This post is the story of the day Aiden way born. Like all parents, even though the day itself has been some time ago, all of the memories remain fresh, as we will never forget the birth of our children.
Friday night July 20th was just another average night in our household. Our doctor had scheduled an inducement for Monday, July 23rd and we really didn't think Aidenw as going to come before then. But at about midnight things started happening. Raquel wasn't really sure that her first contractions were actual contractions, so she didn't tell me. Maybe I subconsciously knew anyway, I couldn't sleep that night. I was sitting on the computer typing away, when at 2am Raquel let me know she was feeling contractions and they were getting closer together. At about 3am Raquel decided she needed to read between contractions... Well the only thing Raquel will read is Harry Potter, and at midnight the last Harry Potter book had gone on sale. Suddenly I find myself out on a quest to buy the new Potter novel for my wife who is in the early stages of labor.
Fortunately, our Kroger is a 24 hour store, and I was able to pick up the book there and get back home quickly.
As morning approached the contractions started to get more regular and stronger. between 4 and 5am we timed out the contractions at the 5 minute regularity which is the suggested time for you to go to the hospital. So we grab our bags, and start headed down to Summit Medical Center where Aiden will be born. We had pre-registered with the hospital, so we thought it would just be a matter of going in and giving our name and going to the room. No such luck. We had to check in at the ER since the regular hospital was not open yet, and they had to ask several questions before getting us to our room. Keep in mind, Raquel is having contractions while answering the questions.
Finally we get to the room and they get Raquel hooked up to the monitors that will be keeping track of her progress. The nurse checked her cervix and she was only one centimeter dialated. We were told that they would keep her on the monitors for about an hour and if she had not dialated any further we would be sent home to allow the early parts of labor pass in the comfort of our home rather than the hospital setting.
The next hour was relatively uneventful. Around 7:30 we got a call from Raquel's parents, who had just arrived at the hospital and did not know where to go. We had called them on the way to the hospital, but told them not to come yet because we did not know if we were going to be staying or not. I went out to the lobby to bring them into the room, while the nurse checked on Raquel again.
As I brought her parents to the room, the nurse yelled at us not to come in yet and had the curtain drawn across the entry. Turns out, while I was gone, Raquel's water had broken. The nurse had been just about ready to tell Raquel to get dressed so she could go home until things progressed further, but that wasn't going to happen now. We were officially staying at the hospital and having this baby.
Raquel had always figured she was going to have the epidural, but she wanted to try to go without it for as long as possible. Well about 9am was when she decided she wanted to get it done. Getting the epidural put in was tough. Raquel said it was one of the most painful things she had ever been through. At one point I had to step out of the room because I was getting light headed. It was really difficult being there watching my wife be in so much pain and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Finally they had the epidural in, but raquel was "leaking" blood around both the epidural and her IV.
So the nurse starts cleaning up and trying to get the IV positioned so that there is no bleeding, when suddenly there are five nurses in our room including the head nurse who asks our nurse "Why haven't you done anything about this yet?!" The monitor shows that Aiden's heart rate has ducked down below the blue "normal" bar. They put Raquel on some oxygen and Aiden's heart rate comes back up. So everything is okay right? For the moment.
Over the next hour Raquel is not feeling the contractions anymore and things seem to have slowed back down. but occationally Aiden's heart rate is still dropping. We are waiting for the doctor to arrive so that she can make a determination. About 10:30 she arrives and starts checking things out. They had tried to put a monitor directly in with the baby at one point before the doctor's arrival and discovered that the placenta had not completely broken, so the doctor came in and officially broke Raquel's water again. Aiden's heart rate was still fluctuating more than the doctor liked so she started preparing us for the idea that we may have to go in for a C-section.
At approximately 10:45 the doctor made the call that we needed to have a C-section and we needed to go NOW. Well now seemed to take about 10 minutes and didn't feel like they were rushing enough. But the staff seem to know what they are doing and in no time we are rolling to the OR. I was asked to wait outside of the operating room while they prepped Raquel and I got on my scrubs. I sat nervously waiting for the okay to go in, not knowing whatr was going on, if the baby was okay, if my wife was okay. Finally a nurse comes out and tells me I can come in. I walk into the room and see a lot of red. I avoid looking at my wife's open stomach and go directly to the chair by her side, behind the curtain and hold her hand. After just a few seconds it seemed the anesthesiologist asks if we want to see our baby, and points over the top of the curtain. The first view I had of my son was a yellowish blob of goo being held over my wife. Then we heard him cry and we knew he would be okay.
The nurses took the baby over to the little heater station they use to clean him up and the doctor started to work on putting my wife back together again. The staff are all just having this conversation like they aren't sitting there putting some person's insides back in place. Yeah, this is routine for them, it was just kind of odd for me to be listening to. One of the nurses brings Aiden over and hands him to me. By this time, they have given Raquel some additional medication that makes her sleepy, so we have to wake her up to get her first good look at our baby. She turns and looks at him, smiles, and then closes her eyes again.
At that point the nurse says "you can take your baby down to the nursery for me". I wanted to protest, I knew my baby was okay. I wanted to stay with my wife and make sure she was okay. That wasn't an option though, I was guided out of the OR taking my baby back to the nursery. The last view I had of my wife was her closing her eyes and her head dropping
to the pillow. The next hour was both a delight in getting to spend those first few moments with my new baby, and the scariest time of my life not knowing what was going on in the Operating Room, not knowing if Raquel was okay.
Of course eventually they rolled Raquel back to her room, and she got to really get a good look at her new baby boy, and everything was okay. It didn't go the way we had prepped for it in birthing class, but our baby had arrived and he was healthy. Thus began our journey into parenthood. A shaky start, but a good one.
Friday night July 20th was just another average night in our household. Our doctor had scheduled an inducement for Monday, July 23rd and we really didn't think Aidenw as going to come before then. But at about midnight things started happening. Raquel wasn't really sure that her first contractions were actual contractions, so she didn't tell me. Maybe I subconsciously knew anyway, I couldn't sleep that night. I was sitting on the computer typing away, when at 2am Raquel let me know she was feeling contractions and they were getting closer together. At about 3am Raquel decided she needed to read between contractions... Well the only thing Raquel will read is Harry Potter, and at midnight the last Harry Potter book had gone on sale. Suddenly I find myself out on a quest to buy the new Potter novel for my wife who is in the early stages of labor.
Fortunately, our Kroger is a 24 hour store, and I was able to pick up the book there and get back home quickly.
As morning approached the contractions started to get more regular and stronger. between 4 and 5am we timed out the contractions at the 5 minute regularity which is the suggested time for you to go to the hospital. So we grab our bags, and start headed down to Summit Medical Center where Aiden will be born. We had pre-registered with the hospital, so we thought it would just be a matter of going in and giving our name and going to the room. No such luck. We had to check in at the ER since the regular hospital was not open yet, and they had to ask several questions before getting us to our room. Keep in mind, Raquel is having contractions while answering the questions.
Finally we get to the room and they get Raquel hooked up to the monitors that will be keeping track of her progress. The nurse checked her cervix and she was only one centimeter dialated. We were told that they would keep her on the monitors for about an hour and if she had not dialated any further we would be sent home to allow the early parts of labor pass in the comfort of our home rather than the hospital setting.
The next hour was relatively uneventful. Around 7:30 we got a call from Raquel's parents, who had just arrived at the hospital and did not know where to go. We had called them on the way to the hospital, but told them not to come yet because we did not know if we were going to be staying or not. I went out to the lobby to bring them into the room, while the nurse checked on Raquel again.
As I brought her parents to the room, the nurse yelled at us not to come in yet and had the curtain drawn across the entry. Turns out, while I was gone, Raquel's water had broken. The nurse had been just about ready to tell Raquel to get dressed so she could go home until things progressed further, but that wasn't going to happen now. We were officially staying at the hospital and having this baby.
Raquel had always figured she was going to have the epidural, but she wanted to try to go without it for as long as possible. Well about 9am was when she decided she wanted to get it done. Getting the epidural put in was tough. Raquel said it was one of the most painful things she had ever been through. At one point I had to step out of the room because I was getting light headed. It was really difficult being there watching my wife be in so much pain and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Finally they had the epidural in, but raquel was "leaking" blood around both the epidural and her IV.
So the nurse starts cleaning up and trying to get the IV positioned so that there is no bleeding, when suddenly there are five nurses in our room including the head nurse who asks our nurse "Why haven't you done anything about this yet?!" The monitor shows that Aiden's heart rate has ducked down below the blue "normal" bar. They put Raquel on some oxygen and Aiden's heart rate comes back up. So everything is okay right? For the moment.
Over the next hour Raquel is not feeling the contractions anymore and things seem to have slowed back down. but occationally Aiden's heart rate is still dropping. We are waiting for the doctor to arrive so that she can make a determination. About 10:30 she arrives and starts checking things out. They had tried to put a monitor directly in with the baby at one point before the doctor's arrival and discovered that the placenta had not completely broken, so the doctor came in and officially broke Raquel's water again. Aiden's heart rate was still fluctuating more than the doctor liked so she started preparing us for the idea that we may have to go in for a C-section.
At approximately 10:45 the doctor made the call that we needed to have a C-section and we needed to go NOW. Well now seemed to take about 10 minutes and didn't feel like they were rushing enough. But the staff seem to know what they are doing and in no time we are rolling to the OR. I was asked to wait outside of the operating room while they prepped Raquel and I got on my scrubs. I sat nervously waiting for the okay to go in, not knowing whatr was going on, if the baby was okay, if my wife was okay. Finally a nurse comes out and tells me I can come in. I walk into the room and see a lot of red. I avoid looking at my wife's open stomach and go directly to the chair by her side, behind the curtain and hold her hand. After just a few seconds it seemed the anesthesiologist asks if we want to see our baby, and points over the top of the curtain. The first view I had of my son was a yellowish blob of goo being held over my wife. Then we heard him cry and we knew he would be okay.
The nurses took the baby over to the little heater station they use to clean him up and the doctor started to work on putting my wife back together again. The staff are all just having this conversation like they aren't sitting there putting some person's insides back in place. Yeah, this is routine for them, it was just kind of odd for me to be listening to. One of the nurses brings Aiden over and hands him to me. By this time, they have given Raquel some additional medication that makes her sleepy, so we have to wake her up to get her first good look at our baby. She turns and looks at him, smiles, and then closes her eyes again.
At that point the nurse says "you can take your baby down to the nursery for me". I wanted to protest, I knew my baby was okay. I wanted to stay with my wife and make sure she was okay. That wasn't an option though, I was guided out of the OR taking my baby back to the nursery. The last view I had of my wife was her closing her eyes and her head dropping
to the pillow. The next hour was both a delight in getting to spend those first few moments with my new baby, and the scariest time of my life not knowing what was going on in the Operating Room, not knowing if Raquel was okay.Of course eventually they rolled Raquel back to her room, and she got to really get a good look at her new baby boy, and everything was okay. It didn't go the way we had prepped for it in birthing class, but our baby had arrived and he was healthy. Thus began our journey into parenthood. A shaky start, but a good one.
1 comment:
Dear Daddy:
What a beautiful story. I know that as you tell this story you should have relive this moments again. They were inded exciting moments. You guys have been blessed with Aide, God's gift to you and to everyone around him. May God continue to bless Aiden and his parents.
Granpa Victor
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