October 03, 2006

Lucky

My life has completely changed. For the better. I am now a proud parent, the owner of a new house and am happily enjoying the beginning of my maternity leave.

On Thursday I worked a full day and everything with the baby/pregnancy seemed exactly as it had for the past month -- a few contractions a day (none too painful), but absolutely no signs of going into labor (I would later find out that wouldn't change). I went home and Archi-Sapper brought home some dinner. We ate, watched t.v. and did normal stuff. Around 9:30, I was lying on the couch talking to him, and I thought I might've felt my water break. It was either that, or I was definitely a candidate for Depends, and with pregnancy, you never know. I changed clothes and we decided to go to bed and see how it went. After an hour in bed, I was fairly certain my water had broken, so we gathered the hospital bag stuff and hopped in Archi-Sapper's truck.

He drove to the hospital while I called Labor & Delivery. We got to the hospital around 11:45 or so and the nurse checked me. She brought in the doctor who was on call, who also checked me. The doctor confirmed that my water had broken, so she did an ultrasound. She then said that the baby was breech and was trying to come out butt first -- less than ideal. Given that I'd lost so much fluid already, they didn't have a lot of time. The nurse asked the doctor the exact question I was thinking: "So, is this going to be a tonight thing or are we waiting until morning?" and the doctor said, "We'll be doing surgery tonight. Call her doctor."

At this point, I sort of freaked out, thinking, "I don't know if I'm ready for this." Then I thought, "I don't know how much choice I have, because this baby is going to come out regardless!" Happily, my wonderful doctor came in, even though he wasn't on call, and they told Archi-Sapper to run to the car for the camera, and told me they would drape and prep me and give me a spinal and we'd be in surgery within 20-30 minutes. They weren't kidding around. Two hours later, I had given birth, been sewn up and was in a recovery room across the hall from the OR with a morphine drip in my left hand and the remote control to the t.v. in my right hand.

I stayed in recovery for several hours (a bit longer than normal since my blood pressure was a little high and they wanted to monitor me before sending me to a private room). They brought the baby in several times so I could spend time with him and try to nurse. Archi-Sapper nodded off a few times in the chair next to me when he wasn't in the nursery with baby or making phone calls to family members.

That morning he scooted off to work, ran home and walked the dog and then went to the closing on the house we bought. After the closing he met up with our family members who came in town, and all I can say is, thank God they were here. You need a ton of help when you've given birth, but your needs increase exponentially when you're moving into a new house. Archi-Sapper's family packed up our apartment and unpacked it in the new house. Although AS worked with them, there's no way he could've done all that alone, while running to the hospital to see his wife and new baby.

The baby and I stayed in the hospital (which Archi and I kept accidentally referring to as a "hotel", which is a testament to how nice it was) until yesterday morning. This was my first hospitalization since I was five years old and had my tonsils and adnoids removed, so it had been a while. Although my doctor and the doctors who were on call were great, my hat is off to the amazing nursing staff who took care of me and the baby at all hours of the night, were incredibly knowledgeable and so, so nice.

When the morphine drip made me itch like I was covered in mosquito bites, the nursing staff gave me Benadryl to make the itching stop so I could hold the baby. When the spinal anesthesia was wearing off which made me shiver like I was in the arctic in a bikini, the nursing staff brought me warm blankets and explained to me why I was shaking even though I didn't feel cold. When I was absolutely exhausted from the surgery and lack of sleep but insisted I be woken up at 3:00 a.m. to feed my son because I felt like I'd be a bad mom if I didn't, it was the nursing staff who listened to my husband instead and were nice enough to bring my baby to the nursery at midnight and took care of him and let me sleep so I could heal.

Yesterday, the baby and I came home to our new house and we're adjusting to life without regular deliveries of bland food, IV tubes and having someone check our vital signs every few hours. We're adjusting, but so far all we feel is lucky.

Posted by Kitty at October 3, 2006 09:48 AM

Comments

We are so happy for you! Congratulations! And welcome to the world, little guy.

Posted by: RokynRobyn at October 3, 2006 12:04 PM

Thanks! I hope you two and your little one are doing well.

Posted by: kitty at October 3, 2006 01:16 PM

Can't wait to see my baby...of course, Bob keeps reminding me that it's not really mine, it's Aunt Kitty's and Uncle Archi-Sapper's. Give him a hug and kiss for me!!!

Posted by: Jenny at October 3, 2006 03:07 PM

Congratulations, Sweetie. That's wonderful.

Posted by: Helen at October 4, 2006 03:00 AM

Awwww! Bummer about the breech presentation but congratulations and welcome to the world, baby boy!!!!

PS: Boys are the best ;o)

PPS: Get well soon!

Posted by: Madame M at October 4, 2006 07:48 AM

Congratulations! Glad all went well. Ray and I wish you three the best.

Posted by: Suzanne at October 4, 2006 04:28 PM

We are so very proud of the both of you and pray for only the best for you and your new family.....Lots O Love...Stephen & Sherron

Posted by: Stephen at October 4, 2006 09:59 PM

Ack! I realized I wrote you an email wondering if the baby had been born yet without checking my RSS feeds!

Congrats to you both!

Posted by: Amanda at October 5, 2006 09:18 PM

Congratulations, Kitty and Archi-Sapper.

AllTheBest,
Rob

Posted by: Rob at October 7, 2006 07:50 AM

Congratulations, you rock stars! He'll be returning kicks for the Saints in no time.

Posted by: Josh at October 9, 2006 12:45 PM

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