Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Story of Aiden

When I first met Sadie she didn't want kids.  I did.  It was not a match made in heaven.  It took a little bit for her to come around but she did eventually agree one kid would be OK.
I made short work of figuring out the logistics.  Once we picked a cryobank (sperm bank) we had to choose a donor.  We poured over profiles trying to figure out what was important to us and what wasn't.  In the end, there was one donor we loved above all others.  We chose our two backups (though truly hoped they wouldn't be needed) and got ready to order.  Sadie called to place the order and low and behold, our number one choice was not available.  What???  We went with choice number two, did the insemination and nada, not pregnant.

The second month Sadie called we discovered our number one choice was back!!  Yay!!  We did the insemination's and just 12 days later we knew; we were pregnant!  I remember that day so clearly.  I woke up early and peed on one of about 3,658 pregnancy tests I had on hand.  It quickly looked negative and I climbed back into bed and slept a little longer.  When I woke up later the test was positive.  Hmm......now, I was new to this but knew that after a certain time frame a negative test could turn positive even if you weren't pregnant and you really shouldn't read them after the time frame but for some reason this little glimmer of hope and excitement started building.  The tests I had at home were super cheap, off the Internet, crappy tests so I was dying to run out and get a good one.  I showered, dressed and was ready to go when I realized my car was not in front of my house where I had left it.  Huh?  It had snowed and apparently the city had issued a parking ban and while I slept I missed the sound of a tow truck taking away my car.  UGH.  The thought of having to get my car back made me nauseous...hmm.....nauseous?  I was even more excited and anxious now to get a good pregnancy test.  I did eventually get my car back and I went to CVS to buy every pregnancy test they had and yes, I was in fact pregnant.  I remember the shear joy, the excitement, the feeling of wonder and amazement that we had done it and I was baking up my own little human.  Crazy.

The pregnancy wasn't too bad.  I had my fair share of morning sickness and Sadie has plenty of stories about me getting sick but every time I got sick I reminded myself how lucky I was to be pregnant at all and I was thankful it had been so easy.  While ocassionally uncomfortable, I was lucky that the pregnancy was fairly easy.  My blood pressure was creeping up the further I got and I had to do a few 24 hour urine tests but everything was OK.  I was teaching pre-K/K at a day care center at the time and b/c class was out for the year I was spending the summer in the baby and toddler rooms.  At my 36 week routine appt. my OB was again concerned with my blood pressure and requested another 24 hour urine collection and pulled me from work.  It was a Thursday afternoon.  I did the 24 hour collection and had to bring it to Maine Med Sat morning and have some blood work done.  I went home after the blood draw and waited to hear from my OB's office about the results.  I wasn't worried at all, I had done this a few times.  It was maybe an hour later when my phone ring and I was talking with the OB on call.  There was protein in my urine, it looked like pre-eclampsia, and I was told to come check in to the hospital as soon as possible because this was serious and either myself or the baby could die.  WOW.  Those are really the words he used and will forever be burned into my brain.  I showered, grabbed my bag,  and threw the uninstalled car seat into our minivan and then drove myself to the hospital.

In the hospital parking lot before I went in I installed the car seat (I was worried no one else would be able to figure it out if I ended up having to have the baby early.  It was purely a "just in case" measure).  I checked in to Mercy hospital and seriously felt like all the hub bub was for nothing, I felt fine.  Aiden looked good on the monitor, I was not having any contractions, all was well.  The OB told me he'd monitor me for 24 hours and if everything looked good I could go home.  Phew.  Later that day there was a shift change and the new OB on call came in to do an exam.  The part I remember vividly is when she tested my knee reflexes.  She hit my knee and my leg bounced up and down a lot.  She asked me again how I felt and I said fine because I did.  She told me I was really sick with pre-eclampsia and she needed to induce labor.  From that point on I had a nurse in my room 24/7 and I was not allowed to leave the bed except to use the bathroom.  I never realized how sick I was and I am thankful that I never felt sick and thankful that the doctors caught it.

Labor induction sucked.  Flat out sucked.  From the very beginning I had contractions (though mild) and it took forever.  They started around midnight Saturday night and Aiden did not arrive until 5:12PM on Monday.  I hurt, a lot.  I wanted a natural child birth but there's nothing natural about pitocin and not being allowed to get up and move around.  Sometime Sunday night I caved and had nubaine and later, an epidural.  I slept in short fits after that but not for long b/c the epidural stopped working.  By Monday morning I was feeling every contraction, throwing up, shaking, and exhausted.  They tried to fix the epidural but never got it and I had to suffer through, laying on my back in a hospital bed, attached to a blood pressure cuff.  Misery.

Late Monday afternoon they became concerned with Aiden's heart rate and opted to put a monitor on his head to get better readings.  They were still concerned.  I made it to 8CM dilated and the OB asked me to give one good push so he could see what would happen.  Aiden did not tolerate that at all and it was decided I was going for a c-section, now.  Things happened pretty quickly.  With the epidural not working they gave me dose after dose of lidocaine through the epidural line but it wasn't working.  They were still injecting lidocaine as they rolled me down the hall to the OR.  The lidocaine hit all at once and I couldn't feel anything below my chin, it was scary.

In the OR I couldn't feel myself breathing which was weird and I wasn't breathing well so they had to give me oxygen.  Sadie came in right before they began and sat with me.  I fell asleep :(  I had been having contractions for over 40 hours and slept so little that now that the pain was gone I could not stay awake.  I did not get to hear them say when he was born but came to shortly after he arrived.  Aiden did not cry :(  I remember the panic setting in.  I looked over at the warmer and could see that he was blue.  His first APGAR score was a 2.  They worked wonders and a few minutes later his second score was 6 or 7.  He pinked up a little and was breathing.  I was not allowed to hold Aiden, he was wheeled by in an incubator and I only got that little glimpse.  My poor baby was not tolerating being born 3.5 weeks early and did not like all the drugs they had to give me b/c of the eclampsia.

Sadie went with Aiden and once back in the room I heard he was 7lbs 6oz and 20.25" long, a good size for his gestational age.  She said he was making these cute little grunty noises which the nurse then told her weren't good noises, he was struggling to breathe.  I wanted to see my baby so badly but there I was back in that bed, flat on my back attached to a blood pressure cuff and a morphine pump for pain.  I begged, and begged to see him and finally just after 7PM they brought Aiden to me.  I was warned he wasn't holding his temperature well and may have to head back to the warmer.  He was crying when they handed him to me and as soon as I held him against me he stopped.  One of the nurses said "that's the first time he's stopped crying."  Sigh.....he just wanted his momma.  I wrapped him up tight and cuddled him close in hopes of keeping him with me and it worked.  His temperature regulated and that boy never left my side again.

Aiden is a Leo: Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac. These folks are impossible to miss, since they love being center stage. Making an impression is Job One for Leos, and when you consider their personal magnetism, you see the job is quite easy. It's the Lion that symbolizes Leos, and the king (or queen) of the jungle is a most appropriate mascot, since they consider themselves the rulers of their universe (and the zodiac at that).Leo is ruled by the Sun -- the center of the universe and the fuel for our being. Those born under this sign are fearless and strong, which may be why Lions plunge in headfirst and let the chips fall where they may.

It explains so much :)

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