Feb 10 2011

Liam Walter Penberthy

Born 2-10-11

7:43 am

5lbs 1 oz

18in Long

The "Story"

Well, I'll start at my 35 week appointment. At each appointment the doctor would measure my stomach.... the inches would correspond to the week you were in pregnancy. So if you were 28 weeks you measuremeant should be 28in. Throughout my pregnancy I had been measuring right on target, UNTIL my 35 week appt. where I was measuring 34 still. The Dr. said that it wasn't a problem, we would just keep an eye on things and If I still measure 34in the next week then we would consider doing and ultrasound, just to make sure everything was ok. So come 36 weeks I was STILL measuring 34in so we set up an ultrasound for that Friday.

ok, so i should insert something here. the Dr. actually left it up to me if we should do

ultrasound or not. Most likely she said the baby was just small, but for safe measures

maybe they should do an ultrasound "just in case". I debated whether or not to do it

(they are not cheap), and just felt that I should. This prompting ended up being a

great tender mercy from the Lord, as I shall now explain.

So, the ultrasound (which was so amazing being able to see our baby) ended up revealing a few very important things.

1) I had Placenta Previa; easy way of explaining it is the placenta implanted low. It was covering the opening of the cervix.

2) My placenta looked "old". This is the actual term the Dr. used. I asked if it was because I was old. She laughed and told me I was not old (27), that it was the actual term used. How she explained it was that it had calcification's and stuff on it indicating that it had matured too fast. This was a possible reason that the baby was so small, because the placenta wasn't giving him the correct nourishment he needed because it was too "old". This was their best guess, there was no real way to tell.

So what happened next? I was sent directly to the hospital for a non-stress test, to make sure the baby was ok. I think I kept things pretty calm at this point. Oh, and they had told me that I was going to have to have a C-section, that they would not let me attempt to deliver vaginally or certain death! (ok so I added the certain death part, but thats kinda what they made it sound like). In reality it would not be safe for me or the baby to attempt a normal vaginal delivery.

Back to the hospital part. The 30 min non-stress test ended up turning in to a 4 or 5 hour hospital stay with lots of tests and medications. All the nurses were supper nice and Sean ended up coming to be with me ( i had originally told him i was fine, just one 30 min test, don't worry about it and I would call him when I was done). At one point they told me that if they couldn't get the contractions stopped they would take me in for a C-section that night. At that point I told Sean I needed him and let my emotions get to me a bit. I was NOT ready for that! After all was said and done that day in the hospital they sent me home with medication to take to stop contractions and told me to be on bed rest.

Two and a half long weeks later we woke up at 4:15 am to make it to the hospital by 5 am for my scheduled C-Section. Because I'm a baby, and I was so nervous the few hours leading up to the C-section (IV's, tests, machines etc) were the worst. Although I had had a friend answer all my questions in detail about what was going to happen, I was still so nervous. Partly for myself, partly because there was a good chance that our baby wasn't going to be healthy and have medical problems.

Sean was great, and as always so calm and practical. He was able to go into the operating room with me. He sat and held my hand, part of the time he would be looking at me and talking to me, part of the time he would be looking at the other side of the curtain watching what was going on. Then at 7:43am our little boy was born into this world. I was totally numb (thank goodness) so the first sign I had was hearing his tiny cry. At that moment a swell of emotion flooded my being. It's not really an emotion or feeling that I can describe in words. They briefly brought him around the curtain for me to see, then off to the other side of the room he went. As planned Sean stayed with him, witnessing his first few minutes of life. After they were "done" with me I was wheeled to the recovery room. I don't remember a whole lot about that, I do remember asking about my baby several times, making sure he was ok. Somewhere around 10, 10:30 am they took me back to my room where Sean and my parents were waiting for me. At this point Liam was having trouble breathing and was in the nursery in an oxygen tent, and he had an IV. I didn't even get to see him or hold him until around 6pm that day! I felt kinda sorry for all the family and friends who came to see him, all they got to see was me on hydros =). But oh, when they FINALLY wheeled me down to see him, and I held him on my chest I couldn't help but cry. Sean's brother came by to visit at that point (no visitors in the nursery) so Sean went out to talk with him, and me and my baby were left in the nursery all by ourselves. Which was so special. Although I all ready loved him beyond words from feeling him move and grow in my womb, being able to actually look at him, and hold him and kiss him made me fall even deeper in love with him. When I fell in love with Sean it was a gradual thing, with Liam it was an instant thing. He is a dream come true in more ways than one. We love him, and all ready cant imagine our lives being as happy as they are without him.

(oh, and around 11pm that night they were able to take him off oxygen and brought him to our room where he stayed for the duration of our hospital stay, healthy as can be. He did have his IV and oxygen sensors for that first night, which were kind of scary every time and alarm would go off, but we all survived =) )