Our Miracle - Abigail Caroline

So here is her birth story.

We got to the hospital for her induction (scheduled due to the fact that they think she weighed heavy) at 6 a.m. May 11, 2010.I was immediately hooked up to pictocin and all that jazz. The dr. came in and broke my water about 8 a.m. He became concerned because her arm was above her head and instructed the nurse to watch it.
*****sidebar - 2 of my nurses for the day had been nursery nurses at St. Anthony's when I was born 6 weeks premature 32 years ago and they remembered me. I was there for 4 weeks then and that was pretty rare. LOL One even brought in a picture that she had of me right before I was dismissed. It was great!*******
Around noon the contractions were fairly intense and every 2-3 mins. apart. The nurse kept coming in and pulling the baby's heart rate sheet off the monitor but I didn't pay much attention.....I was otherwise occupied. LOL The nurse decided to check the babies position and how much progress I had made. Big problem....baby's arm was still above her head and BIGGER problem was that every time I had a contraction her heartrate went from 150 to 50. Every 2-3 mins. She called the doctor. He got there about 1 p.m. checked me and immediately called for an emergency c-section. He said that if I would have been a 10 he would have delivered me but I was only dilated to a 5.....her arm was the only thing coming out. LOL

So.......I quickly signed papers, got shaved, got my catheter, met the anesthesiologists, etc. Was wheeled down the hall......crying. I told my mom I loved her (only 1 could come back to OR with me). Norman donned his scrubs. They gave me a spinal block which wasn't nearly as bad as I might have imagined although he had to do the actual needle stick while I has having a contraction (they had turned off the pitocin but I was still contracting although not as frequently). Norman was brought in, cutting was started.........Abigail was born at 1:21 p.m. She had the cord wrapped around her neck and her arm was delivered last. LOL She rated a 9 on both apgar scores. I was stitched up and returned to recovery. I didn't really have any problems with the spinal. After 1.5 hrs I was moved to my regular room. Norman brought her in to me after I got settled in recovery. She is beautiful. She has the longest little feet and toes :)

C-section recovery is not fun. Although all the baby books tell you that you will stay an extra 2-3 days in the hospital after a c-section, that isn't so in Effingham. LOL I was booted out exactly 48 hrs. after her birth. The pain is excruciating. And this is from the lady who delivered the first 3 without any pain medication. LOL Norman says I have a very high tolerance for pain. So I have been sitting mostly. Getting out of bed is agony. Friends say to walk and I am trying but I am bent over at a weird angle and it is terribly painful. I am hoping for improvement.

Abigail is wonderful. She is the most precious gift from God. I am so thankful for L&D nurses who were watching that monitor and knew what they were looking for. We could have lost her so easily. Also, the nurses in OR were great.....although I didn't find out until afterwards they kept having to give me epinephrin in my IV because my blood pressure kept going low. The OR was such a calm place though....you wouldn't have ever known that there was an emergency or that anything was wrong with me in there. That really helped with my anxiety level.

So we are very thankful to be through this and so very thankful that we are safe and healthy. Everyone is adjusting and Norman is taking wonderful care of all of us. We have been very blessed and protected by God this past week.