Extra! Extra! The Happy Birth Days Carnival is Here!
Tonight I kissed my younger son as I put him in his crib and said to him "Good night my 1 year old". This is something my parents used to say to my brother and me on the eve of our birthdays. This is the last night I got to tuck my 1 year old into bed. Tomorrow, Saturday June 21st, he will be two.
I think back to the my first ob appointment of the pregnancy. My doctor confirmed what I had already heard from two obs - because of the structure of my anatomy and because my older son (OS) had been born via c-section with a weight of 8 pounds 12 ounces, it was recommended that I have a planned c-section with YS. The nurse informed me that in order to perform the c-section the week before my due date, YS would probably be born on June 21. A summer solstice baby! I imagined snagging the first slot in the maternity operating room at 8 am and delivering the first scheduled baby of the summer by 8:30. I was pretty excited.
Throughout the entire pregnancy I fixated on the fact that YS would be born during the summer solstice. Sure enough, when it came time to schedule the c-section at the hospital, the date was June 21st. It wasn't totally perfect; I did end up with the 10 am slot. Other than being concerned about the fact I wouldn't be able to eat breakfast, I didn't worry too much about it.
Less than three weeks before my planned c-section, my doctor informed me that he had to have a kidney and rib removed. No, I'm not making this up. Although he was a solo practitioner, he had made arrangements with another practice for coverage. I was a little shaken to say the least. I had never been thrilled to have a c-section, and I had really wanted my own ob to perform it. In fact I had even switched from my prior ob after OS's birth to have him as my ob. Obviously I understood though! I knew several of the obs from the covering practice, and I was able to choose the one with whom I was most comfortable, since it was a scheduled c-section. Unfortunately, that ob did not perform scheduled c-sections on Wednesdays, so the date was changed. The ob was told, the hospital was told, the family was told, and my insurance company was told. I assumed YS knew of the change as well. Now I was scheduled for Thursday, June 22 at 8 am.
On June 15, I started having strong contractions. The Big Giraffe and OS got me to the hospital. Once I was safely checked into a bed, he called a friend of ours, whose son was also a friend of OS's and ducked out quickly to drop OS off at their home. He returned quickly, hoping to arrive just in time to attend to the c-section. Alas, it was a false alarm; the contractions were caused by a previously undiagnosed UTI. Although we were partially disappointed we felt we were in the homestretch. One of our "emergency contact friends" who had been available to take care of OS in the event of surprise, nighttime labor went out of town for a week. However, our second emergency contact friend, "Cee" had three young kids and wasn't going anywhere, and we had family flying in the night before the new date for the c-section.
I was very excited when June 20th rolled around. I was planning for my final playgroup as a parent of an only child at Cee's home the next day, the arrival of family that next evening, and then an easy drive to the hospital for YS's birth the following morning. Then C called to let me know that her middle child was running a fever. There might be no playgroup. As the day went on, I wasn't feeling so hot either. In fact several people told me I looked awful that day. Nice, right? I was having cramps, but I assumed that I was either sick or having a resurgence of the UTI. The Big Giraffe kept insisting I was in labor. I was in denial. Finally around 4 am, on June 21st I couldn't take it anymore, and asked the Big Giraffe to take me to the hospital. With OS sleeping peacefully and our family not expected to arrive for almost 24 hours, he went to call our first emergency contact...who was out of town ummm...our second emergency contact...whose kid had a fever ummm...an unsuspecting friend of ours. It turned out that she had a cousin who had just been in a fatal car accident earlier, and she was caring for her mother who was in shock as a result. She was willing to come over to take care of OS, but she asked if there were anyone else. Obviously the Big Giraffe offered his condolences and said we would call someone else. He then called a woman from our church that I'm friends with, who immediately (but nervously) said she would come over. OS didn't know her well, so we were concerned about how he might react upon waking up with her in the house, but we didn't have much choice. She arrived at 4:30 in the morning, and we took off for the hospital.
At 6 am, the Big Giraffe called Cee, and it turned out her sick child was fully recovered. She and all three of her children got to our house while OS was still sleeping. OS awoke to find his favorite friend in his room. Then he got to go out for donuts and have a sleepover at her house later on that night. I think it was one of the best days of his life!
Meanwhile, an ob I didn't know from the practice of the ob who was covering for my ob examined me. I was 3 cm dilated. I was quite proud of myself because I never dilated on my own with OS and had always sort of wondered if I were capable of it. Time for the c-section. The ob called for an anesthesiologist. That's when the next round of hoo hah started.
Apparently the anestheseologists were all very busy at a meeting. "No, it's not an emergency," I heard the ob snap into the phone, "but I am here with a woman who is in pain, and we should take care of her." After placing the phone down with what I would describe as restrained deliberation, he turned to me and said, "I apologize. That was completely inappropriate." He then strode from the room with continued deliberation. I presume that he went directly to the anesthesiologists and displayed less deliberation than he had shown to me. Either way, an anesthesiologist was in my room less than 5 minutes later. I took off my brand new sandals and walked into the operating room. The ob whom I had originally picked to cover for my own ob came in even though it was not her normal day in the hospital and partnered with another attending to perform the c-section. It is apparently pretty usual to have two attendings perform a c-section.
The c-section was really quick, and I felt nothing. In fact, I was waiting for them to start the procedure when they announced they were finished delivering the baby. Little YS was born at 8:22 am on Wednesday June 21 just like I had pictured for the majority of my pregnancy. He was healthy. Despite the drama of his birth, he was an incredibly easy baby and still is. One thing did not go according to plan: my new sandals were stolen.
Throughout my pregnancy with YS, I believed he would be born on one specific day. Even when it seemed like he would be born a day later, he still claim on the original date. With OS, things had appeared opposite. I went into labor one day before the due date projected by the ob. However, I went through 38 hours of labor followed by an unplanned c-section. The result? OS was born on his due date.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Babies are born when they are ready. In some families, that may actually be on their due date.
Happy Birthday, YS! I can't believe you're two years old!
The Happy Birthday Carnival will run for a whole week. You are more than welcome to still continue to add your blog to Mr. Linky after that, but I will be drawing two $10 gift cards to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts at the end of the week ( the evening of June 27th).
Great idea Alex. I plan on writing my three up this week. Possible ending with my middle child since her birthday is on the 27th.
Great story's. It's amazing how things worked out. With my first daughter, our emergency contact person to drive me to the hospital if Husband was working, moved to Florida two days before I delivered Einey (and a month before I was due).
Happy birthday. My baby is seven years old today. I can't believe it. He was due on 6/9, so I'm sure you can imagine how the days crawled until the 21st. But it's a very cool birthday! Enjoy!
Happy birthday YS!! I always make an issue of the last day of their ages... For instance, this year, Justin is 9. In February, when he turns 10, and I am an emotional wreck, I will be commenting on his age for 4 weeks straight.
I hope it isn't totally cheating to link to an old post. I just reread it before posting and relived the whole thing. Everyone seems to have an amazing story to tell.
Yeah for the Carnival! Of course, I have THREE stories to share (I think folks will be birthed out by Friday) so get ready for me linking a few more times.
It's funny, I never planned on writing these out but FOR YOU - anything.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
Great idea Alex. I plan on writing my three up this week. Possible ending with my middle child since her birthday is on the 27th.
Great story's. It's amazing how things worked out. With my first daughter, our emergency contact person to drive me to the hospital if Husband was working, moved to Florida two days before I delivered Einey (and a month before I was due).