Well, we never made it there, because we got our own surprise that evening.
Jon came home from work and then headed across town to get a haircut. I was in the process of coming up with something for dinner, when all of a sudden I felt a very sharp, intense pain in my right lower abdomen. It scared me, because it was right where one of my scars is. I laid down on my side immediately and hoped it would go away. I'd been contracting on and off for weeks, but this felt nothing like that. It felt like my scar had ripped open deep on the inside. Terrified, I called Jon and told him to get home right away. Then my labor & delivery instincts kicked in, and instead of better, I felt worse... I thought about what I would tell a patient who was 37 weeks pregnant with 10 previous abdominal surgeries who felt sudden, intense, constant pain. All I could think of was "abruption." I wasn't bleeding, so that was good, but I knew abruptions could be concealed. (An abruption is when the placenta breaks off from the uterus, cutting off blood supply to the baby and resulting in hemorrhage of mom and baby, and death if not treated/delivered FAST). I knew we were 45 minutes away from the hospital and Jon wasn't even home yet. I made it upstairs to the bathroom and grabbed my doppler (fetal heart monitor)... again, I'm an L&D nurse.... I checked LO's heartbeat and breathed finally when I heard it thumping away. Jon walked in and he started loading our stuff up in the car as I called the OB practice. The midwife on call told me to get to the hospital immediately, and that my doctor was already there, as she happened to be the "on call" hospital provider that night. God truly had set everything up perfectly for this baby. My doctor is unbelievable, but she works in a group where she's the only physician and the other 2 are midwives. They are both amazing, but they can't perform c-sections on their own, so one of my fears throughout the pregnancy was that my doctor would happen to be out of town or sick or busy or in another delivery when the time came to have Cole. Obviously, if I made it to my scheduled c-section date, she would be there for sure, but if it happened unexpectedly, there was a chance that a different doctor would have to deliver him, and that was the last thing I wanted. My doc knew the entirety of my situation and we'd had a plan in place for how the delivery would go down since the beginning.
When we got to the hospital, Dr. Y hooked me up to the monitors herself while the nurses started my IVs (two of them), and got all my consents, computer work, and paperwork signed in and prepped me for surgery. I was contracting about every 1-2 minutes and the pain was still there, although it wasn't constant anymore. My contraction pattern on the monitor looked like a classic abruption pattern, and even though the baby's heart rate looked good, my doctor wasn't taking any chances. She sat down with Jon and I and explained that she was beyond thrilled that I'd made it to 37 weeks. She never thought I'd get past 32. There wasn't a point in playing games, especially with this weird pain. She didn't know if I was starting to abrupt, or scar tissue was torn, or what was happening, and wouldn't know until she opened me up. She pulled Jon aside and told him that there was chance they'd have to do a hysterectomy if the scar tissue was on my uterus and causing too much bleeding. I didn't find this fun fact out until later.
She called in an extra OB, two additional surgeons, and a urologist. She also got the top anesthesiologist in the room and called in her midwife, Nicole. I had 2 special care nursery nurses, the neonatologist, 3 L&D nurses plus the charge nurse. Dr. Y was ready for anything. Blood was ordered and the decision was made to do the c-section in the main OR instead of L&D in case things went awry. I knew we were just being cautious, but when I got into the main OR and I saw all the staff, all the extra equipment, heard her on the phone with blood bank and saw her put in my catheter herself (usually the nurse does it), I started to panic. This all felt a little too familiar.
My nurses were friends of mine I worked with and I worked with my doctor and anesthesia as well, so I felt the love and care in the room, and they all calmed me down. I sat as still as I could for the epidural and Dr. Davis got it in easily. They laid me down, got Jon in the room, and started.
I felt like I couldn't breathe as I laid there and waited. Jon kept standing up and looking over the curtain and was fascinated. Dr. Davis and Dr Yockey were explaining everything that was happening, but I don't remember a word they said.... I just waited for the sound of the suction that I knew I'd hear when they'd break my water and the sound of the cry....
Very quickly, they got through the skin and uterus and I heard the suction. That's when the yelling started. They couldn't get the baby out. Dr. Yockey literally climbed on the table pushing as hard as he could while Dr. Pozzi pushed from the other end. Because of the scar issue and some abnormalities on the side from nec fasc, Cole was wedged in there pretty good. The pressure was immense, but I didn't even care. I was about to try and reach down and grab him out myself when I heard a pop and a yell out of Yockey and then the sweetest, cutest baby scream you've ever heard in your life.
Jon yelled, and tears just poured down my face. Never has a sound felt so satisfying. I couldn't let myself believe I was going to have a healthy baby until I heard that sound. The last 8.5 months hadn't mattered... I need to hear and see him myself. Dr. Davis pulled the curtain down and there he was.
Dr. Yockey was crying, Jon was crying, I was a hysterical mess.... the nurses were crying. We all were in awe of this miracle. 6 lbs and 18 inches of pure miracle. His head was covered in spiky dark hair (hello heartburn) and he had huge eyes. And he was the cutest baby I'd ever seen.
9 & 9 apgars. 3 weeks early, but a little, tiny bundle of perfection. Even the pediatrician told us he was the cutest baby she'd ever seen. He had olive skin and highlights in his dark almost black hair. He looked like a tiny version of Jon with my nose and mouth. Every inch of him is perfection in my opinion.
Dr. Yockey was thrilled to tell me that despite the mess of scar tissue I have in my abdomen, my uterus was perfect... not one single inch of scar tissue. I did have quite a bit of bleeding in the OR, but nothing that required major intervention. All in all, she told me she couldn't be happier with how well my body had done.
And most importantly, he is completely and perfectly healthy. I prayed everyday for a healthy baby and God blessed me abundantly. I prayed that I would know how to love him how I was supposed to, and God put more love in my heart that I ever imagined I could feel. Jon and I were absolutely smitten.
And here he is on the day he was born: Colton Mack Nilles, born 12/12/14.
And here he is now... 11 weeks old!
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