Tuesday started out normal, went to work early, took an early lunch due to having to leave early for my weekly dr appt at 3:40pm. I felt good that day, everything seemed to be functioning normally with no pains that day. Upon arrival at the dr office they did the normal checks, weight & blood pressure -- and this is where the red flags started to wave. My blood pressure was 100-something over 100-something (they wouldn't tell me the exact # due to it being high and they wanted to be able to check me later to see if it had dropped). They asked if I had any questions/concerns -- my only concern was that I hadn't felt him move as much as I usually do, but figured it was due to him dropping and running out of room. Since the room with the monitors was open they moved me so we could take a look at him. Things seemed normal, but as a precaution they wanted to send me to do a non-stress test at the hospital to monitor Avery's movements. Once again they took my blood pressure to see if it had dropped -- the good news was that it had, but not enough to put the dr at ease. I was now 160/90, leading the dr to make the decision that while I am at the hospital to have them draw blood and do lab work.
Michael and I arrive at the hospital around 4pm and they take me to a delivery room to be monitored and to have lab work done. Just 15 minutes into the non-stress test baby is doing great and showing lots of movement. PHEW! A sigh of relief. As for my blood pressure it had once again dropped and showing signs of improvement. They were having it taken every 30 minutes while I was there. After being monitored for an hour and half my lab work came back. They had no worries about my blood pressure, but my Uric Acid levels were really high and with how swollen I was according to the nurses these were red flags for the dr. He made the decision that I would need to stay over night and we would induce in the morning. He was nervous more about my health at this point than the babies. In his words baby is better out for the both of us because then my body could start fighting the sickness it was starting to develop. As you can imagine the shock on Michael and I's face as we are hearing that Avery would be born the next day -- we weren't expecting this to happen this early. I was only 37 weeks and 3 days. We really thought we had at least another week before he would make his appearance, as we were both assuming he'd come early, but we figured he would come at 38 weeks or later.
So begins the adventure of calling the parents, siblings, aunts & uncles and bosses to inform them. Michael had to run home and take care of Dillon and finish packing my bags, along with collecting items for himself to bring to the hospital. As a surprise as it was to Michael and I, it was also a surprise to our employers. Michael's work had planned a surprise baby shower for him to be held on Wednesday, which didn't get to happen and my work had planned a shower for me the following week on Tuesday, which has been postponed.
Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning was the longest hours spent attempting to get some rest, but being hooked up to IV fluids, having your blood pressure taken every 30 minutes and being checked on every 45 minutes made a miserable night of barely any sleep. 7am Wednesday morning comes around and they start me on Pitocin at a low level and then every hour they were going to up the dosage. Things started out smoothly, I had some contracts but they were nothing. 3 hours later around 10am, the contractions started to intensify and become painful, yet I was only dilated to a 2, maybe 2 1/2. An hour later the contractions were really starting to hurt (mostly in my back) and had become unbearable. I was starting to turn into this horrible, not so nice person to my loving husband. But just like Michael he took it the beating and kept right on going. Luckily the dr gave me the ok to receive an epidural even though I wasn't quite dilated to a 4 yet. 2 hours later, it is now 1pm, the epidural had been given and done it's magic. I wasn't feeling a thing and finally able to get comfortable. I had finally been able to take small naps through out the afternoon. Around 3pm I was dilated at an 8 and he was to come soon (or so we thought). The nurses had called the dr to the hospital so that way we were prepared. But lil Avery wanted to keep us waiting. Around 5pm I had finally dilated to a 9 and at 5:45 the dr decided that if I could handle it he was ready for me to push. If I couldn't push, then the scary words of a "C-section" had crossed his lips. So at 5:50 I began pushing, he rolled around to face the correct way (face backward) and 15 minutes later our precious lil joy had arrived. His lungs were working beautifully as he was screaming at a top notch. He checked out healthy and was put into my arms to hold for a few minutes before they needed to take him away to clean him. And yes I did start crying. There is just something about being in that place and going through everything that makes you an emotional wreck. He was beautiful, small and belonged to us.
