Sophia's Early Arrival-Chapter One

If you haven't figured it out already, nothing in my life goes as planned. My pregnancies have been no exception. I was down to only 5 more appointments between Monday night (September 21) and my scheduled delivery day of October 1. I worked on Monday, stayed for a meeting Monday afternoon, and headed out to my weekly Monday appointment at 4 pm. At my appointment I was strapped to the NST (Non-Stress Test) as usual. Typically I find the NST to be a fairly relaxing experience.

What? I GET to kick my feet up?
What? I GET to shut my eyes?
What? I GET to be undisturbed for 20 minutes?

NST days were like little mini-vacations, except for when the stupid machine registered contractions which caused for additional stress and tests, but fortunately that only happened once...or twice.

So there I was, hooked up to the NST, eyes shut, feet up, mind on a mini-vacation when I was abruptly brought back to reality by an annoying, repetitive buzzing sound. As my eyes fluttered with consciousness I realized with horror that the annoying, repetitive buzzing sound was coming from MY machine. The alarm was going off. This was not good. Something was wrong with the baby.

When my midwife came in she examined the tape produced by the NST which monitors baby's heart rate and my responses. Baby Girl's heart rate went from a nice solid 160 bpm to a shocking 60 bpm and was decelerated long enough to make the alarm sound. My midwife was unhappy with this and sent me over to Mercy for "observation."

"Observation" entailed me checking into the hospital. I did not get to go home. I did not get to prepare for anything. However, I was told I would most likely only be there for a couple of hours. I called Mark and explained to him what was going on. Naturally, he panicked. He panicked because he could not be there with me. He was at home with Jake. A hospital is no place for Jake, my child is far too wild. I assured him that I would only be there for a little while, this was a mere inconvenience and just another hurdle with the pregnancy. He stayed with Jake and kept his routine as consistent as possible at my urging. I know it killed Mark to not be with me, but we had no other option at this point.

I sent out some text messages, called my mom, watched T.V., etc. It is important to note that by this time it was past 7 pm. I had officially been there for "a few hours" with no indication of when I would get to go home. I hadn't eaten since lunch, and in case they had to perform the c-section I was not allowed to eat. I was hungry, grumpy, scared, and stuck.

Baby's heart rate decelerated again.

My midwife was at the hospital consulting with the specialists in Eugene. Their advice was to give me a vaginal exam to check the placement of the cord and to keep me there for observation until 11 pm.

11 pm? Great. This meant I needed to get a substitute. I had no Internet. I walked Mark through typing up some sub notes for me and he booked me a sub and emailed my notes to my principal. It was going to be a long night. At least I would be able to sleep-in in the morning and have the whole day to myself. That was my one silver lining.

But, as I said, nothing about my pregnancies goes as planned and before I knew it my check-out time of 11 pm turned into an all-nighter. Baby's heart rate had decelerated once again and they were not comfortable with me leaving. I was to be officially "monitored" all night. Great. I literally had nothing with me. No toothbrush, no pajamas, nothing. I hadn't seen my husband or little boy since 6:30 am. I was alone and I was H.U.N.G.R.Y.

My doctor had been by twice and my midwife routinely stopped in to check on me.

They finally let me eat just past 8 pm (hallelujah!)and brought me a toothbrush. I called Mark to tell him that I would not be coming home and there was a chance they would perform the c-section in the middle of the night.

Let me just say that I was so proud of Mark. Instead of stressing, he stepped right up to the plate even though he was sick with worry. He called a friend who came over to stay with Jake (who was already in bed) while he picked his mom up. Doris spent the night so she could be here with Jake just in case I called. He grabbed my hospital bag for me, charged the battery to the camera, and then tried to get some sleep. Neither one of us slept well.

At 6 am I was woken by a nurse who checked the tape and my stats. Baby's heart rate decelerated again throughout the night and she said Cherie, my midwife, would be in to talk with me. While waiting for Cherie my room telephone rang. It was the admitting office asking me questions. I knew before Cherie told me that I was being admitted and they were going to take the baby, I just didn't know when. When Cherie came to my room a few moments later she said I was scheduled for the 10:30am slot and that Mark needed to get here.

I called Mark and told him that our daughter was arriving today. We talked for a little while, expressing I love you's, I can't believe this is happening, Are we prepared, etc. He had enough time to get himself ready and to get Jake ready for the day. Amazingly enough, there was enough time to drop Jake off at day care (which was a blessing because his day could continue as normal and we didn't need to worry about special arrangements), grab the newspaper, and come hang out with me until it was time.

Even though our daughter was coming much sooner than we had anticipated, everything was going to work out.

Now we just had to hurry up and wait for the minutes/hours to pass.