We were due April 29th and we were anxious to meet her, but that Friday came and went. We visited the Doctor Friday for our final appointment and made a plan for the following Monday. We were going to be induced earlyTuesday morning if she did not make an appearance before then. So I went back to work Friday 40 weeks pregnant, finished up the day and went home. My thoughts were a jumbled mess and to be honest the idea of having a "plan" really lowered my nerves. I spent Friday evening relaxing and cleaning up around the house. I wanted our house to be spic and span for when we came home with our new bundle. We had a relaxed Saturday and I went to Target, and surprised people when they asked our due date. Sunday we got up and went to church and then went walking around Costco. I had felt some pains, but didn't realize they were contractions.
Monday I decided to not go into work and instead I went to the hospital to complete pre-admittance paperwork and I went to Walmart to stock up on some essentials. I relaxed with the dogs and enjoyed day dreaming about what our girl was going to look like. Cam and I ate dinner with my parents, spaghetti and meatballs, before we headed to the hospital. We were to check in at 8 pm so we got there at 7:45. We ended up having two night nurses, one was being trained. I changed into the lovely gown and put on those fancy socks and we were ready and excited parents to be. The nurse took two tries to get my IV in my arm and I really thought that if just the IV was that painful we were going to be in for it... She dug around in my arm for what felt like forever y'all. After finally getting the IV in they also started the cervadil and we were told to rest and as it was about 9:30 pm we did just that. Cam made his bed on the little hospital couch. About two hours later 8 nurses stormed in and started messing with all of the monitors and asking me to move around.
Not too much longer after receiving the pain meds I was awoken again by a bunch of nurses rushing into the room. This time the amount of time going by with the panicked nurses around me lasted much longer. They were talking to each other and moving me around and back and forth like chopped liver. They had me move up to my hands and knees and they attached the oxygen mask to me. The nurses kept mentioning emergency c-section and get her to the OR and that they should call the Doctor. At this time I started to have a break down. We still hadn't found her hear rate and time was moving so fast and standing still all at the same time. They told Cam to get the blue outfit on for surgery and his hair net and he had to stay out of the nurses way. Thankfully I had some awesome nurses, they were able to calm me down and gave me great pep talks.
We finally were able to find her hear rate and I had to lay awkwardly on one side. My OBGYN was not on call that night, but the nurses were able to get a hold of the on call doctor and she had told them to wait it out and not to rush into the OR yet. They decided to quit pitocin and let me just go through labor on my own. It was at this time that I decided to ask for the epidural. While waiting for the epidural the Dr came in to introduce herself and break my water. They were hopeful that breaking my water would help me to dilate and things could get moving.
It was about 4 am and we had about 30 minutes of sleep collectively, but Cam remained by my side until the anesthesialogist came in. The anesthesiologist was a tall older man and he talked me through the whole ordeal. He had me sit on the edge of the bed and cam sat in a chair in front of me and the nurse stood beside me. He gave me the numbing shot and then the epidural was in, but his response was "uh oh thats in a blood vessel". So, he had to take that out and try again. He had a tray with all of his stuff and I could see the bloody bandages and things he had just removed from my back.
Once the epidural was in Cam and I settled back into the lovely hospital beds. With very little rest, as I was listening to the heart rate monitor I noticed it had changed again and in came all of the nurses. This time I couldn't move easily as the epidural was fully working. So the nurses now had to physically move me around from side to side and onto my hands and knees. This time they were all more than ready to head to the OR and they immediately called the Doctor back. They told Cam to get ready again and they began unhooking me from the machines and getting us ready to be moved.
We were going to be meeting our baby girl ASAP via emergency c-section. I did not have time to even give Cam a kiss or say call our family as the nurses were running us through the hall and through the doors into the OR. It kind of reminded me of Grey's Anatomy. It was about 6:30 am which meant shift change, so we not only had our lovely night nurses, but also the day nurses. I had to be in the room without Cam for what felt like forever while they prepped me. I was freezing and couldn't stop shaking so they strapped my arms down and covered me in plastic and put a heater inside the plastic to blow hot air all over. I remember looking out of the corner of my eyes to see Cam there sitting on a stool. They were able to increase my meds and not knock me all the way out for the surgery. I was thankful for that, although I still was not able to see much of anything with the plastic all over me. I remember listening to the nurse and doctor and feeling pressure as they pulled her out. Cambree Reece arrived at 7:08 am on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016.
I remember hearing her first little cries before they whisked her away. Cam was able to see her and stand by her and they brought her to me to see for a quick second before she had to head over to NICU. Cam was able to go to the NICU with her while I was stitched up and moved to the recovery room.
Our sweet girl was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long. She had a full head of dark hair and grey/blue eyes. Time was a blur for the next few hours as I wrapped my head around everything that had happened. Cam was awesome throughout the entire night and day. He was able to come in and update me on all things Cambree. She had to go to the NICU because the doctors were not liking her oxygen levels and she had some fluid. She had to be hooked up to a CPAP machine for the entire day.
Cam was able to introduce our family to her one by one as she laid in her little NICU crib hooked up to all of the tubes and machines. He was one proud dad and is the sole reason I remained calm and at peace throughout the day. The hardest thing was not being able to see or touch my sweet baby. I had to be moved from recovery to our postpartum room and still was unable to walk or move much. We had to wait until 6 pm that evening before I was able to be wheeled back to the NICU to meet my baby.
We ended up staying in the hospital for the full week and we were discharged Friday evening at 6 pm. Our sweet girl wasn't able to room in with us until Wednesday night. We were blessed with amazing nurses and they helped to make our situation the best it could be. Her birth story as nothing that I had expected or hoped for, but it is our story and the most important thing is that it ended with a beautiful and healthy baby girl. God is so good. His plans are always greater than our own and our sweet girl just needed some extra love and care that he was able to provide through the sweetest NICU nurses.
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