Baby X's Birth Story...

If you haven't read the post preceding this one (Catching Up) you should do that before continuing this one...

Here is Baby X's birth story as clearly as I remember it. And really I am pretty clear about most details even though almost 9 months has passed since he was born...

I went to the doctor on November 16th for my normally scheduled weekly appointment. She checked me and I wasn't dilated at all...and I hadn't had any contractions...not even Braxton Hicks. So she told me she thought I had two weeks easily before he would be born...even though I had just 8 days left til he was due. She said I would definitely go overdue. He was head down but not engaged. So I left the office thinking I had to have more patience to get through until I would finally get to meet my little guy.

Fast forward to Friday morning...November 17th. I woke up at 5 am feeling very very sick to my stomach. I had it coming out both ends violently. Donny woke up when he heard me and came in to the bathroom very concerned. I told him I must have ate something that didn't agree the night before. I decided I really needed to go to work since I had so much I wanted to get done before going on maternity leave. The drive to work was horrible. My normal 35 minute drive is long...but it seemed far longer. I had this awful burning in my chest. By the time I got to work I felt even worse...and I couldn't concetrate to even get any work done. So I called the dr. office and spoke to my dr. I was really concerned that if I felt this bad...might it be affecting Baby X? She said if I wasn't having contractions, then I wasn't in labor. Well I didn't think I was anyways. She said it was most likely this awful flu that was going around. That I should just go home and rest and call her if I have contractions or if I get a lot worse.

My boss came in about half an hour later and was concerned about how sick I looked. I told her what the doctor said. She wasn't satisfied with that, so she had a co-worker take me to the dr. to be checked and if they said everything was okay, she was to drive me home (it takes 35 minutes to get home). Well the dr. saw me right away. She checked and I wasn't dilated or anything, so not in labor. She came back in and said I had to go to the hospital for IV fluids and for a stress test for Baby X. She said I had protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high. I got settled in a room and hooked up to the IV and machine to monitor Baby X at 10:30. I called Donny but told him he didn't have to come because they said after I got the fluids (I was dehydrated from throwing up so much) I would be sent home. A few hours later and what seemed to be a lot of fluid...I still had no change. Blood pressure still high, protein still present, and burning in my chest was still there (although it was considerably better). I actually did feel better as far as the flu symptoms went. But now they were concerned about Baby X. They saw some spikes that indicated his fluids might be low. So they told me they might have to do a c-section before the night was over, so they ordered a ultrasound to check on Baby X. They had me call Donny and tell him to come to the hospital now since we might have to have an ultrasound later. That was at 3:00 pm. My dad was going to drive to our house and get him. He was supposed to be there at 4:00 pm. They brought the ultrasound machine in a little bit later. Baby X's fluid was okay...be he was not. His heartrate when in the 180s and did not come down. Plus he quit moving around...he was in distress. The dr. said we had to do an emergency c-section that was at about 4:15 or so. I was in a panic. I was so scared because I didn't know what was wrong with Baby X. Plus his Daddy wasn't there yet! They told me if he didn't get there by the time they were ready to cut, he would have to stay out of the operating room for the whole thing! I couldn't imagine going through it without him!

They took me into the operating room (after putting in that darn catheter!) so they could put the spinal block in. That was super scarey and it hurt too! It took them three tries to get it in. And even though that really really hurt...it was a good thing it took that long, it gave Donny just enough time to get there. He literally got in the hospital, got a gown on, sat down in the operating room, and they closed the door and cut. Baby Xavier Lee was born at 5:35 pm, November 17th weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

Xavier was born with a fever and his heartrate didn't come down. Plus his blood sugar was low. They immediately called for the helicopter from Des Moines to come get him. They were concerned because the fever was a sign of infection. They figure whatever I had been sick from, he had caught. He was put on oxygen and also had chest x-rays done. They came in a couple hours after he was born with him in a huge incubator. He had IVs and oxygen hooked to him. The worst was the IV was coming out of his head. They couldn't get it in anywhere else. So I had to say goodbye to my little Baby Xavier without even getting to hold him. I barely slept that night because I had to be so far from him. But I knew in my heart he would be fine. After all he was in a hospital with Doctors and Nurses that took care of babies much smaller and sicker than him. They knew what they were doing.

That is Baby Xavier's birth story...

~Melody