Adding a monkey to the family vine: a birth story

Early in the morning on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, I woke up to some harder contractions that were finally closer together. I was relieved at the prospect of finally getting to call my doctor in hopes of going to the hospital. This could be it! Ironically, the night before, Matt casually commented that "7/27 had a nice ring to it!"

I dropped Max off at camp for the day and told him to kiss my belly goodbye since this might be his last chance to do so. Then, we headed to drop Cate off at dance camp. Upon pulling into the parking lot at the dance studio, the contractions were getting stronger. My friend, Lesley (whose daughter is Cate's best friend) was shocked to see and hear that I was there in such a condition! I replied that I wanted to see my kids off one last time in case I wouldn't see them for a day or so. As we returned to the car, I called my doctor's office. They said to come in immediately. My doctor was at the hospital performing a c-section, so I would be checked by his partner. My mom drove us because I was no longer comfortable driving.

At the office, the partner examined me and determined that I was a solid 3 cm and "head down" with contractions about 3-5 minutes apart. He instructed me to go straight over to the hospital...this baby was most likely coming "today"! The hospital is literally across the parking lot from his office, so we headed over and called Matt to tell him to meet us there.

We checked in on the maternity floor and it was getting harder to walk comfortably, so they provided a wheelchair for me to get to the room. I undressed and got in the gown. The nurse got the monitors ready to attach to me and as she was feeling for the baby's head as a point of reference to find the heartbeat, she asked me if he was breech? I said no, since the doctor had just told me 20 minutes prior that he was head down and I hadn't felt anything remotely like him doing a somersault to change positions. This was perplexing to the nurse as she was quite sure he was, but needed to do a sonogram to confirm this. They also paged my doctor, who was finishing up with his patient from earlier that day and was still in the building.

The sonogram confirmed it...HE WAS BREECH and a c-section was in order. Not only was this in order, we needed to get moving. And fast! They explained to me that my contractions were getting very close together and if my water broke, the umbilical cord could descend into the birth canal and cut off the oxygen to the baby. And, boy, did they mean fast. I immediately had two nurses at either side of me getting my IV started, my vitals taken, my medical history confirmed, my privates shaved, my blood drawn. All the while, my doctor is reasurring us and telling us how this would go. He said that he could perform the surgery in about 16-17 minutes and the nurses verified that he was one of the fastest and best docs for this! I also opted to have my tubes tied at the same time. This pregnancy had been quite difficult and I knew I didn't want to go through another one again. Matt and I had discussed this as an option if and only if I needed a c-section. To give you a reference of how fast things moved. We arrived at the hospital at 10:40 and I was being wheeled into the OR at about 11:20 to get my epidural/spinal started. Matt got into his "scrubs" and had to wait until I was prepped in the OR before coming in.

The spinal/epidural was a bit overwhelming. I had an epidural with both Max and Cate, but this was a bit more daunting as more of me would be numbed. It was also harder for me to get my back rounded enough for them. So, as a result, this process took a lot longer than I remembered. At one point, they asked me to sit Indian style....yeah, right, like I could get in that position with a 37 week old belly out in front. However, the nurse helped me get my legs into position! Finally...success. At this point, I lost it emotionally. The intensity of the moment all the sudden caught up with me and I began to ball! The nurses quickly reassured me and Matt was in the room moments later to hold my hand.

They explained what all would happen and when it would happen. All of the sudden, a calm came over me and I began to realize that within minutes I would finally be able to lay eyes on my little monkey! I wasn't nauseous, I didn't get light headed, I stopped shaking. I just listened for that cry!

And then I heard it. It was the sweetest sound I ever heard (in a three-way tie with the first cries of my first two kids, of course)! Then, the nurse called out, "11:59 am". Matt gently kissed my forehead and we looked over at the table to see the little guy.

William Alton was born!

A slight moment of panic hit me as I saw them put a tube down his throat. I worried that he couldn't breathe and they were about to intubate him, but was then told that he was fine and that babies born via c-section have a lot more fluid in their lungs and mouth since my water is never broken until the delivery. Matt then asked me what I thought he would weigh. I responded with 5 lb 2 oz since Max was 5 lb 1 oz and Cate was 5 lb 5 oz. However, we were both floored when they told us he was 6 lb 8 oz. So, maybe it was a good thing he was born via caesarian since he was soooo big compared to my first two.

At this point, I don't really remember much other than taking a picture with Matt and Will.

Matt and Will then left the OR and headed to our LDR room as they finished stitching me up. Once I got to recovery, I was off and on awake then asleep.

About the only thing I remember is the moment they told us that he had a cleft palate and my heart sank. This was a true pie and ice cream moment. Here I had this perfect little slice of heaven, but the scoop of reality was right there looming over us. I was actually born with the same birth defect almost 35 years ago. My heart was filled with guilt as I was the one that had now burdened my child with this gene. The moment my mom came in to see him, I uttered those fateful words to my mom, "he has a cleft palate" and burst into tears. Only she could understand what this must feel like because she got the same news as a mother. Today, I am more at peace with it. He has a bilateral cleft soft palate which is open to his nasal cavity and sinuses. It has taken some getting used to the feedings with special therapeutic bottles and the fact that when he spits up, it often comes out his nose, too. I have also had to get used to sounds he makes that might make others think he is gasping for air, when in reality it is just his tongue stuck up in the cleft and he can still breathe through his nose. He sneezes more than the average baby since he constantly has stuff up in his sinuses and he also gets very fast and frequent hiccups. Surgery to fix it looms in the future, but I also know from my own experiences that it will fix the problem and he will be a normal kiddo. We do have a consult with the craniofacial specialist/surgeon on August 26th to determine the extent and date of his surgery.

As hard as this pregnancy was, and as unexpected as the news of a c-section and then the cleft palate was, I wouldn't change a thing about how perfect an addition he makes to our family.

We just added the cutest little monkey to our family vine! Welcome to the jungle of life, my sweet baby boy!