Birth Stories~Please Share Yours!

[Chris]

I have really enjoyed reading about everyone's diagnosis stories that I thought we could share birth stories.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, September 10, 2001. I had gestational diabetes and we knew Sarah had Ds and an AV canal defect so my OB wanted me to deliver when all the "real" doctors (not just residents) were on duty.

My mom was flying in the day before so she could take care of my older daughter while I was in the hospital. I waddled my way to her terminal and keep having these terrible Braxton Hicks contractions. I had so many more with this pregnacy than I did with my first and they really hurt! We picked up my mom and went out to dinner and I kept having those BH contractions. I kept thinking that I couldn't wait to get this baby out!

We got home and my sister called. I was talking to her and kept complaining about the BH contractions. After about 15 minutes, my sister said, "Why don't we time those contractions?" The contractions were five minutes apart. She said she thought maybe I was in labor but I wasn't sure. By this time my mother was concerned and insisted that I go to the hospital. I didn't want to go since I was scheduled to be induced the next morning. Mom kept nagging me so I agreed to go but HAD to take a shower first (do my hair, brush and floss, etc). After I was all done, I agreed to go to the hospital. I was sure that they would be sending me back home.

On the way to the hospital those dang BH contractions were getting stronger but I still didn't believe I was really in labor. We checked in and low and behold, I was really in labor. DUH! I was begging for an epidural a couple of hours later which surprised me since I had no drugs to deliver my first and I thought it was spectacular. Anyway, I finally got my epidural and fell asleep. The next thing I know, I am surrounded by doctors and nurses screaming at me to turn over. They told me to push and made me change directions again and push. Then the one doctor said we had to get the baby out NOW.

This is the funny part. My wonderful husband was scheduled for a vasectomy the following Friday. He started telling the doctor, "Tie her tubes!!!" The doctors and nurses treated him like some baffoon. They told him they couldn't tie my tubes unless I had already signed a release. My husband said,"She will sign it!!!" Of course, everyone was really irritated with him and told him absolutely not. This was a medical emergency and we had to get the baby out pronto. I guess her heart had actually stopped. I was wheeled into the OR and they had her out in minutes.

I kept asking my husband to look at her but he kept saying, "I want you to see her first." I was so frustrated because I couldn't see her. They finally let me take a peek and whisked her away. That was at 3:51 am and I didn't get to see her until the next afternoon. They didn't let me hold her until a couple of days later.

My poor husband really does love me but he was absolutely terrified. He told me recently that he thought that he was going to lose the baby and me. He isn't able to express his feelings very well and now I understand why he acted the way he did.

Sarah stayed in the NICU for six days and then we were able to take her home. I thought she was gorgeous, a perfect baby. She was the easiest newborn. It was thrilling to see my 46 year old husband fall in love with his one and only child. He is the best dad ever. We are so blessed to have Sarah in our lives. ;D

Chris

[justinsmom]

Let's see June 10th 2000, Oh man what a day ;D. First off Justins' due was suppose to be June 30th 3 days after Alyssas' birthday. We decide to plan her party on the 10th stupid me thinking that would be plenty of time. The night before I go in cause I thought my water started leaking they send me home and tell me no. Next morning same irritating thing, I continue to decorate the house, clean, bake 2 cakes. Now it's getting worse no contractions just the fluid I tell Chuck to make sure everything is done cause after the party we are going to have to make another trip. Well now he's freaked out and yelling lets go lets go, I'm no I have to wait and frost and decorate the cakes we have plenty of time I haven't had any contractions yet and they will just send me home again anyways. Well half an hour before 15 kids arrive not to mention that 13 of them were staying the night, here comes the major water brake. Mother in Law is already there and takes over and off we go. So much for me thinking I was safe planning a party 3 weeks before my due date
When Justin was just born Chuck said something was wrong with one of his eyes but the docs said no it was just from the delivery and blew it off. Chuck goes back to our house for clothes and check to see if our house is still standing and my mother in law decides to stay over and take over the sleepover oh boy lol. Justin stayed in the room with me and about 4 hours later I wake up and check on him there he is blue and when I go to pick him up he's ice cold I start yelling an aid comes down and proceeds to take his temp and then says she'll be back the thermometer must be broken. I had to attempt to yell out in the middle of being hysterical and trying to revive Justin Code Blue he was breathing but shallow and a weak pulse but that's all I could get out that I knew everyone and their brother would come running and that they did and then some and off they ran with him. It wasn't until Chuck came back about half an hour later that I was able to catch up with Justin, I had an epidural and was stuck in bed my legs wouldn't move no matter how much I tried. We get to the NICU and the doc tells us he thinks Justin has DS, Chuck was in the middle of asking him is Justin going to die but just got out is Justin going to and the doc cuts him off and says yes he will be "retarded" but not sure on the extent grrrrrrr (all I can say he is lucky I couldn't feel my legs yet and get out of that wheelchair) so after that Chuck says NO I was trying to ask if he was going to make it or not, then the doc proceeds to tell us that he can't regulate his body temp, his sugar is out of whack and he has an ASD and VSD and pulmonary problems. Needless to say the DS part went straight to the back burner. I have to admit though that when the doc said he may have DS it was sort of a relief because I knew about that and that it could have been something terminal and the rest of the things could be fixed. I remember telling the doc I don't care about the DS just fix the other problems. So we spent the first 3 days in the NICU and then the next month in a half on the cardiac/pulmonary floor. We held Justin that night, I couldn't put him down they said it was possible he wouldn't make it I had to tell them yes he will he'll be fine, if he was in my room that whole time having problems and survived he will make it through this. Well the ASD/VSD were never a major issue just pulmonary complications with fluid in his lungs that they couldn't figure out was coming from and still don't. He amazed everyone and to this day continues too . Looking back the hardest thing besides sitting helpless while they try to keep his systems on track ( one med would fix one problem and cause another) was watching my 2 daughters pulling away from the hospital with Ashley hysterically crying and yelling I want my mommy. Well there's our story.

[DereksMom]

Well, I was due May 28th and my sister came up from Vancouver and my husband also came home from camp that day. I picked him up at the boat and he as pi**ed out of his noodle (I wasnt very happy). I decided that I had enough of being pregnant and drank half a small bottle of castor oil. Not sure if that was such a great idea or not. LOL

Anyways, I woke up at 1:30 am with 1 min contractions 3 mins apart. I was restless for awhile and waited and watched the clock for an hour before I woke anyone up. At 2:30 I woke hubby up with, "I know what to get your sister for her birthday" . He was not impressed that I had woken him until I told him what the gift was "A nephew". He sat bolt upright and was in total shock. My water had broken in the mean time and I was leaking a bit, I walked downstairs to wake my sister to tell her that we would be going to the hospital in a bit. There was time for a shower and such.

We got the the hospital at 3:30 and walked up to the Mat ward (4th floor) and informed Joan (the nurse) that I was in labor and that my water had broken. She was quite thrilled because it was her last shift before she retired and wanted to have a delivery that night. Little did she know there was a bit more excitement going to happen than she thought. She checked me at 3:55am and thought that I was ready to go, called the Dr in a panic and he showed up about 15 mins later, but she had made a mistake and I was only 4 cm and fully effaced. He went away saying that he was working in the ER that day and I wouldnt deliver for hours yet. Well......did I prove him wrong. I started to push just before 5 and delivered (with him there) at 5:19 am.

He held Derek up and showed him to me and then Joan took him and cleaned him and listened to his heart, and called the Dr over to take a listen too. I then got to hold him for about 5 mins before he told us that Derek had a heart murmur and they needed to do some tests. The lab, ECG and Xray were called in and they started to try and figure out what was going on. In the meantime he had come back and told us that he thought Derek had Trisomy 21 as he had 7 or 8 features of it. That was shock enough in itself considering he was supposed to be the perfect blue eyed, blonde haired baby boy (and he is). Thankfully our doc is very cautious and arranged for Derek to be transfered to the Childrens Hospital as we dont have a paed here and it was a Friday. He figured once Dere got there they would call and give him heck for sending him but he wasnt willing to take a risk with him.

The air ambulance crew arrived and I got the OK to go with them and we were in Vancouver at the hosp by noon. My husband and my sister drove down and didnt get there till about 4 pm. They ran some tests, did an echo and found that he had a PDA and an AV Canal, but hoped that the PDA would close on its own or with the help of drugs and that they could wait till Derek was between 4 - 6 months to fix the defect. Little to everyones dismay, they ended up having to fix the PDA (which was the largest vessel in his body) a week later and the AV Canal at 18 days. In total we were away from home for 6 weeks, thankfully my husband had a very understanding employer and gave him all the time that he needed and still payed him.

In a way I wish that I had known so that we could have prepared mentally and financially for that time and also possibley delivered at the Womens Hospital in Van which is attached to the childrens, but in a way Im glad that I didnt know because I would have been a huge worry wart about it.

Allison

[ShawnS]

October 10, 2002 I was scheduled to be induced for delivery. My doctors thought that something was wrong with Ryans heart, (left side small), and had me deliver in Denver at St. Lukes, 60 miles away. After many ultrasounds and research on heart defects I had a sneaking suspicion that he may be born with DS, just a feeling. My Dr.s of course shrugged me off and swore that after all the ultrasounds they would have found at least on red flag that suggested Ds and they never found anything. Anyhow, I had an easy delivery and the moment they put him on my belly I knew. Those eyes said it all! i immediately asked the nurses if he had Ds and one of them said it is a good possiblity. I was looking for my husbands reaction but to my dismay he ended up passing out and instead of everyone surrounding Ryan they went straight to Conrad. Ryan did not have a heart defect, nor anything that would threaten his life. He was in the hospital for 2 days just like any other baby and sent home with us with only a 2 sided brochure with pictures of children with Ds and a 1-800 number. I wish I knew then what I know now. To be honest I was completely devestated. I didnt even know whether to keep the name we had originally come up with or not. I thought how can I possibly bring this baby home and face my family and friends. Hinde site, 20/20 thing, makes me really feel ridiculous for all those fleeting thoughts. He is in one word AWESOME. He has brought me more happiness than I ever thought possible. He has also taught his older brother (6) a thing or two. I thank God everyday for bringing Ryan into our lives. Thanks for letting me share!
Shawn

[Chris]

I forgot to say Sarah was born via emergency c-section. I guess you figured it out anyway.

Chris

[samanthajosmom_12]

i believe i was due with samantha 12-29 . well on sunday 12-17-00 i did not feel samantha move most of the day. i slept alot of that day. later in the eveing i went shopping and took my nephew so he could get his shopping done. i had to mail a pkg later. i still did not feel the baby moving. i called the doctor at 10:30 pm and he told me to go to the hospital 1 hour and 10 minute drive to have the baby movements checked. they gave me orange juice and the baby only moved 3 times . they called the doctor and they sent me home. i still had to see him the next day and he told me that he was taking the baby that night . well i had to wait until monday night to go in at 6:30 pm and they were given me something to soften the mucas and wait until tuesday. well everything was okay and i watched the monitor and saw with each contraction samantha heart rate was going down. i paged the nurse and she told me i did not know what i was talking about and then she watched the monitor and then called the doctor and they did a c- section and samantha was born. when they took samantha out of me i had a anxeity attack +asthma on the op table and they had to get resp therapist in there right away. they got me under control. i remmeber that when i was checking her out i was looking to see if i could see downs and all i saw was such a little beauty girl!!!! i knew before she was born she would have downs and that did not bother me. i still think about that day she was born. if i had to do it again ,i would again. the only thing i would change is i would be married and not do it alone. i cannot have any children no anyways. i would still want to adopt but i would have to find a good man to marry some day. i am seeing the samantha's father right now, things seem to be okay. I know that i could never live with him. he is a very hard person to live with but that is a diffrent story all together. we are getting alone okay. sue

[sunnie]

I was due may 8th, well 10:30pm on april 30th, iwas sitting there and thought i felt a contraction but prayed it wasn't. the three kids were in bed, my husband was at work, he is an engineer on the railroad, and he works from 6 at night to 8 in the morning and there was now way of getting a hold of him, well needless to say he came home early that night around midnight, (what a fluke) and found me laying in bed in some pain, called my mother to come sit with the kids,then called my sister because she wanted to be in the delivery room too.
I had emma 6am on may 1st, and they wouldn't let me see her at first, they took her over and they were cleaning her up, my sister was taking pictures of her through the digital camera so she came over to my bedside so i could see a pic of her and the first words out of my mouth was, she looks like she has down syndrome, my husband and sister were like no she is just swollen i said no, a mother knows. the doc and the nurses didn't suspect, i told them what i felt and the pediatrician came in and said to her it was 50/50 they would take the test. but my husband and i new and so did my mom.(my brother has ds).
10 days later the doctor confirmed. but it was ok. i didn't mourn like a lot of moms. she was the easiest one i had given birth to of my 4 kids, she is the only one they didn't have to induce, she was out within a day(my other kids took forever), she was the largest weight of my girls.7/13. and knock on wood, no heart probs.
By the way, can somebody answer this? why do doctors get paid more than nurses? considering when you are giving birth, the nurses are there the whole time and the doctor is only there when the baby is coming out?
Sunnie

[coopersmoma]

I was due December 8, 2003. I had been going in to the Dr every other day for a non stress test to make sure the baby was doing ok. On November 6th(Thursday) I went in and my blood pressure was high so the Dr put me on bed rest. He told me if it wasn't better by Monday that he would induce labor. I went back to the Dr on November 10th (Monday) and my blood pressure was normal but Cooper's heart rate was in the 80's (way low)!! The Dr told me to go on over to the hospital because I was having a baby tonight!! Well in a panic to get everyone there in time, my mom and I started calling everybody. I arrived at the hospital at about 4:30-5:00 and Cooper's heartrate was in the 60's by the time I got hooked up on the monitor. I really freaked the nurses out. Several Dr's came in checked me, did an u/s, explained to me that I would be having an emergency c-section and that they couldnt wait. Cooper was born at 8:09 weighing 4 lbs 12 oz 17.5 inches long. I got to look at him for about 2 minutes and they took him out of the OR. Cooper had too many red blood cells and required an exchange, that is when they remove RBC and replace with normal saline. He was also in resp. distress. No one ever mentioned his heart defect even though I knew he had it and told them. They did an echo about the 3rd day and it revealed he had a VSD which I knew of and an ASD. The heart was stable. We stayed in the NICU for about 10 days. Cooper has had open heart surgery to repair the ASD, VSD and the PDA that we didn't know about until they did the surgery. He is doing great.

[donnita]

Cassandra was due May 8th, we knew she would be a girl but didn't know about the Ds. I had had Braxton-Hicks contractions almost every 15 minutes for four months (yes, for four months) by that time. At 2:30am on April 26th, I could tell the contractions were finally real ones. Emily was 15 and she and her best friend both wanted to be there for the delivery. So when Emily got up for school, I told her to call Brittanie so Britt's mom could write a note for her to get out of school that day. We picked the girls up from school around 11am and got to the hospital around noon. Marissa came too and my mom met us there.
My doctor, the high-risk specialist, was on vacation that week but my second favorite doctor was covering for him. I wasn't sure if he had done a VBAC before (girl thingyl birth after cesaerean) so I tried to get him to agree to a c-section right then, but he said no. I wasn't dialating very fast, so I had to walk, and walk, and walk. Finally just before 5pm I was dialated enough to get the epidural (I think it was 3cm). They sent Emily, Britt, and my mom out of the room for 15 minutes and I decided to go to the bathroom one last time while I could still stand up. I came out and told the nurse that it felt like something was down there. I got on the bed again, she looked, said the baby was crowning, threw the epideral kit in the corner, and yelled for the doctor. He had enough time to get a gown over his clothes and yell for some more nurses.
Cassie was born at 5:15pm. My mom came in the room at 5:20 to see if I could have company again and was very surprised to see a baby!
Cassandra was just beautiful and perfect, of course. I recognized some characteristics of Ds and wasn't at all surprised when the pediatrician came to tell us. I really appreciated the private room we were put in too. When I had Marissa, I was stuck with a loud woman who had a very loud mother and a lot of company.

[Alice]

That was really interesting to read everyones story.
Thanks!
Here is Luke's:
My pregnancy and delivery was really easy. Luke is my third child. His delivery started as all of my previous: at about 11pm my water broke. My husband became pale. We call the doctor and he said: "Go to the hospital, and if you will not have any progress until 5 am, we'll start an induction." He made me LOL, and I said to him: "Doctor at 5 am we'll have the baby", because I had my babies (my older two sons) early in the morning. ;D
We came in to the hospital; I refused any IV (with my doctor's approval), any epidural, anything just blood work, and at 5:12 am November 19, 1999 (it was 2 weeks before the due date) we had our Luke after 3 pushes.
At first I was a little bit upset, because I wanted a girl..., but the boy was so handsome and I was happy for us. ;D
No one could see any sings of DS, doctor praised us with our beautiful, healthy, perfect son, and good delivery. Nurse said that she will remember that delivery for ever. They liked the way I was.
That was first child for my husband, he was very nervous and I tried to be very calm to relax him, so than when his friends asked him how it was, he said: "It was not painful and not scary as I thought".
He thought.... (I had pain and I was scary... )
Later that day we had news that Luke might have DS and the chance was 50% (they was not sure).
That news ruined our first joy and happiness...
That time I thought that I will never feel happy at Nov. 19, but time passed and I know that I was wrong.
Thanks for letting me to share Luke's birth story,
Alice

[shellk]

On March 28th, 1999 I spent the afternoon walking with my sister trying to put myself into labor. My first daughter was 2 weeks early and with Kourtney I was due on March 29th..Around 4:30 pm I started having that uncomfortable feeling..and chalked it up as I walk to much that day (3 miles) and needed to rest...Well, at around 11:00pm I knew what was going on and I did not want to go to the hospital..I just don't like having to stay in a bed..So, I walked around my house having contractions and not telling Mike at all he was out on the patio with my older daughters father chatting and having a few beers. Sounds funny but Kaylyn (12) and Kourtney's (DS 5) dads get along....Anywho...I went outside at around 12:30 am and sat down talking to them and was having a contraction when Kaylyn's dad looks at me and says."Are you in labor?" I said I am having a few contractions like every 3-5 minutes....Well, Mike freaks out and says lets get Kaylyn we need to go...I told him I wanted to take a shower first and then we could go..I dropped Kaylyn at my sisters house and went to the hospital...Once, I got there I was 4cm and they wanted me to walk seeing as how for 3 weeks I was 3 cm..So, we walked for 45 minutes and when I came back I was at 6cm..So, down in the bed I went..I decided to get and epidural and they came and did the blood work and hour goes by and I have to push like NOW..I told mike "Get someone she is coming!" The nurse comes in and tells me not to move the top of her head was aleady out...She has Mike push the call button to get the Doctor right away..And my OB comes in laughing and with one push out came Kourtney...When they laid her on my chest I knew she had DS but I also knew something was wrong just from wierd dreams I had repeatedly. Well, they took her to the little warmer and I noticed it seemed like they were doing CPR on her with a bag over her mouth...They took her to the nursery and let Mike go with and I asked why no one has mentioned that she has DS and all I was told was that couln't be confirmed at this point the main concern was that she had a very large VSD and multiple ASD's and a PDA..So, she spent the first 9 days in NICU and after they fixed her heart at 3 months she has been on the run every since...I didn't know about the DS but that night in the hospital room all by myself I cried so hard I could hardly breathe and it was not for me it was for her..And I remember how am I going to do this...And crying and then a very calming feeling even warming come over me and I remember hearing a voice saying to me that everything would be okay..But, no one was in the room with me..The pastor at out church told me that it was the Holy spirit I don't know what it was but I still get teary eyed everytime I remember this.....
Thank you so much for sharing your stories and for letting me share mine.

Michele

[MB]

My story really starts with my first delivery. My water broke on my due date - in the middle of the night on a Tuesday. No sleep that night. Baby was born on Friday afternoon after three days with no sleep, 12 hours of regular labor and 12 hours of being induced. The epidural (remember this was almost 20 years ago) wore off as I was being wheeled into the delivery room screaming Dear Heavenly Father help me. Something went wrong in the delivery room and the OB started screaming to call anesthesia stat. I look up and there is the pediatrician we hired and 20 various medical personnel. Nurses are saying, "the monitor, doctor" over and over. By this time I have been in so much pain for so long I am thinking I don't even care about this baby.

Both myself and the baby had developed an infection. She was not delivering and cutting into an infected uterus for a C-Section would have been bad news.

We had a beautiful healthy girl.

Fast forward five years later. The same OB asked me if I would like an epidural? Yes! When did I want one? Two weeks before my due date. I would be happy to walk around with an IV pole. We live in a neighborhood with lots of medical personnel who work at the hospital. I told everyone from ENTs to Dentists to see what they could do to speed up the epidural process.

Ten days before my due date, my water breaks at one in the afternoon. My husband works 45 minutes away from home so the lawn guys said I could call them for a ride since they are always in the hood cutting lawns. I could see myself riding up to the ER on one of the mowers on the trailer attached to their truck. Luckily the neighbors took me. My OB has left town for labor day. His partner tells me I have to be induced again and I start crying. NO, please give me 24 hours to go into labor I plead.

She informs me that she will give me an epidural before inducing me. I resist grabbing her and kissing her. I almost skip to the hospital. I check in and the nurse says, "this is odd." Various people have written on your chart that you need an early epidural. After watching television for a while and talking about growing tomatoes with the OB, she tells me I am going to "pop" on her. She feels it with her OB gut. She wants to know if I am having any pressure at all. A few minutes later I tell her I might be feeling some discomfort, but I can't be sure. One minute later all heck breaks loose when she yells, "she's delivering." No one was ready and I sat there thinking she's lost her mind. I'm watching t.v. for heaven's sake. Ten minutes later (they made me wait while they dressed) I had a baby. I could have gone home and done the dishes.

Then, they showed me my son and I went ghost white. My husband says, "what is it, what's wrong?" I kept saying he's not right. The Dr. says what do you mean. He's not right. And then the bomb, I think he has Ds. She checks for a simeon crease on his hand. No simeon crease, no Ds. End of discussion. My husband says, do you feel better? The kid is huge, lusty cry, apgars of 9 and 9. No, I say. He has Ds.. My husband takes him to the nursery to "be weighed" before we call the familys. He gets to the nursery and asks for an evaluation. The nurse who does the evaluation smiles at him and unwraps the kid. She maintains her composure and asks my husband to take the baby back to me. She has to call our doctor. Doctor is tied up in ER. Nurse tells him about all his anomolies. Doctor tells her to go deliver the bad news. As it turned out, he had only one simeon crease (very unusual). The OB simply checked the wrong hand.

My room clears out of chatty happy nurses. The nursery nurse closes the door behind her. She starts with, "Dr. E wanted me to confirm your suspicions." The one tear starts down my cheek and the nurse loses it. I loved her compassion and complete breakdown of professional behavior. I will always be grateful for that!

She pulls herself together and asks for the baby's name. We had agreed upon two names, but not the order. We had chosen our father's names and both wanted our own father's name to be his given name. This had gone on all summer. My husband siezes the opportunity and names him after his own father!! I just smiled. It was my first glimpse of how much he wanted this son.

MB

[Claire]

I went on bedrest for almost 3 mths while pregnant for Adam, due to premature labor. They had told us in Toronto that he had a hole in his diaphram, so he may not survive after being born. We we're given the option to just go ahead and let my contractions go and the baby would not survive, or stay on bedrest for the rest of the term and they would be able to intubate and take the organs right away and they might be viable. We live 500 miles from Toronto, so I had to stay there alone and didn't see my daughter or my 2 older boys for 3 mths. Adam was born 5 weeks premature, and guess what? He started to cry as soon as he was born. (Not something the specialists expected) We had surgeons from the transplant team, a crisis councellor for us, 2 pediatrician and my OBS. When Adam started to cry everyone looked at each other and we're stunned, then everyone started to clap their hands. The x-tray taken a few hours after birth showed no signs of the hole in the diapram and the doctors told us they could not explain medically what had happened. I think I know what happened. God had a plan for Adam and He still does.

[Ericsmomma]

Wow...Eric's birth was quite an EXPERIENCE! I was in my 7th month of pregnancy and had done pretty well.
The only complication I had was carpal tunnel in both hands...pretty miserable thing to have. I had to wear hand braces if I wanted any relief...I felt like a lobster!
Anyways, I went for my routine check-up at ob's...she came in and told me she didn't like my blood pressure and was sending me to hospital for more tests. On my way there, I find out my hubby, who was having "chest
pains" was also being admitted. So while I was on the 7th floor, hubby was on the 6th. What fun! They ran some tests on me and decided I needed to stay...ob stated I had toxemia and put me on bedrest. She wanted to hold off delivery as long as possible without putting me at risk. In the meantime, hubby had a catherization and it showed he had two small blocks in some minor arteries. He was to be scheduled for
angioplasty asap. But he told them they had to wait cuz his wife was upstairs and he was needed there.
I was in the hospital for 2 days before my ob decided my blood pressure was dangerously high and I needed to deliver NOW! And to top it off, the little guy was breech, so a C-Section was the way to go. (also, with my pressure so high, she didn't want me to go into any labor). Very scary moment, and I didn't want to seem upset in front of hubby, cuz I was worried about him!
I had the c-section but didn't "wake up" for about 2 days..they kept me pretty sedated till pressure stablized. So I didn't see the little guy till he was almost 3 days old. He weighed in at about 3lbs. 2 oz. But he was very strong. He was on the vent for only about 6 hrs. Feisty little thing. He needed the oxygen tho, and was tube fed. They had given me a shot few days before delivery to help mature Erics lungs and I think that helped. He just needed to fatten up. Hubby was scheduled to have angioplasty in a few days. So here I was, a fresh post-op C-Section, going up to the hospital to see both hubby and baby. Forget about not driving for 6 weeks....I was driving about 5 days after surgery.
I remember walking along the hallways, hanging on the walls for support...hands under my belly, cuz i was so sore . And I never took any pain meds cuz I wanted to pump my breast milk for Eric.
I must have been quite a sight! But hubby did very well, and Eric did better every day. Eric was in the hospital for 39 days. When I look back on this, I don't know how I did it....I guess God gives you the strength that you need. I couldn't have done it on my own.
Anyway, it was all worth it. Dolly

[Rhonda3]

O.k. with my first pregnancy my daughter was a week late. Finally went into labor at night went to the hospital the next afternoon. I was already 4 cm. I was so excited. I was having bad back labor pains so I was doing my breathing, when the nurse says you shouldn't be doing your breathing yet, its to early. So she freaked me right out. Well after 10 hours of being there I never dialated anymore. The babies heart rate dropped and they had to do an emergency c-section. Taylor weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. and had red hair and blue eyes.

Then my second pregnancy he was 14 days late!! I went for my final doctors appt. and it was a thursday. The doctor says we can schedule you for another c-section tomorrow or you can wait out the weekend to see if you go into labor on your own. I was concerned about the babies size and had had it with being pregnant, so I decided to have a c-section the next morning. Jordan was born weighing in at 9 lbs. 11 oz. and had brown hair with blue eyes. Boy was I glad I decided to have that c-section!!

My 5 month sonogram told us that we were having a boy and he had a heart defect AV Canal and the possibility of having Down syndrome. We decided not to have the amnio. for fear of something happening. The doctors and sonograms said he was due May 4, but I believed he was due April 25. Because I had already had two c-sections they were going to take Dylan a week early on April 28. Well on April 25 we had to go in and pre-register for the surgery and fill out paper work and blood work. My husband went back to work and I was eating my fish sandwich and french frys on the couch watching t.v. when all of a sudden a feel a gush. Oh my gosh I think my water just broke!! I call my husband at work and tell him I think my water just broke, you better come back. I then call the doctor and they tell me to come in and get checked out. I then start making phone calls to my two older childrens schools to have them take buses home that will drop them off at my parents house. We get to the hospital and sure enough my water had broke. My mother, my husbands sister, my brother and his wife and my good friend all come up to the hospital. Because I had had that darn fish sandwich they can't do the c-section for 6 hours, thank God I wasn't having any contractions. Well we finally go in and have the c-section and Dylan was born weighing 8 lbs. and had blonde hair and blue eyes. As soon as I saw him I knew he had ds. But my family and even some of the nurses didn't believe he did. They took him up to nicu he was having breathing issues. He spent only 3 days in nicu and we were sent home!! He was actually released before me so I had to track down my doctor to get released also. So needless to say he was born April 25 the day he was due according to Mom not the doctor's or sonograms.