Two years ago today, my husband and I were running around like crazy people trying to get everything ready for the birth of our second son. I was absolutely huge, Andy was under tons of stress at work, and amongst all that we were learning how to deal with our first son (19 months old at the time) on the fly. Because Oliver’s delivery was so quick, our Obstetrician decided that our best plan for Emmett was to head to the hospital on his due date for induction of labor. This way there wouldn’t be any babies delivered in the backseat of the car during the 30 minute trip to Greenville.
We were as set as we were going to be and were supposed to check-in to Labor and Delivery at 6 a.m. Ollie had been packed up and taken over to my mom’s the night before, the crib had been reassembled and set up in our room, the bottles were sterilized and the infant carrier had taken its place in the backseat. All that was left to do was get up at a truly inhuman hour, not eat or drink anything, make the drive over and have our next baby boy.
All the paperwork had been filed by our OB, so after a very short sit in the waiting room, I was called back. I was shown to our “birthing suite” and the nurses helped me with all the undignified details of getting into a gown and getting hooked up to all the monitors. As the nurse stepped out to check on my orders, some of the other nurses commented to her how well the labor inducing drugs were working. Funny little detail because I didn’t even have an IV yet. Emmett was coming today, no matter what. For the record, I had NO idea.
Fast forward to late afternoon. My contractions were in full force, they had placed my epidural and we were just passing time until it was time to push. Andy and I had been noticing that Emmett’s little vital signs were decreasing with my contractions (decells) and were a little concerned, but not too much. A little before 5 p.m., it was time to push. Woo-hoo! I was so tired of being pregnant at that point, a little pain and some labor were the least of my worries.
As we began to push, Emmett’s heart rate began to dip even lower during contractions. As the midwife called for a doctor and neo-natal intensive care nurses, my world became a blur. Our midwife told me not to wait for contractions, just to push. Emmett’s head was pressing against his umbilical cord and we just needed to get him out as fast as we could. I was an absolute wreck, physically and emotionally, but some hard work was something I could definitely do.
Emmett was born less than 20 minutes later. He was blue and we still don’t know if he was breathing. Unlike Ollie’s joyous birth, there was no little bundle placed on my chest this time. Emmett was rushed over to a waiting team on the other side of the room and placed on a warmer. They were breathing for my little boy. Our world stopped. Through the delivery of the placenta and all the other after-birth procedures, I was oblivious. All I could do was watch a group of people in scrubs do things to my son that I had been trained to do, but couldn’t for my son. Hell, I couldn’t feel anything below my belly. I held my husband’s hand and we just cried.
About ten minutes later, they finally brought me my bundle. He was still a little blue and his hands and feet were so very cold, but he was alive and well, and therefore he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Despite his traumatic entrance into the world, Emmett was an easy baby. He’s always been such a happy kid. He’s growing so fast! I know how lucky we are that there were no ill effects from his birth. The folks at Pitt County Memorial Hospital were on the ball, and had oxygen to him so quickly that there’s nothing left from that experience, except our memories.
Today Emmett is trying to learn how to use the potty like his big brother, speaking in three to five word sentences and eating us out of house and home.
Happy second birthday, big man! We couldn’t imagine our world without you.
Posted in Parenting |
March 21st, 2008 at 7:50 am
Put another photo of little tankboy on this post… one of our 2 year old wonder — the happy kid. There’s nothing better in the whole wide world than watching a 2 year old skip down the sidewalk singing “Nana’s House! Nana’s House!” as he chugs his way toward the playground.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:10 am
[…] Two is trucks and “backhoe” and “backup” and “pup-pup”. Two is our Emmett and three is Ollie. But two is also for both boys, alive and […]
March 26th, 2008 at 3:01 am
wow cute baby .. congratulations to you