Bundle of JOY

wow....I'm overwhelmed with the blogging I have to catch up on. This past week has been the most amazing, exhausting and unbelievable week of my life. There are no words that can describe how it feels to finally hold our precious angel. He is perfect!

Warning...if you don't care about the details, just scroll down for the pictures. :) I couldn't leave anything out! :)

On March 13th, Travis and I went to see Dr. Greene for a 37 week check up. I was SO excited and really hoping to find out that I had started dilating. I just FELT like I had...and I was anxious to see what she said about his position...because I like I said in weeks past...it still felt like he was literally kicking me in my cervix, so I just couldn't wait to get the scoop. She came in and we chatted a little bit. She said everything was looking good. She felt my tummy and said "you're having a contraction right now." I told her that I had been having them for weeks. It wasn't painful at all and they didn't seem to be regular. She said when they did get painful, I needed to wait 3 hours and then come to labor and delivery. I did not like the thought of 3 hours of pain...I was already thinking about what kind of pain reliever I needed to have in stock for that day...

I asked her if she could tell if his head was down...she felt around and said she really wasn't sure, but when she checked my cervix, she'd be able to tell. She checked the heartbeat and it sounded great, so finally she started to check my cervix. I was definitely not prepared for what she was about to say...she could feel his feet down there, I was dilated to a 3, fully effaced and she was not comfortable sending me home. We could possibly try to turn him, but otherwise, I would probably have to have a C-section that day....I'm thinking....WAIT....WHAT?!? That was the very last thing I ever expected to hear that morning. Half of me was super excited that the wait might soon be over....the other half of me was terrified of the unknown. She looked at him on a sonogram machine and said that it looked like there was enough fluid for him to turn, so she was going to send us over to labor and delivery, have them monitor me for an hour to see what my contractions were doing, and then she would find someone who could try to do a version to turn him. She said the risks of this would be things that could cause them to do an emergency C-section, but if we didn't do the version, she would do a C-section that night anyway, so it was worth a try. I was very worried at that point because I had heard that it was extremely painful when they try to turn babies...but I figured there wasn't much I could do about it, so I was just going to have to suck it up. She sent us out of there, and we were off to labor and delivery...

ok....here's a little side story....while we were in our appt, my mom was actually in the OB waiting room. My dad had been in the hospital, and she happened to be waiting for him to get out of a procedure....so when we walked out, all I could say was "you have no idea..." (she was expecting to hear me say that I had started dilating or something fun like that....she had no idea she might be meeting her grandson that same day...on her BIRTHDAY!!) As soon as we told her what was going on, she was so excited! She called Kennedy-Powell for me, because I thought I would be back there to finish teaching for the day, but obviously, that was not going to happen. She decided that she should wait for my dad and then she'd meet us in labor and delivery right afterwards.

When we got to L&D, they took us back to a random back room....I felt like they were putting us in a closet...they hooked me up to a fetal heart rate monitor and another monitor to measure my contractions. They kind of just left us back there for awhile...I was worried they were going to forget about us. Finally, people started coming in and letting us know what the plan was. Dr. Kohl-Thomas was the actual staff doctor who would be doing the procedure. She came in and explained the version procedure, complications, success rates, etc. I told her that I was terrified that it would be painful and she said that we could look into getting an epidural or spinal block that would also work in case of an emergency c-section. That made me feel so much better. A very sweet resident doctor also came in to check me out. She did another sonogram to try to measure how big he would be (she said he was about 6 or 7 pounds, so she was right on!) Also, an anesthesiologist resident came in to tell us their plan. They would put in an epidural catheter AND a spinal block. The spinal block would numb me for the version and in case of an emergency C-section, and then the epidural would be there in case the version was successful and I went into labor. It all sounded great...they assured me it would just feel like a pinch. :)

We were told that I would get the spinal block around 2:15 and then they would attempt to do the version at 2:30. They had to time everything out perfectly so that Dr. Greene could be available to do a c-section if necessary. The sweet resident OB doctor came back in to check and see if there had been any change in my cervix. Apparently, in the short time that I had been there, I had already gone from 3cm to 5 cm, and I was in labor. She said that if the version was successful, I would still have this baby tonight. I was SO EXCITED and SO NERVOUS- there were so many unknowns that I didn't even know what to think or how to feel.

They moved us into the c-section recovery room so that I could get prepped to go. Before I knew it, they were taking me into the operating room. Travis had to wait in the recovery room while I got the spinal block. It wasn't too bad, but it seemed like it took forever. The operating room is just like on TV! I felt like I was on Private Practice or Grey's Anatomy...

After I was numb from my chest down, they were ready to attempt the version. Trav came in, dressed in his bunny suit, and sat next to my head. It was the weirdest feeling to be numb and to be in a situation where no one knew what was going to happen. Dr. Greene came in to check on me and then was going to go check on another patient while the other doctors attempted the version. Dr. Kohl-Thomas and 2 other OB resident doctors watched the sonogram machine as they basically got on top of me and pushed as hard as they could. After about a minute, one of them looked at me and said that he was about 1/2 way there...but 2 seconds after that, I could see panic. They pulled out a machine to find the baby's heartbeat and I didn't hear anything. Before I knew it, people were running around and yelling "page Dr. Greene...we need to get him out!" Travis said my heart rate shot up and I honestly cannot remember what exactly I was thinking. I was trying to stay calm, and thank goodness for the amazing anesthesiologist - Dr. Jeff (I can't remember his last name...I just remember him saying Jeff...) that did my spinal block. He was right behind me the whole time telling me what was going on and telling me that everything looked great....also, I'm so thankful that Travis was in there for the version so that he was there for the actual c-section as well. He was holding my hand the entire time and making sure I was ok. They threw a sheet over me and I couldn't see anything. Dr. Jeff was holding it up for me so that it wasn't in my face. There was no time for setting up things like they usually do. The next thing I remember is Dr. Jeff saying "it's definitely a boy"...but I didn't hear any baby crying and I looked over at Travis and still saw panic in his face. Apparently it took them a long time to get Colby's head out. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his head twice and his arm once. This was why the heart rate dropped during the version... The nurses kept coming to Travis to make sure he was ok. He finally told them that he was fine and that they needed to go worry about getting the baby out! :)

FINALLY, (seemed like eternity, but it was only 2 minutes) they got him out, but he was still not crying. I looked over at Travis and he had his head down. I'm not sure if he was praying or trying to catch his breath or what...but it was then that I started crying just because I was so overwhelmed. I had a gut feeling that everything was going to be just fine, but it was very scary. Colby's first cry/SCREAM was music to my ears....I was so overwhelmed with joy, and I hadn't even seen him yet! Travis got up to go take pictures of Colby's first moments in the world. A few minutes later, a nurse brought my screaming baby over for me to see....he was all wet and crying and beautiful...they did all of their tests on him, wrapped him up, and Travis got to hold him. I wished that I wasn't on a table being sewn up at that moment, but at the same time, I loved seeing Travis with his baby boy. He was on cloud nine. It all happened so fast!!

We went back to the recovery room and it was so weird because I was awake, but I couldn't feel anything except for my arms and my head pretty much. I finally got to hold my sweet boy and feed him a bottle...to be honest, it hadn't all sunk in yet...my body was so shaky because of the medicines that they gave me and because of the adrenaline that was pumping....it was like an out of body experience. I knew what had just happened, but at the same time, it was like I still needed time to REALLY believe it. Our nurse bathed Colby and got him all cleaned up and ready for company. It wasn't until then that I realized how much HAIR this baby had!!! Johnna, our nurse, had to rinse it out and comb through it twice...it was pretty unreal. :)

Soon, it was time for family to start making their way back. They could only come back 2 at a time, and they rotated through there for at least an hour or so. It was a very fun and special time to introduce our new son to some of our favorite people. After a few hours, we were wheeled over to the post-par tum part of the hospital. After we were all settled in, we had more visitors! Even though it had been the longest day of my life, I was so proud of Colby and I was so excited for everyone to meet him.