Ask The Pros
Pregnancy Photos
Pregnancy Calendar
Birth Plans
Birth Stories
Bookstore
Boy or Girl
Cesareans
Chat Room
Complications
Doulas
Educators
Episiotomy
FAQs
Feeding Baby
Fertility
Finding a Class
Health
Interactive
Labor
Message Board
Monitoring
Newborns
Newsletter
Postcards
Postpartum
Pregnancy
Reviews/Awards
Search
VBAC
Week by Week
Who We Are

Devon's Birth

Rob and I were thrilled to get pregnant the second month we tried. It was on our second anniversary trip. My first 2 trimesters went very smoothly. I threw up only one time and my main complaint was fatigue. I was so excited to become a mom that I loved everything.

Things changed when I woke up one Sunday morning at 26 weeks with cramping and "Braxton Hicks" contractions. I had a friend who had been on bedrest for preterm labor, so I called her and explained my symptoms, she told me to call my Dr. right away. I did and she had me come into the hospital to get monitored. Thank goodness I called, because I was having contractions every minute or so… irritable uterus. A shot of Trebutiline helped and she sent me home with a perscription for oral Trebutiline. When things started up again the next day and my Dr. didn't seem too concerned and just said to take more pills, I started thinking of changing to a new OB.

As the week continued and things got worse and calling the Dr. just got the response of take more pills… I changed to a new OB. I am so glad I did. Rob and I ended up going to the hospital 7 times for preterm labor. We were always able to slow things down. My cervix was changing, albeit slowly, so my OB had me start on steroids at 29 weeks.

Bedrest was not fun, but I was willing to do anything to help my baby. With all the trips to the hospital I set a goal to make it to 34 weeks. Once we made it there I knew I would set a new goal of 36 weeks, but sometimes it seemed like it would take a miracle to make it that far. Jan. 2nd was 34 weeks exactly. When we went to bed on the 1st, I said, We made it and I think we can make it to 36. Rob and I felt more in control than we had in weeks.

When I woke up on the 2nd I noticed that the baby wasn't moving at all. I was very familiar with his activity levels as I had been having plenty of time to track such things. I was very concerned that something was wrong. I called the Dr. and they had me drink juice and monitor for an hour. He still hadn't moved and I called back. By now I knew something was wrong I was worried that he had died, my husband said not to worry. My Dr. had us go to the outpaitient center of the hospital to do a non-stress test. Rob and I headed over. We prayed first and both felt everything would be ok and that the baby would come when he was ready.

I was so relieved to hear his heartbeat when they got everything strapped on that I thought everything would be ok and they would wake him up and we would go home. They tried to wake him up with a little vibrating noise thing, it just made me contract, but the baby continued to sleep. Not only that but his heart rate was dropping with the contractions. After 3 tries the nurse called the Dr. and faxed them the strip. She came back and said, "It looks like you are going to have your baby today. Go over to the hospital and straight to Labor and Delivery, they are probably going to do a c-section to get him out as quickly as possible." Rob and I looked at each other in complete shock. This was not something we had ever anticipated. We had been planning a natural birth and had been lying in bed for weeks for him not to come early and now they were going to take him out on purpose.

We went to Labor and Delivery and there was a room full of people waiting for us. I was undressed and on a bed at 2:40 pm. The Dr. explained that our baby was under stress and they could help him better if he was outside of me. The anesthesiologist was explaining how he would do the spinal. There were so many things going on at the same time and it was scary, but things were happening so quickly I didn't feel scared.

Devon was born at 3:05. He weighed 4 pounds 3 ounces and was 18 inches long. His apgar scores were 6 and 9, so they feel confident they got him out quickly enough. His cord was wrapped around his neck 2 times and had been tightening. They are pretty sure this is what put him under stress. They let me hold him after a few minutes, but I was so out of it and it was hard to hold him laying down I was scared I would drop him, so after a minute said, I am tired. They took him with my husband to the NICU.

It was the next day til I really got to hold Devon and connect with him. It wasn't until then that I realized that I had saved his life by noticing his lack of movement. The Dr.'s were all saying how lucky we were that he wouldn't be here if we had come much later. We were also lucky that because of the steroids his lungs were developed.

He spent 12 days in the NICU learning to eat and on antibiotics for an infection. I was pumping breastmilk and now after almost a week at home he is eating solely from the breast and is a good little eater. At 2 months he is 8 pounds and doing wonderful. While it was not the birth experience we had planned on or hoped for, that does not seem to matter when I hold my sweet baby in my arms. I do have days where I relived the fear that I did not have time to experience of his birth and I feel sad about missing out on a natural birth, but it was truly necessary in order to save his life. It is a small sacrifice for having a healthy baby.