Henry's Birth Story: Part One

Ann arrived in Austin on Monday afternoon. I was so relieved to have her in town and to know that we would have someone staying with us from here on out. I knew nights would be much easier on me knowing that she was down the hall and that Brian and I could leave at a moment's notice if we needed to. I went to bed Monday night around ten feeling much calmer than in the past weeks although I was slightly unsettled by the number of contractions I had been feeling that evening.

Around midnight Brian came to bed. I got up to go to the bathroom and immediately started to bleed again. And this time it was more than the two times before. Brian went and told his mom we were leaving for the hospital and I stayed in the bathroom waiting for the bleeding to stop enough to get in the car. It wasn't really slowing down so we got in the car anyway. I called the doctor while Brian drove us speedily but safely to the hospital. I felt Henry moving around during our drive but I didn't let that stop me from telling Brian to run every red light he saw. All I could think while we were driving was: We are going to meet our baby today. Dr. Reich had already said that if I came in bleeding after 36 weeks she'd do the c section. I was 36 weeks and 6 days. Only one day short of being considered full term.

We got to the hospital and went up to Labor and Delivery. They got us on the monitors right away and Henry's heart rate was strong and steady. I was having numerous contractions, however. The doctor on call asked the nurse to check my cervix. She tried but it was so high she couldn't even find it (a good sign that I wasn't going into active labor). I stabilized after about fifteen or twenty minutes at the hospital so the on call nurse decided to let Dr. Reich make the call about whether or not to perform the c section that day. The on call doctor felt more comfortable letting my doctor who knows my whole case history decide. I was grateful that I would be under Dr. Reich's care but I was so frustrated by the thought of waiting another six hours to know what would be happening. My anxiety reached its peak during that wait. I was determined to convince Dr. Reich to just deliver him. I couldn't take the waiting anymore.

Around 6:30 or so, Henry's heart rate dropped (what they call a "variable") and stayed low for a few minutes. That drop was enough to convince the on call doctor that a c section was probably the most likely outcome for us that day. So, on that news I sent Brian home to pack a bag of clothes, etc. while I waited for Dr. Reich to come in. In the meantime, my nurse set about getting everything ready in case we did end up in surgery.

Dr. Reich came in around eight Tuesday morning and checked out the monitoring history including the variable. She thought the variable was concerning but he had recovered from it really quickly. While she was looking over everything I asked her what she thought we would do. She said she wasn't sure at that point. I asked her if my anxiety could get a vote on our plan and she looked at me and said: "No, it can't." At that moment I was so disappointed that she wouldn't take my mental wellbeing into account but she explained that she had to do what was best for Henry and that if we could keep him in safely that we should do that. She was going to consult with the perinatologist and get their opinion about whether it was safe to proceed with the c section or if we should wait. So, I continued to wait (not so patiently). I felt that by putting off delivering him we were just sitting around waiting for it to become an emergency situation. Everyone kept telling me we weren't delivering because he "wasn't in any distress" which translated in my mind to: "We are going to wait to deliver him until he's in distress." I was so frustrated.

About an hour later I started to experience some fresh bleeding. It was nowhere near what I had experienced the night before but it was the first time in all of this that I had started to bleed again so soon. Not long after that the nurse came back and told me that Dr. Reich had decided to do the c-section that day - at noon. Apparently the perinatologist thought it was the best way to proceed and the fact that I had started bleeding again meant that the safest plan of action was to deliver him as soon as possible. We scheduled the surgery for 11:30 AM. So, we had a bit more of a wait but I felt calmer knowing we would meet Henry soon.

To Be Continued...