Happy Birthday!!

Today is Nicholas's 10th birthday!  My big guy hits double digits today!  Wow!  I can't believe that he's actually 10!  In honor of this, I am going to give you the pregnancy and birth story!  Don't worry, nothing too bad here!  :-)

I found out that I was pregnant shortly before the 1 year anniversary losing our first son, Christian.  I wanted everything to be completely different with this pregnancy, so we openly prayed for a girl.  We decided to find out what we were having even though we didn't with Christian.  The tech placed the wand against my stomach and it was immediately quite obvious that we were having another boy.  Ok, so, not quite so different. That's ok too.

I was due on November 22nd.  My birthday is the 8th and Rich's is on the 27th.  I joked my whole pregnancy that I didn't care when he was born, just as long as it wasn't on MY birthday.  That was MY day, he wasn't allowed to have it!  I was scheduled for a c-section on Nov 15th.  That was just fine!

Around 4-5 months along, my blood pressure started creeping up.  I had preeclampsia with Christian, so I knew what this was all about.  The doctor put me on shorter days at work and I was to take it easy.   In October, I started having protein in my urine so I was sent home with a big jug to do a 24 hour urine protein test.

On Tuesday Nov. 7th, 2000, I had a doctor's appointment.  My blood pressure was lower than it had been, but we got the results back from the protein test.  It was higher than my doctor was comfortable with.  He told me that I was going to have this baby by the end of the week.  I was ok with that.  That was long enough to get family there (we lived 5-8 hours away at the time) and it would be after my birthday.  He told me that he was going to contact a high risk doctor for a consult and would do whatever she said.

By the time I made it home, my phone was ringing.  The nurse on the other end let me know that I was going to have a baby the very next day.  ARGH!!!!  That's my birthday!  Because of the late timing, the c-section was scheduled for 7pm.  That means a whole day of NOT EATING!!  Do you know what happens to a pregnant lady when she can't eat??  It's not pretty!

My parents traveled all night to get there in the morning.  We went to breakfast at Denny's where I drank Sprite (clear liquid) while they ate, ON MY BIRTHDAY!  Anyway, we were all really nervous.  Everything had been fine with Christian until I went into labor with him.  So, we were all going to be on pins and needles even more so until we heard that tiny cry.

The day before had been election day...the famous election day that we still didn't know the results from. Lots of talk about that and then, of course, there was an emergency that pushed back my surgery.  When it was finally time, I walked into the OR and climbed on the table.  Got my spinal block and laid back for the beginning of the ride of my life!  With Rich by my head, there was some gentle pressure and tugging.  Then, all of the sudden, the tiniest little sneeze I have ever heard!  It was the most beautiful sound ever!  "Was that him?" Followed by a rather angry cry!  He was cold and it was way too bright out here and he was letting us know of his displeasure!

I got to see him and then they took him to the nursery to get him cleaned up and weighed, so daddy went with him.  While lying there with the biggest grin on my face, the doctors were talking about the election and the fact that they stayed up until 1am watching the news coverage.  It was after 10 pm by this time!  Hope he slept in!  Anyway, I started feeling something against my leg.  I asked the anesthesiologist, "Should I be able to feel them against my leg?"  He looked up at the team, "You might want to hurry."  NOT GOOD!  I am certain that my blood pressure went WAY up at this point!  Everything went fine though, they got me closed up and on my way.

I didn't stay too long in the recovery room, I was already starting to regain feeling and my little guy was starving!  :-)  (That hasn't changed much either!)  On the way up to my room, I felt like I was going to get sick.  Now THAT is not a good feeling...lying on your back, just having had major abdominal surgery and about to get sick.  I did get sick and for some time afterwards, I continued to get sick.  So sick that they decided that I was having a reaction to the pain medication that they put into my spinal block.  They gave me some Narcan to counteract the medication.  I thought I was in some pain before that...WOW!!!!  There is NOTHING like that!  They gave me some other medication to help with the pain, but I had finally stopped throwing up.  Nicholas had eaten and was passed out!  Getting born is hard work!

The past 10 years have been so full of joy that I can't even begin to describe it.  He is such a smart, funny, sensitive, caring child.  I am such a blessed mommy!  Thanks for sharing your life with me, Nicholas!  I love you!