Keegan Joseph's story

Here we are 5 days before delivery of Keegan Joseph. We went to the hospital this day (Friday, the 22nd) b/c I had contractions all day. They ranged from 2-6 minutes apart all day and got harder and faster when I walked around. We went in about 5 pm that day and they monitored me for a few hours. I was dilated to 2 cm. They told me to walk around for 2 hours (!) and then they would check me again. After our walk, I was still a 2, but they had to watch me for 30 more minutes to make sure Keegan was okay. So about 9:40 the doc comes in and does an ultrasound to make sure there's enough fluid, etc. There is, but he wants to watch me some more. They check me again around 11:15, and I'm at 3 cm now. The doc says I can stay (but they won't do anything until I'm at 4 or 5 cm), or I can take an Ambien and go home. It's now close to midnight and I haven't eaten since lunch and have been in the uncomfortable bed since about 5 (except for walking). Three guesses what I picked! We went home and had an uneventful Memorial Day weekend then.

Getting ready to go home.

With sweet big sister and Nanny.

Through the window of the nursery.

Long post following, but not too graphic. :)

Fast forward to Tuesday night, the 26th. I had a feeling something was going to happen that night. I went to sleep but woke up at 12:45 Wednesday morning, the 27th. I laid in bed for a while trying to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't. I was wide awake. I wandered around the house some, ate cereal, messed around on the internet, read my book, just generally wasted time. I even tried to go back to sleep a few times, but I was afraid I would keep Wes up with my flopping around. So I'm at the computer (at 3:50 am) reading random blogs when I felt a weird pain, like a large pin prick. I thought, "That's weird, who knows what Keegan's doing in there..." A few minutes later I shifted in my seat and my water broke! There was no mistaking it this time, either. I ran to the bedroom and woke up Wes. I decided to take a shower, since I knew it would be a long time before I got one. After I got out, we called our parents and mine headed over to wait for Livy to wake up (bless them!) We got to the hospital around 5, and they got us set up in the triage room. They got me on the monitor and checked to see if my water had really broken (duh!). They got us in a room pretty quickly, I think we were in one by 6:15 at the latest. Dr. Cunningham came in and talked to me about an epidural around 6:30 or so. He said that if I wanted it, I had better get it because they had a full day of surgeries scheduled. Not wanting to wait too long and then miss it, I said "Bring the drugs!" An anesthesiologist (sp?) came in shortly after and gave me the epidural. It was horrible! I don't remember it being like that last time. Apparently it was a new type of kit and she had some trouble. Ugh. Glad I got it though, you'll see why later on. So then I'm laying back waiting for it to kick it. My right leg is getting pretty numb, left one not so much. Wes and I are watching the monitor to see if I'm contracting when we noticed that Keegan's heart rate was down to about 80 (had been around 140-150). A nurse comes in and starts messing with the wire placement and quickly pages Dr. Cunningham. She paged him twice in less than two minutes; the second time she said, "I need him in here NOW!" That's when I started to get really scared. Dr. Cunningham came in and about 4 other nurses. They tried to roll me on either side and also tried to put the scalp monitor on Keegan. Nothing worked to get his heart rate back up. Dr. Cunningham told me then that he was going to have to do a c-section. They started unhooking me from everything and wheeled me out in the hall. I swear, I have never prayed so hard in my life! I was just praying over and over that Keegan would be okay. They got me into the OR and started to get everything ready. The anesthesiologist in there said, "Guys, I don't have anything to give her. I don't have any Fentanyl, Morphine, anything." Eek... Dr. Cunningham ran something across my stomach and asked if I could feel it. I told him I could barely, and he said "We've got to go, folks." Double eek... So I had a c-section without my epidural fully kicked in. Wes came in after Dr. Cunningham had started and got to hold Keegan right away. As Dr. Cunningham was sewing everything back up, it was hurting so badly and I finally got some morphine. I was laying on the table crying and telling Wes, "It hurts so bad." Poor guy, I probably worried him to death! Then Wes went out with Keegan to the nursery and they took me back to recovery. Apparently I was only supposed to be back there for 30 minutes, but it ended up being about 3 hours! They were short handed that day (18 babies in 24 hours, 15 deliveries, moms waiting out in the hall). My nurse kept calling to 'give report' on me (not sure what that means) and never could get the other nurse she needed to talk to. Finally a supervisor came back there and my nurse talked to her about it. They eventually brought Keegan back there and let Wes come back too. I got back into my room around noon. Whew... All in all, a crazy delivery! Happily, Keegan was healthy and nothing went wrong. Turns out, the cord was over his shoulder and it was pressed up against my pubic bone. Dr. Cunningham said if we hadn't been at the hospital we would have lost Keegan! Scary! He was 6 lbs, 14 oz, 19.5 inches long- a full pound LESS than Livy! He was born at 7:45 am on the 27th, not even 3 hours after we got to the hospital. (It couldn't have been more than 10-12 minutes between the time that the first nurse came in to check his heart rate and when he was born. They are fast!) We are so thankful that he is healthy! We now have two wonderful children and couldn't be happier. :) (If you made it this far, thanks for reading!)