I finally have time to write about Will's birth. I'm sitting in his PICU room right now and since I can't hold him the only things I can do today are blog, FB & fulfill my milk maid duties.
I actually ended up in L&D twice the weekend before Will was born. On Saturday night my right leg, ankle & foot swelled up ridiculously huge and really hurt to touch. My left leg was normal. Of course my OB thought it could be a blood clot and wanted me to go to the hospital right away to get checked out. Apparently there is NO ONE at the hospital that can do the ultrasound to check for blood clots after 7pm, so they told me to go home and come back in the morning for a scan.
The next morning, Dr O called. He was at the hospital to check on me and was wondering here I was. I told him they sent me home and he was furious! He had told them the night before that he wanted me admitted until I could get the scan on my leg, but they didn't do it. So I made a trip back to the hospital and had my leg scanned. Everything checked out fine and apparently I just randomly had only one leg swell up. What can I say, if anything weird can happen during pregnancy it happened to me.
I didn't feel very good all day Sunday. I felt as though I was constantly on the verge of throwing up. The only food I had all day was an apple, half a breakfast sandwich, and half a slice of bread. As the day went on, my contractions started to pick up. By about 9pm, I was having contractions every 4-7 minutes and they were really strong! I couldn't "talk" through these. So I called Dr O's answering service (who didn't even tell me they would page him and have him call me-they put me on hold while they called him...think I called them a lot???). Of course I was sent back to the hospital. I called my parents and told them what was going on and they came to the hospital. So did Erin.
Once I was there, lucky me got sick. I don't mean I threw up a little, I got really sick! And multiple times! At that point combining the throwing up with all my contractions I was told I was officially in labor and I was admitted. Despite being in labor, they said it still wasn't too bad (I disagreed!) and they wanted to hold off my c-section until my scheduled time the next morning if possible. My parents decided to stay the night at our house since it was so much closer than theirs, and Erin went home with the plan of coming back first thing in the morning. So then began one of the worst nights ever! I was in labor but not given anything for pain, or to slow down the contractions, or to help me sleep. I was miserable.
Finally, at 8am, a nurse came into my room and introduced herself as the nurse that would be going with me for my section. I said hello and asked if the section was still scheduled for 11am. I was SHOCKED when she told me I was going right then!! I called my parents and told them to get there ASAP! Thank goodness they were at our house (only 10 minutes away) and they made it there just in time to see me getting pushed to the OR (they didn't make it to the hospital in time to see me at all before Julianna was born). Joe called his mom and she and my sister got there right after I got to the OR.
Just before my c-section.
Joe getting ready to be a daddy again!
I was taken to the OR and wow! things were so much calmer than last time. I was more relaxed (as relaxed as you can be when your about to be cut in half and have your internal organs on the outside of your body), the doctors weren't rushed, the nurses were all calm, it was soooo much better. I got my spinal, which was so much better than the one I got for my cerclage in December. Then they prepped me and brought Joe in. I refused a lot of the meds they offered me. I probably would have felt much better if I had taken them, but I had so many meds during Julianna's section that I hardly remember any of it. I wanted to remember Will's birth.
I was surprisingly calm during the whole thing. And at 8:40am on Monday, March 29th, William Joseph was born. He was 37 weeks 4 days (full term!!!!!!)
Welcome to the world Will! (That's fabulous Dr O holding him)
When I heard that first cry, I cried. I said I wouldn't, but I couldn't help it. Then when Dr O held him up all I could say was "We have a huge baby!" Remember, compared to Julianna he was huge!
Will cried and cried, it was wonderful!
He weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long.
Will was taken to the NICU (as was planned) and the transport team at the children's hospital was called to come get him. Joe went with Will to the NICU, there was no reason he needed to sit with me while I was reassembled. Our parents and my sister all got to see him as he was taken to the NICU.
After about an hour in recovery, my bed got wheeled to Will's room and I got to see him before he was transported. Amazingly, he was in the same room Julianna spent her first few hours (and then the next 66 days) in. Both my kiddos were in the same NICU room. I got to hold him for about 20 minutes before he had to leave. That was the last I would get to see him until I was discharged 4 days later.
When we found out Will had HLHS we made a plan for his birth day. Joe and his mom went with Will, and my parents and sister stayed with me. It was the best way we could make sure there was someone at both hospitals. Instead of the NICU at the Children's hospital, Will went to the PICU (apparently not uncommon for cardiac patients). In the PICU he got his own room and nurse, and of course all the customary wires, tubes and machines that come with intensive care.
Will's room in the PICU.
Once Will was stable, Joe came back to see me, and show me all the pictures he took. We decided we make beautiful kids, just sadly can't make healthy ones. That night despite having a baby in the PICU, we both slept. We had been running on empty for a week. Since Will's heart defect had been found neither of us slept well and sometimes not at all, but now he was here, he was stable and things were looking better. So we slept. And so did Will.
Our little man.
