ian's story

 

 

 

After I went into labor and delivered Jordan nearly a month early, I was kind of expecting to have subsequent children early. I wouldn’t have minded it either since being pregnant during the hot Florida summer was pretty miserable.

 

I started having contractions around week 30. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for a while, but these were more intense and reminiscent of labor contractions. They would come at any time of day or night and could be triggered by bending a certain way or for no reason at all. I mentioned this to my doctor at a checkup and he said it was alright as long as there weren’t more than 10 a day. Luckily I hadn’t had more than 10, but I did have a few occasions where the contractions were very intense and I was afraid my water would break. Once I was 32 weeks, my contractions had reached nearly 10 a day and were quite painful and also coming about every 2 hours. My doctor and I were afraid I was going into labor and decided the best thing for me and the baby was bed rest. I didn’t have to lay in bed 24 hours a day or anything, but basically I needed to limit my activities and take it easy.

 

I’m very grateful that Chip was able to work from home and care for Jordan during the next few weeks. Since Chip is a full-time student at the local University of Florida campus he could do almost all of his work and studying from home. It was a tremendous help having him there. Between that, and me taking it easy, my contractions started to decrease. It was mentally exhausting though not knowing when I would go into labor. Every time I had a contraction I’d wondered if this was the one that would break my water and cause me to deliver the baby. Luckily weeks began to pass and I still hadn’t gone into labor. Once I hit 36 weeks I felt confident the baby would be ok if he was born.

 

Week 36 came and went and then I was 37 weeks – a first for me! At my 37 week checkup the doctor did an ultrasound and noticed that the baby was in the Frank breech position. The baby’s head was in my rib cage and his feet up by his head. Normally babies get into the head down position by mid-pregnancy, but for some reason he hadn’t. The baby still had time to turn, but the bigger he got the less likely he’d be to turn. If the baby didn’t turn head down I’d have to have a C-section to deliver him, something I hadn’t really thought much about but wasn’t keen on.

 

I had a few options to try to get the baby to turn. The doctor could perform an External Cephalic Version (ECV) at the hospital and try to manually turn the baby by pressing on my stomach and trying to rotate the baby into a head down position. It only had a 58% success rate, and from the YouTube videos I watched about them it looked barbaric and painful. Also, the ECV had to be performed at the hospital because there are some potential risks to the baby and it could cause my water to break which would lead to an immediate emergency C-section. Another option was to see a chiropractor who could perform the Webster Technique. The chiropractor adjusts your hips and sacrum to try to open them up to create space for the baby to turn. The Webster Technique is safe for the baby and there is no risk to the mother either.

 

I opted for the Webster Technique and saw a local chiropractor 4 times for adjustments. I had never been to a chiropractor before, but was willing to give it a try since I really didn’t want a C-section. The first time I went it was amazing! The baby didn’t turn, but my back and hip pain was all but gone! It was such a great feeling to not hear awful popping noises every time I bent down or moved my legs. It also helped me sleep better since I could get more comfortable. So for that it was worth every penny!

 

At my 38 week checkup the baby was still breech and my doctor wanted to schedule a C-section for the following week. Unfortunately no doctor in this area will deliver a breech baby due to insurance liability issues and safety concerns for the mother and baby, so a C-section was my only option. So August 6 was going to be the day we met our son. I was apprehensive about having surgery since I’ve never had surgery before, but I was ready to have this baby.

 

August 6 arrived and Chip and I got to the hospital at 5 am. I didn’t sleep that much the night before because I was pretty nervous and also excited to meet our son. Once we got to the hospital we were taken upstairs to Labor and Delivery. We went into the Pre-Op room where I got my hospital gown on and had to fill out a bunch of paper work. Then the nurse started my IV of fluids and antibiotics. Then I had to drink this tiny bottle of disgusting tasting liquid that was to neutralize my stomach acid in case I vomited. It tasted like bubble solution mixed with vinegar! At about 6 am my OB/GYN came in to say hi. The minute I saw him I started crying. I told him I was scared and didn’t want the C-section but knew it was what had to happen. He calmed me down and told me it would be fine.

 

A short while later I walked into the operating room. Chip had to wait outside while they started my anesthesia. It was so white and sterile in there and everyone was wearing surgical masks and scrubs. I immediately became a nervous shaking wreck. The anesthesiologist started my spinal and I started to cry. My OB/GYN came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders and told me it was going to be ok and that it would be the most textbook, boring C-section he had ever done. That helped me calm down a little. Once the spinal was done they had me lay down on the operating table. I started to freak out because I knew surgery was about to begin and I could still feel everything. My legs felt heavy, but I could still feel them. I told the anesthesiologist that they shouldn’t start yet because I still had feeing and he said I’d feel pressure, but not pain. Then they put me on oxygen, hooked me up to a heart rate monitor, and put cuffs on my legs from my knees to my ankles that were to prevent blood clots. Then they put up a blue sheet. I really started to get nervous and then Chip sat down beside me wearing his scrubs and mask. All that was visible were his eyes. The anesthesiologist leaned over and said that the surgery had begun. I started sobbing.

 

I told Chip to talk to me to distract me from thinking about how I was being cut open and our child was going to be pulled out of me. He did his best, but I was a lost cause. There are a lot of things about a C-section no one told me about, so some things caught me off guard. Once the doctor made his incision into my abdomen it got really hard for me to breathe. It felt like I had a lead weight on my chest. I told the anesthesiologist and he said that was normal and would go away shortly – in an hour. Not helpful! Apparently there is a pressure difference between your chest cavity and the outside world and when you are cut open your chest feels really heavy like that.

 

I also wasn’t prepared for how odd and weird it would be to feel our son pulled out of my body. Someone behind the blue sheet was pushing on my stomach where the baby’s head was trying to move him down. Then I felt his head move down my stomach and then be pulled out of my abdomen. It was very odd and sort of unsettling. It didn’t necessarily hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable either.

 

Then I heard the doctor say it was a boy and then I heard our son cry. I was still crying at that point, but at least now it turned to happy tears. He was behind the blue sheet so I couldn’t see him. I wanted to see the little guy who I was going through all of this for. First they had to clean him up. Chip got to cut the umbilical cord, something he didn’t get to do with Jordan. (Jordan’s umbilical cord was cut by the doctor because it was wrapped around her neck.) Finally they brought him over to me, but it was hard to get a good look at him since the way they were holding him made him upside down to me. Then they took him off to the nursery for some tests and to be weighed. I had to be sewn back up.

 

While they were sewing me up I started to feel nauseous and had a weird taste in my mouth. The anesthesiologist put some anti-nausea medicine in my IV. Then he had me sniff what I think was a cotton pad soaked in rubbing alcohol. Not really sure why I had to do that. I started to feel better after that. He said the weird taste was the nasty stuff I drank earlier coming back up – eww!

 

Then Chip went off to be with the baby and the doctor finished sewing and gluing me back together. Once he was done they removed the heart monitor and blood pressure cuff from my arm and rolled me onto a gurney. I felt like a numb beached whale. Lovely, but at least it was over and I made it through. Then I was wheeled into the Post-Op room.

 

A few minutes later Chip came in and said that the baby was 7lbs 13oz and 21” long. I couldn’t believe he was that big. Just 3 days earlier the ultrasound estimated he weighed 7lbs 2 oz. I thought ultrasounds usually overestimated, I guess not!

 

I felt ok after surgery, probably since I was numb from the waist down. The nurse in Post-Op gave me some pain meds in my IV that made me feel extremely tired. I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open. Then a nurse came in with the baby. I finally got a good look at my little boy and got to hold him, something I didn’t get to do for over 5 hours after Jordan was born. It was so nice to get to hold my little boy on the outside and not feel his little head burrowed into my rib cage anymore. We then called our families to share the good news and to reveal our son’s name – Ian John. Chip and I like to keep the name of our baby to ourselves until they are born. People always want to know details about your pregnancy, even strangers. This is a way for us to have something special for just the two of us to know.

 

About 30 minutes later the nurse came back to take Ian to get a bath. I was wheeled to a recovery room. I’d spend the next 24 hours in bed with the cuffs on my legs automatically inflating and deflating every 30 seconds or so and hooked up to a catheter.

 

Two hours later my parents came with Jordan to meet baby Ian. I was pretty out of it when they got there. My mother said I looked extremely pale. Apparently I didn’t look too good as Jordan was scared of me when she saw me. I guess I looked as good as I felt.

 

Once the meds from surgery wore off and I could feel my legs again, I started to feel how sore I was from surgery. The nurse gave me more of the same pain meds that made me very tired. Eventually I asked to be given something else as that medicine made me feel pretty bad.

 

The next day the cuffs came off and the nurse wanted me to get up and walk a bit. It was very hard to stand up. It seemed hard to stand up straight. I don’t know if I actually was pulling my incision or if I was just extremely nervous to do so. A short while later I took a shower. I felt so weak standing in the shower. As I was showering I started having pretty intense pain in my shoulders. I figured I was sore from being so tense from the day before so I made the shower water hotter thinking that would help loosen my muscles. That was a bad decision. I learned later from the nurse that the hot water makes your blood pressure drop. I became very light headed and had to sit down on the bench in the shower before I passed out. I shut off the water and called for Chip to come help me. When he came in he found me trembling from being cold and white as a sheet sitting on the bench in the shower. He grabbed some towels and wrapped me up and got me out of there. The nurse came by a few minutes later and said the pain I was feeling was trapped gas pain from yesterday’s surgery. The air that got into my chest cavity when they cut me open was trying to work its way out. It is painful! They can give you gas medicine to help with the discomfort, but walking around is what is supposed to work the best. After another day of walking and some medicine, the trapped gas pains started to get better. Then we were released from the hospital.

 

Even though I found the C-section to be an unpleasant experience, I am truly grateful that our little boy was able to be safely brought into this world and most of all was healthy!

jordan: month 24

Jordan turned 2 this month! I can hardly believe how fast two years has gone by. To celebrate the occasion we had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party for Jordan. She had such a fun time dancing and playing with her friends, John Benjamin and Abby.

At Jordan’s 2 year check-up she weighed 26 lbs (25 – 50%) and was 35” tall (75 – 90%). She’s a tall, skinny little thing! She’s getting pickier in what she will eat, so I’m trying to think of new and healthy things to give her.

Jordan is quite the little chatterbox and quite expressive when she talks. She will talk with her hands quite a bit. It is still hard to understand what she is saying all the time, but she is getting better. Jordan also loves to sing. Her current favorite song is “If Your Happy & You Know It.” She asks for us all to sing it and do the hand motions together all the time. She also started singing “Jesus Loves Me”, which is the song they are learning this month at church. Jordan will also randomly bust out with the FSU war chant and do the tomahawk chop. She’s ready for football season – too bad it is still months away.

Jordan enjoys coloring in her coloring books, dancing, reading books, and watching her new quasi-favorite show, Barney. She likes to play pretend a lot and will push her stroller around the house holding keys and a purse. She also likes to have conversations on her phone with people. On more than one occasion I’ve heard her talking to her Papa. She also loves to have tea parties.

Jordan seems to be a bit of an OCD person. Messes really bother her – dirt on the floor or her feet or spilled food on her hands or tray. She will say “Uh oh, I made a mess” and want something to clean it up with. I have a bruise on my shin and she thought it was a mess she could clean up with a rag. Too bad she isn’t so concerned about the mess she makes when her toys get scattered everywhere…maybe one day!

She is getting better at naming a few colors. She’s usually good at pointing out things that are pink and sometimes white. She started occasionally pointing out purple, blue, and yellow – though she gets them wrong quite a bit. She will also count things if they are in small sets like twos and threes.

Overall she continues to grow and develop into a wonderful little girl. For now, this will be my last monthly post. I’ll try to post things occasionally about things she does or we all do together.

jordan: month 23

This month is a bulleted list. Sorry, didn't have time to type it all out nicely :)

- Becoming more independent and wants to do things herself – zip things, buckle things, put on own shoes, take off her clothes occasionally.

- Asked “why” when I told her she couldn’t do something

- Using more phrases – “I wanna play” “I do myself” “No, I walk”

- Throws fits often and screams at the top of her lungs when mad about something

- Got her bottom two 2-year molars

- Doesn’t play with baby dolls, but has a stuffed Snuggle fabric softener bear (it was mine from when I was a child) that she calls her baby. She feeds him, pushes him around in a stroller, puts him down for naps, tells me he has to “go poo poo” and will put the bear on her little potty in the bathroom. She carries Snuggle bear all around the house.

- Somewhat understanding I’m pregnant. When I ask her where the baby is she will point to my belly. She will even kiss and hug my belly. Though sometimes when I ask her where the baby is she will pull up her own shirt and point to her belly.

- Can name certain shapes – circle, star

jordan: month 22

Jordan’s vocabulary exploded this month! She likes to point out and name almost everything she sees, which is cute but can get annoying because she will keep repeating the word until you acknowledge her. It makes story time particularly drawn out because she will point out everything on the page while I’m trying to read. I’m glad she is enjoying learning new things though.

Jordan started saying “please” and “thank you” this month. It was so cute and it is nice that she is so polite. Another new thing she says is Frank’s name. She LOVES her big brother Frank and will get all excited and say his name when she sees him. She also calls any dachshund she sees Frank as well. We have a book called The Halloweener that I read to her frequently about a dachshund named Oscar. She will point to Oscar on EVERY page and call him Frank. There is also a pastel I drew of Frank hanging above her dresser that she always points at and says Frank.

Jordan also started asking about what color things are. She seems good at picking out things that are pink (which might possibly be her favorite color at this point) and will occasionally note if something is white or blue. She gets her colors confused sometimes, but she has plenty of time to straighten them out.

Jordan is beginning to get a bit pickier in what she eats. A lot of her “go to” favorites she doesn’t seem interested in anymore. She used to love yogurt and cheese, but a lot of the time now she doesn’t want them. She has been asking for a bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast most mornings. She seems to love it. She’ll eat any cereal, too. One day all I had was Wheat Chex and she gladly ate it all! She also loves to pick up the bowl and drink the leftover milk when she is done. Some of her other favorite foods are french fries, macaroni and cheese, and apple wedges. She also asks for cake and cookies a lot, but rarely gets them.

December also meant it was Christmas and time to see Santa. Jordan did fine with him last year and didn’t seem fazed by him. This year was totally different. She was truly terrified of him and would sob and scream at the top of her lungs. The first time we took pity on her and left, but we went back about a week later to try it again. She had the same reaction, but being the mean parent I am I still wanted the picture. And a picture we got. Don’t worry; I don’t think she’s scarred for life.

Christmas was more fun for Jordan this year since she was able to open her own gifts. Once again, she cleaned up in the amount of gifts she got. She wore herself out that day playing with all her new toys and her Papa, Grandma Franklin, and her Great-Grandparents. She also enjoyed eating a huge quantity of potatoes and corn casserole at dinner. All-in-all I think she had a great day.