How to begin?
Well, after 3 C sections, I am not allowed to go into labor anymore. When I began having intermittent, irregular and disorganized contractions, it made my doctor nervous. He told me before Thanksgiving that he didn’t think we were going to make it till the scheduled section on Dec. 15th. I have been in contact with him all this week and basically sitting around doing as little activity as possible in the hopes of warding off early, unplanned labor…because you don’t deliver a baby casually at 37 weeks. Usually they’ll be fine, sometimes they’ll have problems: respiratory, blood sugar, body temperature, neurological immaturity.
I had contractions all afternoon Monday, and when I called on Tuesday the staff scolded me for not calling on Monday. Tuesday night things were quiet after a semi-active afternoon, but I woke up with contractions on Wednesday. I called and the doctor said, “Get your affairs in order and get here.” (The added complication to this story is that our doctor, who we go to because he has been so good to us over the course of infertility and three previous drama-filled births, is two hours away.)
We arrived at the hospital yesterday at 3:10. I had two significant contractions on the way from the car into Labor & Delivery, but of course, being a hospital, they stuck me in bed on a fetal monitor and made me lie in bed. I don’t contract when I’m lying down, only when I”m, you know, up and around taking care of kids. It was clear they didn’t want me there, but when the doctor finally finished his patients at 6:30 p.m., he came in and had a 45-minute powwow with us. We had to weigh the risk of uterine rupture if we wait too long against delivering a baby too soon. (37 weeks.)
Well, obviously we went ahead, although as I sat on the operating table getting my spinal I had to clamp down on a wild scream, “NOOO! STOP RIGHT NOW! WE CAN’T POSSIBLY HAVE A BABY WITHOUT DRAMA, THERE’S NO WAY THIS BABY WILL BE IN THE 95% OF KIDS WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE AT 37 WEEKS!”
…. and I was right. Michael was born with a little difficulty breathing, swallowing some amniotic fluid as he was coming out, and that — plus the fact that he is early — means that he was having trouble regulating his breathing, so they put him in the Neonatal ICU (NICU).
This is why you don’t causally take a child at 37 weeks.
But after chatting with the neonatal specialist this morning, he is doing well. He is on about 35 percent oxygen (we breathe at 21 percent oxygen) and we’re hoping that he’ll be able to start nursing tomorrow.
And we wanted to share a picture. I’m sure I’ll have much to say next week when I get home.
Kathleen M. Basi 