Avery's entry

She wouldn't be my little girl if she didn't come into the world with out scaring me half to death... my crash course in being the parent of an infant! Starting from the begining: Justine had been to see her OB every week since we arrived here. In the last three weeks, she hadn't dialated any further than 1cm so the Doc decided to induce her in order to avoid another 32hr. labor like she had with Trais. Understandable, and they were nice enough to schedule her admit to the hospital on Monday night after my Cadet Academy's Clinical Operating Guidlines exam which has been our main focus since day one (I got a 94% as a side note). So when I got home, we packed up the car and drove down to the hospital. We got Justine admitted to her room and they put her on the fetal heart monitor and they administered her a medication called Cervodine (an impregnated plastic tab inserted into the cervix to soften it) and had everything set to begin the induction at 7am the next morning. My mom took Trais and headed for home at about 9:30 and Justine and I settled in and talked for an hour or so about our future together, Trais, the baby and how she was scared about going into labor and the birth. It was one of our most intimate conversations, and it made me wonder how I ever lived a second without her. We watched a little family guy and the nurse came in and gave Jus two Ambien so she could sleep comfortably through the night. We finally fell asleep at little after midnight, Justine comfortable in her bed and me on the "Dad Couch". At 2:05am three L&D Nurses came crashing through the door of our room. I had barely had the chance to sit up to see what all the comotion was when I heard these words: "We need to get her in for an emergency c-section right now!" It was a nurse talking to someone on her department cell phone. Needless to say I was up and asking questions, the big one being: "WHY??" The answer I got was that the baby's heart rate had decelerated down to around 80 and had been there for approximately 6 minutes. They made a coutple preparations and had us in a sprint down the hall to the O.R. where awaiting there were probably 20 or more people from god knows what all departments prepping the room. I didn't have time to tell her what was happening or explain what they were going to do to her. All I had time to do was tell her everything was going to be fine and that I loved her as they pushed her through the door, I dunno if she could even hear me over the noise all of the hospital staff was making, and I'll never forget the terrified confused look on her face and in her eyes. Then they told me I couldn't come in and put me in the hallway.
The longest 10minutes of my life.
You can only imagine what was going in my mind. There in only one other time in my entire life that I've been scared in a hospital but this one takes the cake. I couldn't help but to think all the What Ifs: What if something happens to Justine? What if Somehting happens to the baby? What if I loose Trais? What aroused me from my terrified state in the wheel chair outside of that OR was Avery's cry, audible through two sets of double doors... definately Justine and mine's child. No question. Soon, two nurses from the nursery emerged and put my baby girl in my arms. She was the most beautiful little thing I've ever seen. First thought: "Thank god, she looks just like Justine!" (we think she got my blue eyes but they can change for up to 3 months we're told). We took her to the Nursery where they gave her her first bath and warmed her and gave her a quick exam. She was perfect in every way and about this time my mom and Norma-Jean showed up at the window looking into the Nursery and I held Avery up so they could see her, both burst into tears. Needless to say, this entire time I couldn't stop thinking about Justine and if she was okay. Our family does not work without her and all I wanted was to see her with my own eyes to make sure she was okay. After about an hour they finally brought her back into the room and she was, as my friend Eric would say, "A Hurtin' Unit". She was in enough pain to be on a Morphine PCA pump and very confused and scared to say the least. We got through the night and the next morning we had an awesome Nurse named Jess who was able to bring Justine back to the land of the living. Since, Justine and Avery have been doing better but we're not quite out of the woods yet. Justine is extremely sore and still having difficulty getting around. When they perform a crash c-section, they're a little less gentle then if everything was okay, Justine's soreness being the result. Avery has a little Jaundice which is resolving but she had a little trouble breast feeding at first as a result. So thats how things stand as of this point. Each day things get a little better and they're talking about discharging us tomorrow. So the other question is: Why did Avery's heart rate slow down in utero? Well, the answer we've been given is that either she had a bad reaction to the Cervodine or Avery was somehow occluding the blood flow to her umbillical cord, sort of like happens in a nucal cord. She has not had an issue since and of course we hope things stay that way. I'll to my best to keep everyone posted on whats going on until Justine is on her feet again. I know she'd love to hear from all of you so shoot her a call or write her a message in the next couple of days.