John's Birthday

It’s been over two weeks since John’s birthday so I thought I should write down some details before I start to forget them.  Needless to say, I’ve already forgotten/blacked out parts of that day, but here’s the Cliff Notes version of the day that changed my life forever.  This will not be the “Baby Book” version of the day.  That version will mostly like have less detail and curse words.

January 21^st:

I was off for MLK Day so I slept in, cleaned the house, had lunch with Grier and Erin (I had shrimp & grits at Blackfinn), went to see Nannie, and went to the grocery store.  When I got home I was exhausted, but not too tired to eat a brownie and 2 glasses of water.  Very randomly, Janice happened to be in town that day.  I had talked to her that morning about possibly seeing her that evening.  After my little snack I laid down on the couch and was so, so tired.  I was honestly thinking to myself, “I don’t know if I have the energy to go see Jan tonight,” and felt really bad for thinking that because she’s not in Jax very often and I didn’t want to use my pregnancy as an excuse to be a lazy little bitch.  About 10 minutes later, Bud got home from work.  When he was getting changed I literally felt something pop inside me (ewww…no other way to explain it though).  So I thought, "well that was fucking weird.  maybe I should go to the bathroom."  When I stood up my water broke (luckily I was off the sofa), but I still didn't really think that's what it was b/c I wasn't have ANY contractions or pain.  Bud came out of the bedroom and asked what happened and I told him that I thought my water broke or I had peed myself.  It was 5:50 pm and I was 38 weeks, 2 days pregnant.  

We both just kinda stared at each other.  He immediately wanted to rush me to the hospital, but I thought that was a little premature considering I wasn't having contractions and mostly like had just peed my pants.  He called the doctor anyway and she asked me to go in and get checked.  Bud was a little more anxious than usual because just a couple days before a friend had to deliver his baby at home with 911 on the phone because things progressed so quickly.  Scary! 

So I did what any girl would do...I jumped in the shower to shave my legs, packed my hospital bag (yes, I still hadn't packed), made dinner (scrambled eggs with an English muffin) and tried to drag out saying goodbye to the girls as looooooooooong as I could.  We eventually got to the hospital at about 7:30 pm.

When I got to the hospital they confirmed that my water had broken which was very painful, but not nearly as bad as what was ahead.  Good news was that my water had broken.  The bad news, I wasn't dilated so we were in for a long night.  It's pretty rare for your water to break before contractions so I was seriously in shock that this was actually happening.  Bud called his parents and my parents to let them know we were at the hospital, but the little guy wouldn’t be making his debut until the next day.  My mom jumped in the car anyway…nothing was keeping her away.  They gave me some medicine to jump start things (no idea what it was, not pitocin) and WHAM contractions started and I hated my life.  I think I told Bud that I was going to jump out the window at one point.  Yep, I'm that girl.  I asked for the epidural at 1 cm, but they asked that I wait until 4 cm.  I honestly couldn’t tell you if that took 4 minutes or 4 hours, but it was hell. 

Once I got the epidural, I was so so so much better, but John wasn't.  About 10 minutes after getting it, he crashed and about 10 people flooded into my room.  Bud had just left to go get all our stuff from the car so it was just me and my mom in there.  They were flipping me on my left, on my right, on my hands and knees.  They gave me an injection to stop contractions (grrrr...not something you want to do while in labor) and his heart rate came back.  They told us to relax and get some sleep.

Post-epidural Facetime with Allyson.  I love having a baby in the 21st century.

Ha...that didn't happen.  A couple hours later they started pitocin to help get the contractions going again.  Having an epidural was weird.  I could feel contractions, but they weren’t painful.  It kind of just felt like tightening and cramping, not oh-my-god-I’m-going-to-die.  I watched the monitors all night long.  Bud might have slept an hour or so, but not much.  By 6:30 am I was fully dilated, but the nurse thought I should “labor down” a little longer because the baby was still pretty high.

At 7:30, it was time to push!  I was so excited.  I had decided early on that I didn’t want an audience for “game time” so I asked my mom to go to the waiting room.  It was just me, Bud and our amazing nurse Amy (who happened to live on a street in Nocatee where I know 3 other families…random).  I was told that I was a “great pusher.”  No idea what that means, but I’ll take a compliment anywhere I can get one.  Things were progressing great.  Each contraction I would push 3 times, 10 seconds each.  It’s oddly surreal because I’d seen it done so many times on tv and in movies…just weird that it was now me!

An hour went by and Amy asked that my doctor, Dr. Quinones, be called.  We were so close.  Once Dr. Q arrived, she confirmed that John was facing the wrong way (face up instead of face down).  With each contraction, Dr. Q would turn him, but he’d flip back as soon as the contraction was over.  Bad baby.  I pushed another hour and could tell that Dr. Quinones and Amy were not pleased.  They were incredibly encouraging, but it was pretty clear that I wasn’t progressing any more.

At the two hour mark (9:30 am), Dr. Quinones told me that she was concerned that John wasn’t going to be able to fit through my pelvis.  I had read about 1000 articles saying that doctors use this as an excuse to get you to have a c-section so when I actually heard these words I got a little miffed.  She explained that with each contraction about half his head was coming down and stretching out, but the other half just isn’t budging.  This wasn’t a random baby and a random mother in an article…this was me and my son.  This was my son’s skull, my son’s heart rate, my pelvis, and ultimately my decision.  Dr. Quinones left it up to me what to do and I’m so thankful she did.  It didn’t take long just to agree to the c-section and it didn’t take long until they were wheeling me down the hall and into the OR.

The operating room was cold and bright and had about 200 people in it.  Once they got me situated, Bud came in wearing scrubs and looking nervous.  Not sure how long it took, but it felt like a couple minutes later and BAM…a few tugs and I heard a baby crying.  SURREAL is the only word that describes that feeling.  Someone walked the baby over to us and I heard Dr. Q say “10:00 am exactly.”

Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny.  January 22, 2013 10:00 am.

7 lbs, 5 ozs; 20 inches.

Bud went over to where they were cleaning John up and got to cut the cord.  I was trying really hard to listen to what they were saying over there.  I heard “7 lbs, 5 ozs” and then “14 inches” a few minutes later.  I started slightly panicking to myself thinking “why is he a normal weight, but so short?”  I honestly was talking myself through acceptance that he might be a little person and that was ok.  It wasn’t until later that I found out 14 inches was his head circumference and that he was a healthy 20 inches long.  That’ll teach me not to eavesdrop, but it’s funny how quickly my brain races to worst case scenario.  I seriously need to chill out.  After a couple quick tests they bundled John up and handed him to Bud so that they could both join me while my surgery was finished.  Ugh…that’s a gross feeling.  It wasn’t painful, but I could feel someone inside me moving things around.  It’s really, really gross.  I was trying just to focus on Bud and John.

Cutting the cord.  Look at John covering his face...haha.

The Garro Family

A few minutes later Bud wasn’t looking so good.  He was really red and suddenly pouring sweat.  He looked over at the anesthesiologist (who, by the way, was extremely good looking and so nice…no complaints from me!) and told him that he felt like he was going to faint.  It took about 3 seconds and someone grabbed John and shoved Bud’s head between his knees and put a cold washcloth on him.  They put him in a wheelchair and wheeled him out of there.  Bud was apologetic for leaving, but I was more concerned about him so I really didn’t care. 

Right before he was wheeled out

About 15 minutes later, my surgery was over.  They handed me John and wheeled us back to my room where Bud was happily finishing a boxed lunch.  It was like Mad Men.  Wifey down the hall having the baby…husband just eating a sandwich.  Haha.

The rest of the day is a complete blur for me because I was pretty doped up.  My parents were able to meet him pretty quickly after I got back to my room and Bud’s parents came after his mom got off work.  Janice was able to come by the hospital on the way to the airport.  I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that she “just happened” to be in town when I went into labor a week and a half early.  I mean, seriously.  What are the chances?

Me and my boy

As much as I said I didn’t want a January baby, the 22^nd is the ONLY January day that was always the exception.  In fact, the day before I had gotten this text from Donna, a friend who’s also obsessed with the number 22.

22 craziness.

Plus, the fact that it’s my parents' anniversary is icing on the cake.  Great choice, little man.  January 22 has always been special and now it is simply the best day of the year.  Happy Birthday, sweet boy.