In Pearson News...

Little Miss Grace in all her glory decided to keep us waiting on pins and needles for weeks. After 6 weeks of "will she, won't she" Grace decided to make her appearance Friday, October 30th. Thursday, beginning at the lunch hour, I noticed my blood pressure was rising. I tried all the tricks I knew -- meds, laying down, dark rooms, etc -- and nothing worked. Luke and I decided not to go to the hospital right away because of the 3 previous false alarms; truthfully the thought of showing up to the hospital again with high blood pressure than couldn't be confirmed was depressing. So we waited. After the night passed (can't say anything about sleep since that didn't happen...at all) we checked my pressures again and of course they were high. I practically forced Luke out the door for work; I was convinced things would get better with a little time. They didn't. I called Dr. M's office at 8AM to get advice and had to leave a message. Before she was able to return my call my pressures began to rise to levels that scared me (160s/100s with medication). I called Luke and had him meet me at home and we called Dr. M back to let her know that we decided to head to the hospital (turns out she was already there). We dropped Sam off with a friend (Jack was at school) and arrived at the hospital at 10AM. Dr. M was there and we agreed to take a slow approach. I was hooked up to machines and monitors and was prepared to hang out for a while. Then things started going downhill. My blood pressures rose to 180s/110s and the nurses administered IV medications...which didn't do anything. More nurses came in and all held a pow-wow about trying to get my pressure readings to come down from the clouds. Nothing worked. Dr. M came in, assessed the situation and decided it was time to get baby out. Luke and I were prepared for a c-section since my pressures were the highest they had ever been...ever. Dr. M said we could push on with a standard delivery and for that we are grateful. Given the adverse reaction I had to epidurals with the boys I decided to try this delivery sans-medication. Of course my nemesis, mag sulfate, was started and I had a heaping dose of pitocin to get things started. We let the pit do it's magic for a while and waited for antibiotics to be given (I was group b strep positive this time). About 5 (I think??) Dr. M decided to break the water; I was excited to get the party started. WOW...at this point the lack of drugs began to seem like a really BAD idea. All the breathing and relaxing techniques I'd learned and practiced were no match for the long unending contraction that began at 5 and didn't end until Grace arrived. The Bradley method is no match for pit. But I pushed through. Luke was a trooper and held my hand (even though I was squeezing so hard I might break his), rubbed my back and warded off evil nurses who asked ridiculous questions in the middle of contractions. Toward the end I know I repeatedly said "I'm going to die." and given the stars I was seeing with each contraction peak and the dizziness that ensued I believed it. I had the nurse check me and finding out I was only at 7cm I declared "uncle" and asked for an epidural. The drug doc came in and attempted to make nice; my only words, "fastasyoucan." She hooked up the epidural and I attempted to sit still as my body convulged. Then she said, "it will take about 30 minutes for the medication to begin working." WHAT? I cried...no lie. Poor Luke had to try to answer the age-old question "why does it still hurt?" The nurse checked again and low and behold I was an 8 (a cm in about 20 min). I told Tamatha (I will never forget her as long as I live) that I go fast at the end so be ready. About 30 seconds after that comment came out of my mouth Grace was ready to make her appearance. I declared myself ready to push; Tamatha didn't believe me at first but checked and realized that I was in fact ready. Lots of "stat" and running ensued. Fortunately, Dr. M was right outside the door. Then I remember a whole lot of hurry up and wait. I was ready to push right away but had to wait while they got things ready. Some nurse I didn't know tried to get me to breathe...I focused on not smacking her -- she apparently didn't realize I had a baby coming out NOW. After what felt like an eternity (and no the drugs weren't working yet...not on the parts that mattered -- the outside edge of my thighs was numb) Dr. M said I could push and boy did I. One contraction and three pushes later and Grace's head was out. Dr. M said to relax while she suctioned mouth and nose, but as I let out a sigh and put my head down Grace's body shot out. Fortunately the umbilical cord was wrapped between her legs and over a shoulder or Grace would have hit the ground. She came out fast -- so fast in fact that she ended up with 2 black eyes! Her official time of birth is 9:09PM and she weighed 6lbs 1.6oz (there was some debate in the delivery room about rounding -- one computer rounded to 2oz, the other rounded down to 1oz). She gave a good cry and we were able to hold her before she moved first to the nursery and then to the NICU. And true to form, the epidural kicked in just in time to be turned off.