Grace’s Birth Story

My sweet Grace is two weeks old, so I want to make sure I get her birth story down before I start to forget things.  I guess the story starts a few months back when the OB’s at the practice I go to started to have concerns about my blood pressure.  I’ve mentioned her before how they treated me as a “high risk” patient because of my chronic hypertension.

So at my second to last appointment on October 11th Dr. Houle was concerned because my blood pressure was higher than it had been.  She wanted me to do a bunch of lab work and I refused, because the baby was fine and I knew I was fine.  She was concerned that I would have a seizure at home and she told me that she didn’t think I would make it through the week before the baby would come (nice, huh?).  Well of course I did make it and at my appointment the following week on Oct. 19th Dr. Pond suggested that I a.) have the baby that day or b.) have the lab work done to make sure that my kidneys and liver were not failing!!!  I refused both, again because the baby was fine, and went on my way.

Here is my last pregnancy pic at 2 days shy of 39 weeks

I am not going to lie though, after weeks of the doctors telling me that I was at risk of “fetal demise” because of my blood pressure I was concerned.  So on Wednesday I checked my blood pressure while I was feeding Eli lunch and it was high, really high.  I took it again about 5 minutes later and it was lower, but still high for me.  I sent Jered a text message and he came home about 10 minutes later.  We decided that I should lie down for a bit and then take it again.  At this point I was feeling fine, just nervous and a bit anxious.  I laid down for about an hour and a half and took my blood pressure again – it was still high.    We both knew that I needed to go get checked out.

I called Labor & Delivery and they put me through to my least favorite OB in the practice (of course!) and he said to come in and get checked out, because he could not evaluate me over the phone.  My next call was to my dear friend Jenny, and with tears in my eyes I told her that we had to drop off Eli because we were going to the hospital.  At this point I was just beside myself at having to leave my E.  I knew Jenny would take such good care of him, but I just hated leaving him.

We packed things quickly and dropped Eli off at Jenny’s.  He didn’t cry when we left and she sent me a bunch of texts letting me know that he was okay.  We got to the hospital and ended up waiting in a room for a while – they didn’t treat my case as an emergency at all.  When the nurse came to take my blood pressure, the first one was high, but the second one was fine.  Good news, but now part of me wished we didn’t come in.  Jered quickly reminded me that we had to get checked out, and I definitely agreed.  They did my lab work and then Dr. Pond came in around 7:30 p.m.  She declared that to her surprise, my lab work was just fine, and my blood pressure was just high.  Yes!!!  That is what I had been telling them for months.  Anyways, she said she would like to do the c-section that night just in case anything crazy happened and Jered and I were in agreement.  Now that I was in the hospital and Eli was at Jenny’s, I wasn’t leaving without my baby.  Around 9pm Dr. Pond came back and said that since my case wasn’t an emergency they would prefer to wait until the morning.  We were bummed, but at least that meant I could eat some dinner.  Jered went to get me some food and then left for the night.  I was given an Ambien, but still could barely sleep. 

The nurse came in at around 5:00 a.m. on Thursday and I took a quick shower before they got me ready for surgery.  Jered got there at around 6:00 a.m. and around 7:00 a.m. the transporters came to take me to the pre-op area. Unfortunately, I had to go to the general OR and pre-op areas, because I guess they save the OR area in the L&D area for emergencies.  Once we got to the pre-op area I started to freak out a bit.  It seemed really small and crowded and I was not comfortable.  Then the worst part of the whole experience went down – the IV!.  A nurse anesthetist attempted to put an IV in my left hand twice and it was the most painful thing I experienced the entire day.  It literally felt like he shoved a semi truck in my hand.  I was livid and I know he felt bad.  Thankfully a nurse took over and she got the IV in my other hand on the first try.

After the IV was in place I was wheeled into the OR and received my spinal injection.  I was really nervous about this part, but really it wasn’t bad at all.  After the injection I was immediately numb and it seemed like the surgery started really quickly after that.  Jered was allowed in right as they started cutting and I was so glad to see him.  Soon after he got there I started to feel really nauseous.  I didn’t experience that during my c-section with Eli, and it made me really scared.  I was concerned I was going to pass out or something.  I threw up a few times and then felt so much better. 

Shortly after that I felt a push at the top of my stomach and then we heard the loudest scream – Grace was born!  Immediately Dr. Pond held her over the curtain for me to get a peak and I remember being shocked and so relieved!  I couldn’t believe that a baby just came out of me, and I was so relieved that she looked normal and healthy. 

Seeing my sweet girl for the first time

The doctors commented on how they had never heard a baby scream that loud with the umbilical cord still attached.  They also couldn’t’ believe how clean she was when she came out. She was taken over to the warming bed and Jered went to her side.  She received a 8 and 9 Apgar scores and everyone was saying how great she looked.  All the nurses said she was so beautiful.  Jered brought her to me and I couldn’t stop kissing her sweet head. 

Immediately fell in love with her

Then the nurses and Jered took Grace to the nursery to get weighed and checked out while I was still in the OR.  They finished up my surgery quickly and then I had to spend two hours in recovery before I could hold Grace.  I was so anxious to get to her while I was in recovery, and I kept asking when they would come to get me.  That was the hardest part of the c-section experience for me – waiting two hours to hold my baby girl.  When I finally did get back to my room, there was Jered in his blue scrubs with Grace.  He told me she had been sucking on his finger for a long time and I felt bad that I wasn’t there for her.

I got to hold her and feed her and then we both just rested together.  There is no other feeling in the world, like getting to hold your child for the first time.  It was such a relief and such a blessing.

These first two weeks have gone by in a fast blur.  I am tired, a bit overwhelmed at times, but feeling so complete.