Gabryel Joseph Orion Is Here

Gabryel Joseph Orion

Born March 6th, 2007 @ 5:41 am via C-section.

At 5 lbs even and 17 & 1/2 inches long @ 33 weeks.

Our sweet Baby Boy came into the world, butt first and yelling at all of us. Born just absolutely perfect, 10 fingers, 10 toes and one extra member to show off for Daddy ;)

On March 5th, all day I had been "off" had so much pain in my pubic bone, I was crying from hurting so bad, Kevin came home from work to check on us, he kept trying to convince me he would take the rest of the day off and we should go get checked out at L&D. I assured him I was ok, he got off at 6pm and things would be fine. I had cleaned the house a little, the window installers had been in and replaced the last of the windows in the master bedroom and kitchen. I was cleaning up and said I would lay down and try and rest to see if the pain would ease up.

A little after noon, I got Chaytie off the bus and Kevin went back to work. William came down and said he would watch the kids so I could lay down and take it easy. I took one of the pain pills the OB had given me for the pubic bone separation and laid down to try and nap. I was messaging back and forth with some friends, I was having contractions and we were timing them. They came about every 10 to 12 minutes. My friends said I should call the Dr's, I thought, well, they will probably fizzle out, I would nap first and see where we were. I got up around 3:30pm to make sure I got Talon off his bus. I was still having such bad pains in the pubic area. My contractions were different too. They were down low like menstrual cramps, I felt them more down low, not up high like BH, these also had a bit of pain & pinching through the cervix.

I called my Mom around 4 to tell her what was going on, ask her what she thought of it and get her advice. She said I should call the Dr. at least to ask about getting something for the pain I kept having. I called the OB office, spoke with the nurse. I explained everything to her, she asked if I was having contractions, I told her I was, but that I wasn't really paying attention to them and thought they were just the same ones as before, not doing much. She said she would check with the OB and call me back. She called back within the next 20 min's. and asked that I go to L&D to at least be checked out and see what they could do as far as the pain. I was crying on the phone, I had been pretty miserable all day. I told her that Kevin wouldn't be home until after 6pm, would that be ok? She said sure, it should be fine. So we hung up and I called Mom back to update her.

I talked to Mom, She was better assured knowing I was going in to L&D. I told her I wasn't going to tell Kevin anything right away so he wouldn't have to take off the rest of the day, after all, he had less than an hour and a half to go at this point. Kevin called right after, he must be psychic, lol. He asked how I was doing and said we should go in. I told him that I had already talked to the nurse and she said we could come in when he got off work, not to worry, I was ok for now and could wait. I didn't want him to freak out and come racing home, after all, I was only in pain because of my pubic bone and things were fine otherwise, right?

Kevin stopped at Wendy's on the way home, poor guy was hungry, he brought me food to eat before we headed out, I wasn't hungry, I ate some chicken nuggets after he kept insisting I eat something despite the fact I had no desire to eat at all. We left the house right before 7pm to go to Hershey.

By 8 pm I was checked in, gave a urine specimen, and was hooked up to the monitors. Baby looked great, I was still contracting away, apparently at 5 to 7 Min's apart! wow! why didn't I pay attention? I really thought I was just crampy from the pubic pain. The OB came in and checked me. I was at 2cm's and 25 to 50% effaced!! Oh? ok, so maybe something was going on down below!? She ordered indocin for pain and to stop the contractions, and steroid shots to mature baby's lungs, "just in case" and we'd wait and see. She tried to check position of the baby and thought baby was breech, so in came an U/S machine, there he was, butt down, breech. ooof! So she said if I were to progress any further, we'd have to deliver by c-section, I begged for them to turn him, They said they don't do it on preemies, far too dangerous, cord may prolapse, etc.

I lay for a while, The Head attending OB came to visit me and we discussed the plan. I was given the C-section consent forms to sign "just in case" and he explained he didn't want me to progress too far with baby butt down and he would deliver if the indocin wasn't working. He was also confident that we would stop the contractions and only spend a couple of days in L&D while I got steroid shots for the baby and let the contractions settle down. He left us, and we thought all would be well soon, after all, we were just going to let the contractions settle and all would be well. The indocin was a bit much (they give a double dose to start off with) and I fell asleep soon, Kevin pulled the recliner out into a bed and he slept next to me. I was still contracting but not paying attention and trying to just get some rest. A little while later, the OB came in and she said I would get a visit from the Anesthesiologist, to talk to me about the c-section and spinal, etc., again, "just in case". So she left again and the nurse took vitals as usual. My contractions had picked up to every 3 to 5 mins. They gave me another round of indocin.

The Anesthesiologist came in and we decided should I need the C-section, I would get the spinal because it lasts a couple of hours and was only one injection. So he left, we lay around a bit more. The Ob came in again and said she wanted to check me again and see if anything else was going on "under the hood" since I was still contracting. It was about 3:30am.

She checked me, I was at 3cm's and 50% effaced. She left to talk with the head resident again. Kevin woke up as soon as he heard 3 cm's. We just sat there a little surprised and wondering what was going to happen next. The Head resident came in, very nice as usual, and explained if I progressed any further, I had to go for the C-section to avoid having to end up with an emergency C-Section and letting things progress to far it would be guaranteed. He also had another OB come in and check me again. It had only been about 20 minutes since the last OB came and checked me.

She checked and I was at 4 cm's! Well, Kevin and I were shocked, really, It was almost unreal and things were happening so fast! The head Resident came back in, and I started to cry, I knew he was going to say it - "You are going to OR, now" I was crying, I had so many thought running through my mind, thoughts of another preemie and all we went through with Gracie, all she went through, all the time she spent in NICU getting better, I was scared to death. The Head res. assured me that at 33 weeks and getting the 1st round of steroids, all would be fine, told me the baby was going to be fine and not to worry (me? worry?) I cried for a bit yet, then they said we would be prepped and ready to go in about 15 minutes as he didn't want to wait much longer for me to progress more. I called my Mom, he called his parents. they prepped me and took me to the OR. Kevin stayed behind to get his scrubs on and prep for the C-section as well.

The OR was cold, I was scared, crying and shaking. The anesthesiologist came in and said, well, we spoke about everything, we will take good care of you, don't worry. I scooted to the OR bed and we started the spinal. That done, my legs became warm and I didn't feel as bad. They gave me morphine in the IV and meds to make sure I didn't puke. I lay there, what seemed like forever, waiting for Kevin to be called in. they sat him up by my head next to me, and they started the c-section. I was still crying and a bit emotional, and just kept listening for what was going on and etc. The Head Res. told me baby was coming out - butt first no less, and I could hear the baby let out a good cry! I picked up my head and was so relieved to hear that cry!!

Kevin and I looked at each other, they let Kevin peek over the drape and see the baby, he described him to me and they announced, It's a boy!

They moved Gabryel over to the exam table prepped for him, which was within my sight, they were evaluating him and cleaning him up. they let Kevin cut the cord and got him wrapped up and he got to hold our son. He brought baby to my face for first kisses and cuddles. I touched his lil face, rubbed his eyebrows and told him over and over and over how much I love him, Kevin started to cry as well... Our Son, our beautiful son. We've waited so long for this day!! We couldn't believe we were holding our son finally!

They took Gabryel off to NICU, he was grunting a little bit, I knew he had some fluid in his lungs by that. They finished me up and we went to recovery. The NICU staff said they would call us as soon as Gabe was settled and we got to our new room as well.

We got to our post partum room at around 8am. We called the parents back and waited for a call from NICU. We were still very much in shock!!

When NICU called, Kevin went down right away and took the camera with him so I could see more of our precious little boy. NICU said he would be staying a while as he needed the nasal cannula for the retained fluids in his lungs. All in all, Baby was doing great and he would be there maybe a couple of weeks, just to get stable on his breathing and to make sure he would feed and etc.

It was a very good day. Our Son was born and we are the proud new parents of our much anticipated, Much Loved, Gabryel Joseph Orion.