Roller Coasters 7 & 8: A Birth Story

Continued from the "Life Since Then" post,  are Roller Coasters 7 & 8.  This is our Birthing Story and the following week.

Roller Coaster 7
We left for the hospital very early in the morning (5:30 am) to be <heavy breath> induced.  Not at all apart of my <cough cough> birthing plan, but according to my doctor, necessary (as you read on Roller Coaster 6).   God blessed us by having a wonderful friend give us a surprise meeting at the hospital entrance to pray over our labor & delivery and for our precious little one.

Once I was connected and receiving Pitocin, we settled in for a long day.  (The nurse had a difficult time finding a vein for the IV, and after a 3rd attempt, brought in a different nurse - needless to say, I looked as though I was a 'user'.)

I had a very good friend, a Doula (in training) and my husband there to keep my company.  A few other friends stopped by and covered us in prayer.  Around noon, the contractions started getting stronger, but I had only dilated to 2.  I used the birthing ball, walked around, etc, trying to dilate more. Around 5:30pm, I finally dilated to 3.  I got excited that we were finally going to be 'moving along'.  But that did not happen.

Holding/Seeing my son for the first time.

I was checked multiple times throughout the night, but did not dilate past a 3.  Into the morning we went and still nothing past a 3.  I am one of those unfortunate people that Epidural does not seem to work on.  So, while I had the spinal and Epidural administered, it worked for only 20 minutes and not again.  My contractions were horrid, as the Pitocin was turned up in hopes that I would dilate more. My son's heartbeat kept dropping and that was scary enough.  Now my heartbeat was dropping.  The nurses administered Ephedrine to get my heart rate up and hoping to up my son's.  Then the oxygen mask came out.  I looked at my husband and he his eyes were starting to turn glossy.  My Doula was praying over me.  My husband was praying over me.  And then my fever spiked.

I am allergic to many many things.  We didn't know what antibiotic I could have, but they needed to give me something.   I remembered having Amoxicillin as a child and being ok, so the Dr decided to give me another form of cillin (that I cannot remember the name of).  Yay- no bad reaction.  (in the past, I had been given an antibiotic I had a bad reaction to and it was not a good experience).

Around 3:00 am, I was checked again.  My son was in the birth canal but I was still not dilated past 3. :(  His heartbeat continued to drop and I could see on the nurses face that she was very concerned.  I asked her to come over to me (had I been able to, I would have grabbed her shirt and pulled her to me to be almost touching noses) and I said

"it seems this situation is getting pretty severe.  I don't care what you have to do or how you have to do it, but GET MY SON OUT OF ME. The next words I want to hear 'Healthy Baby Boy'".  

The nurse replied, "I'm going to go call the Dr." 

My lil man.
Phalen James
7 lb 7 oz 20 in long

I poured my heart out to God.  Very loudly (to my own ears) I begged him to not take another baby from me, but to deliver this one healthy and happy.  

Within 30 minutes (and while I still prayed), the nurse rushed in with several other nurses following.  I knew the situation was going to get real intense.  And when I started to open my mouth, she said 

"We're prepping for cesarean"

At 4:28am, my son was born.  It was not "healthy baby boy" that was said.  His heart was not beating.  I remember I started to panic and the anesthesiologist started very firmly telling me to calm down.  I don't know how much time passed before they got his heart beating, but they had to take him to the NICU.  I did not get to see my son.  I sent Justin with them; I was so afraid of leaving our little one without one of us.

They wheeled me into the recovery room and about an hour later, they brought my little boy in.

Roller Coaster 8

We found out after delivery that during my labor with William, he passed an antibody to me that fights my husbands blood type.  Since all children we have will carry half of his blood, this will cause problems for all future children we have.  

Needless to say, in birth, I passed the antibody to Phalen in a form similar to a virus.  (We praise God everyday that it was passed in birth, if he had been created with the antibody as part of his make-up, he wouldn't be here with us.)  The day after labor/delivery, I was holding Phalen and noticed his coloring didn't look normal.  I mentioned it to the nurse who assured me he looks normal and it must be the lighting.

My precious babe under the "blue light"

Well, she must've just been wanting to keep us calm because shortly after, a nurse came in with the pediatrician and took him to the NICU to have his blood drawn.  The pediatrician came back, sat down and started to explain to us what happened, what could happen and what we were going to do about it now in hopes to rid our precious babe of this "virus" before it gets worse (and worse is brain damage and/or fatality).

Since we caught it early, we started attacking with the blue light for jaundice babies.  We weren't allowed to hold our new little one except to feed.  The problem is, he wouldn't feed because he was sick.

The doctor told us the fastest way to get this through his system is for him to poop.  He can only poop if he eats.  So, we would wake Phalen every hour and a half and feed him.  If we did not wake him to eat, he wouldn't wake up at all.  I pumped Colostrum and fed it to him through a syringe.  And since that was the only time we could hold him, I would undo the top of my gown, lay him on my chest and take a few extra minutes to get what I feel is much needed bonding time.

Bonding with my little gift

I don't think there has ever been a time, or will ever been a time, that either of us have been soo expectant and excited for poop.  But we, and the nurses as well, practically had a party every time he pooped!

We were completely beside ourselves.  We just kept praying.  I was recovering from a cesarean and couldn't do much.  Justin was wonderful during the entire time, changing his diapers, bringing him to me to feed, etc.  AND Justin had an interview for a promotion that was scheduled pre-labor.  So, he had to do the interview over the phone, in the hospital room with uncertainty looming over us (he got the position). 

Phalen holding Justin's finger.
This was the most we could do except
when we were feeding.  

It took three and a half days for the antibody to be depleted from his system.  He had to have his blood drawn every 8 hours.  His little wrists and heels had marks for a week after we returned home from the needles.

Today, Phalen is almost 4 months old.  He is Healthy Baby Boy who is now weighing in at 15 lbs, 8 oz.  We co-sleep with him;  I can't bear to leave him in his room, in the big crib, by himself yet.  I don't like to put him down, and I don't like to hear him cry.  Many don't agree with us on this, but many have not walked our path.   

Our little blessing has such personality.  He laughs, he screeches when he's excited, he is so strong willed and has no problem letting us know when he doesn't like something.  He loves when I sing to him (and is the only one who likes that).  And he loves music in general.  We have dance party together and I wake him up every morning with classical music playing over him.  He smiles at me when I say "Good Morning Baby" and he stares in awe at the colorful elephant mobile above his changing table (that friends brought him from a mission trip to Cambodia).  

Our little man is such a delight and we thank God for blessing us with such a BIG gift in that little package.

"[We] prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted [us] what [we] have asked of him."
1 Samuel 1:27