Long Overdue

I have wanted to blog about this many times over the last four months, but things have been busier at home and at work than I had originally thought they would be.  Watch out, this is going to be a really long one!

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Throughout the month of August, Jamie had been experiencing some swelling in her legs related to the pregnancy.  For the first several weeks, it would decrease when she elevated her legs, but when the last week of August arrived, it was unbearable.  The swelling was not going down at all and she was so swollen that it was painful in both of her legs and ankles.  She called her doctor on Thursday, but didn't hear back from them until Friday afternoon and so was unable to schedule an appointment until first thing Monday morning.

After a fun weekend with extended family in town for a baby shower and ironically, our day long childbirth class on Saturday, I followed Jamie to her appointment so I could go from there to work after it was over.  The doctor did some quick evaluations, saying that she would probably write a note for Jamie to work part time from home so she could keep her feet up.  She wanted to send us over to the hospital for some blood work and further evaluation.  They were concerned because Jamie's blood pressure had been slightly elevated the week before and wanted to rule out preeclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension).  We were aware that this condition could be a concern and were looking out for the symptoms: headaches, blurred vision, abrupt and severe swelling of the hands and face.  She didn't have any of those so we were hoping to be in the clear.

We were settled into a hospital room before 10 am.  The doctor told us she would be over around noon to check on us (at this point it was determined that we needed to call into work as we obviously wouldn't be going in any time soon).  Unfortunately, she didn't want Jamie to eat anything, so she was starving.  We didn't understand why at the time but it made sense later as the doctor didn't want Jamie to eat anything in case they had to deliver the baby, so that her stomach would be empty before the surgery.  We were so tired of waiting, both in our work clothes, not having prepared to spend the day at the hospital, and completely starving, that we were frustrated that it took her until a little after 1 pm to show up.

The doctor walked in and proceeded to tell us that we would be having a baby that day.  I'm standing at the end of the bed with my mouth open, looking back and forth from Jamie to the doctor, pretty much stunned.  Our due date was mid-October, this was August 30th, six weeks early!  Apparently she did have preeclampsia and it was affecting her internally rather than exhibiting the normal external symptoms.  The only cure for it is to have the baby.  The last thing to determine was how she would be delivering.  She left the room for a second to wheel in an ultrasound machine to take a look.  It was no surprise to us that the baby was breech as she had been much of the pregnancy.  That meant the only option was a c-section.  She scheduled us for 4 pm that afternoon and left us to ponder the implications.

This was definitely not what we were expecting for the day and there was a wave of different emotions.  After praying about it and tears of joy and fear, we called all of our parents to let them know the change in plan.  My parents live in Birmingham, 2 and a half hours away and Jamie's mom was in training there that week as well.  I'm pretty sure Jamie's mom left her training meeting immediately and broke several laws getting to Atlanta.  Her dad showed up at the hospital and kept us company as we sat and waited.  After my parents figured out what to do with their dog for the week and quickly packed, they headed over as well.  I tried a few times to reach my sister, but she was in class, in Winston-Salem, NC, 5 and a half hours away.  I was able to get her husband on the phone and he relayed what was going on.  She left class and they hopped in the car for the long drive down.

Over the next few hours, many medical people kept checking in on Jamie, began prepping her for surgery and discussed the options for anesthesia.  As we talked to the anesthesiologist, he informed us that an epidural would not be possible, they were going to need to use general anesthesia, which meant putting Jamie completely under.  This also meant that I would not be allowed in the operating room during the birth.  Under normal circumstances, the husband is allowed in the room during a c-section to encourage the wife during surgery.  Considering she would be completely out, there was therefore nothing for me to do so I would need to wait in a room next door.  This was pretty hard for us to hear, it made the surgery feel more major as Jamie wouldn't be coherent through it and I was disappointed about not being in the room with them.  I had looked forward to seeing the baby right after birth, watching them clean and weigh her and watch Jamie hold her for the first time, unfortunately things were completely different on our journey to bring this baby into the world.

Jamie and I spent some more time praying and saying goodbye.  Right around 4 pm, several people came to get Jamie to move her to the operating room.  I was able to walk with them to the door and was then directed to the recovery room next door, where I would be waiting during the surgery, alone, while any other family members waited out in the other waiting room.  There were several nurses and doctors going in and out of the door to the operating room and one of them was so great to me as she kept giving me updates throughout.  I was told that they should have Jamie under the anesthesia within 10 minutes or so and then once they put her under, the baby would be out in less than 1 minute as they didn't want the drugs to get to the baby.  As I sat alone in the room, I called all the parents to see where they were and everyone made it to the hospital before the baby was born!  Rachel and Jesse were on their way and would be there later that night.

The nurse told me they were getting ready to administer the drugs, so I was thinking it would be 10 minutes or so at most before I found something out.  After waiting for 25 minutes, pacing the room with occasional tears and fear that something had gone wrong, the doctor finally came out and said that they had tested Jamie's blood sugar and it was a little higher than she wanted before administering the anesthesia.  (Turns out the doctor and anesthesiologist were fighting back and forth about what number was good enough to proceed with, meanwhile Jamie is coherent and reminding them that insulin is slow acting and she might crash during the surgery.)  She told me it would be a little while longer, which was fine with me now that I knew that she was okay.  It was really frustrating and nerve-wracking to be in the room by myself the whole time while our parents were down the hall.  Afterwards, the nurse joked that she'd never seen anybody pacing the floor in that room as much as me!

Several minutes later, the nurse came back in and said that Jillian Rachel was born at 5:06 pm and that she and Jamie were doing well!  It surprised me that she knew Jillian's name as Jamie was still out, but she told me that Jamie had shared it with everyone before they put her under.  The nurses were cleaning Jillian up and would bring her out the door shortly, where I could meet her briefly as they took her to the nursery for further tests and evaluation of her organs since she was a preemie.  She said that Jamie would be another hour or so as they finished the surgery and would then be moved into the recovery room that I was in.  She would still be pretty out of it and in a lot of pain.  Because of that, I was the only one that was allowed to be in that room with her, the parents would have to wait to see her until after we were settled into a regular room that night.

I anxiously waited for the doors to open and for Jillian to come through them.  When they finally brought her out, I was in tears, she was absolutely beautiful!  She was all swaddled with a hat on, so I could only see her face.  It was such a precious little face and she was so tiny.  I just couldn't believe that this was our daughter that we'd been waiting for and praying for, for so many months.  I really wish that Jamie could have been there with me so we could meet her together, but that was not the path we were on for this crazy adventure.  I probably had 30 seconds with her in the hallway before they whisked her away, headed for the NICU.  I followed behind them so I would know where to go once I was able to see her again, in two or so hours.  What I didn't know at the time was that it would be the last time I'd see Jillian without some sort of tubing on her face or body for the next three weeks.  We briefly passed through the hallway where all of the parents were and I asked the nurses if they could wait for one second as all four of them dashed for the baby, oohing, aahing, and taking pictures.  I was disappointed that I did not have my camera, as I had not brought it with me to work that day.  Jillian left and I was able to sit down and celebrate with our parents for a few minutes.  I shared with them the name and they loved it, we hadn't told anybody what it was before she was born.  These next few minutes were pretty much a blur as Jamie was still in surgery and Jillian was in a room where I couldn't get to her.  I was glad to finally be with family though, it had been a long emotional hour alone.

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Well, this is turning out to be much longer than I had originally thought it would be, so I'm going to break it up into two posts.  Thanks for hanging with me, I wanted to make sure to record all of these thoughts and experiences while they were still fresh in my mind.