Ephraim's birth story Part 1

I have been working on cleaning out my desk - and on it I found a few sheets of paper where I had written the details of Ephraim's birth so I wouldn't forget.  So to help rid my desk of paper clutter and because I think he deserves to have his story in blog land like his sister - I am writing this - 4 years later.  :)


Wednesday April 2, 2008

I went to my 37 week prenatal appointment in the morning.  Everything looked good.  I mentioned to my doctor that I was having a hard time filling my heparin prescription and only had enough to get me through Friday.  He told me that they would look into it and get back to me.  I went to work and then had a dental appointment later that afternoon.  (Wednesdays were my office day - so I had a lot of leeway to schedule appointments).

While waiting to go into the dentist's - I get a phone call from the nurse saying that they can't find heparin anywhere and have even called out of state to Oregon and California and they can't get me any.  They have scheduled me for an amnio Thursday morning to see if baby's lungs are ready to deliver and if they are - then they will induce and I will most likely have a baby by Friday.  I hung up the phone and cried.  That was not at all what I was expecting to hear and honestly wasn't mentally ready to have the baby that soon.  I was only a fingertip dialated for heaven's sake!

After sitting through the dentist, calling work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in the next day and possibly having a baby in two days and then called my mom.  Earlier that day I had told her there was no rush and baby wouldn't be coming anytime soon.  Ha! Now I wanted her to be ready to pack her bags tomorrow if needed.

Thursday April 3, 2008

Forrest and I arrived at the hospital at 7AM.  The ultrasound tech checked me in and did a quick look to see where a pocket of fluid could be found.  Forrest hadn't been to an ultrasound since our 20 week one (I had been having them monthly to check my cervical length - which had been a little short at 20 weeks) so he was excited to see baby.  Dr. Rice came in with a resident and the radiologist.  The amnio itself wasn't bad - as long as I didn't look at the needle.  That sucker was huge.  I just watched the screen and it was a little crazy to see the needle on the screen while I felt it at the same time.  The ultrasound was high tech and the radiologist could turn something on that showed the blood flow in the umbilical cord either blue or red.

I asked Dr. Rice what we would do if baby's lungs weren't ready and he said "We don't want to think about it" but that I would most likely be hospitalized on blood thinners until baby was ready to come.

They monitored me in the birthing center triage for contractions for about an hour and a half.  I watched part of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and wrote thank you cards while Forrest worked.  We then went to McDonald's for breakfast.  We had to drop some gift cards off at a school I worked at (Two of my kids had been earning them for their behavior and I was supposed to be giving them their rewards on Friday) and then drove to Petco.  Wallis needed food.

While at Petco we got the call that baby's lungs were ready and we were "on call" at the hospital.  Forrest worked the rest of the day from home and I worked on completing things on my list.  Which included a 2 hour phone call with the girl who was covering my cases while I was on maternity leave.  My mom arrived and picked up Thai food for dinner.  I called the hospital and was told to keep waiting, eat some dinner and go to sleep.  We went to bed at 9:30 only to be awoken at 1AM telling us to come to the hospital.

Picture taken March 5th, 2008