Monday, August 18, 2014

Knox is Here!


 Knox was scheduled to arrive via c-section on July 23rd at 7:30 in the morning but he had other plans.  I didn't feel good on Monday or Tuesday.  I couldn't eat, was nauseous and just overall felt like something was weird.  It almost felt like the first trimester all over again.  It seemed like Knox's movements had changed from big to small and I didn't feel him as much.  I let it go thinking it was just in my head on Monday but checked his heart rate with the Doppler just to put my mind at ease.  It was about 115 so I thought that was probably normal and I went about my day.  On Tuesday I did some last minute shopping and the boys came home from Grandma and Grandpa's for nap time.  Wayne was at lunch with a friend when I got home and got the boys to bed.  I thought I might be feeling some contractions but wasn't really sure so I called my OB's office.  Turns out contractions after 2 c-sections are a bad thing so they wanted me to come right in for a non-stress test.  Wayne hurried home and in I went.

As soon as they hooked me up the nurses noticed that his heart rate wasn't raising and lowering in the pattern that it should be.  They had me drink some juice, since I hadn't been able to eat much.  Then the alarm started going off because his heart rate stayed so steady around 110ish and should have been climbing every once in a while to the 150s or so.  Interestingly enough, I was not having any contractions.  After what's usually only about a 20 minute motoring turned into more like and hour his heart rate seemed to bounce back and get into more of a normal rhythm.  Dr. Fenoughty came into the room and said she couldn't explain why his heart rate was doing that.  She said she couldn't tell me there wasn't a cord issue or something going on.  She said we could still wait until morning to deliver but that we could go ahead and go to the hospital that night if I wasn't going to sleep worrying about him.

There is absolutely a reason God led me to that office that afternoon.  I thought it was contractions but it had nothing to do with me.  It was my baby in distress.  I've been on the other side of being too late and I felt like there was a reason God wanted me to have this information 12 hours before Knox was supposed to arrive so I went with it and said I'd meet her at the hospital.  It wasn't an emergency situation and maybe he would have been just fine until morning but I NEVER would have forgiven myself if he wasn't.  So I called my dad to come and watch the boys, went home, showered, grabbed the bag that I had just thrown together before I went into the office, and Wayne and off we went to have Baby Knox.


Case wanted in on this!  He was SO excited!

Grandpa and the boys watching us leave :-)
I got to the hospital about 6pm and they got me hooked up and started monitoring him all over again.  His heart rate was back to not having the raises and dips like it was supposed to so I was glad I was there and that we didn't wait until the morning.



My mom and cousin met us at the hospital around 7:00 and about an hour later they were ready to take me to the OR.  Wayne was suited up and ready to go, Mom and Bethany were waiting in the waiting room and I was headed to the OR.  That room is ALWAYS overwhelming.  There's the anesthesiologist, the OB, my nurse and about 7 other nurses in the room.  There's just a flurry of activity and it is oh so cold!  I'm shaking before I ever even make it into the room because that's apparently how my nerves handle this situation.  There were a LOT of nerves leading up to this moment.  I had no idea if Knox was going to be born with something wrong because his measurements were so small all along.  He had an unexplained small head that was the main reason for concern.  Dr. Fenoughty told me that we'd most likely know as soon as he was born if there's something wrong with him.  I still can't totally wrap my mind around that anticipation.  I just wanted to see him and hear him cry and know that he was okay.

Wayne had to wait in the hallway until they got my spinal placed.  Apparently a lot of dad's pass out during this part so they don't allow them in the room for it.  I wish he had been there though because this was BY FAR the worst part.  I sat on the edge of the table with my back curved and awaited the needle.  My poor nurse was 37 weeks pregnant and was probably feeling like she had drawn the short stick for sure as I leaned against her through not one or two attempts to place my spinal block but more like 7 or 8.  The anesthesiologist kept apologizing and after about the 4th attempt she even said if there was another anesthesiologist she could call she would but she was the only one there that night.  Just what you want to hear from your anesthesiologist!  She just couldn't get it in.  I just kept asking what do we do if she can't get it in?  What's the next step?  I was getting worried because I thought they might have to put me under.  She's the one who did my spinal when I had Ty and did it on the first try so I know she wasn't doing anything wrong, it just wouldn't go in.  Let me just say that having a giant needle go in your back over and over again is definitely not the highlight of having a baby!  Finally she had someone get her an epidural kit instead and she was able to place that on the first try (I think).  We had to wait another 20 minutes though to see if it worked.  Praise the Lord it did!  I could feel more of the c-section than I did with Case and Ty but I was numb enough that they could do the surgery without having to put me under.  Meanwhile Wayne was standing in the hallway starting to freak out because he had no idea what was going on.  They told him it would be about 10 minutes, which I'm pretty sure is already the longest 10 minutes of a dad's life but instead he was standing there more like 45 minutes.

No one gave him an update so I'm sure he was thinking the worst.  Not to mention my mom was in the waiting room also having no idea what was going on and also starting to panic.  But all was fine once the epidural took effect.  Wayne was finally brought into the room.  I didn't even know he was there until someone grabbed my hand.  I thought it was just someone comforting me or something because he was covered by his mask and then I realized it was him.  I was SO glad he was beside me.  Once he was in place they made sure I was numb and started cutting, while we all enjoyed the aroma of burnt flesh.  Smelling your own burnt flesh... that's pretty weird in a lot of ways.  Knox Haddon joined the world on the outside at 9:16 PM.  He weighed a whopping 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.





My first question was whether he was okay or not because you spend most of a c-section nearly suffocating under the blue drape so I couldn't see anything.  Dr. Fenoughty was surprised to find the cord around his neck 3 times, which explains the heart rate issues.  That was a sobering fact because I know this day could have just as easily ended with a silent baby.  My placenta and his cord were also not in great shape and just didn't look healthy, which explained his small size.  Despite all those issue he was healthy and crying, just little.  How incredible are the instincts that God gives us?  I am so grateful that I paid attention to those instincts and called the doctor!

Hearing Knox was one of those defining moments!  I trusted God's plan throughout this pregnancy.  My trust didn't alleviate every worry or nervous moment or fear but it did provide me with the comfort of knowing that no matter who Knox was when he was born he was exactly the person God wanted him to be and I was the momma God wanted him to have and I knew everything would be fine.  I became the momma of another beautiful healthy baby that day though and grateful doesn't begin to describe the feeling.




Knox came out screaming and pretty much didn't stop until he was fed.  I guess not eating for two days before left him pretty darn hungry but it made for easy breastfeeding (at least in the beginning).  The amount of screaming was a bit alarming to me though, I'm not gonna lie.  I thought we might have just had a kid that screamed more than his brothers did put together.  He calmed down once he met the boob and the paci though :)






He was hooked after the first suck!



Greatest doctor EVER!  
Since Knox was born so late the boys didn't come to the hospital until the next morning.
Ty had a hard time meeting Knox but quickly fell in love with him!


And just like that we're a family of FIVE!

A look at all three boys the day they were born.  I'm pretty sure Knox looks just like Ty!  
Case (top), Ty (middle), Knox (bottom)

Thank you God for another miracle!






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