Josiah's BIrth Story

The last few days have been a roller coaster of events, but looking back now we see how God's hand has been in it all. I'll start with the days of waiting. Every day we thought this would be the day, some days there were more signs than others. But there were signs, and yet we would go to bed each night and things would not progress. We were in almost daily contact with my midwife over the last few days and we were all wondering why things were not moving forward. It seemed Josiah's head just would not come down. Seemed like his head was stuck in an awkward position (which we found out later to be true). So our midwife suggested several things to get things 'into position' but none of them were working. And now we know why :) Over these few waiting days we kept saying how God's timing was perfect, and we realized again how absolutely true that is. Finally on the morning of January 8th (Mark's birthday) I went for an ultrasound appointment to make sure baby was OK. After the ultrasound I went to see my midwife and she checked me to find that things had changed a little, so maybe "this would be the day!" Mark and I went out for lunch when my midwife called and said that the ultrasound showed that I was low on amniotic fluid so she consulted a doctor and she had said I should come in right away to the hospital and get labor going. At this point I was a little frustrated, as this is not the way 'I' wanted things to go. But Mark and I talked it through and felt that this was the best thing at this point. When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitor and a short while later the doctor came in to rupture my membranes. She wasn't sure if it had worked because it was hard to reach and because the amniotic fluid was low, she couldn't tell. So she said she would check back in a couple of hours and see how things were progressing. By then my midwives had arrived and we kind of all just sat there and looked at each other and joked how we should have brought some cards or something so we could play a game! My midwife was looking at the monitor and the print out of his heartbeat and had just said how healthy he looked. No sooner had those words come out of her mouth that the heartbeat went way low. Thinking that the baby had moved positions and that it was just picking up my pulse, they tried to find the heartbeat again. After realizing that it still wasn't working, she called in the nurse. The nurse got me to move different positions, but still the heartbeat stayed low. She got my midwife to check if the cord was coming first, it wasn't. They called in the doctor who put a monitor on baby's head to get the heart beat that way. The heart beat which was before from 120-145 was now 50-104. And from there everything went fast forward. Everyone was telling me to do this and that, hands and knees, side to side and finally the doctor said that I needed to have a c-section. Within what seemed a couple of minutes I was signing papers, drinking 'something' (I later found out was for nausea) and was whisked off to the OR. As I looked up at the ceiling I thought 'This is just like a movie. Am I really living this?' I felt bad for Mark that he couldn't come in the room because they were putting me right out. After getting in the operating room there was a person on every side of me doing 'something'. And then they put me to sleep. I looked at the time and it was 2:45 p.m. He was born at 2:55 p.m. I was dreaming nicely and then woke up to excruciating pain in my stomach. The nurse told me that I had a baby boy. It took me a little while to get my bearings. And then it all came back. My baby was out. At that point I was shaking uncontrollably because of the pain until the morphine kicked in. They asked me if I wanted to see my baby. Of course I said yes. A couple minutes later Mark walked in with him. I looked at Mark and gave a feeble 'Happy Birthday' and then kissed and kissed my baby boy. I was too emotional to speak, so I just kissed as it sunk in that he was a little miracle that we were very close to losing. The nurse later told us that when they took Josiah out and he was crying they gave a cheer. They also mentioned how amazing it was that everyone that was needed to do the surgery was right there and that both operating rooms were empty at the time. I should also have been off the monitor the time the heartbeat went down, but for 'some reason' I was on longer. We all know why! Josiah and I are doing great. I had to stay in the hospital a day longer because my blood pressure is up. They put me on medication and hopefully it settles down on its own. I am so glad to be back home with our family.