*Dave*Leslie* *Andrew*Ashley*Hailey*Katie*Nathan*: Baby Nathan

Nathan David Price

Thursday, September 25, 2014

3:16 pm

6 lbs 12.5 oz

21 inches

Nathan came 12 days early and in a hurry! His birth story is scary and we feel so very grateful that it turned out ok and he came to us healthy and well.

The Tuesday before he was born I woke up feeling sick and spent most the day throwing up and miserable. I didn't know if it meant labor was coming or if I was sick, I'll never know for sure. The next day was Katie's birthday and I spent the busy day telling myself "I can not have a baby today". On Thursday I woke up with some real contractions, which I have never really had in advance. They were strong and low but not terribly painful. I knew it meant things were getting started a little bit and felt grateful that I had a regular appointment in a few hours.

I went to the school jog-a-thon and had fun cheering on my kiddos, plus I felt fine. The little girls and I went home, Nana came to babysit and I headed out for my 11:45 appointment. When I got to my appointment my doctor had a 45 minute wait - I hate that. I asked if I could just see a nurse hoping to get in and out. They said I could and a few minutes later I was jumping everyone in line. Luckily, my doctor didn't love that idea since I was 38 weeks 2 days, so she came in to check me. Good thing too because I was dilated to a 4+ and nearly a 5. With my history of fast labors she said she really didn't want me to go home. She wanted me to go straight downstairs to deliver. I called Dave who was home for lunch, so he grabbed my bag and headed out. I spent the next 10 or 15 minutes in the hallway and outside in the sunshine texting to cancel play dates, arrange rides for kids for activities that were that evening and making sure everything was set at home. I sent my last text at about 12:45 or so. Dave got there, we laughed a little, then walked in. We got in our room and sat there for a while and then the nurse came and asked me all the questions. This picture was taken at 12:58 pm while we waited for a nurse and such.

After a while I got in the bed and they started me on Pitocin. I hate pitocin and I think it was a mistake. In hindsight I wish I had walked and jogged outside around the hospital and gotten started on my own. Anyway, then I got my epidural and all was well. A very short time later the nurse comes running in the room. My contractions were coming hard and fast without any break in between. That's no big deal for me, with an epidural going but, poor baby was in distress. The nurse later said my uterus was clamping down continually and not giving him a chance to recover. His heart rate was plummeting and at about 60 bpm. The nurse is calling for more help on her neck intercom thing and a nurse responds "What's going on?" and our nurse says "I'm trying to be discrete". That let me know just how serious our situation was. Nurses start funneling in, they turn off the pitocin and give me a shot in my arm to stop labor and put an oxygen mask on. The nurse and either a worried looking doctor or charge nurse are quickly discussing what to do. My nurse wants to break my water and get baby out, worried face isn't so sure. I'm crying now. My amazing doctor rushes in, it's only been a minute at this point. She is cool as a cucumber, as always. She says we're going to break my water and get baby out. I'm not fully dilated but, I'm at an 8 and with it being baby #5 they aren't worried about that. She breaks my water and they all tell me to push, ok push, ok push. With my other children I've been told to push and then you wait at least a few seconds before pushing again but, not this time, it was just push, ok push, ok push and then thanks to God, he came right out. it was 3:16 pm, it had all been so fast. He was pale but he was crying. The NICU nurses were in the room but, again thanks to God, he was ok and didn't have to be whisked away. My placenta had abruptured, or come detached from me, probably because of the contractions but, my doctor said it's something we'll never know...maybe the contractions caused the rupture or maybe the rupture caused the contractions (I blame the pitocin). They also said that if this had been my first or second baby it would've been a crash c-section so we were so glad to get him out so quickly. They tested the cord gases and said they were still good so, it would seem that the abruption had just happened and we can hope that Nathan wasn't deprived for long. Nathan pinked up quickly and was looking better and better by the minute. My doctor gave me Cytotec to ward off hemorrhaging after all that and they had to give me a catheter because my epidural was so new that I would be stuck in bed for a bit and again, they were nervous about a full bladder causing hemorrhaging. The NICU nurse came in to give him a look and said he looked good, though they expected him to be a little "shocky" from that fast and traumatic experience. One of the medications they'd given me during birth can effect the baby's blood sugar and so they tested Nathan several times over the next day but, each time he passed with flying colors. His temperature was just a tiny bit low so we had some skin to skin time and they brought some warm blankets, he warmed up just fine after a little while. Dave, Nathan and I were mostly alone in the room for about 30 minutes. It was calm and I felt so overwhelmed with gratitude that he was here safe.

He looked just like Andrew, except short light hair while Andrew had been so olive skinned with long black hair. He has big kissable lips, long pretty blue-gray eyes, cute little ears and a perfectly shaped head (since he spent next to no time in the birth canal). He is skinny and has big hands and long toes.

He's Beautiful!

That's my arm, promise.

Then we went upstairs to our room to relax.

That night the crew came to see baby brother for the first time, (who was still unnamed). I don't know how I got so lucky, look at my family full of treasures! And look how big Katie suddenly got!