Josie's birth story :: part two

I finally found a few minutes to write out the rest of Josie's birth story. I can hardly believe it has already been seven weeks since she was born. I keep telling myself I am not allowed to blog until I get this post written simply because I want to have it documented in some way but wow three kids = not much time to myself..but I wouldn't have it any other way!

*read part one HERE*

When we arrived at Swedish we headed straight up to triage. I know right where it is since I had a preemie a few years ago. It is pretty close to the labor and delivery wing and as we were walking past that portion Chris spotted my old doctor, Dr.Hanon in her office. She had to leave her private practice fairly suddenly a few years ago but still works a few days a week at the emergency portion of labor and delivery. I didn’t see her I was sort of on a mission but Chris told me as I was changing into the hospital gown.

Then the tests began. I was hooked up to monitors and poked and prodded. I assured the nurses that all I really needed was something to slow my contractions down since I was in pre-term labor (36.6 weeks). I needed to make it to my scheduled c-section the following week and would not be having my baby this evening. I told them all about our plans to go to the pumpkin patch the following day with our boys. They all just smiled and nodded and asked me questions but outside I overheard the doctor mention doing the c-section tonight. I shot a look at Chris and then blurted out to the nurse “if I do have to have the baby tonight can Dr.Hanon do it?”

“No, absolutely not. She is here for patients who come in on emergency with no doctor, she is not in your group, that really is not possible”

Humph, I was looking for a silver lining.

After about an hour and a lot more contractions, labor seemed to be ramping up. Dr. Miller finally came in to discuss the situation. I had seen him once during my pregnancy but he wasn’t my regular ob. He ordered an ultrasound and an amnio which I had been fervently trying to avoid but he felt it was necessary to check Josie’s lung development. He also wanted to see how my uterus was holding up with labor and just how thin it had gotten.

When the radiologist came in with the huge ultrasound machine she smiled and asked me if I knew what I was having. I asked her to double check if it was still a girl – ha ha I was still so worried. She confirmed that it was indeed most certainly a girl and then she proceeded to measure the lining of my uterine wall. Most of it was 4-5cm, which was sort of hard to understand, but the part that got scary was when she tried to scan the portion of my uterus that has the large “window” thin area over my cesarean scar

There was nothing to measure.

Dr. Miller looked at me and said “sorry, we are skipping the amnio and doing the cesarean right now this is way to risky”

Chris immediately went out into the hall to make arrangements for the boys for the night and to text the family that we would be delivering earlier than expected. At some point out in the hall Dr. Hanon came out of her office and saw Chris. She immediately came up and asked why he was there. She wanted to know if I was around and if I was in labor. He told her we were doing an emergency c-section and she literally came running in to find me.

First of all the fact that she remembered us was sort of shocking. I mean she had hundreds of patients when she was practicing full time but she remembered everything about my thin uterus and risky delivery in 2007 and began discussing it with Dr. Miller. She also gave me her little Dr. Hanon, I will be getting my way grin and boldly said “Rebekah I WILL BE joining you in surgery”

I literally burst into tears. I mean how incredible that the Lord somehow made a way for my original doctor, the one who has been with me from the beginning and knows my body so well to be there.

She doesn’t even practice anymore. It was a gift.

So Chris and I prepared for surgery. Actually all he did was put on the dorky jumpsuit and hat – but he actually did need some help it was quite humorous. They wheeled us in and I began to shake. I remember doing this during my first c-section, also an emergency. My body started to go into shock and I got super cold and scared. The anesthesiologist was hilarious and tried to put me at ease but Dr. Hanon sat and held me (usually a nurse does this) while he did the spinal. She was just whispering the sweetest words of encouragement.

I won’t bore you too much with the details of the actual surgery but I will say that I HATE this surgery. It was my third so I feel pretty seasoned. It is never fun. When the spinal hits your system the room starts to close in and often you can’t feel the sensation of breathing even though you are. It is so weird and so terrifying and then my blood pressure always drops out and the extreme nausea starts. Yuck.

But little Josie was out within minutes. I heard Dr. Hanon yell for Chris to come and take a really close look at my uterus. She was cheering about the fact that we had gotten Josie out in the nick of time. I guess that the portion of my uterus that is super thin was actually being held together by the amniotic fluid or “water” that had not broken thankfully. She said it really was so lucky that nothing bad had happened.

Josie on the other hand had some trouble. She was not breathing well at all and they were struggling getting her to transition. They were able to weigh her, 6lbs 9ounces but I wasn’t allowed to hold her at all. Chris was with her the whole time and at that point I just remember Dr. Hanon bending over and whispering into my ear that she was beautiful and that she would be just fine it was just going to take here a little bit to get use to breathing but that we did the right thing by getting her out safely. I still cannot even believe Dr. Hanon was there it was an amazing gift.

And because I had two doctors attending to me the surgery was so super short. We were out of there within the hour and headed for recovery. But not until we told everyone that we were naming our sweet little girl Josie. Dr. Miller was shocked, he has a 14-year-old daughter named Josie and he said he had never had a couple use that name in the years he was delivering until that night!

In recovery Josie was still having a ton of trouble breathing and they laid her on my chest skin to skin to see if that would help. It didn’t at all; it was a really weird scary sound that she was making. Like she was gasping for air over and over. They finally took her to the NICU, Chris followed. That was a really painful moment for me. With my first son, who was born five weeks premature he never had to leave my side. I had new sympathy for families who have scary situations and are not able to be with their little ones fresh from the womb. The adrenaline of having a child is there, you can’t sleep you just want your baby in your arms not in a big plastic box with monitors and tubes.

Josie only had to stay in the NICU for about eight hours. But I lay awake the entire night praying for her and counting the minutes until I could be with her again. And they finally brought her to me the next morning just a few hours before the rest of the family arrived to welcome her.

It truly was an amazing experience even though it wasn’t exactly as I had planned. I know God’s hand was in it and am in awe of how he has blessed us!

So that is that, it feels so good to finally have the story written down. I didn’t do a good job of writing out Simon or Levi’s birth story..It is so easy for time to get away and I don’t ever want to forget the amazing details and ways that my kids came into this world.

Josie, we love you so much and are beyond thankful for you sweet and safe arrival. It is so funny you are only seven weeks old and I already can not imagine my life without you!

Comments

[kristen]

it is a beautiful story. thank you for sharing your written words about it here! so many amazing details, clearly revealing God's nearness and love. we love your little girl, your whole sweet family of five!

[Brianne]

What a story! I am so glad you and Josie are here to share your sweet spirits and lovely smiles with us :)

Keep up the good work Momma of three!!!!!

[jenny g]

i'm so glad you got this all written out. what a sweet story, the beginning of a wonderful life for our little josie!

and now you can start blogging again! ;) if you can squeeze in the time...

[Casey]

Really....what a story! So happy that everything turned out as well as it did. Josie is such a doll! :)

[robin]

I have tears in my eyes reading this, Rebekah. Every child that is born is a miracle and when things get scary, I'm so thankful that the Lord is in each situation. Josie is beautiful and I'm thankful you shared her story with us! =)