken to the nicu and placed on a Cpap machine to assist with breathing. His lungs were not fully developed, after several hours they gave him artificial surfactant and he was finally removed from Cpap at 3am.
I was not allowed to hold him until Tuesday morning. He has dark blue eyes which will probably turn brown. Light wisps of curly light brown hair. He looks like his daddy. I have to go to the nicu to hold him. They have been having me pump to feed him. Even though he has a good size, he behaves much like a preemie. The nurses tell me that he will be at the hospital for 2 or 3 weeks. I'm grateful he's here healthy.
James Charles Rosenvall (named after his grandpas)
