Thursday, April 4, 2013

Life with Cooper-Part 3: Welcome to the World Cooper!




I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
                                                                                Psalms 139:14


It is hard to find the words to describe the days I spent at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center leading up to Cooper's birth. I can honestly say that it was the most difficult period of time I had experienced up to that point. When I was admitted to labor and delivery on 8-5-04 for preterm labor and chronic hypertension, I had no idea what I was facing. It was by the power of God alone that both Cooper and I came out of that hospital unharmed.

That first day, when they were unable to stop my labor with Brethine, I was given steroids to help Cooper's lungs develop more quickly. I was also introduced to magnesium sulfate (aka liquid hell). This drug is given through an IV over a 24 hour period. Once it hits your system, it makes you feel like you have a really bad case of the flu: your body aches, your bones feel like glass, you become flushed and sweaty, and you feel as if you are burning from the inside out. What makes it even worse is you are not allowed to get out of bed while you are on it, and you can have nothing to eat or drink; only ice chips. Initially the contractions continued, so they increased the magnesium sulfate even more. I felt like I might be dying. I had never experienced anything like that before. It was awful. 

Sometime in the early hours of 8-6-04, the labor finally stopped. The doctor decided to admit me to the antepartum unit (this is where mother's in danger of preterm labor go to WAIT on total bed rest.) His intentions were to keep me still, monitor me, collect a 24 hour urine to check my kidney function and buy time for Cooper. Each day they were able to keep me from delivering was another day Cooper had a chance to grow and develop in the safety of the womb. 

On Saturday the 7th the contractions resumed. By this point my cervix had started to thin and had dilated to 2cm. They transferred me back to labor and delivery and restarted the magnesium sulfate. This time I knew what I was in for, and it took everything in me not to refuse it. I was emotionally and physically spent. I was warring with conflicting emotions: on one hand I wanted to do everything possible to give Cooper the best chance at being born healthy. On the other hand, I just wanted it to be over. 3 days in the hospital with no rest and hardly any food and all I wanted was to go home. By this time, I knew they meant to keep me until after the delivery, which could potentially be weeks. Of course, the safety of my unborn child won out. Another 24 hours of liquid fire being pumped into my veins drip by drip. It did its job. The labor stopped, and on the 8th I was transferred back to the antepartum unit.

The morning of Monday the 9th, I awoke to a blinding headache. Despite being on complete bed rest, my blood pressure had shot up to 170/100. I was wheeled over to my doctor's office to have yet another ultrasound and a biophysical profile (a test that measures the health of the baby). The profile found that Cooper looked good, but the amniotic fluid level was dropping. The placenta was wearing out due to my sustained high blood pressure. It was clear that Cooper was going to have to be delivered soon. My doctor had been off this entire time and was not scheduled to be back in the office until later in the week.  Her associates had been caring for me in her absence. I really wanted her to be the one to deliver Cooper. The plan was to basically knock me out to get my blood pressure to come down and try to keep me stable until she returned to work.

Back in my room, the nurse gave me a sleeping pill, had me lay on my left side and turned off the lights. I was miserable. Even 2 more days of this seemed like forever. Dr. Myers was the doctor on call that day. At the end of his shift he came over to check on me. He took my blood pressure himself. It was 190/100. He set down beside me and just stared at me. He said that my body was telling us that it was done being pregnant. I told him I agreed. He asked if I was ready to have this baby. He said he had called Dr. Tally (my doctor) and she agreed that we shouldn't wait. I suddenly got really nervous. I wanted this! I wanted all of this to stop! But would Cooper be okay? There was no way to know until he was born. I asked him if I got Scott on the phone (he was at work), would he explain to him what was going on. I don't know why. I just couldn't tell Scott myself. That's just what he did. Dr. Myers asked Scott how quickly he could get there. I listened as he explained to my husband that we were going to get this thing started and to get there as quickly as possible. We were having this baby...TONIGHT!

Things happened really fast after that. I was transferred for the final time back to labor and delivery. A Pitocin drip was started to induce my labor. Then I was told I would have to be on Magnesium Sulfate AGAIN! My blood pressure was so high, I was at risk for seizures. So great, I was going to have to go through childbirth while feeling like I had the worst case of the flu imaginable with every orifice of my  body on fire! At least it was almost over!

Scott arrived and soon after I was given an epidural. (Let me stop right here for a second and address those of you who do not believe in epidurals during delivery. God bless you. I had one with Cole that was put in too late and didn't work. I felt everything. After all I had been through in the last few days, I was prepared to get on my hands and knees and BEG for that epidural! I believe I would have allowed the Anesthesiologist to stick it in my eyeball if I thought it would help me feel less pain. To each his own...)We called our families and friends to let everyone know what was going on and waited. 

Things were progressing on schedule. A Neonatologist came over from Children's Hospital (the facility is across the street from Fort Sanders) to explain to me and Scott what would happen after Cooper was born: a team from Children's would be in the room during the delivery. They would immediately assess Cooper, let us see him for a few minutes-if possible-and then he would be transferred to the neonatal unit at Children's where he would be kept, probably until his due date. There never seemed to be a possibility of him being allowed to stay at Fort Sanders with me. As a respiratory therapist, I knew that he would likely be intubated and put on a ventilator if he was in any respiratory distress. He would surely need oxygen therapy at the least. Fear of what might happen to Cooper once he was out began to flood my mind. But I had done clinicals during respiratory school at the neonatal unit that he would be going to and I knew that he would be well cared for.
Sometime later that night, Cooper's heart rate began to drop with each contraction. I didn't know it then, but a surgical suite was being prepared. The doctor had decided that active labor was too risky for Cooper, and the safest course at that point was to deliver him by C-section. Just as the nurse was bringing surgical scrubs to Scott, the doctor decided to try one last alternative: to instill water around Cooper to take pressure off of him and the umbilical cord during the contractions. It worked and we were able to proceed with a normal delivery. The outcome may have been very different for Cooper had they performed that C-section. Studies show that preemies who are born via C-section are 30% more likely to develop respiratory distress syndrome, which can cause long term problems for the baby:   a long stay in the neonatal unit, high levels of oxygen therapy which can cause retinal detachment that often results in permanent loss of vision, permanent damage to the lungs, the development of asthma...the list of possible problems go on and on. Do I believe God intervened on Cooper's behalf at that moment? You better believe I do!

Everyone was anxiously awaiting Cooper's arrival: my mom and sister were there with me as well as Scott's mom, my niece Amber and, of course, big brother Cole. Everyone else had gone home with plans to return the next day. Around 2:00 in the morning of August 10th, I literally felt Cooper move down into position to be born. I had not had the benefit of an epidural the first time around, so I was shocked by this sudden pain. We shooed everyone out of the room so the nurse could check me and, sure enough, I was fully dilated and ready to go. I had this great nurse, whose name I regretfully do not remember. I looked at her in horror and said, "I have an epidural! I'm not suppose to feel anything!" She looked at me and said, "Oh honey, epidurals don't help with this part. You're gonna feel this!" Oh goody! (Okay, I was a bit of a wimp back then!) My sister had  arrived a couple hours earlier and was to attend the birth. She was told, "no pictures until after he is born and only when we say so." They were afraid he might be in distress or worse. People started filing into the room. Every nurse on the floor, the anesthesiologist and the team from Children's were all there. Including Jennifer (my sister) and Scott, there were approximately 20 people in the room watching me give birth. So much for modesty!

I was finally told to push. After only 2 or 3 pushes I was told to STOP! The baby was coming and the doctor was not there yet. Dr. Myers came strolling into the room (I'm not kidding-only doctors can stroll like that.) He sat down on a stool in front of me. One more big push and at 2:18 am Cooper burst into the world! (I say burst, because that's what happened. My sister said she couldn't believe the doctor didn't drop him on the floor he came so fast!)

At first, he didn't cry. When they lifted him up so I could see him, all I could say was, "He's so tiny!"His APGAR score (assesses Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) was 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 at 1 minute. As they were cleaning him off, he started to make this tiny mewing sound that got stronger and stronger. At 5 minutes his APGAR score had gone up to 9. Surprisingly, the Children's Hospital team did not take him! They felt he was stable enough to go to the regular nursery. Another miracle! They whisked him off to the nursery to be weighed, measured and bathed. After all that waiting, it was all over in less than 30 minutes. He was here and he was okay. He weighed 4 lbs 8.6 oz  and was 17 I/2 inches long. He had blue eyes and a head full of dark hair. He was absolutely beautiful and absolutely perfect. God had seen us through.


2 comments:

  1. Heather I am loving reading this blog! Cooper is such a joy to be around! I am so honored to have him be a part of my class.

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  2. This is your brother. I have just finished part three, and yes those were miracles. We have both been through a lot in our lives, but one thing is for certain, God has not just been there for us, but has cradled us in his arms many times. I hope that your story blesses many. After all, that is what it is all about. So much good can come out of our trials if we let it. You are in my prayers. I love you

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