We've been a little busy...

...to say the least!

I have so much to catch up on, but I thought I would start at the beginning. Last Thursday, 9/4, I had planned to take a half sick day to go to the orthodontist to get two brackets rebonded. You may remember that we had a baby false alarm the previous Sunday when I thought my water broke but didn't. Well, again, I thought my water had maybe broken the night before about midnight (after Sarah Palin's speech!). But I thought it was another false alarm at the time. I called the OB the next morning and they scheduled an appointment for me to come at 11.

So, I went to the orthodontist at 9, and took care of that. I then went to Bojangles and got a sausage biscuit. Then off to the OB! I wasn't sure if Jason would come since it was short notice, but he was just as reliable as ever. (FYI-He did not miss ONE single OB visit-quite an impressive record!) When we got there, the OB said that my water was 'leaking' and I needed to go on to the hospital. Needless to say, that half sick day turned into a full day sick day! I think we were both in shock when I asked her, "so you mean we are going right now?" and she replied, "Yes!".

So we went home to get our bags, stopped at Chick-Fil-A to get Jason's lunch, and headed to the hospital. Now, this next part could get very long, so I will give you the abridged version as much as I can without leaving out too many details...

When we got there, they put me in a room, and got me hooked up to the IV antibiotics and some fluids. They also started me on potocin (sp?), which induces labor. They did this because I was not having contractions, and they generally like to deliver the baby within 24 hours of your waters breaking (or starting to leak, as the case may be!) so we needed to get the show on the road.

Baby Harrison was not so crazy about the potocin. In fact, we started to have 'decels', which is where the baby's heart rate drops immediately following a contraction. In fact, one time, after I had gotten up to use the bathroom, it dropped to 60 beats per minute for about a minute and a half, and I was started on oxygen. After that, my FAVORITE doctor, Dr. Hodgshon, came in to talk to us. I always said I would cross my legs until he was on call!! It worked!! He explained that we needed to discuss 'other options' because Harrison was not tolerating labor well. He never said the word 'c-section', but when he explained to us the risks of proceeding with natural childbirth, I said, "Just cut me open and get my baby out". (Really I did. I don't think he thought I was serious, but Jason knew I was!)

In the mean time, my mom had left to go home while things were still going well. So Jason called my mom back to the hospital. He told her, "You need to get back up here right now"...I think it freaked her out a little. When she left, I had told her, "Don't be in any hurry--Baby won't come until tomorrow", so my dad had started mowing the lawn and she was doing chores at home. Well, they scooted back up there, and met Jason's parents (who hadn't left yet) in the waiting room.

Next think we knew, there were like 10 doctors and nurses in the room getting me ready to go. They were all very nice, and explained to us what would happen. The biggest thing we needed to know about was the spinal block that I would get since I had not had an epidural yet. Needless to say, all these people talking to us about all these different things was very scary for both Jason and myself, and many, many prayers were said for Baby Harrison and me during those tense minutes.

I was wheeled into the OR, and Jason waited outside. Inside, the doctors started saying things like 'stat' when they had trouble getting the fetal heart monitor hooked back up, and it was VERY scary for me to go though without Jason with me. But soon, Jason was allowed in and within mere minutes, we had a healthy baby boy. To spite all that preceded his birth, his APGAR score at 1 minute was an 8, and at 5 minutes, it was a 9. Jason asked the nurse if that was good, and she said, "Honey, I don't give 10s". :)

We were very blessed to have a healthy, happy, bouncing baby boy with a head FULL of hair. I promise to post more pictures soon as I have time, so stay tuned!!! For now, you can go to the Forsyth Medical Center website to view his hospital photos. Go to http://www.forsythmedicalcenter.org Select the "Online Nursery" on the left side, and then enter "43342" for the family password and "Jayne" for mother's first name.