Author's Note: I wrote this on very little sleep in the wee hours of the morning. I hope it came out right.
Well now, where to start? Our little Hubigail is a real live boy now. I would start at the beginning but that would be just rewriting this entire blog. So, let’s go back somewhere around 3 or so weeks ago. My wife and I were getting the run around as usual. We were going to 3 different places and getting 3 different plans for delivery. I am not suggesting these places we went were bad in any way. On the contrary, they have all been great. The problem is that they were not all privy to the same information.
Basically, our primary care is at La Clinica. They are awesome. They have been sending us to another place for ultrasounds. There are doctors there who do all the prenatal stuff as well as some delivery type stuff. They do wonderful work as proven by the ultrasound pics I have posted already. They thought a caesarian section was the way to go. My wife developed gestational diabetes and had extra fluid. She has a huge fibroid the size of a baby’s head. It just so happened that it was located in the very place Hubert’s head needed to go. They were worried that the baby would not get passed it. So, C-section it was. Plus, Hugh was sideways at the time.
Returning to La Clinica, they made an appointment with another doctor who has delivered over 7000 babies. He seemed really nice guy. We were told that the C-section was a go and this guy was going to do it. We just needed to pick a date. Those days were the 5th-7th. We thought the 5th sounded pretty good. So, when we got to this guy’s office, he had no clue why we were there. He did an exam, looked at the fibroid, and said he really didn’t want to even try it. He would have to make a vertical incision to avoid the fibroid. However, those take longer to heal than the regular bikini cut and have a greater chance of bleeding. Hubert was also head down. He had us make an appointment for the 10th to see if we couldn’t do the natural birth thing.
Okay, here is where our minds were through all of this. We were all geared up for regular old childbirth on the 12th or there abouts. All of a sudden we were going to have a C-section. So, we weighed the pros and cons and came to terms with it. Now, we had planned to do one thing, then another and another again. There was no way to tell which way was up.
Upon returning to the ultrasound place, they decided that since he was once again sideways, they would try to turn him and induce. Then, they thought better of it. The doctor was able to turn Hugh with little to no effort. In fact, this doctor, who we had never seen show the slightest hint of emotion, was smiling and laughing about how that was one of the easiest turning jobs he had ever done. The problem was that there was extra fluid and Hugh made himself a swimming pool out of it. We all worried that he would just turn back, which he did shortly after we left. So, the C-section was on again.
Now our plans had changed again. Grrrr!
Basically, our primary care is at La Clinica. They are awesome. They have been sending us to another place for ultrasounds. There are doctors there who do all the prenatal stuff as well as some delivery type stuff. They do wonderful work as proven by the ultrasound pics I have posted already. They thought a caesarian section was the way to go. My wife developed gestational diabetes and had extra fluid. She has a huge fibroid the size of a baby’s head. It just so happened that it was located in the very place Hubert’s head needed to go. They were worried that the baby would not get passed it. So, C-section it was. Plus, Hugh was sideways at the time.
Returning to La Clinica, they made an appointment with another doctor who has delivered over 7000 babies. He seemed really nice guy. We were told that the C-section was a go and this guy was going to do it. We just needed to pick a date. Those days were the 5th-7th. We thought the 5th sounded pretty good. So, when we got to this guy’s office, he had no clue why we were there. He did an exam, looked at the fibroid, and said he really didn’t want to even try it. He would have to make a vertical incision to avoid the fibroid. However, those take longer to heal than the regular bikini cut and have a greater chance of bleeding. Hubert was also head down. He had us make an appointment for the 10th to see if we couldn’t do the natural birth thing.
Okay, here is where our minds were through all of this. We were all geared up for regular old childbirth on the 12th or there abouts. All of a sudden we were going to have a C-section. So, we weighed the pros and cons and came to terms with it. Now, we had planned to do one thing, then another and another again. There was no way to tell which way was up.
Upon returning to the ultrasound place, they decided that since he was once again sideways, they would try to turn him and induce. Then, they thought better of it. The doctor was able to turn Hugh with little to no effort. In fact, this doctor, who we had never seen show the slightest hint of emotion, was smiling and laughing about how that was one of the easiest turning jobs he had ever done. The problem was that there was extra fluid and Hugh made himself a swimming pool out of it. We all worried that he would just turn back, which he did shortly after we left. So, the C-section was on again.
Now our plans had changed again. Grrrr!
For the last few weeks, we had no idea what was going to happen. Going back to La Clinica, Hugh was head down and natural birth was once again the goal. We had an appointment back at the ultrasound place on the 5th. That was going to be the deciding factor. So, we go to the appointment. The doctor we had been seeing was not there. We did the ultrasound. Hugh was head down face down but not engaged. The thought was to break the water and hope the suction pulled him in. Or just induce labor and hope for the best.
So, we drove across the street, pulled up a bed at the birthing center, and waited. The new doctor from across the street was now having second thoughts. Hugh was sideways once again. This kid refused to cooperate. The problem was that breaking the water could cause the umbilical cord to come out first and get pinched off. There is a technical name for that but I think you get the point. If you don’t, it is called prolapse. Inducing could be foiled by this little guy if he was not going to turn the right way. So, they decided to put the baby monitor on my wife’s tummy and see what was going on. Here is where the fun began.
As we know from the past visits, Hugh is no fan of ultrasounds and general pokery of his mommy’s tummy. When the monitor goes on, Hugh takes a few laps. Having been previously harassed that day, he was in a mood. He started his own one kid ironman competition. The monitor went on and Hugh went nuts. He was over here, He was over there. He was nowhere to be found. The monitor was peaked, the monitor was barely registering. There was nothing. When he moves past the monitor, it makes a very loud noise like someone blowing into a microphone. Every time I tried to say anything, Hugh would do a sound check so no one could hear what I said. He was good too. I would stop and wait. He would wait for me to speak again before starting again.
I went out to the car to get some things and the nurses where all gathered around the screen they use to watch all the monitor results. One of them said that I had quite the wild baby in there. At least he was going to be remembered.
So, we drove across the street, pulled up a bed at the birthing center, and waited. The new doctor from across the street was now having second thoughts. Hugh was sideways once again. This kid refused to cooperate. The problem was that breaking the water could cause the umbilical cord to come out first and get pinched off. There is a technical name for that but I think you get the point. If you don’t, it is called prolapse. Inducing could be foiled by this little guy if he was not going to turn the right way. So, they decided to put the baby monitor on my wife’s tummy and see what was going on. Here is where the fun began.
As we know from the past visits, Hugh is no fan of ultrasounds and general pokery of his mommy’s tummy. When the monitor goes on, Hugh takes a few laps. Having been previously harassed that day, he was in a mood. He started his own one kid ironman competition. The monitor went on and Hugh went nuts. He was over here, He was over there. He was nowhere to be found. The monitor was peaked, the monitor was barely registering. There was nothing. When he moves past the monitor, it makes a very loud noise like someone blowing into a microphone. Every time I tried to say anything, Hugh would do a sound check so no one could hear what I said. He was good too. I would stop and wait. He would wait for me to speak again before starting again.
I went out to the car to get some things and the nurses where all gathered around the screen they use to watch all the monitor results. One of them said that I had quite the wild baby in there. At least he was going to be remembered.
Then began the drive-bys. I am pretty sure that he was in his secret hiding place, then he would go around past the monitor and then away again. This would happen several times. Then he would settle. They would put the monitor near his heart, then he would move his butt to where his heart was. The readings were all over the place. As soon as they found his heart again, he would wait for them to go sit down and get comfortable. Then he would move so they would have to come and adjust the monitor again. Our nurse was amazed. She stood and watched Hugh turn in circles. You could see my wife’s tummy swirling around. It was sort of creepy. She said that in all of her 34 years of being a nurse, she had never seen a baby so active. Hugh was the talk of the birthing center. I made the joke that the other nurses were probably sitting around watching the monitor like a bunch of guys watching the super bowl. She looked at me dead serious and said, “They are”.
There was too much going on for induction. Doctor B (The new doctor from across the street) Showed up and was blown away. There was no way this was going to work. We had to seriously consider a C-section no matter the risks. She did another ultrasound and mapped out the situation. She knew it would have to be a vertical incision in order to miss the fibroid. My wife had started having contractions at that time. They were not very close together but they were real contractions. They decided to keep her overnight and do a C-section the next day.
If you are confused about the order of events as to the C-section vs induction, try living it. We couldn’t keep track of it either. And that wasn’t the end.
So, we spent the night and my wife got to starve herself until the surgery, midnight to 3 pm. Unless they could get an earlier time, my wife ran the risk running into blood sugar issues. So, if they didn’t get an earlier time, they would let her eat breakfast. Turns out they got a noon time slot. Starvation it was.
The next day, they did another ultrasound and the vertical incision was a go. However, Hugh had turned head down again. We were offered the option of binding her abdomen and popping the bag. We were fed up with all the flip flopping and figured there was a good chance it would still end up caesarian and stuck with it. Now we just had to wait. That was a pretty long wait.
So, as we are waiting, I will take the time to tell you of the amazing staff at the Rogue Regional Medical Center Birth place. They are so freaking awesome! They are on everything so fast. It is amazing. This is where we took our birthing classes (as you might have read about). Lori was our teacher. She is also a nurse in the birthplace. Lori is awesome. To be honest, the thing I took most from the classes is that the staff really does care about the people who come in. They also have some mad skills and make damn sure you are ready for anything. Therefore, I was not worried. I knew that no matter what happened, we were taken care of. I had complete confidence in everyone. Also, they are such wonderful caring people. When you go in, you get a nurse. You only deal with that one nurse for everything. When shift change comes along, the outgoing and incoming nurses come to your bedside and exchange information about you. That way if they get something wrong, you can correct them. They do an extensive list on you and it is meticulously passed on to the next shift. Outstanding!
Our fist nurse seemed a little disagreeable. We were not impressed. Turns out, we were slipped in at the last minute and they all had to squeeze us into their already busy schedule. She was not disagreeable at all. She was super busy and took the time to get us set up for our assigned nurse. I found this out later as I will point out shortly.
We had some very excellent nurses. I feel that if we start naming names, some might feel left out. I would leave names out of this for that reason. However, keeping in mind that everyone we dealt with was well above any expectations we could possibly have.
Our pre and post-surgery nurse stood out even more. Her name is Jeralie. She came in that morning to work a fourth 12 hour shift. She quickly got to know us and immediately began taking care of everything we needed long before we even needed it. She talked us through what was going to happen in the operating room. As I said, Lori had already gone through this in our class, but I had forgotten most of it in the midst of all the back and forth decisions. Jeralie got me my paper scrubs and accompanying components. She took some pictures of us and helped ease our uneasiness.
There was too much going on for induction. Doctor B (The new doctor from across the street) Showed up and was blown away. There was no way this was going to work. We had to seriously consider a C-section no matter the risks. She did another ultrasound and mapped out the situation. She knew it would have to be a vertical incision in order to miss the fibroid. My wife had started having contractions at that time. They were not very close together but they were real contractions. They decided to keep her overnight and do a C-section the next day.
If you are confused about the order of events as to the C-section vs induction, try living it. We couldn’t keep track of it either. And that wasn’t the end.
So, we spent the night and my wife got to starve herself until the surgery, midnight to 3 pm. Unless they could get an earlier time, my wife ran the risk running into blood sugar issues. So, if they didn’t get an earlier time, they would let her eat breakfast. Turns out they got a noon time slot. Starvation it was.
The next day, they did another ultrasound and the vertical incision was a go. However, Hugh had turned head down again. We were offered the option of binding her abdomen and popping the bag. We were fed up with all the flip flopping and figured there was a good chance it would still end up caesarian and stuck with it. Now we just had to wait. That was a pretty long wait.
So, as we are waiting, I will take the time to tell you of the amazing staff at the Rogue Regional Medical Center Birth place. They are so freaking awesome! They are on everything so fast. It is amazing. This is where we took our birthing classes (as you might have read about). Lori was our teacher. She is also a nurse in the birthplace. Lori is awesome. To be honest, the thing I took most from the classes is that the staff really does care about the people who come in. They also have some mad skills and make damn sure you are ready for anything. Therefore, I was not worried. I knew that no matter what happened, we were taken care of. I had complete confidence in everyone. Also, they are such wonderful caring people. When you go in, you get a nurse. You only deal with that one nurse for everything. When shift change comes along, the outgoing and incoming nurses come to your bedside and exchange information about you. That way if they get something wrong, you can correct them. They do an extensive list on you and it is meticulously passed on to the next shift. Outstanding!
Our fist nurse seemed a little disagreeable. We were not impressed. Turns out, we were slipped in at the last minute and they all had to squeeze us into their already busy schedule. She was not disagreeable at all. She was super busy and took the time to get us set up for our assigned nurse. I found this out later as I will point out shortly.
We had some very excellent nurses. I feel that if we start naming names, some might feel left out. I would leave names out of this for that reason. However, keeping in mind that everyone we dealt with was well above any expectations we could possibly have.
Our pre and post-surgery nurse stood out even more. Her name is Jeralie. She came in that morning to work a fourth 12 hour shift. She quickly got to know us and immediately began taking care of everything we needed long before we even needed it. She talked us through what was going to happen in the operating room. As I said, Lori had already gone through this in our class, but I had forgotten most of it in the midst of all the back and forth decisions. Jeralie got me my paper scrubs and accompanying components. She took some pictures of us and helped ease our uneasiness.
The time came and Jeralie walked us both down to the operating room. At the door, she told us that this is the last smooching place until after the surgery. So, we smooched and they went in. I was left to think while I waited for them to be ready for me.
I said I was completely confident in the staff and that never changed. But, I have always had a fear that something would go wrong and I would end up having to make the choice to save my wife or the baby. Sometimes things happen that are beyond even the best doctor’s control. I hoped to God it would never happen.
Jeralie came out after a bit and told me my wife was ready. But, she was very scared and upset. I took a deep breath, pulled on my mask, and went right in with my Han Solo smile plastered from ear to ear. What I saw almost shattered that smile completely.
I said I was completely confident in the staff and that never changed. But, I have always had a fear that something would go wrong and I would end up having to make the choice to save my wife or the baby. Sometimes things happen that are beyond even the best doctor’s control. I hoped to God it would never happen.
Jeralie came out after a bit and told me my wife was ready. But, she was very scared and upset. I took a deep breath, pulled on my mask, and went right in with my Han Solo smile plastered from ear to ear. What I saw almost shattered that smile completely.