Part of the issue they were having was that I was extremely dehydrated so my veins were collapsing. Being so dehydrated could have been part of the cause of the pre-term labor. After too many attempts, too many puncture wounds and too many failures , the anesthesiologist performed an arterial to start my IV. Finally success!
Once the drip was running they put in my epidural. Unfortunately the epidural was a little too effective and I was paralyzed from the nipples down. I have always wanted to have a "sans drug" delivery but in this case the epidural was supposed to accomplish two things: 1) slow down my labor so the moms would have time to make it to Houston, and 2) eliminate the trauma of delivery to make things easy on me and also to have no pain associated with an already painful situation. Two strange side effects of my paralysis were a new obsession with my bodily functions (yes I would drink water and wonder how long before it would run out into the catheter bag) and a fear that my 2,000,000 pound legs would pull me off the bed and onto the floor. It thoroughly amused the nurses to see Jon continually tuck and re-tuck my legs when they would rotate from parallel to turned out hour after hour.
The moms finally landed and my brother was able to pick them up and bring them to the hospital. At this point I had been in the hospital for 7 hours and had progressed an astounding half cm! After not progressing at all I shot from 4cms to 8cms in about 45 minutes. I think I was waiting for the moms to get there before I would relax into labor. Of course those 45 minutes were while Jon was running home to get our other car for the moms and to pick up anything we may need/want for our hospital stay. Jon was only a block from the house when I called to tell him and Oma (Jon's mom) how quickly I was progressing. Oma nearly ripped the steering wheel out of his hands to get him turned around and headed back my way.
When he finally did make it back he came in and gave me a kiss. As he was moving past my bedside we heard a splash and I screeched "Did you just spill my pee bag?" The mom's instantly crouched down to look at the floor but no pee was to be found. Jon and all of his great wisdom said "I think that was your water breaking.". Sure enough he was right. The nurses quickly came in and changed my sheets and after they were finished they decided to see how I was progressing.
As soon as the nurse lifted the blankets she yelled "Everyone out, everyone out now!" I looked at her and asked if everything was okay and she whispered "Pearce is here!" I was the one yelling now "Everyone get out now!" The mom's left the room leaving only Jon, the nurse and me.
At this point, no doctor was yet in the room. Our nurse was a champ, she finished delivering Pearce. All Jon and I wanted was time with our son. I was trying so hard to see Pearce but the nurse kept pushing me back because when I tried to sit up I was rolling forward almost on top of him. I asked if he made it and the nurse said, "no I'm sorry he didn't". My heart shattered. The nurse no longer had to force me, I lay back in the bed and began to cry.
When I finally leaned back it gave Jon a clear view of Pearce and that's when he saw it. Pearce's strong little heart, the one that we were able to see so early in the pregnancy, was pounding through his chest showing his Daddy that he was still with us. Jon said to the nurse "I think he's alive" She told us she was sorry but no he hadn't made it, but Jon insisted saying "No, look his heart is beating!" She got out her stethoscope and said "Get me the clamps now, he's still alive." The assistant ran over with the clamps and he was finally separated from me so I could see and hold him.
We were told that Pearce most likely wouldn't make it to term but if he did he probably wouldn't be able to make it through delivery. The doctors also told us that if he was born alive he probably wouldn't be able hear or see. All Jon and I wanted was time with our boy, all we prayed for was 5 minutes. Well Pearce had other plans he came early and because he was so early he was tiny and was able to make it through delivery without any force or strain.
He didn't just make it through delivery he gave us 11 minutes here on earth. When I was finally able to hold him I whispered in his ear "Pearce, Mommy loves you" and then this little boy who wasn't supposed to be able to hear opened his eyes. I brushed his cheek and gave him a kiss and he looked up into my face.
What a gift.
What an angel!
Happy Birthday Pearce,
Mommy and Daddy love you!!
A special thank you to our nilmdts photographer. Thank you for documenting our sons life.
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