Calum Chance!!!

Here is the story of how my little man arrived in this world:

At my last doctor’s appointment, I was only 1 centimeter and there was little going on that would lead us to believe Calum was soon to appear. Of course, babies come when they want. That was Tuesday, September 4^th. I proceeded to work the rest of the week, waiting not so patiently for my little man to get motivated. I had one night of very regular Braxton Hicks contractions and a few days of feeling very sore and like something must be changing. I was just waiting for something big to occur. It was like waiting for a pot of water to boil- never seems to happen.

Saturday, September 8th, I woke up feeling different. I was having some pain low and in the middle of my stomach. It was an odd feeling, but rather faint. Throughout the day, the feeling got stronger. It became a sharper pain, but still concentrated in one area- low and in the middle. This was not a crampy feeling. It did not cause my back to hurt and it was not an all-over type pain. It did, however, come like contractions. It would hurt and then go away. Later in the day I decided to start timing them with the contraction timer on my phone, just to see if there was a pattern. Sure enough, they became closer together and regular- they also became more painful.

Damon was out of town that day. He was hunting in Fayette. My mom came over to watch the game with me. I didn’t tell her what was going on, nor did I tell Damon, because at that point it wasn’t too strong and I was determined I would not be that person who goes to the hospital with false labor. However, after she left things started getting stronger and more painful at a very fast rate. Finally it got to the point that I called Damon and told him to come home. I then proceeded to call him back about twenty minutes later and REALLY tell him to come home. He was loading up his three-wheeler and I let him know that I needed him in his truck and headed home immediately. I didn’t care if the three-wheeler was left on the side of the road. At this point I was nervous. I was having pains about every 4-5 minutes and they were hurting pretty good.

I called my doctor when Damon got home and told her what was going on. She informed me that she didn’t think I was in labor because my pain did not sound like labor pain. That was a horrible feeling. I about wanted to cry. She said we could head out to the hospital anyway and that they would check me out and give me something for the pain. Great!- I thought- She thinks I am a complete wimp!

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to monitors. I was definitely having contractions, but when she checked me I was still only 1 centimeter! WHAT?!?! I could not believe it. After the week I had and the day I had it was almost impossible for me to believe that there was no change. They monitored me for an hour and in that time my pain became severe. No matter how I laid, I was in terrible pain. The pain was sharp and stabbing and still low and in the middle. The nurse called my doctor and my doctor told her to send me home. When I heard that I got really upset. The idea of going back home with such severe pain was unthinkable. They had given me Demerol and Tylox, but nothing had worked. Finally, before they sent me on my way, they gave me a small pill to stop my contractions. We got home about 11:00 and at 12:30 my contractions finally stopped- as did the pain- and I was able to go to sleep.

When I awoke Sunday morning I felt like I had been drugged. I felt really weak. I was not having any pain though and Damon and I managed to have a rather relaxing morning. I did decide to arrange for my maternity sub to go in for me the next day to start my leave. After the night I had I was in no hurry to go to work Monday. I felt pretty rundown.

Well, about 1:00 that afternoon I started feeling the pains again- faint at first. This made me very nervous- remembering the night I had before. I remember telling Damon that I didn’t understand why they chose to stop my contractions because I was 40 weeks and I knew when they started up again, so would my pain. Gee- I guess I am a rocket scientist!!!

This time it moved faster. By 9:30 that night I was on the phone with my doctor telling her I needed her to call something in or do something because my pain was severe. It was as painful as it had been at the hospital the night before. Within an hour I was on the phone with her telling her I was headed to the hospital and she had better have someone there to meet me and to take care of my pain. At that point- around 10:30pm- I could not sit or lay at all. All I could do is walk around. Unlike labor pains, when I would have a contraction I had to move. Staying still was painful. I paced our floor for hours that night and it was at the point that I was crying, moaning, yelling, etc. Poor Damon! I know he had no idea what to do to help me. I remember, at one point, having my face buried in the corner of our dining room wall and begging God to make the pain go away. No joke- it was that bad!

The drive to the hospital seemed like an eternity. When we got there- around 11pm- we had to go in through the emergency room because the Women’s Pavilion had already locked their doors. We went in and Damon nicely told the security guard that we needed to be seen. I chimed in with “I need to get to Labor and Delivery right now!” I was in no mood to play nice or to wait.

When we got to L&D they put me in a room and had me give a urine sample- something they failed to do the night before. I got in a gown, in the bed, and hooked up to monitors. The nurse checked me- 3 centimeters. I am pretty sure everyone on that hall heard me shout “Yes!” I immediately asked- “Does that mean I get to stay?” It did- thank God! By the time I got settled in, my IV started and some Demerol in my system, I was checked again- 5 centimeters. Music to my ears.

The Demerol helped take some of the edge off the pain, but it did not disappear by far. It was stronger in my IV than it was in pill form the night before. Once it started to wear off I got my epidural- around 3:30am. I really wasn’t hurting too badly at that point (compared to what I had been feeling), but the thought of the sharp pain coming back was scary. The man that did my epidural was fabulous. It didn’t hurt at all. In fact, of all sticks I got during my hospital stay, the one that hurt the most was when they took my blood the day after Calum was born. Clearly that woman didn’t know what she was doing. Anyway, the epidural took effect very quickly and I was able to get a little rest. I’ll admit that having my lower body numb and heavy like that wasn’t the best feeling. I didn’t overly like it- but I loved not having pain.

By 8:00 the next morning I was 8 centimeters. At that point, I had them turn my epidural drip off. I knew in the back of my mind that our little boy wasn’t going to be a small baby. In fear of having a C-section, or the doctor feeling the need to use forceps or a vacuum during delivery, I wanted to be able to feel my legs and lower half so I could be effective during delivery. They left the epidural in and gave me a pump that I could press every 20 minutes or so to get a small dose of medicine. Wow- 20 minutes takes forever!!! That epidural wore off quickly and the pump wasn’t nearly as potent. Lol!

I started pushing at 10:00am and our precious Calum Chance arrived at 11:06. I got to hold him immediately. He was crying- but I think I was crying harder. It was an experience unlike anything I could have imagined. I remember how warm and soft he was in my arms. I held him for about three minutes, then they took him to weigh him and such. That is when things changed.

They kept poking at him and checking his breathing. He was turning bluish gray. They kept saying he was fine, that everything was fine, but after several minutes and more and more people checking him out, I knew that wasn’t the case. He had stopped crying and wasn’t breathing well. He was holding his breath and grunting. They couldn’t get him to cry again. They called someone in to check him out. Then they took him away. They said they would be back within half an hour to update us. That half hour turned into almost an hour and a half!

Basically, Calum had a collapsed lung and a respiratory infection. The way the doctor explained it made it sound horrible. She really scared us. Thank goodness he was going to make a full recovery. He spent Monday through Saturday in the NICU. There was another baby girl in there with the same issues as Calum, but she had to have a chest tube and was put on a respirator. We felt so blessed that Calum was making fast improvements and did not require advanced procedures. I’m sure it helped that he was a 40 week baby and had some weight on him.

Calum weighed 8lbs. 15.8oz. So, at two tenths of an ounce away from 9 pounds, we just called him 9. He was 21.25 inches long. And- not being biased or anything- he is one beautiful little boy. I could never fathom the love that I feel for him. It really is an amazing feeling.

Oh- the sharp stabbing pain…. bladder stones! Yep- every time I had a contraction, Calum would be pushed down into my bladder, which was highly inflamed. I had never even heard of those. I don’t really know what labor pains feel like because they were overtaken by the different pain I experienced.  If the nurse had gotten a urine sample on Saturday night, they would have known before we had the repeat experience on Sunday. Also, I feel certain if they had not stopped my contractions on Saturday night, Calum would have been born on his due date, instead of the day after.

We are so glad that Calum is finally here. We are two very proud parents!

I was crying so hard when I held him for the first time:

Our first family picture: