The Birth Story

Emmeline Cambria Johsnon
November 3, 2010 // 5:34 pm
4 lbs. 7 oz. // 17 inches

To tell our birth story we have to go back to last Thursday, October 28. We went in for our follow up ultrasound to re-evaluate her size and position. As you may have noticed, I never posted on the outcome of the ultrasound. I noticed from their measurements that she was still measuring small, and she was still completely breech with over half of her body cuddled up in my right rib cage (face, both arms, and both feet) and her butt planted right on my bladder. Since U/S techs are not allowed to give out information, they said our doctor would receive the results on Monday or Tuesday and would discuss them with us them. We just assumed he would discuss them with us at our next appointment, which was scheduled for November 3 and I would write about it then after having a better idea of what was going to happen.

Well, Monday (November 1) rolls around and I get a phone call from the OB office. When I answer, it is the doctor himself...

Not the receptionist to remind me of my appointment.
Not the nurse to say the doctor received the ultrasound report.
But the doctor.

My heart sank.

He said that Elly was now measuring four weeks small (at our ultrasound two weeks ago, she was measuring two weeks small)... so she had not grown at all in four weeks. He said everything else looked fine, and that my fluid levels were great but he wanted us to see an ultrasound specialist at a hospital in Saginaw.. and he wanted it done this week.

Our appointment with the specialist was set for Wednesday morning, 8am. Which meant we were leaving our apartment at 6:30am to make it there on time.

She did the ultrasound and noted that the baby was small, measuring around 5 lbs. but there were no noticeable complications... except that my fluid was very low. This scared me, because our doctor had just told us my fluid level was great... but it had apparently dropped in a matter of a few days. The specialist said she was calling our doctor and recommending the baby be delivered TODAY. And because of the positioning and the low fluid, it would be done by c-section.

I was told to not eat or drink anything and to immediately report to the OB unit in Mount Pleasant.

So, we drove back and went straight to the hospital. I got registered and we went up to the OB unit and were put in the triage area. The doctor came in, along with several nurses. It was determined that I had made no further progress in dilation and that my water had not broke, it was just getting low. The doctor agreed that Elly would be coming out that day... unfortunately, it would not be until later that night because the hospital had experienced a power outage Wednesday morning and the OR schedule was backed up. We were told to expect our c-section to be around 8pm. This was at 10:30am... long day is long.

Well, around 4pm we finally got moved into our own room and at 4:30 Brent decided he was going to go get himself some food since neither of us had eaten all day (and now I wasn't allowed to eat). Shortly after he left Elly's heart rate dropped to 77 bpm then only rose to 84. Two nurses came rushing into my room, put my bed into a flat lying position, threw an oxygen mask on my face, and told me to roll onto my side. They couldn't find Elly's heart beat. They told me to try my other side. Still nothing. Finally to sit on my hands and knees. Still nothing. At this point the doctor was in the room as well, already in scrubs saying that we were going in NOW. I started freaking out because Brent had JUST left and now we were prepping for surgery. I started crying and my mom was frantically trying to get a hold of him. Finally, he made it back just in time. He got in his OR outfit and we headed back.

Once in the operating room I got prepped for a spinal (basically an epidural, but it is just one heavy dose rather than a continuous flow). After that was done, Brent was allowed to come in. The procedure after that took about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, while the procedure was fine, I was not. I was fine, laughing and joking and talking with Brent. Then all at once my body felt like I was being suffocated, my lungs started burning and I realized that my legs were just dead weights and I started panicking. I started to fight against the arm restraints I was in and I started screaming and crying, even though everyone was reassuring me that everything was fine. Around this time they pulled the baby out and I heard Elly crying. Brent lost it and he started crying and telling me how much he loved me. It was a wonderful moment. Too bad I was still acting like a freakshow and had to be sedated. I don't remember much else after that until I woke up an hour later in the recovery room.

They took me back upstairs where I was reunited with Brent, Elly, and my parents. I remember crying because Elly was absolutely beautiful.

The rest is just a blur... I can't believe that she's already a day old... I still can't even really believe she is here, and she is ours, and she is so perfect. We love her soooo much already.

We are happy to report that she is very healthy, but loves to make everything complicated.

I will update later with fun stories of everything we have encountered since her birth, but for now we are still camped out in our recovery room at least until tomorrow or Saturday! Elly and I are doing just fine, and Brent is doing everything he can to make sure we are taken care of.

I love my family. <3.