It's taken me a while to get to my Blog to add the story of Jett's birth. I faced unexpected and upsetting challenges during my surgery, but his delivery was perfect and so is he. My will was not done, but my Heavenly Father's Will was and that is answered prayer, always. My story did not go exactly how I had hoped but the end result was a perfectly healthy mama and baby and that's all I could've asked for. Jett is an answer to my prayers and deep desire. I've waited for him a long time and he is finally HERE! He has made my life and my family complete.
The Story of Jett's Birth
On Friday, June 8th 2012 @ exactly 39 weeks, I arrived at East Jefferson Hospital for 5:30am and was brought to my pre/post operation recovery room. Scott, the boys, DD, Paw Paw, and my sister were all there with me. I was excited/scared/nervous, but the real nerves hadn’t hit me yet. I changed into my hospital gown and gave a urine sample. My attending nurse hooked me up to the monitors to keep track of Jett’s heartbeat and any contractions. She explained to me how to read the monitors and pointed out where I was having mild contractions. She then attempted to insert my IV; unfortunately she failed at TWO different attempts into my right hand causing me lots of pain. My mom was standing there and I was very tempted to just ask her to do it! Finally, the nurse decided to try my left hand and thankfully was successful on her first attempt. Those IV’s are the worst, large and so uncomfortable! They gave me a couple of meds to help with nausea and heartburn. Then the nurse shaved me with some very dull clippers and that was not comfortable at all. She even apologized for them being dull, in which I thought, well, if you know they are dull why don’t you spare your patients the agony and get a new blade for crying out loud. The delivery time was set for 7:30am; as the time drew near the traffic of nurses and doctors coming in and out of the room picked up, I knew we were getting close. Hubby suited up in his scrubs and my nerves started kicking in big time, I started to shake uncontrollably.
They wheeled me out as I kissed my family goodbye and waved. I had a sweet little nurse, who I loved immediately; she was 34wks pregnant with twins (babies number 7 & 8 for her!) Her presence was so calming. She reassured me over and over that everything was going to be okay, when they were prepping me for the spinal, she stood in front of me, holding my hands, telling me exactly what they were doing and what was going to happen. Still shaking pretty violently I gripped her hands with a death grip as I anticipated the needle. It ended up not being that bad at all, the IV’s earlier that morning were worse. Scott was in the room with me the entire time and stood beside my fave nurse as they administered the spinal. Once the shot took effect I laid down and was finished being prepped for surgery. My doctor soon got to work with the delivery and talked me through the steps she was taking. I remember her commenting on the good amount of scar tissue I had, that was no surprise, this was the fifth time I was being cut into. Twenty minutes later, at 7:50am, and after a lot of hard pushing, pulling and immense pressure on my upper torso, Jett entered the world, measuring a healthy 7lbs. 2oz and 20in long! He registered an 8.9 on the Apgar scale. His precious cries were loud and strong, all I wanted to do was hold him, and I waited patiently to see his little face for the first time. Finally, Scott brought him over to me; he is such a doll, he looks a lot like his brother Jared. I wanted to hold him so badly but with only one arm free to touch him and in still in the process of surgery, it was near impossible to get as close to him as I wanted. He would cry and I would try to talk to him to comfort him and he would stop crying and listen. Scott held him next to me a good long time. My sweet anesthesiologist offered to video tape us all together. After a nice first visit and a quick pee on daddy, he and daddy headed out to the nursery and to meet the rest of his family. I still had a lot of lying there and waiting to do while my doc continued to work on me and I was hoping it would be wrapping up quickly so I could be reunited with my babe and my family. Little did I know, the surgery would take much longer than anticipated and there would be some hard, unexpected changes to come.
While my family oohh’ed and ahh’ed over the new baby through the nursery windows as he was thoroughly checked out by the nurses and his pediatrician, my doctor was hard at work on me in the operating room. The last thing I remember her telling me was that the cyst would be better removed along with the entire right ovary, that it was attached to, along with the right fallopian tube, for extra precaution. It was large and she didn’t want to run the risk of it bursting and/or leaking into my abdomen. *Two weeks later, at my first post-op checkup, I learned the cyst was indeed benign and a tumor-like cyst that would have continued to grow had it not been removed.* I was at peace with this decision, I knew I would still have my left ovary and tube, being I still had a hope and a dream for more children one day, it would still be a possibility. I’m not sure at what point the decision was made to put me under general anesthesia, but the surgery had become more complicated and involved than anyone was expecting. My poor husband was pacing the halls wondering how much longer my surgery was going to take and what was going on. At one point my doctor came out to talk to him and fill him in on the complications that had arisen. My uterus was in pretty bad shape; it was hemorrhaging in various places and had stopped contracting to help stop the bleeding. My doctor tried desperately to patch the affected areas, but after hours of working on the issue, could not stop the bleeding. The decision was made, unaware to me, to go ahead and remove the uterus. After almost 3hours on the table, delivering my baby, removing a large cyst including my right ovary and tube, performing a partial hysterectomy and stitching me back together, I was finally moved back into recovery. My left ovary and tube were left intact, this would help my hormones regulate in the future and my cervix was left unharmed and untouched.
When I awoke in recovery I was in a lot of pain, my memory is fuzzy from this time. I remember requesting pain meds stat! I remember being hot and asking for a fan to be put on me and ice be fed to me. I remember feeling very nauseous and throwing up my ice chips. I remember holding and breastfeeding my baby, and I also remember being upset because something had caused my vision to be blurry and I could hardly see his little face. The pain meds were making me very sleepy and I could barely keep my eyes open for more than a few seconds. I know my doctor came in and attempted to explain everything that happened during the surgery, but I couldn’t keep my eyes on her and really couldn’t remember anything she had said later on. Later on, the next day, once I had become more stable with my meds and able to be more alert and awake, the reality of everything that I had gone through hit me and I was very upset by it all. The fact that parts of my body had been removed along with any chance for future children was a hard reality to face, still is. I do understand the reasoning for it and I’m grateful to my doctor, who did everything in her power to do what was best for me and my body. My emotions were all over the place for weeks after my surgery, thanks mainly to my postpartum hormones. Physically, this had been the hardest recovery yet, but I’ve had so much done to my body this time, I know it’s going to take longer to heal. I lost a lot of blood and received a total of 4 units before I was released. Jett had to spend our last day and night in the nursery under the lights to treat his rising bilirubin levels, but thankfully we were successful in getting his levels down to an acceptable number so that he could be discharged with me the next day. I spent a total of 3 nights and four days in the hospital and was discharged Monday, June 11th. Jett had no issues breastfeeding and has been a wonderful eater, which has been helpful in treating the jaundice. He left the hospital weighing 6.8 and a few days later, at his first check-up apt had already gone back up to 7lbs. He is doing great! He is a wonderful baby, hardly ever cries. He is adored by his brothers and loved by so many. He is a true joy and gift from Heaven above.
I’m so thankful for my family and their undying support and love; I’ve truly needed it and relied on them so much for it. I’m thankful for my doctor, who did her job to the best of her ability and in the end saved my life and saved me from any future harm. I’m thankful to my hospital and its staff who provided a very pleasant stay; they were very helpful, accommodating and respectful in honoring my wishes. They took excellent care of me and my newborn. And most of all, I’m thankful to my Heavenly Father for knowing what’s best for me and having His Will done in my life; for sustaining my life and keeping me safe. I thank Him for granting me the desire of my heart and blessing me with one more child and allowing my body to do what it needed to, one more time, in order to sustain and maintain his little life. I am so thankful for the four, beautiful, perfect children I’ve been given, I really couldn’t ask for more. My life is blessed beyond measure and my family has been made whole and complete with the birth of my Rainbow baby, Jett Joseph.
