Things have been crazy for the Fox family. I started having contractions the morning of Feb 16th. They were mild and I was given terbutyline and procardia to halt the contractions and allow my uterus to calm down. Brian had planned to head back to Army training that morning but cancelled his flight. The next morning things had calmed so he flew back to the East Coast early on Feb 17th. I was still having sporatic contractions and by 8am they were 9 minutes apart and regular. The Doctor said he wouldn't do anything to halt my labor this time. My last dose of procardia was administered at 2pm and my sisters were checking in constantly. I told them both something didn't feel right and that I thought the contractions were getting stronger and a bit closer together. The problem was that none of my contractions were registering on the monitor. Knowing I wasn't crazy, I vocalized how painful they had become and how I thought something was wrong. Brenda got to the hospital at 3pm and they were 7 minutes apart. The nurse moved the contraction monitor down to my extreme lower abdomen and they were finally able to catch a few to know it was time. The baby girl was ready to be born.
They moved me to a different room that was larger for the actual delivery. It was at that point that the fear and panic set in for me. The doctor checked my cervix and I was dialated to 3cm. Have I mentioned how painful it was everytime they checked my cervix? It was the worst pain I've ever felt. The Doctor decided he wanted me to show a little more progress in labor to start the epidural. I was already in tears from the pain I'd experienced thus far, and knowing how fast the baby was coming, I became a bit hysterical. I thought to my self that I couldn't make it through labor and delivery without an epidural. The NICU team was congregating in the delivery room to set up the transport and their gear for the baby once she was born. The nurses had to take blood from my foot because they couldn't find a decent vein in my arms. The Doctor came back in and marked me for an emergency c-section, saying it was very likely but we'd hope for a vaginal delivery first. The thought of surgery scared me, but then again so did the thought of a natural delivery. Either way, this baby was ready. He checked my cervix and finally decided to let anesthesia start the epidural since I was dialated to 5cm. I had to hunch over the bed and my sisters held me up, trying to take my mind off the pain from the contractions and epidural going in, by talking about our trips to Hawaii and the Dominican Republic. I focused on the pain. My contractions were about 4 mins apart and I could barely breathe through them at this point. They were getting stronger and more painful. She was coming faster. The epidural began to kick in a bit to take the edge off, but it was still another 20 mins until I found relief in the epidural. My legs began to go numb and the contractions dissipated. The Doctor came in to check my cervix yet again and surprise, I was dialated to 10cm.
"Let's have a baby", He said.
My sisters were in shock that I had dialated so quickly. It had only been 2 hours since I moved rooms. The rest of the NICU staff joined the room and prepared for the baby, while the Doctor got into position on his chair with the bright light focused on my lower half. My sister Marsha put the phone up to my ear so Brian could talk to me. I didn't know at the time, but he was on an airport tram during the birth of our girl. They told me to pull my knees to my chest and start pushing. It was an insane moment, I was ready to have our baby girl and yet I didn't realize what was happening. It went by so fast. Another 3 pushes and she was out. The baby girl was out.
The Doctor handed her immediately to the NICU staff and they began working on her. She was intebated with a breathing tube and the NICU team got her stablized over the course of the next 20 minutes. I was so focused on her that I didn't realize what was happening to me. I was hemmoraging, badly. The Doctor demanded for the nurses to get a dose of pitosin and 2 other shots in me immediately. The look of concern on my sisters' faces said it all. I had been so worried about my daughter's entrance into the world and survival that I hadn't thought it possible for anything bad to happen to me. The Doctor was finally able to get my bleeding under control and the NICU team took my baby out of the room and transported her to the NICU. My sisters went with her as I told them to. My parents and sister Kari stayed in my delivery room while I recovered a bit. My lower half was numb for the next 2 hours. All I wanted was to be able to rush to the NICU and see my daughter. My sisters were giving me updates via text message, but I wanted to see her.
2 hours passed and I was able to move my legs enough to get into a wheelchair and go up to the NICU. I was wheeled to her bedside and couldn't believe my eyes. I had never seen anything more beautiful in my life. My daughter was here. She had all sorts of tubes inserted into her tiny little body. She weighed 2lbs 3oz and was 15 inches long with a full head of black hair just like I had when I was born. A preemie. She looked like a plastic little doll, so fragile and small. It was in that moment that I began to process what had just happened to me. As difficult as bedrest for 9 days had been, as much pain as labor caused, as hard as her arrival into the world had been...it was all for a purpose. It was all for Emersyn. The most beautiful thing my eyes have seen is this precious girl, my daughter. Brian and I made her out of love, she was a part of my body, and now she is alive and breathing. She's here. Our girl is finally here.
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