The story started about a month before he was born. I was at a doctors appointment and in talking with my doctor he said the baby hadn't dropped yet and he should have a few weeks prior. There was talk about the baby's head being too big to drop and the alternative would be a c-section. At this point I was very much against a c-section. I wanted to do it vaginally, I wanted the experience and the thought of them cutting me open was not on my list of things I wanted to experience. After the appointment Ross and I went home and talked about it and we asked my dad to help Ross in giving me a blessing. Before the blessing I told Ross the key points I wanted him to include in the blessing, mainly that the baby will drop and there won't be a need for a c-section. Now, I know that the blessing doesn't come from the person giving it, that they are just the mouth piece, but I thought if Ross could slip it in there at one point that maybe we could make it work. In the blessing nothing was said of the baby dropping and nothing was said about how the baby would be born. What was said was that I would find comfort and peace in what was necessary to have this baby. Afterwards I reminded Ross that he forgot to include that the baby will drop and I won't have to have a c-section.
Fast forward to Aug 1st. I had my doctors appointment scheduled for the afternoon so that Ross could make it. I was at work when the doctor's office called to change my appointment for that morning so I could see the doctor before he left town. It was 2 days before my due date and my doctor was getting as many patients in to see if they were close enough to be induced before he went on vacation for a week. I was less than thrilled to hear he was going to be gone for a week around my due date. I didn't want another doctor to deliver my baby, I trusted my own doctor. Unfortunately I was not dilated at all and so there was no way to justify inducing me. I was sent over to Utah Valley to do a non stress test to see what my AFI (amniotic fluid index) was and if it was low enough then they could induce me. I did the non stress test and unfortunately I had enough fluid that it was not necessary to induce me. I was scheduled to do non stress tests twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, until I delivered. I went home rather disappointed and very uncomfortable, I was ready to have the baby already.
We had a family picnic scheduled that Saturday with my grandma and my aunt and uncle and my brother was in town. I wanted to be able to go but I was willing to give it up if I could just have my baby. I was pretty miserable. I couldn't sleep, couldn't walk, sitting hurt, my knees and feet hurt from all the added weight. I was done. Saturday came and nothing had happened and it didn't look like anything was going to. I was invited to go up to Deer Creek with Jared fishing on his boat and figured I may as well. As it turned out it was pretty lucrative for me. I was the only one to catch anything and I got two pretty good sized fish.
I was able to attend the family picnic that evening as well. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my whole family, its not often all of us are together, and then it was nice to have my grandma and my aunt and uncle there.
On the following Monday when I went in for my non stress test I wasn't expecting anything seeing as the other ones gave nothing. That and I was holding out for when my doctor got back into the office on Wednesday morning. Luckily in all the non stress tests the baby was fine, which was the important part. On Monday the baby was still doing fine, no stress with him. The only problem was that my blood pressure was getting a little high. It wasn't out of control but after a doctor looked at it and the fact that I was 5 days over due they decided to send me to the hospital to have the baby, I was borderline toxemia. When the nurse came back and said "it looks like you are having this baby today" both Ross and I looked at each other and tried to surpress grins. Its what we were hoping for, except for the vacationing doctor, and on the other side it was a little surreal that we were actually going to have this baby. Very mixed emotions. Luckily it gave us a little bit of time to go home and finish packing the bag for the hospital before we went and got admitted, this was around 6 pm. I was going to be delivering at Orem Community, which is a very small hospital not far from where we live. I had heard really good things about the hospital and they had a bed in all the maternity rooms for the dads to use.
I had Ross take one final belly picture before I changed into my hospital gown.
I didn't realize how big I was. I was only able to see it from the top view and I knew I was big (many people asked if I was having twins) but I didn't realize how big until after I saw this picture. Up until my last appointment my doctor thought the baby would be around 10 pounds. After getting changed into a hospital gown we sent out word to family that I was being induced. I was thinking that since my Doctor was out of town I could pull a fast one one on the doctor on call and he wouldn't know any better and let me deliver vaginally. All was going according to my plan, the doctor came in and talked to me and then the nurses came and set me up with an IV and cervadil, since I wasn't dialated at all this would get my cervix soft and hopefully get some kind of action. Let me tell you, it was not fun, it burned in my nether region. They were going to leave that in for 12 hours before starting the pitosin. The best thing was they gave me an ambien that night. That is some amazing stuff. I don't know that I could have slept without it due to the 2 monitors they had stuck to my stomach, one to measure the baby's heart rate and one to measure contractions. I still had not felt a contraction at this point, I knew I was having them due the my stomach getting tight, but they never hurt or was uncomfortable. At 7 the next morning they told me that if I wanted to eat something I better do it now because as soon as they took out the cervidil they would start the pitosin and I wouldn't be able to eat until after the baby was born. Ross got me a tiny bowl of cereal from the nourishment room and I ate that. Just as I finished they came in and told me they were going to do an ultra sound to measure the baby's head to make sure he would fit. I knew my plan was foiled and that they would see that he hadn't dropped and I may not get the birth I wanted. The ultra sound tech had a hard time measuring his head because it didn't all fit on the screen. She said that in the 4 years she had been at the hospital she hadn't seen a head that big. Not even born yet and off the charts. After the doctor reviewed the numbers from the ultra sound he came in to talk to us. He told us that due to his head size the best thing would be to do a c-section. He was very informative and gave us all the information we needed to make a decision. He told me that since I just ate they would have to wait 8 hours to make sure my stomach was empty, they would schedule the c-section for 3 that afternoon and that I wasn't to eat anything between then. He told me that in the mean time they could give me pitosin and I could try labor for the next 8 hours but that it was a safe bet that his head wouldn't fit, and if his head did fit out the birth canal then his shoulders wouldn't and at that point they would have to break his shoulders or clavicle to get him out. He talked to me about the possibility of nerve damage and the risks involved. When I heard about them having to break bones to get him out my mind was made up. Its not fair to try to have this baby the way I wanted and then for him to have to go through the pain of broken bones and risks of nerve damage to his shoulders. That was the point that I made the decision to go with the c-section and I felt peace with that choice. I remembered back to the blessing Ross and my dad had given me the month before, that I would be comforted with the decision. The Lord knows what He is doing and what will be best me and as much as I wanted to do it vaginally I knew this was the right choice. So, Ross and I just hung out for the next 8 hours, watching movies and tv and me trying not to think about how hungry and thirsty I was. I tried not to watch the clock, but it was moving so slowly and I didn't think 3 would ever get there. About 15 min before 3 a nurse came in to prep me and the anesthesiologist came in with waivers and disclaimers. I think the only side effect of the spinal block that had me nervous was that he said I may feel like I can't breathe, but I can.
The doctor that I had talked to that morning was not on call but said since he was familiar with the situation he would do the c-section, and the doctor on call was really slow. (I have since heard from a couple people that the doctor on call has messed up a couple c-sections before and it was a very bad experience.) I have never had any kind of surgery so this was a whole new experience. They wouldn't let Ross in the OR until they were ready to start the c-section so I didn't have his hand to hold when they put in the spinal block or any of the other really fun things. They put a numbing something or other in my spine before the spinal block so that wouldn't hurt but the numbing shot was pretty painful. They told me it felt like a bee sting, then after told me it was more like and atomic bee sting. But I didn't feel the spinal block go in and it worked pretty fast. They had me laying on the table while I could still move my legs to help them lay me down. That had me at an angle on the table, so one hip was higher than the other, until the anesthesiologist noticed that my big belly was starting to pull me off the table and they didn't want me to hit the floor. After they had me covered and was read to start the incision they brought Ross in. I almost didn't recognize him with all the coverings he was wearing. My mom had also come to the hospital that morning, she couldn't sit at work an wait any longer. It was cool that she was there though, there was a window to the OR that they let her watch through. Ross didn't want to watch them cut me open so he sat by my head and we just looked at each other and he held my hand. I was still pretty nervous. My mom said that she could see them cut into me and saw the blood start. She was going to turn away, not wanting to see her daughter cut up, but didn't know when she would get to see something like this again. She got to see the birth of my baby. At one point I heard the doctor say that the head is so big that he didn't know how they were going to get it out. They had to do a bigger incision to get the little guy out. When they had the head out I heard someone say that it was a 10 pound head and as soon as they had the rest of him out they dropped the curtain that was draped across my neck and I got to see my new little baby. I was trying very hard not to cry and I see this little baby that just came from inside of me. Its still very miraculous to think about, that I was able to create another human being. They had the table where they cleaned him off and weighed him on the side of the room that my head was on so I could watch them. I was just in awe, and trying not to bawl like a baby, that this was my baby and that life will never be the same again. I couldn't wait to get him in my arms. As they were cleaning him off and the doctor was cleaning me out and stitching me back together everyone was talking about and waiting to hear how big he was. We were all expecting around 10 pounds and when they said 11 pounds 5 ounces shock ran through the room. And, little did we know that there was most of the nurses from maternity ward watching with my mom and as soon as they found out how big he was it spread through the ward like wild fire. I was pretty shocked that I could carry something that big and was very grateful that I had gone ahead with the c-section. He turned out to be 23 inches long, born on the 9th of Aug at 3:18 pm. He was perfectly healthy and had all the right amount of toes and fingers. Because of his size there was a concern that he would have diabetes and so his blood sugar was tested every 6 hours for the first two days. Luckily all the numbers came back good. Having a baby that big everyone thought I had gestational diabetes and was shocked that I didn't.
Ryder made quite the impression on all the nursing staff. From the time he was born until the time we left the hospital the nurses all had to see this baby. After they had stitched me back up and was wheeling me to my room all the nurses stopped to comment to me on the size of the baby. Nurses would come in and offer to take him for me so I could get some rest, one even said she needed to take him to the nursery to rock him and clear out the bubbles in his stomach. They all wanted to spend time with him and I found out later that when he was in the nursery the nurses were always holding and rocking him, he never had to sleep in his basinet. Then when we were leaving the hospital all the nurses were telling us how sad they were that Ryder was going home and we even had one nurse offer to take him off our hands. Then, the Sunday after he was born they announced in sacrament that two babies had been born, who the parents were and then they announced how big Ryder was. They didn't say how big the other baby was. All the women gasped and were talking about the size of Ryder. We heard from a couple people that we have a famous baby, even before his first time at church.
I was very impressed with this hospital. All the nurses were amazing and very helpful. We even got our two favorite nurses twice. I would recommend this hospital to anyone that has it as an option. It was great to be able to spend 4 days there and they were very knowledgeable and helpful with teaching me and Ryder how to nurse. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be.
Now I am sold on c-sections. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and even though it was pretty painful at times I am ok with it. I will most likely have to have all my baby's by c-section and now that I know what I am in for I am fine with it. Either way you give birth there is pain and recovery and I came back pretty fast and was out walking with Ross and the dog after a week and a half. I didn't need pain pills very much. Now get ready for a bunch of pictures. I will be posting them in a couple different posts over the next few days as I have the energy to upload them. And also stay tuned for Havoc's reaction. He is quite the dog.
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