Monday, January 23, 2012

Welcome to the world, Sweet Mary Hayes: Part 1

It was Christmas morning, and one day past my due date. I woke up that morning and per my usual morning routine, I laid in bed with my hand on my stomach, waiting to feel the kicking and punching of my little girl.  Five minutes passed with no movement, ten minutes passed... and no movement. I woke Ben up and told him that I was worried because I couldn't feel her moving. He reminded me that this happened from time to time and once I ate I always started feeling her. With this reassurance in mind I got up and got dressed for the day.

Ben's family was in town for Christmas and we had decided we would go to The Peabody for their Christmas brunch. This was the first time I had ever spent a Christmas without my family, and the first time we had ever spent Christmas at our house, so doing something different and out of the ordinary for us, like brunch at The Peabody, sounded like just the right plan.  We all consumed glutinous amounts of food, which I was sure would get the baby moving. The fried green tomatoes, omelets, fruit, salads, various meats, a plate full of deserts, and several glasses of orange juice and/or coke would either have her jumping around in there....or in a food coma... either way, I just KNEW I would feel her soon.

The Chip clan at The Peabody - I was large and in charge!!! 

We headed back home to open gifts, all the while I kept my hand on my stomach just WILLING her to move, to give me some kind of reassurance that she was safe. The day before she had been kicking and punching so hard, so to go from such strong movement, to NO movement, was so very scary.  Once we got home I went upstairs to lie down for little while.  My thought was that maybe I needed to get still and be on my left side and then, for SURE, I would feel her move. After 15 minutes or so....still nothing.  I had been doing a fairly good job at keeping my fears at bay, praying that the Lord was keeping her safe, and all was going to be alright. But at this point, with my hormones all over the place, I broke down. I just knew now in my gut that something was wrong... but at the same time I thought "maybe this is normal...maybe she's just so big she has no room. It is, after all, past her due date."   My dad is a physician and has delivered babies for 30+ years, so I called him and said "Dad, I haven't felt her move all day. This is normal....right????"  Then I heard him utter the words I was dreading to hear. "No, it's not normal. You need to get to the hospital immediately." I began crying and (stupidly) asked "can I wait and hour and let everyone open their Christmas presents first?" - I'm sure he wanted to reach through the phone and slap me! It wasn't that I cared anything about the gifts, I think I just thought that if he said yes, then this was not really an emergency and everything would be okay.  He quickly assured me that, no I could not wait and hour and open gifts, I had needed to get the hospital. 

Ben went downstairs and told everyone what was going on. I had not said anything to anyone else about not feeling her all day, so I'm sure they were just a little bit shocked! We grabbed our bags, loaded up in the car, and I optimistically said "we'll be back in a few hours!"  

We got to the hospital, got all checked in,  and then they hooked me up to all the monitors. After a few agonizing minutes we finally heard the *thump thump* of her heartbeat. I immediately burst into tears of relief. They monitored my blood pressure and her heart rate for awhile, and checked me to see if I had dilated any. Of course, I was still only at 1cm - the same place I had been for five weeks straight! The doctor ordered an ultrasound and said he felt like her decrease in movement was due to how big she was and she had probably just run out of room, but the ultrasound would tell us more. 

**REWIND**
Have you noticed how I keep referencing her size? That's because a week prior to this they had done an ultrasound at the Dr's office because I was measuring bigger than I should have been. The ultrasound technician told me that my baby, the one that was measuring 6lbs 5oz two weeks before, was now measuring 8lbs 12oz. The Doctor told me that her size explained why I wasn't dilating, she felt like Mary Hayes was just so big her head didn't fit well enough to drop and cause me to dilate more. She then told me that if I held out until my due date or after, MH would most likely be over 9lbs.  THIS is why her size kept coming up! 
Back to the story:  The ultrasound was done and Mary Hayes looked perfect. She was wiggling around in there but just was not kicking or punching, which is why I couldn't feel her. Once again I was told that it was probably due to her size and there was nothing to worry about.  Sighing a huge sigh of relief I was thinking I would be heading home soon.  Then the doctor came back. He told us that since I was past my due date, and I was scheduled for an induction in two days if she hadn't come before then anyway,  he didn't see any reason for me not to stay and go ahead and induce since I was already there.  My first reaction was "no. this is not part of the plan" we told him he would go on home and come back in a few days if need be.  Then my blood pressure started spiking. They came and took blood and the nurse said the doctor was worried about my blood pressure and trying to find a reason to get me to stay. 

Ben and I talked about it, prayed about it, and then called my dad to get his opinion on what we should do. 

I'll fill you in on the rest tomorrow! Sorry for the lack of pictures, it was such a crazy day I didn't even think about pulling out my camera! I promise more pictures  in tomorrows post.


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