October | 2011 | bripam's Xanga Site

Two weeks have passed since Presley Jo (PJ to some) made her grand and swift entrance. Here is her beginning. In the week before, I was dilated to a 3 and having contractions regularly but not consistently enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. If I lay down they would stop. I didn’t want to be that pregnant woman that gets sent home from the hospital for failure to progress…been there done that. So we began to plan for October 10th as the day for induction. October 4th after picking Serra up from piano lesson we stopped by Krispy Kreme for some Halloween donuts. Some say that is what induced labor. While driving home I had a few very hard and low contractions which were different from before but again not in a pattern. When I went to bed they stopped and I slept well.

October 5th:

7:30 am – I got out of bed and started helping kids get ready for the day.

7:45 am – I had my first contraction that bent me over and made me stop in my tracks. It was really intense. I mentioned it to Brian.

8:00 am – I started downstairs and was bent over again with a very intense contraction. I started crying and told Brian I thought this might be it. He asked me if he should take the girls to school or if we needed to go. Knowing he would be back in 30 minutes I told him to go ahead and take them and I would lay down and try to get them to lessen in intensity.

8:15 am - Laying down wasn’t helping so I headed upstairs to get showered and ready to leave. By now they were about 5 minutes apart.

8:30 am – Brian got back as I finished getting dressed (I put on lipstick but never did get my legs shaved). He helped me throw a few more items in my suitcase and then called his mom and Carol Cost to come over ASAP to take care of the little ones. Carol was closer and able to get here quicker than mom. I laid down on the couch.

8:40 am – My water broke. This was a first for me. I have never had my water break spontaneously. I got off the couch as to minimize the mess….no worries the couch is unscathed.

8:45 am – We get in the car and Carol pulls up.

8:50 am – We pull out of the driveway and Brian asks if we still should go to Mt. View. As I am a planner, I still wanted to go where I had pre-registered and planned on going so we headed North on I-95 toward Mt. View hospital. About 5 minutes later as contractions are coming less than a minute apart Brian asks me if I feel like pushing. I replied that I was already pushing. He veered across 3 lanes of traffic and exited. DIVERT! He made the snap decision to head to Sunrise Hospital instead. (Good thing too…PJ would have been born at the Spaghetti Bowl and 15 minutes from the hospital otherwise!)

Side story: Brian has been working as the Operations Director for Community Ambulance for a little over a year now and also has his basic certification. So he is able to go on calls and does so a few times a month. A few weeks ago he was working and got a call to Lake Mead for a bike rider in a tri-athalon. The rider had serious injuries that required a specialist at Sunrise Hospital. He drove lights and sirens to Sunrise from the 95 and so knew the quickest route. He would not have known otherwise as it is not one of the regular hospitals they transport to.

9:00 am – By this time Brian was going about 65 down Desert Inn, weaving in and out of traffic. Miracles…we hit every green light and only one school zone. He did have his GPS out just to make sure he was on track which freaked me out only slightly as I didn’t know he already knew the way. As we turned on to Maryland Parkway which is the street the hospital is on the baby was crowning and I was screaming. Brian was very calm and collected and I only heard a few profanities muttered under his breath. He gets a pass for those. As we pulled into the hospital Emergency there was was a paramedic truck and a few fire trucks going very slowly. Brian laid on the horn a few times but they were blocking the ER entrance…so he pulled into the drive-up walk in entrance. He jumped out and ran inside to find someone and was greeted to crickets. I was wondering what in the world he was doing but then found myself preoccupied as baby’s head came out. He says he could hear me through my closed car and 2 sliding glass doors…so I was making a bit of a racket. I was by myself and I was holding myself up by the hand hold and arm rest trying not to sit on the emerging baby. I was screaming like a mad woman. I only saw one person. About 20 feet in front of the car some guy walks by, he looks directly at me, then hurries on, and my thoughts wander for a minute as I’m screaming…I wonder what he’s thinking?

Side Story: The paramedic that was blocking the ER entrance is one of Brians employees. He heard me screaming for someone to help me and said he would have come over but he was doing chest compressions on someone. He saw Brian and put 2 and 2 together when he heard the call go to the NICU and later called his wife (Gina) who also works for Community and the news spread quickly.

9:10 am – Brian comes back to the car and after a few fumbling attempts to get the door unlocked stands in the quarterback position ready to catch. He had found a nurse who had called a “code stork” which brings people running from NICU, and labor and delivery in a hurry. He was told to step aside by a few nurses (he later said he was never so happy to see a nurse in all his life) The nurse later told me they were very confused as to why a paramedic (Brian had his uniform on for meetings that day) was bringing in someone in a mini-van. She also told me she freaked out when she saw that the baby’s head was already out, HUGE, and covered in meconium. All she knew was the baby was BIG and in distress. They got me in a slightly better position by laying the seat back and they hollered at me to push like crazy. One push and out she came. I got one glimpse at my big little baby as they cut the cord. They tossed her on a waiting gurney and whisked her off to NICU. Brian went with her after they got me headed into labor and delivery…almost a moot point at this juncture but there was still a little left to do.

For the next hour I got my placenta delivered which got a roomful of laughs when I sighed and said…”Ah, that felt so good.” Anyone that has delivered naturally knows what a feeling of complete relief it is to finish the process. One of the nurses asked if I had been admitted yet to which she replied, “We don’t even know her name yet.” About an hour after the baby was taken away they brought her to me briefly. Her blood suger was low at birth and she had already been fed. She had not aspirated any of the meconium which was a big concern. I had not had my rounds of antibiotics for the Strep-B hours before birth which meant she had to be tested and watched closely for the next few days. They took her away to get her bathed and cleaned up better. She weighed in one ounce shy of 10 pounds 9.15, and was 21 inches long.

12:00 pm – I had not had anything to eat yet that day and I was starting to shake. Gina and Brian Rogers came to the rescue with 2 large shakes from Starbucks. One was for Brian but I confess that I may have finished the majority of both.

1:00 pm – Finally my little diva was brought to me.

Later that night the nurse noticed I didn’t have a tag that linked me to the baby. She informed me that I couldn’t have the baby in my room with me with out one and there was no way to get a replacement. I started to stress out. I told her I had to stay for 2 full days and not having the baby with me was unacceptable and detrimental to my recovery as well as to my baby. I had only had a temporary one to begin with and the nurse before her had cut it off and told me the one I had on my other wrist was sufficient. She took my baby with her and I had no idea what was going to happen…but I was ready to raise a stink when she finally came back and let me know she had been mistaken and new tags had been issued. The head nurse came in the next day and was very apologetic, gave me her card…told me to call her if there was ANYTHING else I needed. She also came back when it was time for me to check out and took care of the paperwork herself…something I was told later that was not something she ever did. She also hooked me up with more formula and diapers that I could carry.

Side story: Watching the news on October 5th we learned that it is the most common birthday of the year…something about New Years being nine months earlier. HAHA!

The next two and a half days I stayed at the hospital while Brian, Diane (grandma), and Carol Cost kept things running at home. My mom wasn’t due to arrive until late Saturday. This is the first birth she wasn’t present for. I was a bit sad for that. I had a lot of visitors at the hospital and lots of fun things brought in. Balloons, flowers, and an edible bouquet, and a few gift bags.

My folks arrived Saturday and Dad was able to stay til Monday. Mom stayed until the 18th and kept this house running smooth as glass. She cleaned, laundered, and cooked cooked cooked. I felt very taken care of and and am feeling really good. Miss Presley has gotten back to her birth weight in 2 weeks which is slightly more than an ounce of weight gain a day as she was down to 9.7 at week one. She is Soooooo good, rarely fusses, and a burp or poop will usually take care of that. She sleeps like a dream which means I am able to function well during the day and have healed fast.

Although this experience is a good one upper story, and a bit fun to tell, we have no desire to repeat the experience. This is our caboose for sure this time. We are quite pleased with our little brood of 5.

Presley Jo’s first moments and the first picture taken…with phone. Thank goodness for camera phones or we wouldn’t have anything. And Rosie meets her little sister later that night.

Serra meets PJ…A little bit bruised but looking pretty cute. Brian picked up flowers and donuts for the nurses…the card reads “Thanks a million, your 10/5/11 “code stork”.”