Welcome To Our Son: Truett - Discovering Parenthood

WELCOMING OUR 4th CHILD

I don’t think we’ll ever get over a couple surprises from this time in our lives. We were not expecting to have a fourth child. Not when you’ve been told you can’t have kids on your own and you went through IUI to have your third child. Finding out we were pregnant and going to have two kids close in age was a huge surprise. Once again we decided to not find out the gender and we did not share the guestimation date of baby’s due date. Why? because not sharing this gave us so much more peace of mind.

We did know when baby would roughly be arriving though because once again we were looking at an induction. As it got closer we realized it would either be an induction or a c-section. This baby kept flipping around. One ultrasound showed the baby in prime positon and two days later baby had flipped and was footling breech. Every time the doctor would check baby’s position they had moved.

TIME TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL

The night before we got the phone call for what time to head to the hospital. Once again I was top priority to be brought in for an induction because of needing to time everything with my last injection and next injection of blood thinners. I also needed to start fasting that night just in case things ended with a c-section. My last meal was that night at 10 pm. I was to go in first thing the next morning. We arranged to have our daughters watched by family. Who thankfully did their best to stick to their usual schedule including taking them to school and picking them up, then name time routine at home for the youngest.

Finding parking at the hospital was a not-so-great experience this time, it actually made us late to get to the birthing unit. We were driving around for a long time trying to find a spot. It’s not even free parking anymore. Just an indicator of how busy it was at the hospital. We ended up with a spot at the opposite end of the hospital, which meant Jason would have fun lugging stuff to the birthing unit once we were given a room.

In triage I was seen by the doctor who I have seen for each of my pregnancies, they just so happened to be on shift that day. The game plan was to check which direction baby was with an ultrasound machine. If baby was the right way we would start the induction process. If they were breech, we would attempt an ECV to try and spin baby. Then if baby moved into the right position for delivery the induction would start.

ATTEMPTED ECV

External cephalic version, or ECV, is a when your doctor may attempt to turn your unborn baby when they are presenting to come out bottom first or feet first. Here’s an honest answer about what an ECV is like… IT HURTS! At least it did for me. As soon as the doctor and their team, yes team, attempted to manually move baby by pressing on the outside of my stomach and pushing and pulling I felt nauseous from how much it hurt. Now, the big thing is to try and not tense up as this makes it even harder to try and move baby. My body instantly went into fight mode and would have my stomach muscles tense. Having a doctor yell at you “You’re tense!” doesn’t help things either.

The first round of attempting to spin baby failed.

We were given a couple of options. We could go right to a c-section or we could wait for the next OB to come on shift and have them attempt an ECV but that time also have me get an epidural to try and help my body relax. If the ECV failed again I was ready to go for a c-section. If it was successful I would be induced immediately. I was really apprehensive about going for a c-section. Being on blood thinners and having a low platelet count, I was worried about how healing would go. Part of me also really wanted the experience of vaginal birth again.

We wanted to go with trying the ECV one more time, this way we had tried everything. At this point, I was at 21 hours since I last ate a meal and I was only getting to have small portions of ice chips to quench my thirst. Another through going through my mind was if we were able to spin baby and be induced would I have enough energy when it came time to labour and push?

ATTEMPTED ECV ROUND TWO

The next doctor had a really good track record for successful ECVs. Everyone spoke very highly and this is part of why we decided to give it one more try. Plus my desire to make sure we attempted everything before going for a c-section. Getting the epidural placed this time was probably the best experience I have ever had for one. It was placed quickly and for once I didn’t feel it going in. It did help me to relax and not be in pain while they attempted to push, pull, and slide baby around.

This baby though had other plans. Despite their best efforts for a very long time, this kid would not budge. Every time they would let go baby would go right back to where they had been or move to another breech position. The doctor suspected that because my placenta was also in the front, after moving from being complete placenta previa, it was in the way and not giving baby enough room to move past it. After over an hour we decided to call it and get ready for a c-section.

Jason got to put on a pair of scrubs and pretend he was JD from Scrubs. I was wheeled off to the operating room and he had to wait outside until they brought him in.

OPERATION TIME

I love watching birth videos and hearing birth stories. Plus, many friends had shared their c-section experiences with me so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I was wheeled into the OR and transferred to the operating table where they proceeded to get everything set up including the big blue sheet across my chest so that I could no longer see anything going on. In hindsight, I wish I had asked to get to see him coming out and have the curtain brought down a bit. They might have said no, but at least I would have asked.

Jason got to come and sit beside my head and he was allowed to have his camera on him to take a couple photos. He was told when he could stand up and get to see baby. We made sure the doctor knew that we wanted Jason to get to announce what baby was. It was odd to be able to feel pressure as things were moved around. I even said before the doctor “baby will be out soon” and right after the doctor said “Okay Jason, baby will be out soon, you stand up.”

I will always remember the look on Jason’s face when he saw baby for the first time and said “Oh my word, it’s a boy!” The second biggest surprise for us.

We thought for certain that we were having another daughter. Were we ever wrong. Evie and Addie had actually said they thought baby was a boy the whole pregnancy. The night before going to the hospital, around 10 pm, I suddenly went “But what if it’s a boy?” and put the boy name we liked onto a wood plaque just in case.

Now, be warned there are a couple of photos of him that we made black and white just to ensure no one is grossed out by blood.

STILL SURREAL THAT WE HAVE A SON

I don’t know if it will ever truly set in that we have a son, or that we have 4 kids now.

To close up my incision, the doctor used a special bandage called a PICO. It’s this interesting-looking bandage that is connected to a device that helps to suction out air and moisture. It is supposed to help promote healing. It stays on for seven days and then you get steri strips put on. Unfortunately, the first PICO put on started to malfunction on day two, but I was told it was okay. I ended up having to go back on the third day after playing phone tag between different departments at the hospital and a walk-in clinic. They ended up putting a new bandage on at the birthing unit so that I could make it the full week with it on. Trying to ensure that my incision would heal.

We got a bit of sleep during the hours after the c-section once we were back to our room. Which was the same room we had Orie in just over a year before. We were able to video chat with the girls and let them know they had a little brother before being taken to school.

To give you a bit of a timeline we went to the hospital on a Tuesday. He was born in the early hours of Wednesday morning. We left the hospital Thursday afternoon.

WELCOME TRUETT

You are our littlest baby and the perfect bookend to our not-so-little crew of 6. You surprised us several times over and we look forward to watching you grow up. You have us wondering if you will have red hair and blue eyes. We all love you so much, especially your sister Orie who has basically claimed you as her baby. Now, if you would work on being happy sleeping in the bassinet at home that would be amazing. We could all use a good night’s sleep.