The next day that the doctor was open, I got a call from his nurse. She indicated somehow the doctor had noticed that I'd spent some time in the ER and was worried that with so much rejection, I might not come in again until it was too late. She had an appointment waiting for me in about 45 minutes.
My dad took me and the doctor took me back promptly. He confirmed that (SHOCKING) my water had actually broken and I was going to have a baby. Then he directed me to a different room in his office where he had an ultrasound machine. He wanted to make sure the baby was in a good position for delivery and so he started to perform an ultrasound.
He confirmed that the baby was head down and rear facing which was very good. Then he said two words you never really think doctors say. Uh-Oh.
To be clear, doctors shouldn't ever say that. Ever.
He started spouting off a bunch of words I had never heard before and said the whole plan needed to change. I would be going to a different hospital because they were more equipped to handle the baby with the issues that were present and I needed to get there now. It was about 11:30 in the morning.
I didn't even know where that other hospital was or what was really going on. I was scared and unnervingly calm at the same time. I went out into the waiting room and explained to my dad what little I understood. Luckily he knew where the other hospital was and brought both me and Sweetie there.
Having babies involves a lot of hurry up and wait. About 2 hours after we got there, my mom and the rest of my family got there and I was wheeled up for another, official ultrasound where more diagnostics could be assertained.
We learned it was a boy and I told my dad a secret that I had been keeping only from him. I wanted to name my boy after his dad. It was a much better option than Zeek which I'd been toying with outloud and he was very proud.
We also learned that his head was huge and filled with fluid. The doctor promised me that if he had one reason to take the baby cesarean, he would. I met some of the staff from the NICU and was informed that as soon as the baby was born, he would be taken away to the NICU and depending on his state, might be returned to me. This was not a part of the plan in my mind ever, but alas, I did not ultimately have much control over the plan. (a lesson I wish I could remember more often)
They pushed Pitocin through an IV so quickly that my whole arm got super cold and finally at about 7:00 it was time to push and the doctor was out for dinner. Nice. It always works like that, right?
I was moved into a delivery room and encouraged to do my best to wait. Thankfully, I did not have to wait very long. My sister and my mom were in the room with me helping me out. The doctor arrived and I pushed 6 times. On the 6th push, they helped out with a little suction, and then the doctor gave me my baby. My quiet, heavy baby. I held him for about 2 minutes before the nurses scooped him up and I was wheeled back into my room. The hospital staff kept me busy with all sorts of questions and I sent my dad to Taco Bell for dinner.
Eventually, they brought my little guy back to me and said he could stay with me through the night. He was stable and looked pretty healthy. I'd meet with the neurosurgeon in the morning and we'd go from there.
I learned so many words during the next 24 hours and I found out that I knew a bunch of stuff already. Namely, that this little baby was the most stubborn feeder I'd ever met. I tried nursing him for about 3 hours before I started crying in earnest and asked my mom for help. She took the little guy and gave me a break for about an hour. I tried nursing him again and it finally worked a little. Nothing like Sweetie, but he was trying. In hindsight, his struggle to figure it out is quite clear.
The rest of my time in the hospital was very uneventful. In fact, he was discharged with me less than 24 hours after delivery. I was able to bring him home right away. He had an MRI on day 3 and brain surgery was scheduled for day 4. He had hydrocephalous and would need to have an appliance surgically implanted in order to address the significant amount of fluid up there.
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