That's Not the Way It Was Supposed to Happen...

...but we have a baby! Evan Michael arrived on June 26th, 2010, at 11:29 a.m. He was 7 lbs., 15 oz., and 20 inches long. I'm sure you'll agree that he's adorable. (Photo credit: Rachel House :o) He is truly a blessing and worth 16 hours of labor and an emergency C-section!

If you'd like all the details of the drama, read on...

On Friday, June 25th, I was at home around 7:15 and my water broke. Real contractions started soon afterward, and Mike and I called my doctor and then headed to the hospital with all of our bags (which had been packed for so long by this point that I hardly remembered what was in them!).

When they checked me out I was almost at 4 centimeters, so they got us to a labor and delivery room fairly quickly and not too much later they let me have my epidural. It worked great at first -- I couldn't feel a thing, even though a nurse assumed I must be on Pitocin since my contractions were one on top of the other. Eventually, though, I wasn't dilating in spite of all the contractions -- and the epidural wasn't working so well anymore -- so my doctor did give me a little bit of Pitocin, which actually slowed the contractions down. Let me tell you, the breathing we learned in our childbirth class really didn't help all that much! They kept giving my epidural "boosters" but they would wear off fairly quickly. They were going to try the epidural again -- at this point it was nearing 11 a.m. on Saturday -- but by then I was finally at nine centimeters and it was almost time to push.

I had only pushed through about 4 or 5 contractions when suddenly Evan's heart rate dropped to 42 and I heard my doctor call for an O.R. and say something about 4 minutes. Then the room was swarmed with people and Mike was donning surgical wear and I had an oxygen mask on and was being wheeled out of the room. They did strap my arms down, Aunt Lisa, but it's probably a good thing because since the epidural wasn't working (which means Mike couldn't be there with me after all), they had to give me general anesthesia, which didn't kick in before they had to start cutting. Apparently Evan came out screaming at 11:29 a.m. and scored a 9 on his Apgar test (my boy aced his first test!).

At first my family was told that everything was fine, but then they were told that it was taking a little longer to get me to recovery because they were doing some sort of repair. As my doctor later put it, I had "blown a hole in the side of my uterus" and the blood loss had deprived Evan of oxygen, which is why it was so crucial to get him out in 4 minutes. So I was in for more surgery and didn't get to see my son until after 5 that day. Meanwhile, while I was unconscious, my parents and Mike were sending out prayer alerts because they were told that the next few hours were critical to my recovery.

My doctor says she's never seen what happened to me happen before -- it's very rare -- and she can only assume I had a congenital weakness in my uterus, as this usually only occurs in women who have had previous C-sections or uterine surgery. The good news is, I will be able to carry a child again, but I'll have to have another C-section. No more labor for me!

We are so thankful that Evan and I are both all right. The doctors kept a close eye on my hemoglobin but I didn't end up needing a blood transfusion and we got to come home on Tuesday. I am feeling a zillion times better than I did on Saturday and am so happy to be home with Mike and our beautiful, brilliant son. :o)

Thank you all for your prayers!