Monster Cookies

I expected (and hoped!!) that the babe would arrive soon, so we planned to take Daniel and Josh shopping and out for lunch on Saturday, and to just have a great family day together. But things didn’t turn out that way.

Around noon on Saturday, I realized that I hadn’t felt the baby move in a long time. I had some lunch and rested in bed for an hour and a half, counting movements. Three movements, four…There should’ve been 10 in two hours, and it wasn’t happening. With stories of women who lost their babies at term swirling in my head, off to the hospital we went.

Jon and I spent an hour and a bit in triage, with me hooked up to the monitor and Jon reporting on what he saw. The baby’s heart was beating good and strong. And there was plenty of movement…five already after only 18 minutes. Some contractions that registered good and strong, even. All looked good. There was one thing that was somewhat worrisome though; my blood pressure had continued to rise, bottom number now in the mid-90s. I was sent home, with strict orders to rest.

On the way out of the hospital we stopped to visit my mom (she’s a nurse) and she took my blood pressure again…125/97. She said I should go back upstairs and tell them not to let me go home like that. I told her I wasn’t going to do that, and convinced her to take Jon’s blood pressure too, which turned out even higher than mine. Jon and I went home, called Jon’s parents to ask if they’d keep the boys overnight so we could rest, and spent the evening in bed watching movies.

Just after 1:00 am, I awoke to contractions. They were uncomfortable enough that I couldn’t go back to sleep, with some actually painful enough that I could only get through them on my hands and knees. In my journal, I recorded some feelings of fear:

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“I am a little worried; I also woke up with a monster headache, which likely means that my blood pressure is even higher than it was before. Not good. I am feeling a little nauseaus and seeing a few spots, so I am trying to decide when I should wake Jon to take me back to the hospital. Seems my body just can’t handle labour.

”At this point though, really, I am ready to go in and consent to a c-section. I am scared for my health and the baby’s and I don’t want to have the long drawn out hospital stay that I had after having Daniel (I was in the hospital for 6 days with high bp and nurses watching me for a stroke…).

”Anyways, I am trying to balance my excitement about getting the baby out with my ‘mommy instinct’ saying something might not be right. Plus, I am concerned about having a half-asleep dr. cutting me open. I wish my water would just break and then I would have a good solid reason to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.

”Somehow, I am also still somewhat in denial that I am even having another baby…I just can’t imagine it. And THAT freaks me out ’cause it makes me think that on some level there is something wrong with the babe. This is craziness.”

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At 3:00 am things really started to pick up. My contractions were coming 9-11 minutes apart as I sat at the computer, or a regular 1.5 minutes apart if I was up walking around. I tried to keep walking, but it was exhausting and painful. I journaled:

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“holy crap!! How do people get through natural childbirth?? I am dyin’ here.

This is scary and exciting…I never got to do this with any of my other pregnancies. I’m getting a tad worried about that scar on my uterus though…

Okay, going to walk around and drink my water. I’m feeling a little nauseaus; maybe I’ll get a bucket to carry around too.”

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I walked until 4:30 am when I just couldn’t anymore. I decided to go back to bed (don’t know what I was thinking), but woke Jon up almost immediately with my moaning. Laying down slowed the contractions to one every five minutes, but it was too uncomfortable for me to just lay in bed through them. We decided it was time to go to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 6:00 am on Sunday, January 29. I was checked for dilation and effacement; 2-3 cms and 90% effaced. The thought of going through another 7-8 cms of labour scared me. I didn’t think I could handle the pain, especially since I had decided to forego any medication that might hide signs of my uterus rupturing. I asked for a c-section.

No one argued with me. My blood pressure was still high. I had had two previous c-sections. The babe was doing fine. The nurses started the bloodwork and paperwork. The anaesthesiologists came to talk to me. The OB and his resident (?) told me the risks of the surgery. By 7:00 am, I was walking into the operating room.

Jon waited outside and “suited up” as I was prepped. Let me say it is HARD to sit through a spinal during contractions that are not spaced far apart. Everything went smoothly, Jon came to sit by me and the surgery was started.

Jon and I joked with each other as the surgeons discussed night vision and the family lives of other doctors. And there was a baby cry…

Andrew Elijah was born at 7:55 am. He was 8 lbs 6 oz and 21″ long. His apgars were 9 and 9 – a beautiful, healthy baby boy!!