4 Years Ago Today

Mike walks in from working third shift and wakes me from one of the worst dreams of my life. The dream was that I delivered my beloved son by c-section, they had to put me under and I couldn't remember a thing that happened in the week to follow. I was 38 weeks pregnant with my precious son at the time and deathly affraid of having c-section.

The day to follow, little did I know was going to be a long one. We had lunch planned with my Mother-In-Law and then an OB check later that day. We were beyond excited, he had told us to ask about being induced this week and I fully intended on doing so.

Lunch went great, had steak and chatted with my Mother-In-Law. The conversation consisted of the "what ifs" such as "wouldn't it be funny for you to go in and him say your in labor", or "what if you delivered today". Ah yes the dreams we dream when being oh so pregnant and waiting impatiently for out little ones.

We left her house in time for the doc appt. Waited the longest time we have ever waited there in a hot room full of very pregnant women. I think the wait was about an hour. We are called back, weight and urine taken and up on bed I go. Blood pressure taken and then "Oh, lay on your left side until I come back and DO NOT get up before then". Oh okay, nice. Another 10 min roll by and back in she comes to check it again. "Oh thats a little better, the doctor will be in, in just a few min.". A knock at the door with a quick open and a big grin from a fimilar face "Hi Jess, your trying to scare us today I hear". "Hello, no I'm not but I feel fine".

Dr.Vendola does his thing, we hear the heartbeat, measurments and then a "check". "Hmm your 3 cm dialated!" And then I ask the dreaded question, "you said last week to ask you about induceing, is that still an option?" He checks my chart and measures me one more time, checks the chart again, looks at me and says "how does tomorrow sound?" As I tried to catch my breath I think I answered "okay". I needed to head over to the hospital to get a NST done to make sure our Little One was holding up okay and would do okay with labor, with those instructions we headed to the desk and got further instructions as to where to go and what to do for tomorrow.

As Mike and I walk out of the office I remember a silence, I think we were both trying to grasp that tomorrow was going to be "The Day". We stopped at a pay phone and called my dad to let him know what was going on then and that tomorrow would be The Day. He promptly came to the hospital right after that phone call, for what reason I don't know, but I'm sure gald he did.

Up on the L&D floor they hooked us up to the moniter, asked if I had eaten in the last hour or so and it dawned on me that it had been at least 4 hours since eating so they brought me in a nice and dry box sandwich to choke down. Andre hadn't moved to much that day and wasn't willing to wake up for the NST then either. Off they sent me for a Biophysical Profile Ultrasound, this neat u/s that scores the baby on 8different points. This poor tech tried everything in her power to get Andre to wake up and nothing worked. So back up to the floor we went and waited for the results. The nurse came back and made a passing comment about keeping us to be induced tonight while putting the moniters back on me. Oh okay we thought. As she leaves the room my dad is sitting at the foot of my bed watching the moniters and asks me if its normal that the heartbeat keeps dropping like that. I respond with I don't know and blow it off, I was a first time mom who didn't know any better what else was I supposed to say? In walks the nurse again to tell us that Andre had failed his u/s he scored 4/8 and they were going to do a c-section right now.

At that point everything was a whirl wind. The one nurse trying to get an IV poked me 6 times and finally got it, no sooner pulled it out and realized that she had forgotten a vile. I'm beyond tears at this point, the dream I had that morning came flooding back, all these people staring at me, preping me for something that I was scared to death of and no time to process it all and no explanation as to what was going on.

The nurse digging for blood made the comment "honey you can kick me if you want to", my dad promptly replied "I wouldn't tell her that right now if I were you". Mike was off getting preped himself, in goes the cath, in comes the on call doc asking if I had any questions. I did but I was bawling and I couldn't think straight. Off he went to get preped and up off the bed I went to walk into what I thought was the OR of death.

Up on the table I went, 3 different people moved me in 3 different positions trying to figure out what position would be best for the insertion of the needle. Finally the lovely doctor told them all to stop, put me where he wanted me, talked to me through the whole thing and then said DONE! My first thought was "that was it?" my second "thank God". I was happy to be lying down and not moving around on my cath anymore!

I remember asking if it was supposed to feel like I was paralized, they laughed and said "Yes", Oh okay I didn't know that was funny, but I'll roll with it. A few pulls, pushes and elephant sitting on my chest along with a quick feeling that I was going to be sick and there was the whimper. Thats all he gave, a small whimper not even the vit K shot got him to cry. At 10:22 pm Andre Alexander Graves entered the world weighing 6lbs 10oz and was 21in long with a 13 cm head. He had jet black hair and even though all babies are born with blue eyes we knew they were going to be dark.

In recovery I was joined with Mike holding Andre and per my request Andre had not had a bottle or a paci I wanted him to breast ASAP and that he did. He was a hungry little guy who attached with no issues. After he ate and family came in to meet him, they whisked him to transition and me to my room. I was told it could be a 4hr wait before he came back. That seemed like the longest 4 hrs ever. Just as I was calling for him they were wheeling him into me. Ahh we meet again, now what do we do with him LOL? You sit and stare and admire until he cries and then you tend to him to the best of your ability and knowledge.

What a blessing we recived 4 years ago today! There is only one person to thank for this and that would be God. Without a doubt this was all his doing.