Kyle Brandt Adams-The Saga Part 1

After basically having random yet painful contractions for the past 10 weeks and being on Procardia to slow them down I quit taking it on Friday September 9 when I hit 36 weeks.  I obviously did not do this with out my doctor's knowledge or consent but 36 was the cutoff and I had had it!  I decided that I was ready to be done with this pregnancy and wanted this baby HERE!  I actually did a bunch of  housework to encourage the eviction of out son.  On Friday I did laundry, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned out the pantry, cleaned the sink, microwave and stovetop, vacuumed the carpet and vacuumed and mopped the tile.  I did have contractions starting to come steady on Friday night but they settled down.  On Saturday morning basically did the same thing.  Dishes, laundry, floors etc.  Saturday was a little different though because I sort of felt nauseated most of the day and did not want to eat anything.  In the back of my mind I had hope that he would be born that day mostly because that was the day I told my doctor I wanted to go to and he said that as long as I was in active labor he would let me have the baby.  It was sort of a catch 22 though because I wanted him to be born on 9-10-11 but not 9-11-11.  I had to sort of play it so that I did not go in too early but that I did not wait too long either. 

At about 2pm my contractions started coming about 10 minutes consistently then went to 5 minutes apart at about 3:15. I started writing them down at 3:15 and they steady for about 2 hours.  At 5:00 I told Don that I thought we needed to probably go to the hospital.  I gathered up the things I needed for the hospital that I had not pre-packed yet.  We left about 5:15 and got to the hospital at 6:15.  I kept timing my contractions and writing them down.  Some of them were 3 minutes apart and they just kept coming.  I kept praying that they would keep coming though since we had an hour drive to hospital and I really did not want to go home.  We left Caleb and Cayden home and Connor was at grandma's.  I was not overly thrilled about the hospital Labor and Delivery triage because first they make you sit in a little waiting room for a while before they even take you back to the triage room to be monitored.  We sat out in the waiting room for almost 30 minutes before they called us back.  About 20 minutes into our wait a nurse poked her head out and asked what I was there for because I did not specify on my check in sheet.  SERIOUSLY?  I told the receptionist what was going on and I thought that she wrote it down as I am standing there rocking back and forth in pain at the check in desk.  I was a little short with the nurse for asking but um really do I look like I just came to Labor and Delivery with a broken arm?  I think it irritated her so she made us wait longer.  Then they called me back but told Don to wait out there some more and they would call him back.  Not liking that part either.  I wanted him there the WHOLE time not when they got around to calling him back.  So went to bathroom and peed in a cup then went to the triage room and changed into the lovely gown and waited for them to come and hook me up to the monitors.  The same nurse that I irritated was the one "helping" me and I think she purposely made me wait but for pete's sake I had waited for 20 minutes with 3-5 minute contractions.  When she did come back on she hooked me up to the monitors.  It is always so good to hear the baby's heartbeat and hear him moving around.  The nurse then said that she would be back to check on me in a little while.  I waited for about 5 minutes to see if she was going to come back and start asking me questions and when she didn't I buzzed her and asked her to get my husband who was still in the waiting room.   He came in and we waited for about 20 minutes or so.  I guess in the nurses defense it was shift change so maybe that was why we waited so long.  Another nurse came in and said that she would be taking care of us and started asking me the basic questions about how long I had been having contractions etc etc.  Then she checked me and said that I was definitely between a 2-3. Then she said that she would go and call my doctor and let us know.  She came back in about 7:15 and said she had good news and that we were having a baby that night.  I said "for sure to night right?  Not tomorrow-I don't want his birthday on 9-11-11".  She said that with the c-section it would be really fast.  Then she brought in another nurse to start all the prep for the c-section.  This nurse was a cute tiny gal from somewhere in the orient or maybe the Philippines.  She had a pretty thick accent and kept calling me hon. 

The first thing they did was put these compression cuffs on my legs.  They would occasionally squeeze like a blood pressure cuff to keep the circulation going and prevent deep vein thrombosis or blood clots. Then I got my IV and they started saline and antibiotics because I am Group B Strep positive.  It was hard for the nurse to find a good vein because my veins are total crap but she found one in my hand which was actually more comfy than in my arm.  They brought in our lovely surgical garb and Don put his on.  We had a few minutes to wait for the doctors to get there so Don gave me a blessing. 

My anesthesiologist came in a little bit later.  We think he told us his name but he was from New Zealand and had a heavy accent and talked pretty fast so we are not sure.  My doctor was not on call that weekend-it was another one from his practice named Dr. Abberman.  We thought that the doctor who came in was Dr. Abberman and did not know otherwise until the nurse came back in and asked if we had seen Dr. Abberman and we told her we thought we had.  She told us that was the anesthesiologist not the doctor.  The anestesiologist's name was Dr. Wills I think and he was just as nice and personable as he could be.  He said the was going to talk me through the whole thing and to ask him anything I wanted.  He did say that I would be numb from t**** to toes which we thought was funny.  By 8:30 we were on our way to the operating room.

I did not see Dr.Abberman until we were actually in the operating room.  There was also a resident doctor from Nellis named Dr. Abbot who assisted.  They had Don wait in the hall while they moved me to the operating table and while the doctor gave me the spinal.  That was scary and painful.  I had to sit up and curl way over with my head down, just like and epidural.  I had to be really still but I was really scared so I was shaking.  He numbed the area with something like novocaine and then put in the spinal.  He had to back out the needle once as my left leg actually kicked on it's own.  Then he said I had about 2 minutes to get my legs up on the table and lay down before I was numb.  That is such a strange feeling to not feel anything from the chest down.  After the spinal and the catherter were done they pulled some wing like things out from the table for my arms to lay on and then put the partition up in front of my face.  Dr. Wills covered my arms and chest with a blanket.  At that point they let Don in and we were ready to go.  I asked if the NICU team was going to be there just in case and they said yes since we were 3.4 weeks early.  It was the easiest delievery ever.  Dr. Wills said during our chit chatting that I did not know it but that they had already started.  I responded by saying "they are cutting me open?' and he said yes.  Right about then I got a whiff of a terrible smell and I asked what it was.  Dr. Wills said it was me-they were cauterizing and they cut to reduce the bleeding.  That was a yucky smell and I told them so.  The doctors thought it was pretty funny. Don sat by my head the whole time and watched mostly the whole thing.  At one point he had his head down and I asked him if he was ok to which he said yes and come to find out later that was when a big tube over my head filled up with blood and he did not want me to see it so he was looking down.  Kyle was quite content to stay in his nice cozy home and they had a hard time pulling him out.  Don said he feet and bum came out first but it took a little doing to get his head out.  When Don said he was out I just wanted to hear him.  I asked if he was breathing and Don said yes and that he was crying but I could not hear him.  It seemed everyone got really quiet for me so I could hear him cry.  They called Don over to the warmer and the scale and Don took some pictures.  Then they cleaned him up and wrapped him up and they handed Kyle to Don so he could bring him over to me.  I asked what he weighed and they said 7lbs 3oz and he was 18 inches long. He was born at 9:21pm   Dr. Abbernan said it was sort of strange to have the NICU in delivery with a 7 lb baby.  Don brought him over to me and brought him down so I could kiss him.  I got to see his dark hair that I was so glad to see because I really wanted him to have dark hair like his dad.  Dr. Wills took a few pictures for us for which I was very grateful. 

Don stood by me with Kyle for a little bit while they started tying my tubes. It took a little longer than it should have because I kept bleeding.  So they would tie and cauterize and then tie and cauterize more.  Dr. Abberman said there was no way I would be getting pregnant ever again and that I was very vascular.  At one point I think I asked Dr. Abbott if he was a boy scout and knew his knots and they found that amusing.  Don stayed with me until the surgery was done and they started to stitch me up then he went to the nursery with Kyle.  The doctors and the nurses moved me from the operating table back to the rolling table and that felt really strange to not have any feeling but to be moving that much.  They took me to recovery for about an hour to monitor me and my nurse cleaned me up. 

After an  hour we went upstairs to my room.  When we got upstairs my room was right across from the nursery and Darbie, Ashley and Justine were waiting there watching Kyle get his bath.  They wheeled me into my room and a few minutes later they brought in my baby. 

Don stayed the night with me because Kyle could not stay in my room without someone in there with me since I was still numb.  Don "slept" on the pull out chair/bed and got up every time I needed something or Kyle needed something.  We were not planning on him staying the night because with the other boys he would stay a while after they were born and then go home to the other boys.  But because of the C-section he had too.  That first night was not too bad because I was still pretty numb and also a morphine in the spinal block, and a some meds through my IV every 6 hours.   Little did I know how bad it was going to get!

I was able to eat breakfast around 8 after only having ice and a little water most of the night. 

Grandma and Grandpa brought the boys into the hospital for a few minutes Sunday morning to see their new baby brother.  They also brought Don some clean clothes.

I was able to get up and walk around 12:00pm on Sunday.  They took the catheter out around then too and the IV out around 4.  I did not get a shower though until Monday morning.  I am glad I washed my hair Saturday before we went to the hospital.