Bridges: Party of 3: Delivery

We got to our private room shortly after 6pm. William and I were so nervous, but excited. We didn't really know what to expect, but she was coming whether we were ready or not. The nurse antithesis came in to give me my epidural around 9 pm at 8cm. Shortly after, Dr Simmons came in to break my water.

At 12am, I started pushing. Our nurse, Hannah, was so great! (Another great thing: the epidural, I didn't feel a thing!). I pushed and pushed (almost 3 hours worth of pushing), but she was having no part of coming out. I was exhausted; I hadn't eaten since eating at David's Burgers the night before and I was tired. She had only moved about an inch down the birth canal.

Dr. Simmons came in and explained that we could try forceps or we could have a C-section. I really didn't want a C-section so we decided to try the forceps. During the forceps delivery her heart rate dropped significantly. So we were wheeled in to have an emergency C-Section.

When I was first wheeled into the OR, the drugs for the C-section were not in the room turns out the new computer system canceled the order since it was ordered from my L&D room instead of the OR. since Shelby's heart rate had dropped (and was continuing to drop), Dr Simmons couldn't wait, he had to her out and quickly. I remember feeling the initial incision and the muscles ripping before going into shock. Ray, the anesthesiologist, gave me left over meds from the previous surgery. Before the hallucinations kicked in, I remember thinking "is this what death feels like?" I literally thought I was dying. After the meds kicked in, I remember seeing trains going up an orange mountain. I woke up still in the OR and asked how Shelby was and how much she weighed. I passed back out and woke up in the L&D room. I was shivering from being cold and shaking from coming off the meds. I must have had 15 warm blankets on me. I again asked how and where Shelby was and how much she weighed then passed back out. This process continued for about 4 hours.

Delivery from William's perspective:
When he walked into the OR I was screaming at the top of my lungs and punching the air. He had to hold down one arm and Ray was holding down the other. After I was open on the table, Dr Simmons tried to turn Shelby around to pull her out, but he couldn't so he attempted to pull her out breach; however, her head was stuck in the birth canal. He had to cut a little more and reach in to get her head out. When she came out she wasn't breathing and was immediately intubated and taken to NICU. At one point, I coded. William thought for a while he'd have to choose between me and Shelby. I told him he better have picked her, but praise God it did not come to that. He said I felt a lot more pain than I remember feeling. I never did get the real drugs, but the narcotics took away the memory of pain so I don't remember it.

FINALLY at 7:45am, the nurses rolled my bed over to the NICU and I got to hold my beautiful baby girl for the first time. Holding her in my arms suddenly made me EXTREMELY grateful for Dr Simmons. I know it could not have been easy to operate on me while I was screaming in pain. I thanked God right then for getting us both through. I believe His hand was all over our delivery.