So I've been trying to write this post for almost 4 months now! It's safe to say that life with a newborn is (excuse my language) a shit show! Now that Harrison is on somewhat of a schedule and things feel a little bit more manageable I'm hoping to get back to blogging a bit. Don't hold me to it, but I'm hoping to do monthly Harrison updates. Let's see if I can do it!
Now onto Harrison's introduction to the world!
So life over the past month has obviously been super CRAZY! When I explain myself and Ben to people I always say how laid back we are. We're the type of people that live in the moment. Ben is a little bit more of the "fly by the seat of your pants" type of person, but for the most part we're pretty stress free individuals. Well I think even the most stress free person would have been totally thrown for a loop if they had been faced with our situation. It's amazing to look back at the past month and reflect on how much our lives have changed and how much we have changed as individuals.
If you remember my previous post
Baby Percy's Impeding Arrival you would know that my doctors at MGH were trying to get me to Thursday, November 29 to induce me. Well, Harrison obviously had other plans for us…… AGAIN! On Saturday, November 24th I had my routine daily non-stress test to check for contractions and monitor Harrison's heart rate. While his heart rate wasn't "bad" it just didn't have the variations that they like to see. They look to see that the baby can recover after increases in their heart rate, and his just wasn't doing that. He was pretty much staying around 135 to 140. While they weren't overly concerned at this point they still decided to do an ultrasound just to be sure that he was ok. During the U/S they look at the amount of amniotic fluid, the organs, and to see if the baby's diaphragm is moving which shows that the baby is doing practice breaths. During my 30 minute U/S, Dr. Baute noticed that Harrison wasn't really taking practice breaths. We also discussed how Harrison had been moving less than normal. On the U/S you could see slight movements but it wasn't his usual kicks and jabs. Dr. Baute still wasn't overly concerned at this point, but decided to send me up to the labor and delivery floor so I could be hooked up to a continuous fetal heart rate and contraction monitor. Ben and I were still under the impression that we would be back in my original "home away from home" room in a matter of hours after a little bit of monitoring, so we grabbed my computer and some books and magazines and we were on our way.
Here's a picture of the Zakim Bridge from my room on the L&D floor
Hooked up to the monitors
After an uneventful 5ish hours of being monitored Dr. Baute came back in to repeat the ultrasound to look for Harrison's practice breathing. After another 30 minutes of watching Harrison, he still wasn't doing many practice breaths. Dr. Baute still didn't seem too worried but she wanted to check with one of my high risk doctors just to be certain. Ben and I were talking about what we were going to eat for dinner once we went back down stairs when Dr. Baute, Dr. Packard, and a resident all came walking into the room. Ben told me later that when he saw all three of them walk in, he knew what was going to happen. The doctors were concerned that the reason why Harrison wasn't moving a lot and wasn't doing a lot of practice breaths was possibly due to an early infection. They explained that it isn't worth waiting until the 29th to induce so they wanted to move forward with the induction that night. WAIT, WHAT!?!? They asked us if we had any questions, to which we responded with a very shocked no! How could we have any questions, when this information was just sprung on us!
While we were surprised that they were going to induce me that night, we also knew that it could take many hours or even days to get to the labor stage, so I was still thinking that it might be another day or so until we meet our little man. They started an IV and checked to see if I was dilated which I was surprisingly already 2 cm. They started pitocin in my IV and we were on our way! Shortly after they started the pitocin I began having slight contractions. They were very mild but were about every 3 minutes. Ben and I continued to try to relax and stay calm. Our nurse came in about every 20 minutes or so to check my contractions and to check little H's heart rate. Everything seemed to be progressing just fine, until the nurse noticed that Harrison's heart rate would dip slightly after the peak of my contractions. While it's normal for a baby's heart rate to dip during a contraction, it's not normal for it to dip right after. They were concerned that my placenta might not be functioning correctly so while it wasn't yet an emergency, they continued to closely monitor my contractions.
Fast forward to about 1:30 am- Ben and I actually ended up falling asleep. I was in the hospital bed and Ben was right next to me on a cot. We had been watching Family Guy on my computer and were trying to rest up for the events to come. All of a sudden we were awoken by Dr. Packard, the resident, and our nurse as they came rushing into my room. Dr. Packard instructed them to turn off the pitocin and to help me roll onto my other side. They then proceeded to stare at the monitor. Ben and I were both very nervous, scared, and confused. Within seconds they were put at ease and told us that Harrison's heart rate had dropped to about 80. Dr. Packard then had a conversation with us about how it was obvious that Harrison wasn't tolerating labor well. She advised us to go ahead with a C-section considering I was still in the early stages of labor. It just wasn't going to be safe for Harrison if we kept trying to induce. So after talking to the anesthesiologist, signing my life away, and kissing Ben goodbye for a few short minutes I was off to the operating room. Ben was left in the room to call my parents to give them the heads up and to get prepared by putting on his sexy scrubs!
Getting ready for my C-section
All ready to go! Don't let this smile fool you….. I was shaking like crazy!!
Paging Dr. Percy…. Paging Dr. Percy!
Walking into the operating room was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I feel like everything was playing out like a movie right in front of my eyes. I can still remember how the room looked and all of the little details. The 4 huge spotlights over the table that just seemed too narrow for anyone to lay on, the warming table that my son would soon be placed on, and the two nurses performing their count of the medical supplies and tools that would be used for my surgery are just a few of the memories that I'll always have from that day.
After the anesthesiologist placed my spinal Ben was brought into the room. He and the anesthesiologist sat on either side of my head and kept me as calm as possible in light of what was happening on the other side of the curtain. After about 10 minutes and feeling slight pressure Dr. Packard told us that we would soon be meeting our son. Within another minute she asked Ben if he wanted to glance over to see Harrison. Ben stood up to see a crunched up little babe before they took him over to the warming table. It seemed like forever until I heard cute little faint cries coming out of our sweet little baby boy. He was breathing on his own! After they assessed him and had Ben cut his umbilical cord, they brought Harrison over to me. Words cannot describe how I felt seeing my tiny but healthy baby boy for the first time. I wish I could have frozen that moment in time.
Dr. Percy cutting the umbilical cord
Itty bitty babe on the warming table
Holding my son for the first time
First kiss
First photo of our family of 3!
After cuddling Harrison for a few minutes, we then had to briefly say goodbye to him so they could get him set up in the NICU. It was hard seeing him for such a short time but I knew he was in great hands! I was then rolled into my recovery room and had to stay there for (I think) around an hour so they could assess my recovery and make sure my spinal was wearing off. We were then brought up to our baller (more on that later) postpartum recovery room but not before we made a quick detour to the NICU to check on Harrison.
Here's our sweet baby boy staying toasty warm in his isolette.
While my pregnancy was very normal and routine, my labor and delivery were not! While there were many moments that were scary, confusing, terrifying, and unfair to name a few, I am so incredibly grateful that I was at MGH. The staff made this experience as comfortable as possible. I'm so grateful to them for helping Ben and I stay strong for our little boy. I guess that's why they were voted as the #1 hospital in the country!
Harrison Reid Percy was born on November 25, 2012 at 2:35 am at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He weighed 3 pounds 10 ounces and was 16 inches long. We are so blessed to have this little boy in our lives!
