I am writing this to the best of my memory. I am not 100% sure of some of the exact times.
Welcome to the World Elijah DavidElijah was born Sunday, February 27, 2011 via emergency c-section.
This Sunday started like any other Sunday. I got up, got the boys' breakfast and headed off to church. After church we went home, had lunch and Royal put the boys down for their nap. I was watching TV. A little while later I went to the restroom and noticed blood. I figured I needed to call my doctor. My doctor asked if I was having contraction, I was but not anything consistent. He told me to go to L&D just to get checked out, but he was pretty sure the bleeding was nothing. So I told Royal what was going on and he called his mom. We grabbed my bag (just in case although we really thought we would be coming home the same day) and headed to the hospital.
We got to the hospital around 3pm (this is were the times get sketchy, I wasn't wearing a watch and I didn't really take time to check very frequently). They put us in a triage bed and hooked me up to the fetal monitors and checked for dilation (I was right at 3cm). We got to listen to the heart beat and watch my sporadic contractions. I noticed that the heartbeat was very erratic. Then, after about 10 minutes I had a strong contraction, and the baby's heart rate dropped. The nurse came in and told me to lay on my left side. I rolled over and continued to lay there for an hour. During this time the nursed called my doctor who ordered some sort of biophysical U/S to figure out why the heart rate was dropping. The U/S was done, and we were told the baby was going to be about 8.5lbs but we didn't get much more info from her. A few minutes later the nurse came back and checked me again. I was now at 5cm and she wanted to call the doctor. She came back a few minutes later to let me know they were checking me in. They drew blood, started the IV and took me to a L&D room.
After we got the the L&D room we called our parents to let them know what was happening. I called my friend Kelley because she was going to photograph the birth. At this time Royal decided to take care of a few things and get himself some dinner. The nurse put my pitocin drip at the very lowest level since Royal was gone. Well, my contractions picked right up with the pitocin going from every 10 minutes to every 2 minutes, so she turned it off. Kelley got to the hospital before Royal got back, so I had someone to keep me company. Royal got back to the hospital and brough Jack in the Box with him. We had a good laugh over his food choice. Kelley continued to take pictures and Royal ate his dinner. I watched the Oscars. My only observation was that no one looked particularly good. (Sometime after Royal left and Kelley got to the hospital I had my epidural put in). It's important to know that I was good and numb.
I think this puts things right around 7:30. My doctor came in and checked me. I was right around 6cm. He let me know he was going to break my bag of water. Sounded good to me. He broke my water and told the nurse that he was going to the doctor's lounge. Royal left the room go to the bathroom and get a snack. He figured we had a lot of time. So did I. After the doctor left, my nurse checked me again. I didn't know what to make out of her next sentence, "I feel the baby's fingers..." Ummmm OK... She follows that with, "I am going to call the doctor." My doctor comes back in and confirms that there are fingers where the head should be. This is a problem...add to that the baby's heart rate is continuing to drop with contractions and rebounding very slowly. My doctor explains that what's happening is very dangerous and we will need to do a c-section. Kelley left the room to go find Royal and let him know. When he gets back to the room they are getting ready to wheel me off.
It's a very strange feeling to be wheeled down the hall of a hospital and actually hear people using the word STAT to describe you. When we got to the OR door the nurse realized I had ear rings in and a necklace on. All of it had to come off and we went into the OR. The room was 68*. I didn't take notice of time time, but I did see the temperature on the wall. They moved my bed next to the operating table lifted me up and told me to cross my arms over my chest. They rolled me from one side to the other. Not really sure what they were doing. Then they put my arms out to the side. I was there alone. Royal was getting dressed. I laid there and cried and prayed as they hooked me up to the heart monitor. It was a simple prayer, "Dear God, please take care of my baby and me." I just repeated it while tears ran down. Royal came in and it was time.
He held my hand. They put a curtain up and I was numb, so I really don't know what happened. I felt someone put all their weight on my belly and a minute later I heard a tiny cry followed by another and then they held Elijah over the curtain and he was perfect. Pink with lots of dark hair. They took him over to the warmer. They asked Royal if he wanted to take a picture...Crap we didn't have a camera...Royal had his iPhone! Elijah's first picture was taken with an iPhone.
I am Grateful to God for my wonderful doctor and all the wonderful people who took care of us.
My sweet baby boy was born February 27, 2011 @ 8:05pm. He weighed 8lbs 2.5oz and 20in long.