Monday 3/21/16 we had a friend/contractor Michael Lee over to talk about a project. We hoped he could help us redo a bit of the bathroom, water splashes out the door since our remodel last year and we wanted him to try to correct it. Planning for the work we said, if we could do it in the next couple weeks we should be done before the kids came. He told us that with one of his, his wife woke in the middle of the night complaining she'd wet the bed... and it was baby time. We all laughed and planned on getting the work done ASAP. I was off work and Melissa said we should learn how to install the car seats in the van, so that afternoon we tried it.
Fast forward to 4:10 AM 3/22/16. Melissa woke and went to the restroom. She came back and told me that she had wet her underwear a little. It wasn't much, the bed was dry, could it actually be her water breaking? We remembered from prenatal class that you go to the hospital when your contractions are 5 minutes apart, but we couldn't remember if we had discussed how to handle a water break. We called Dr. McCullough at 4:19 AM and he told us to go to the hospital and they could run a test to make sure it was amniotic fluid. They checked Melissa in to the maternity room and checked, it was amniotic fluid at 35 weeks and 4 days. Blue Mountain Hospital has a policy that prohibits delivering the babies, unless in an emergency, before 36 weeks. They got on the phone to decide if we were going to SLC or Grand Junction, SLC it was. At 8 AM I headed back to the house to pack the van and Zoe. Of course, while I was home the renters (AirBNB) set off the smoke alarm (burnt toast). I went back to the hospital and gave Melissa a blessing at 9 AM, then hit the road. Well, after Zoe warmed the seat for me in the van while I was in with Melissa.
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| Melissa flew to SLC through patches of a snow storm, rode an ambulance across town to the U of U hospital, sat down in the bed ~1 PM, and then the waiting begun. Aunt Tracy was at the hospital shortly after Melissa and hung out most of the day. I arrived around 2:30 PM. |
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| Really yummy BBQ pork sandwich, which Melissa loved. Still just hanging out. |
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| Aunt Tracy got after me several times because I wasn't taking things seriously enough. She threatened to kick me out if I didn't get serious. I guess I was making too many "dad jokes." I had to practice though, I might have been a dad at any moment we thought. |
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| An exhausted Melissa at 7 AM 3/23. 27 hours since Finley's water broke. Things started getting serious and painful during the night. Between midnight and 4 AM there were moments of pretty serious contractions and pain. The nurse showed me ways to help relieve the pain during the labor. Melissa asked for her epidural around 6 AM, it came 30 minutes late because the anesthesiologist was in an emergency C-section. The delay meant that Melissa got a couple extra doses of fentanyl to dull the pain. The first 2 doses helped a little, but the third didn't help the pain at all. When the nurses came for number 4 Melissa was skeptical but it put her right to sleep. She ended up basically sleeping through the placement of the epidural. From this moment on, no more walking. It was a really good epidural. She could still feel her legs and move them around, but the pain was decreased to just light pressure. Except when she would get such good control that she could sleep through the contractions, forgetting to press the button, then the pain would come back. Eventually an anesthesiologist gave her a big bolus and increased the base rate to help her get through without having to push the button so often. |
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| 2:35 PM, things aren't moving too quickly, but maybe something will come soon. So Melissa has a giant peanut helping stretch her legs/hips out. |
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| Everybody is SOOO bored. Why didn't we watch movies or something? |
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| Still 2:30 PM, just getting a shot of the reason Melissa is able to smile. The PCA pump running her epidural was a close friend. |
Melissa wasn't allowed to eat once the epidural went in, and we thought that meant water only. We were wrong, after several hours of water only they brought Melissa a PowerAde sports drink. Later, during an ice refill, I noticed 4 flavors of snow cone syrup. Melissa asked the nurse about it and shortly thereafter, she had blue teeth and tongue (looked pretty gross during the C-section, all blue and dry and sticky).
Around 9 PM, Melissa hadn't made much progress. She had been at an 8 for 6 hours, 41 hours since Finley's water broke, and the nurses said his head was starting to get a little swollen from the pressure of the contractions. The doctor told us it was time for a C-section and Melissa was surprisingly okay with it. They started getting her ready and sent her to the OR (right there on the L&D unit) then they came for me. By the time I got there Melissa was already open and they were tugging on Finley, trying to pull him out of the birth canal. Melissa had become very claustrophobic when they put down the curtain at her neck and put the mask on her face. They had to switch the mask to blow by and gave her some increased midazolam and fentanyl, they also ran some laughing gas (nitrous oxide) to help her relax. Well, she got relaxed. The anesthesiologist then told me it was my job to keep her awake, talking to her, rubbing her hair, etc. After both kids were out, Melissa told me how light she felt, then she got even more sleepy. I was talking and asking questions, I told her I loved her and she "couldn't talk" (her words, later) so she started moving her right hand. I thought she was making a Spiderman man fist, then she made the "I love you" sign. Such a dork, couldn't say it out loud, just like the first time she told me.
I didn't tell Melissa, for a couple days, but when Finley and Hannah came out, they were both gray. Finley was born at 950 PM and Hannah at 951 PM. She recovered quickly, they bundled her and brought her to me to hold for a moment and show to Melissa. Then they asked if I wanted to go to the nursery with Hannah. NOPE! Melissa was still open, loosing a lot of blood by my reckoning, and the most important person in the world to me. I didn't even know that little bundle. Finley was taken straight to the NICU and at this point we hadn't heard about him yet. During Melissa's final stitching they came and told us Finley was stable. We wheeled Melissa to recover in her L&D room. The head pediatrician came and got me, asked if I'd like to go meet Finley.
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| This is our little son. His lungs didn't open right away, so after his emergency resuscitation they started him on CPAP oxygen (forced induction, my son had a supercharger). By the time I got to see him, the CPAP was running room air, he had a gastric tube to vent the air that was getting blown into his stomach by the CPAP, he had an IV for sugar and was generally pretty tiny and bruised. |
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| We then went to see Hannah. All around a less frightening site. She was covered in hair! Dark on her head and long blond hair everywhere else. Finley had it too, but I didn't notice during that first visit. |
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| She tried to bond right away, but I was still a little unsure of this girl who had put my wife through so much. At least she was calm and cute. |
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| Soon to meet her son for the first time and to see Hannah through slightly less drugged eyes. Melissa was exhausted at 6:30 AM 3/24/16 |
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