Sydney Taylor Nelson

Tuesday (May 11th) morning at about 7:00am, I called to the nurses and asked to go to the restroom.  At about 7:22am I felt a little trickle.  I thought that it was weird because I had just gone to the bathroom and surely I had better bladder control than that!  I had been crying off and on for the last day and a half and had a stuffy nose.  I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose and than thought, "I had better call a nurse in here and figure out what is going on, cuz that was no trickle."  I also called Jeff and put him on awares of what "might" have happened -  after talking to him, he (a couple of states away) said that my "water broke".  He started telling me that this could be a good thing because with the pressure being taken away, my cervix could close a little and we could buy some more time with all of this.  I was nervous, started crying again, and asked him to rearrange his schedule and come up to be with me, even if it was for a few days and even if this turned out to be nothing.

The nurse checked and called the doctor in...The doctor checked me to see how dilated I was, if it had changed at all. Before I was a 2+ and now I was closer to a 4.  They started me on mag-sulfate again it seemed to slow down the contractions.  I called Rebecca and told her to grab Mom and Dad and come down to the hospital.  I needed someone there with me while I was going through this, and I needed her there just in case I delivered and Jeff wasn't there yet.  Aaron came home from work so he could sit with the kids and they were on their way.

Here is where we are going to give our plug of appreciation to American Airlines....

Jeff had a ticket to come out to see me for Memorial Day Weekend using some frequent flyer miles.  Jeff called the customer service department to change the ticket for that day.  When the service rep asked him why he needed this emergency change - was there a death in the family? - Jeff told her that his wife was in Utah and was in pre-term labor and threatening to deliver that day.  She transferred him to another rep who began the conversation with "what time do you want to leave?"  Jeff said, "well, what flights are open?"  She said, "No, I think you have misunderstood me...when do you want to leave? How far away from the airport are you?  How much time do you need before you can take off?"  Jeff then began calculating and told her about how soon he could get to the airport and she said that she would get him on the 12:15pm flight.  When he got to the airport and tried to check-in, another service rep met him and told Jeff that they were expecting him and that they had made arrangements for him to be put on the very front row of "coach" in the first seat so that he could be one of the first ones off the plane.  She then asked if Jeff had had lunch and directed him to where he could grab some food and got him to his gate with time to spare.  Talk about customer service!!!

Meanwhile...I had the mag-sulfate and some other contraction stopping medicines I was taking.  They were slowing the contractions down, but boy did they hurt!  We were playing the clock.  How long could I hold out before I delivered and how long was it going to take Jeff to get to the hospital.  His plane landed at 2:00.  I got a text saying he landed and he asked me how I was doing.  I texted him back and said "good".  Well, I was doing good, but having contractions that hurt - I thought I was withstanding everything ok, so I said "good." 

As the time went on, I gave him a call and said, "Have Dad drop you off at the door and come immediately up here."  Jeff said, "Jill, I have time to go park the car with your Dad, you aren't even contracting." Me, "Umm, yes I am." Jeff, "Well, they don't hurt." Me, "Umm, yes they do."  Jeff, "I texted you and asked you how you were doing and you said good."  Me, "Well, I thought I was doing good considering the contractions and how much they hurt."  Yeah, Jeff parked the car with Dad anyway.

He made it up to the room at 3:00pm.  Just after the nurse checked me again and I was now at a 5.  I think that is when it hit him that I was having this little girl today.  There was no holding off until she was officially "28 weeks".

Just after Jeff got there, the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epideral.  This was one of the moments of childbirth that I was scared about.  He had me sit up and roll my back.  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Jeff was there whispering in my ear.  It felt weird at first as my legs went numb and everything, but then as I started having more and more contractions, I began to feel more and more pain.  I hit the button for more meds to come, but I never got any real relief.  We had the nurse call the anesthesiologist and he gave me another boost of meds...but unfortunately that didn't last too long.  Luckily I didn't have too long to wait, by 5pm they were wheeling me back to the OR.  They had me deliver in the OR versus the room I was currently in because the OR is situated in between L&D and the NICU.  There is a little room off to the side with a big window looking into the OR where the team of neonates, respiratory theorapists, and nurses were waiting for little Sydney.  As soon as they were set up and ready to go, the doc was ready for me to start my job.  Jeff held my hand bent over and whispered in my ear the whole time.  He was telling me to give little pushes, half pushes, we have all the time in the world...listen to the doc, when he says stop you stop.  He had such a calm reassuring voice - I was able to calmly follow all his instructions and we had a great delivery. (This is what makes him a great OB!)  I still can't believe I did it...Once the doc told me to start pushing it was 3 pushes and she was out and into the hands of the specialists.  Jeff stayed with me for a bit, and then they took him to be with Sydney and wheeled me out of the OR and back to my room where Mom, Dad, and Rebecca were waiting.

Here is Sydney moments after she was born...

She was born 5/11/2010 at 5:35pm weighing 2 lbs 13 ozs and 15 ins long

Mom was funny when I got back to the room - she looked up and said, "They just wheeled you out of here, what are you doing back already?"

They let me recover for about an hour and then wheeled me over to the NICU to see Sydney for the first time.  I was in shock/disbelief about the whole giving birth....I was just dazed and it didn't feel real.  It happened so fast.  It wasn't until I saw her for the first time that it really hit me... Jeff is just a Proud Papa!

She had a little infection when she was born.  I thought the "PINK" color was good and the fact that she fit into her skin...now I know that that is a big indicator that there is an infection that she is fighting.  I can look at these pictures and compare them to how she looks now and see that she definately wasn't looking good when she was born.

Here she is just after she was born...(maybe an hour old)

Here she is just 3 days later and 10 ozs lighter...she has a much more "healthy" look about her!

Jeff was able to stay until that following Sunday.  This is the 2nd hardest time in my life to say goodbye to him.  It was a bit easier than when he left after I was admitted to the hospital.  At least this time he wasn't leaving me laid up in the hospital waiting and wondering about the birth of our little girl.  He plans on coming back for Memorial Day Weekend.  He will get to hold and cuddle with Sydney at that time!