Doctor, Induction, C-Section, Happy Birthday

It's been a couple of interesting days to say the least. Most of you know why.

Monday, we went to the doctor's office expecting a routine visit. Interestingly enough, there was nothing routine about it. We only had a 5 minute wait to be led back to our room. That in and of itself is rare, but that was something minor in the big scheme of things.

The nurse began her routine, and for the second appointment in a row, Dawna's blood pressure was high as measured by the doctor's machine. Red flags went up. The nurse then took Dawna's blood pressure manually. Usually, there's a dip when you do this. There wasn't. Dawna's bp was right at 142/90--too high for comfort.

The doctor came in shortly and visited with us. After measuring and visiting for a few minutes, she took Dawna's blood pressure again. This time, it read 158/103. Not good at all. Doc looked at us and said, "I think I'm inducing today if the hospital has a room. Wait here."

Sure enough, the hospital had a room, and doc ordered us to head over. We were not to go home or anywhere. It was straight to the hospital.

We drove the 1/2 block to the hospital and parked. I was thinking to myself how fortunate it was that I had taken two weeks of vacation to prepare for this event. It was happening faster than anticipated, but that was o.k. By that evening or the next morning, our son would be born.

We arrived on the second floor of Christus Santa Rosa New Braunfels. We were taken to Birthing Suite 3, and preparations started to induce labor. Dawna was given those wonderful hospital gowns, and they gave her an IV. She was started on pitosin, the drug that induces labor. All the monitors were in order, and everything looked good. Knowing that I had plenty of time before the "action" began, I kissed Dawna and headed to San Antonio to get the hospital bag that we had kept packed just in case. I had almost grabbed it that morning. I guess I should have.

I made it to San Antonio without speeding, but almost running a few red lights and stop signs. My mind was in other places, but luckily, the Lord was watching over me, and I arrived safely. I informed Nona that all this was going to take place, and I made several phone calls. After getting all the stuff, I headed back to New Braunfels. After getting a hamburger, I went back to the birthing suite to watch the process play out.

Sure enough, when I got to the room, I spilled my Dr. Pepper all over the place. It made the floor and Dawna's shoes sticky, but that situation was mild compared to what would happen later.

Time progressed, and the medication began working pretty well. Dawna began to dialate, and the process of birth began. Her contractions became more regular. We had several visitors who came and went. Dawna's mom ended up staying throughout the ordeal.

About 9:30 p.m. or so, the nurse called the doctor in because Kevin, Jr. started showing some signs of duress. They gave Dawna oxygen, and he stabilized. The doctor wasn't too concerned, and she went back to her office (where she had a bed to sleep in). She gave instructions to the nurse to watch us carefully so that nothing serious might happen. At the time, Dawna had dialated to 4 cm, and the doc said that things should progress pretty fast from there.

She was right. Dawna dialated very rapidly from that time forward. Kevin, Jr.'s heart rate was good, and things were progressing as they should. Doc had said that we should expect a baby sometime between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. At 12:30, Dawna was fully dialated, and it was time to begin active labor. That's when things really got interesting.

Dawna began to push as per the nurse's instructions. At the beginning of each contraction, Dawna was to push for 10 straight seconds, take a deep breath, push again, take a deep breath, and push one final time. Dawna was very diligent in doing this. A contraction came, and Dawna pushed. Another contraction, another push. Another contraction, another push. An hour passed. Nothing. Kevin, Jr. had only moved a little way. Dawna was giving it her all, but he wasn't coming. Dawna's pelvis was just too small.

Another 1/2 hour of contractions and pushing brought little or no change. Then, that's when things got stickly. Remember that I told you that they would?

The doctor came in and looked at the readouts that monitored the baby's heart rate and Dawna's contractions. The readouts showed that Kevin, Jr. was beginning to come under duress. His heart rate would dip way south of baseline just after the contraction. This isn't good. Then, his heart rate would race. Doc said, "This isn't good."

They wondered a bit whether or not a C-section was in order. Doc felt bad because Dawna had come so far into the birthing process. She hated that all her work would be in vain. She asked me if we wanted to try to use the vaccuum process to try and bring him down. I said, "No. Let's do what's safest for her and the baby."

"That would be the section," she said. "Let's go."

With the decision made, the doc and hospital staff jumped into action. Believe me when I say that they moved FAST!!! They wheeled Dawna out of the room at 2:25 a.m. They said that they would send for me in about 10 minutes. I figured that it would take them time to scrub, and I'd get in there and they would begin the procedure. Wrong.

Nona and I waited together for those 10 minutes, and then they called me in. The nurse hem-hawed a bit when she saw that I wasn't in scrubs. She wanted to make sure that I was allowed to come in without scrubs. After a trip to the nurse's station and a quick peek in at the operating room, I heard the doc say, "Get him in here, or he's going to miss it!"

With that, I was thrust through the operating room doors, a cap was planted on my head, and a mask was put over my mouth. Moments later, I heard the tell tale cry of a little baby. They recorded the time as 2:47 a.m. Kevin, Jr. had finally been born!

I witnessed them cleaning him up. I walked him down to Nona so that she could see him. I saw them take him to the nursery and weigh him, clean him, finger and foot print him, and clean him up. What a process it was. If I would have had any energy, I probably would have been jumping for joy, but I was dead tired. My wife and son were o.k. That was the most important thing. I thanked God for this fact, and I looked for a place to get some rest.