Josslyn’s Birth Story – Part Three

I left off Part Two with the dreaded news that I would be transported via ambulance to a different hospital.  As I waited for the ambulance transport my contractions got worse and more intense.  The nurses started pushing drugs, antibiotics, and all sorts of other things I had no clue about to start the process of getting me prepped for surgery.

The Paramedic and EMT arrived and got me ready for transport, onto a gurney, buckled down.  Before they wheeled me off Matt and I discussed that he would be going home and letting the dogs out grabbing a few things and then heading straight to the other hospital.

I was loaded into the ambulance, I had a nice paramedic that told me to hold my arm up when a contraction started and then lower it when it stopped.  As we pulled out of the ambulance bay they hit the lights and sirens.  Do WHAT?  I had no idea we would be running lights and sirens.  I asked why, and she told me it was an emergency that they were already starting to get prepped at the hospital for my arrival.  So there I was, strapped to a gurney, arm in the air having a contraction, and doing my best not to cry.  I don’t think I have wanted my mom more in my life than I wanted her right then.

Oh yeah and then there is that, my mom and dad.  Well my parents had decided to take a trip of a lifetime cruising the Mediterranean Sea.  They were to say the very least not accessible, trust me we tried!  We even called my uncle to see if he could help us get a hold of them.  I finally sent her an email. “Please call me ASAP!”  Unfortunately she did not get that email for almost 36 hours … more on that later!

I was unloaded from the ambulance and wheeled into the L&D room.  While they were lowering the gurney, at one point, they pinched and burst my IV line … so a new line had to be started.  It took forever probably 4 or 5 sticks before they finally got the new line going.  And then it started again.  I had to give all of my medical information again, drugs, medical history … Another daunting process.  At this point it was about 10:25.  There was a TV on in the room playing the World Series, not that I was watching.  I was trying to keep my mind off of what was going on and talking as best I could with the nurses.  There wasn’t much conversation going on, the one nurse clearly had an aversion to patients with a dry sense of humor … her loss!

I was still waiting on Matt to arrive and the contractions continued and I started to stress out.  I was getting upset wanting to know where he was and why he was taking so long.  I couldn’t call him because I had not taken my cell phone into the ambulance, it was with Matt in his pocket.  My blood pressure started to elevate and the nurse ordered me to lay on my side.  HOLY cow that hurt, I had not laid on my side since I was 16 weeks pregnant because it was so uncomfortable.  I made it through the contraction and the nurse let me go back to my back since my BP lowered back down.  This continued for another 25 minutes back and forth from my side to my back, that’s when I got to meet the nice Dr on-call that was going to deliver my daughter!  Dr. S. was very nice and assured me that everything was going to be okay and that I would have Josslyn out in no time flat.  I was also told at that point a NICU team from Children’s would be in the  operating room to assess Josslyn as soon as she was born.  Wow!  A whole team for my little peanut.

The doctor left and I was told I could stop rolling on my side when the contractions started that my BP was doing good.  Matt had finally made his way to the room, I was so relieved!  I later found out that since it was after 9 pm he had to go through security and since I had not been fully admitted yet he had a few hoops to jump through to get past security and into the L&D area.  But he was there and I was able to relax a bit.  Being alone in a hospital room in labor is something I highly recommend avoiding at all costs!

The second L&D nurse was super nice and had a great sense of humor.  She was asking lots of questions to Matt and I just keeping conversation.  At one point during a contraction Matt started to joke around trying to keep my mind off of what was going on.  Only problem was, I wasn’t in a joking mood.  I was watching the clock counting the seconds until the contraction would stop and focusing on breathing instead of holding my breath.  From then Matt knew that if I stopped talking the only thing he needed to say had to be encouraging, no joking.  I knew I married a smart man! He did a great job!

The nurse prepped me for surgery and brought Matt a set of scrubs.  We were told no cameras in the delivery room, which bummed me out.  I really wanted a picture of Josslyn on my chest with Matt grinning in the background, but that wasn’t going to happen.  I was wheeled down the hall into the OR at 11:30 and Matt was told to go ahead and get dressed.

Once in the room I met the Anesthesiologist, Roger, and was quickly introduced to a slew of people in the room.  Seriously there must have been 8 -10 people in there prepping for Josslyn’s arrival!  Roger had some trouble getting my epidural in, he kept asking for me to tell him left or right.  I can’t remember why but I know he was pushing some drugs through my IV to help me to relax because I was so nervous.  A funny, yet now awkward moment, during the process was when the nurse told me to arch my back like a cat.  I told her if I arched too hard my head would be in her boobs.  She laughed and made an off hand comment about motorboatting and I did my best not to laugh like crazy.  Whatever she said worked and after 25 minutes the epidural was in place and I could no longer feel my legs.

I could NO LONGER FEEL MY LEGS!  Oh my gosh what a horrible feeling, I hated it!  I mean HATED it every second!  I asked the nurses to please pick up my legs so I knew they were still there.  Roger pushed more drugs into my IV and I relaxed again hahaha

The whole time I was getting the epidural Matt was still patiently waiting in the L&D room and snapped this picture just before he was walked down the hall to the OR.  It was official we were having a Halloween baby!

Matt came into the room and joined me by my head.  He was introduced to the Dr. S. and asked how I was doing.  It was then that I realized that music was playing on the speakers in the OR and it was Jack Johnson!  My nerves subsided even more, when someone told me that it was the Dr’s choice in music not the radio.  My surgery started and a few minutes later at 12:22 am Josslyn was born.  Dr. S. held her up for us to see her and she was quickly grabbed by the NICU team.  I couldn’t see her from where I was laying but I did see a group of people huddled around her.  Then there was a cry!  I was finally able to breath.  She was here, she was alive, and she was vocal!  A nurse announced that her first APGAR was a 7 and that her 2nd was a 9.  And then the announcement that about floored me.  7lbs 1.5oz and 20 inches long! She did know she was supposed to be a preemie right?  Clearly she missed that memo!  Josslyn was given to Matt to hold for a few minutes she was so beautiful I couldn’t get over it and the staff just kept talking about how pretty she was.  A nurse went to take her from Matt to go to the nursery and thankfully Roger spoke up and asked for the baby.  He then placed her on my chest.  I didn’t know what to do, so I said hello to her and welcomed her to the world.  While I was talking to her she slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.  My heart melted, she had me hook, line, and sinker!

Josslyn was taken from the room by a team and taken to the hospital nursery for further assessment by the NICU team.  So far I was seeing this as good news because she was not immediately rushed to Children’s like I had previously thought she would be.  Dr. S continued on with my surgery for what seemed like forever.  I finally asked Roger if they were about done, he said it looked like they were just getting finished.  I was impatient and ready to hold my daughter.  But at this point I had a horrible case of the shakes thanks to the anesthesia and was afraid to hold her.

Once back in the L&D room the nurse was “massaging” my belly.  That’s code for pushing as hard as they can on your super sensitive tummy!  At first it wasn’t so bad, I was still numb from the waste down.  By the time the drugs wore off I was ready to punch the nurse when she got near me.  The nurse mentioned that they had a hard time getting my bleeding under control, that is why the surgery had taken so long.  She also mentioned that was why she was having to massage me so much.  In between massage sessions the nurse and I were chit chatting and she happened to mention taking a baby aspirin everyday to help with some kind of condition she had.  Off hand I said, Me too I take baby aspirin once a day.  I guess I can stop taking it now that the baby his here.  The nurse looked shocked!  And then asked me why I had not mentioned that when we were going over the admission stuff.  To be honest I just plain forgot.  I had all my meds listed on my iPhone and since it was with Matt at the time, I wasn’t thinking clearly to remember baby aspirin.

Well as it turns out that was a pretty HUGE thing to forget to mention.  The nurse was gone for a few seconds and came back with a  RhoGam shot.  She explained the baby aspirin was most likely the cause of my heavy bleeding during surgery and why they were having trouble controlling it, as well as the reason for all of my extra massaging afterwards.  The RhoGam shot started to work and they were able to move me to a recovery room.  Matt’s mom and step-dad had arrived to TN at that point and were eagerly awaiting their chance to meet their new grand-daughter!

Funny thing about being moved to the recovery room.  At this point all of my pain drugs had worn off, I had the shakes so bad it was making me sick to my stomach.  Sometimes anesthesia does this to me and this surgery was not an exception.  Once I got into the recovery room I promptly vomited.  I do not recommend this to anyone, ever, nor do I wish this on my least favorite person in the world, because to put it blunt it hurts like hell.  I expelled a few explicit words and then asked Matt if his mom was still in the hallway and to please apologize for  having to hear what I just said.  Whoops! While I was finally getting settled into the room Matt was able to go down to the nursery with his Mom and get a few pictures of our newborn daughter.   Look at all of that black hair, 9 months of heartburn solved with one look at that hair!  I had Matt call the nursery no less than  5 times to see when they would be bringing her to our room.  Each time they told him that she was having blood sugar issues and was going to be staying in the nursery until they had everything under control.  I still had the shakes for at least 3 hours after surgery and wasn’t ready to hold her yet but I wanted her in our room.  I wanted Matt to be able to hold her.  We succumbed to the fact that Josslyn would not be in the room anytime soon so we decided to try and get some rest.  We slept for about an hour when there was a knock at the door.  7 1/2 hours after her birth I was finally able to hold my daughter for the first time.  I couldn’t stop staring at her.  It felt so surreal, she was here.  She was REALLY here!  All the years of trying, heartbreak, fear, and uncertainty and she was here and she was real.  It took me a few days for it to completely settle in but it did and I haven’t looked back.You can never imagine how tiny your newborn is going to be until your 6’4″ husband holds her in his hands and she fits snugly into the palm of his hand.We didn’t have our good camera with us so all of our first photos are with our iPhones.  This is our first family photo, selfie style!  Josslyn had elevated Bilirubin Levels and was diagnosed with Janudice, which is not uncommon in premature babies.  Thankfully her levels lowered over the next few days and she never needed to going under the lamp for treatments.  Her blood sugar was checked regularly but once again we were blessed and the same day that I was released from the hospital, Josslyn was released as well.  Our lives are forever changed and I wouldn’t change any minute of it, for the world! And as for my parents, my mom got my email on the 1st and immediately called me, the conversation went something like this.

Me: Hi Mom!
Mom: Hey, honey.  How are you?
Me:  Good!  What are you up to?
Mom: We’re in Barcelona, I just checked my email and saw that you needed me to call you.  What are you doing?
Me:  Ohh, not much just feeding my daughter.
Mom: …… (Crickets)
Me:  You there?
Mom: You’re what?!?!! …

The conversation went on and the realization that their latest grandchild was born while they were on vacation sunk in.  Good news is Grandma and Grandpa arrived back into town the next day and got to meet their new grand-daughter as soon as they got off of the airplane!

Oh yeah and the Red Sox won the World Series that day.  Talk about an awesome day for Matt!  Josslyn was born AND the Red Sox win again!

 

Did you catch the beginning of her story?  Read Part One & Part Two