Emergency C

I have some time to reflect about my first delivery. At around 2:45am on early Wednesday morning I was laying on the couch (since I don't sleep at night and watch TV) and started to feel what I thought was my water breaking. I went to the bathroom and this continued for about 10 minutes. I went back to our bedroom and woke Dan up letting him know what was going on. I wasn't really sure what to do next since I thought I would start to get contractions and I wasn't. Therefore I googled it and that guided me to call the Doctor. I called and they told me it was time for me to head to the hospital.

We got ourselves ready and headed out about 4am. The hospital is only 10 minutes away so we arrived on a beautiful Wednesday morning, with the record March temperatures. We were then admitted and it was confirmed it was my water breaking and labor had begun. First they started me on the IV and began monitoring my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I was then started on pitocin. (to induce labor)

The nurse said I was about 2cm dilated. All of a sudden three nurses rushed in and started checking me and the monitor and something just wasn't right. The baby's heartbeat had taken a huge dip and was down to 90 bpm rather than the 120-160. They were able to get the heartbeat back to a normal level and were then monitoring me from both the inside and the outside with both heart rate and contractions, dilated at 2-3. This occurred once more and at that point the pitocin was stopped and they began pumping water back in. The umbilical cord was being pinched causing this drop in the baby's heartbeat so by putting water back in they were hoping to eliminate this distress. By this time I had been dealing with contractions at about an 8 out of 10 pain level and decided to get the epidural. I have extreme anxiety when it comes to needles so after getting the IV I had decided if I could deal with the contraction pain then no more needles. I was mistaken and by that time the epidural was in and I was feeling some relief.

It was a good thing, a very good thing because after an hour or so of a regular heart beat the heart beat dipped again into the 60's and the Doctor let me know exactly what was going on. Since my water broke it had been 12 hours and he recommended an emergency C-section. We needed to do what was best and safest for the baby so with alligator tears in my eyes I was sent into immediate surgery. My Doctor is amazing and I am so glad he was the Doctor on call. He told me, "I know this is not what you planned and before anything becomes any more dangerous to the baby this is what we need to do." Being wheeled to surgery the heart beat dipped again and Dan wasn't allowed in to the room. He had to sit in the hallway in his scrubs pacing having no idea what was going gon. I was on a table alone with a curtain blocking me from my neck down as well as all the personnel in surgery. It was at this point that I was scared, so scared, and ready to give up. I was laying there feeling all kinds of pressure, having all kinds of thoughts, and thinking Okay I am done now I can't take anymore and then I hear "It's a girl." I was so confused it had literally been 5 minutes, was she here? I didn't hear any crying and then all of a sudden I did. I heard the greatest sound in the whole world, my little girl cry.

A couple more minutes went by and Dan came into the surgery room with Charli and I was able to see her for the first time. I was still lying on the table were they were sewing me up so I wasn't able to hold her but to see her and that head of hair was surreal. It wasn't long until I was taken to recovery and there for two hours. When I was stable the nurse, Darcy, took me up to reunite me with my brand new baby girl. They also played the lullaby song signifying a brand new baby was brought in to the world, our little Charli Reece.

Charli had been in the nursery where Dan was with her and Sassy Grandma, Grampy, and Uncle Eric admired her through the nursery glass while shedding some tears of complete love, happiness, and joy. When I arrived in the room not a minute later my little girl was wheeled in and into my arms. It was the greatest moment of my life. There will never be the words to explain how I felt...