As you probably know, the creation of Ephram was a big surprise, (a really good one at that!) I spent the majority of the pregnancy worried that something would go wrong. But I was pleasantly surprised as day after day, week after week, and month after month passed by without complication. But, Ephram had to throw us for one big loop. At 34 weeks, he decided to flip over so that he was in a breech position. In the two weeks following, he managed to completely wedge himself in a transverse position at the top of the womb... it was clear that he was not going to come out on his own. We eagerly scheduled a c-section a couple of weeks later, and were pleased to learn that our baby boy would have a very special birthday - New Year's Eve. For the week that the date was known, we hastily prepared for our trip to the hospital and the arrival of Ephram. But nobody was more surprised and anxious when December 30th finally arrived. I spent every hour of that day realizing that I would never experience it again without my baby. It was a very odd feeling - exciting and scary at once.
Andy and I got a lot done that day. We finished cleaning the house, doing the laundry and preparing everything so that it would be like new when we returned home. We spent some special time with Charlie before taking him over to his friend's house to spend the night... and Andy delivered our dog to our next door neighbor's house. Finally it was just Andy and me, and a growing baby inside. Waiting for the right hour to arrive. We decided to take a couple of "before" pictures.
It was hard, but I went to bed around midnight. I slept for all of two hours and then I was wide awake! I found some more things to clean and some television to watch. I knew that I should be in bed, relishing the last few hours of sleep before the baby's arrival. But I had so many nerves bundled up inside that I just couldn't do it! Finally it was 5:30am and time for us to start getting ready to go. Our c-section was scheduled for 8:15am and we were to arrive at the hospital no later than 6:45am. We showered, dressed and loaded the car. As we got in and rolled down the driveway, I remember thinking about how things were about to change. I don't remember much about the drive to the hospital that morning, but I do remember getting out of the car and walking up to the reception desk at the family maternity center.
This was the year of the swine flu. Because of the expected spread of the virus, hospitals across the country were taking preventative measures to keep germs away from labor and delivery centers. While we were in the hospital we would only be permitted visitors over the age of 12 that had no signs of the flu. We could have Charlie visit Ephram only if he had no signs of the flu as well, and because he is a sibling. When we entered the maternity center that morning we too were screened for the flu. Every day, Andy had to get a new sticker if he left the maternity area. He ended up with three different color dots. I only got this one:
We sat down and waited for our nurse to come out. Her name was Kirsten and she was the best, most comforting nurse ever. She showed us back to our room, I was glad that one was already set up so that we would not have to go to the triage area. We had a white board in our room that the nurses used to keep us informed of their names throughout our stay. They added Charlie to the board so that he would know that he was part of the family too when he came to visit.
I was really starting to get nervous by the time we got to the room... about meeting my son, having surgery, needing pain medications, and a litany of other things. It seemed like everything happened so fast from this point forward. Before I knew it, I was in a hospital gown. I'd had one last ultrasound to confirm that Ephram was still breech. Suddenly my doula had arrived, an IV was inserted, and the anesthesiologist was talking to me about what to expect. Our anesthesiologist was Matt, a resident that was nearly finished. He grew up near where I lived in Missouri, so we spent some time talking about that. We had another anesthesiologist supervising him as well - they did an excellent job. Our doula and Andy put on their scrubs... Andy looked as nervous and excited as I felt!My doctor arrived and explained that they had decided to remove my ovarian cyst during the surgery to help avoid torsion post-pregnancy. It was a scenario that we had discussed many times during the pregnancy, and seemed like a sound decision to me.
Suddenly it was 8:15 and I was walking. Down one hallway, around a corner and down another. Through double doors. Then Andy and my doula went a separate direction so that they could prepare to enter the OR, and I was walking alone with my nurse and my doctor, through the final set of doors into the OR. Up on the table I anxiously awaited the spinal. It was the part of the surgery that I had most worried about. I am so thankful for how patient all of the staff were as they explained every step of what was happening. I am also grateful that Andy walked in just before I received the spinal so that I could look in his eyes for reassurance. Although I was pretty scared, I knew that this was all necessary and all would lead to Ephram's birth. The spinal went in and the numb feeling was immediate. My feet began to tingle and the staff helped me lay on the table. I was introduced to all of the people in the room - the two doctors, two anesthesiologists, and four nurses. I was asked if a student anesthesiologist could observe, and gave my permission. I started to feel queasy and so Matt delivered some anti-nausea medication through my IV, which immediately made me feel extremely drowsy.
Before I knew it, they were doing the "surgical pause" and announcing my name and the purpose of the surgery. For a moment I wanted to tell them all that I had changed my mind. That surely, we could find a way to get Ephram to flip back to the traditional position. But I knew that was nerves and that it was silly. So I kept my mouth shut and tried to focus on fighting the medications to stay awake. Andy's hand was on my shoulder and my head as I felt them start reaching for Ephram. I heard them say, "Here he comes!" Then I heard someone say that they could see his behind. It seemed like quite awhile after this that he came out, and it was... because he was so stuck that they really had to fight to get him out! I couldn't see him or hear him, but I heard them say, "8:45am." And then I heard them say, "He's pooping!" Andy ran around the curtain and to the warmer to be with Ephram as we had discussed. I really had to fight to keep my eyes open, as I wanted to hear his first cry. It seemed like it took forever. Later I learned that he had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid because he was so high up in the womb, and had to be suctioned before he took his first breath. Finally I heard his cry, and then there was no way that I was going to go to sleep! I still couldn't see him around the poles used to hold up the surgical drapes, but I knew that Andy was with him and I could hear his little cry. So I did the only thing I could do, I lay there in wait of Andy to return to my side with our new baby boy.
Meanwhile, Ephram weighed in at 6 pounds and 6 ounces, much smaller than we'd anticipated! He was 19.75 inches long, and ... like most of the Boyce family ... had a head that was large in proportion to the rest of his body.
Finally Andy was back. I have no idea how long it took, but in my drug-induced state, it seemed like an eternity. Meanwhile, they had started work to remove the dermoid cyst from my ovary and I could feel all of the tugging and pressure for that. But I quickly forgot it when Andy gave me a first look at my little boy. What hit me the hardest was actually the look that Andy was carrying. He clearly was already in love with our little boy. It was written all over his face and contained in his posture and the way he was handling Ephram.
At first I just looked at him. Honestly, I had spent the last month of my pregnancy convinced that something would be wrong with him at birth. So I couldn't help but stare at his perfect little body. I was amazed that he appeared to be fine. Andy explained to me that he had bruising on different parts of his body because they had to work so hard to get him out. But the bruise on his chin was attributed to the placement of his hand while he was inside of me.
After several minutes my nurse came over and suggested that Andy prop Ephram up on my shoulder. This was huge for me. The only thing that I truly was sad about in the need to have a c-section was that I would not get to feel the weight of my baby on my chest just after he was born. To have them let me feel him, touch him and kiss him took away a lot of that regret. He couldn't completely rest on me because there was not much of my shoulder on that side of the curtain, but I still got to feel the warmth of his little body.
It was about this time that I overheard something about two cysts. It turned out that I had not one dermoid cyst on my left ovary, but two. The surgery was about to go longer. I suddenly started shaking severely and Andy took Ephram back as I tried to relax and gain control. Soon Matt was by my side explaining that he had to administer more medication because the surgery was going longer than anticipated. Maybe that contributed to the shakes, maybe not. The clock told me that I had already been in the ER for over an hour at that point. The only thing I could do was wait and try to ignore what was happening, so I turned my attention back to my little boy. He was trying out his lungs...
And showing us his best pouty face...
And then Andy put him back on my shoulder. And he stayed there for most of the remaining surgery, which went about two hours in total. (If you aren't familiar with c-sections, they usually go from 30-45 minutes, so 2 hours is very long!) I really tried to ignore them when I heard the anesthesiologist asking the doctors about too much blood loss. Thankfully I avoided the need for extra blood, but it was a narrow escape. I found it was much more fulfilling to look at Ephram than to listen to the tidbits of medical conversation.
Finally the surgery was over and I was being wheeled back to my room on a stretcher. I could hear Andy carrying our little boy back through the hallways. I was still completely numb when we got back to the room. They lifted me onto my bed and I watched as everyone congratulated us and took a last look at Ephram.Our doctor took a moment to pose with Andy and the baby, although she did complain that she would probably have "hat head". Dr. Schocket was amazing throughout the pregnancy. She, along with Dr. Hill who was assisting, did an excellent job delivering our little boy.
I watched as Andy continued to ogle over Ephram. I was a little bit jealous and ready for the numbness to subside so that I could really get to know my new little boy. Ephram was put on my chest pretty quickly in our room, but it was at least an hour before I had sensation in my whole body and could sit up and properly meet him.
After an initial attempt at breastfeeding, Ephram was taken from me again for his first bath. Because I was stuck in bed, Andy had the privilege of bathing him with the nurses help. I watched as I continued to fight off sleep. Ephram did not much care for the bath and protested loudly. Andy found very quickly that Ephram would calm down if he was given Andy's finger to hold onto. We were very impressed with the control that Ephram had over his hands from the beginning. It was more than we'd expected.
Later, when the nurses had left to give us our space and our doula had departed. Andy and I were left alone in our room with our new little miracle. We couldn't get enough of him! We watched him sleep, breathe and move around. We could not believe that this little guy had grown so long inside of me and finally made his appearance. It is definitely the best New Year's present we have ever received. We spent the night marveling at him and looking forward to a good year in 2010.
1 comment:
He is pretty cute!
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