I had my 2nd check-in appt of the week Thurs at 1p. My blood pressure leading up to that appt had been hovering at 155/98 with 160/100 being the time-to-deliver mark. So if you round up, I was failing. Dan and I had talked that morning about getting tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop as they say. It was getting too stressful. Every high blood pressure reading had us worried that we were pushing our luck. Especially after Mernitz said he'd had patients stroke with lower BPs than mine. But I didn't have other symptoms of pre-eclampsia, just the high BP. Regardless, we'd decided to ask that afternoon if we could set a delivery date amd end the worry. I showed up and went through the routine. During the NST he got the hiccups so you could hear his heartbeat and then the hiccup real loud. It was rather amusing. My sister called while I was sitting in there so she got to hear it too. Mernitz came in after the NST, looked at the day's BP reading plus the ones from home and asked when the last time I ate was. Denial quickly took hold and I went on rambling about whatever it was that was on my mind. Dan said, Reeda, did you hear what he asked? Um yeah but commencing a little freak out here so I'm ignoring it. In my mind we'd ask about a date, set one for sometime next week and then head home to prepare. Have a last night out doing whatever, dinner maybe just dessert, enjoy the calm before the storm if you will. And then Wham! "when did you eat last?" Docs don't ask that question because they're curious about your eating habits. I knew what he meant. "Tell me when you ate so I can do quick math and figure out when we can knock you out to deliver this little guy." The scales were no longer balanced, all three of us were concerned about something worse happening to me so it was time. Time to end the months of bed rest, hormone shots, blood draws, nonstress tests & ultrasounds, blood pressure checks, urine screens...time for all that to end. Time for the next phase to start - diapers, feedings, weight checks, snuggling, cooing. Mernitz turned us loose and asked that we check in at the hospital around 4p. He wasn't on call but would go home, hang out with his girls before bedtime and be at the hospital around 9p to deliver. He is awesome. I'd really wanted him to deliver this time since we missed that with Madi - and he promised to fix my scar from surgery when I was a kid. We'd done so much work and seen him so much with this pregnancy it wouldn't be right to have someone else step in at the end and get to announce "happy birthday" in the operating room.
I didn't make it out of the room without a short break down. It was coming too fast. But we walked out and agreed to meet up at the house around 3:30p. I remember thinking the hardest part was going to be not drinking any water. It's second nature! I got home and double-checked my bag plus packed some things for Madi and a bag for baby boy. Mom & Alyssa came over for moral support...and then Nana & Papa came by too. Dan got home and we loaded up the truck and off we went. Took the opportunity to snap one last picture before we went into the hospital:
When we checked in they'd changed the time from 9p to 8p. We had several visitors while we were waiting: Nana & Papa, my parents, Uncle Tim and of course Madi. Dan's Mom was on her way from Illinois. Our last pic as a family of 3:
Doc Mernitz said "here he comes" several times before he actually came out. It became a little joke. "No really, I mean it this time." Not sure what the delay was, didn't think to ask. Doc held little man up high on the way out so we had a chance to see before the NICU staff did their assessment. As it turns out there was a knot in his cord - didn't pick that up in any of the BPPs. Who knows if that had any affect on anything. Once he was snookied he started to cry and it was the best sound I'd ever heard. We didn't get to see or hear Madi because she was in another room (and they had to resuscitate). This time I could see the Neo & nurses working on him off to my left. Every once in a while I could see around them and catch an arm or legs waving. When they announced his weight we couldn't believe how big he was - and that he had a full head of hair! Dan and I kept talking about how big he was and got funny looks from the NICU nurses until the neonatologist whispered that our daughter was 1.11. It's all about perspective people. :) The anesthesiologist took pics for us which was pretty cool. Also something we didn't have with Madi and I'd wanted. Once he was all clean and bundled they brought him over and Dan got to hold him. THAT'S how delivery is supposed to go!
Friday morning we moved to the post-partum unit. I was able to visit Rawley on the trek over and Kangaroo Care, even got to try breastfeeding. He did real well, even with his club hand. Poor guy.
It was such a whirlwind but we're so happy Rawley's here and everyone's healthy. Let the fun begin!
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