After carrying my precious baby Ian Samuel for 20 weeks and 2 days, he was born and passed away on July 17, 2009. Here is the story of the week leading up to his birth.
Sunday, July 12 I woke up that night with cramping and pain in my abdomen. I called the on call doctor and explained what was happening and he said it sounded like ligament pain but that if it got worse that I should come to the ER. He told me that if I didn't come to the ER to be sure to come to the office the next morning so they could check me. Well, I laid back down and it seemed to ease off but if I moved around too much the cramping feeling came back. Jason and I got up the next morning and headed to my OB's office. My doctor was on vacation so I saw one of her coworkers. He listened to Ian's heartbeat, which was great and then did a pelvic exam. At first he said everything felt fine but then he stopped and said, "You are dilated".
The next few hours are a blur. The doctor left and two nurses came back in and dressed me and put me in a wheelchair and took me straight to labor and delivery at the hospital. Once there I had an IV with Magnesium, a catheter, and was put in bed inverted (hips above my head). A few seconds later the Perinatologist at the hospital was there with an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that the baby was fine but my bag of water was bulging through my cervix. I was about 3 cm. dilated. The doctor hoped that keeping me inverted would cause the bag of water to slip back through my cervix and he could up in a cerclage. I stayed inverted and on Mag. from Monday to Friday. Throughout the entire week Jason was wonderful! He did everything for me! I couldn't feed myself because I was inverted, so he fed me! He bathed me in the bed and even changed the pads when I would bleed. Jason did things for me that week that no one should have to do but he never complained. I would have never made it without him. God has blessed me with an amazing husband and I am so thankful for him!
They diagnosed me with Incompetent Cervix. My cervix is weak and the pressure of the baby caused it to start opening. We prayed so hard that I could get the cerclage but each day a little more of my membranes slipped through the cervix. Around Thursday I started to bleed a little more and started to slowly lose fluid. On Friday, they did another ultrasound and there was no fluid left around the baby and he had flipped and was now feet down. His tiny feet were being pulled through my cervix because my entire bag of water was though my cervix. At this point, there was nothing else they could do... The doctors were very afraid I was going to get an infection and they didn't want to risk my life. The Perinatologist ordered the Mag to be turned off. They wanted to start pitocin but I didn't need it. As soon as the Mag. was off I started having contractions on my own. I had been having them all week, I just didn't know they were contractions and they weren't regular or strong because of the Mag. Now that the Mag was off, my body was contracting on its own. I was able to get out of bed and take a shower, the first time I was out of bed all week. I was so weak from the Mag but the water felt so good!
The doctor's didn't think my labor would be long because Ian was already about half way through my cervix but it lasted a lot longer than they expected. At first I decided to not do an epidural because they kept telling me how fast it was going to go, but a few hours into hard contractions Jason couldn't stand to see me hurting and begged me to get an epidural. I didn't want any other type of pain meds. because I wanted to remember everything! I wanted to remember holding my baby and seeing his sweet face! The epidural was a miracle drug! I felt like a totally new woman. It wasn't long after my epidural that I started to feel a lot of pressure again and the nurse checked me. It was time.
After a few pushes, Ian Samuel was born at 9:43pm on July 17th! The nurses delivered him and cut his cord. They placed him on my chest and we were able to be with him. The doctor came in a few minutes later and tried to deliver the placenta but it wouldn't budge. I had to be taken into the OR and have a D&C. While I was in surgery, the nurses gave Ian a bath and dressed him in the tiniest gown I have ever seen! They took pictures of Ian for us, made a cast of his tiny feet and took hand and feet prints! After my surgery, they brought Ian to the recovery room. Jason, my mom and dad were there with me.
The nurse took me back to my labor room to wait until a room was ready for us. Jason and I were able to spend well over an hour there with our sweet baby boy. We were able to take lots of pictures and hold him and just be with him. Ian was so perfect. Everything about him was perfect! His tiny ears, his long fingers and finger nails! He even had his daddy's BIG feet and huge big toe!!! It is such an amazing thing that even thought he was so tiny; his little body was so perfectly formed! God does amazing work! I will never forget the feel of his tiny hand and feet in my hands or the sweet look on his face... the tiny blonde hair of his eyebrows or the curve of his little chin. He is beautiful and he is MY SON!
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