Annie's birth story

Decided I should probably get this written down somewhere before it is gone from my memory. It's long, feel free to skip this entry and I won't be offended.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:40a.m. on Thursday. They were ready and waiting for us in L&D. While I did the last bit of paperwork, Brad was pointed to our prep room so he could put our stuff down. Stephanie and Andrea were my nurses and they escorted me to the room even though I wasn't finished signing everything. "She can do it in the room. We need to get started." Once in the room, I could tell they were in a rush. Andrea tried to start an IV in my left arm, but my vein blew. It hurt but it wasn't horrible; however, that little incident made me realize how much pressure we were *all* under to get me into the OR before 7a.m. Suddenly, I felt nauseous. Both nurses were saying "Breathe! Deep breaths!" and then I realized it wasn't nausea I felt, I was about to faint. They laid the head of my bed flat but didn't want to let me roll onto my side. Um, I have a 7-pound-plus baby in me, I cannot breathe laying flat on my back! Finally I got them to agree to allow me to roll onto my right side before Annie suffocated me. Stephanie got the IV started in my right arm and the light-headedness passed.

Dr. Wilkerson came in to discuss my spinal along with the resident who had been on call the night before (with Dr. W) and the resident who would be coming on at 7:00 - and who didn't get to attend my delivery because the anesthesiology faculty assigned to OB that day came in (I love having an aunt who works in the anesthesiology department - and Dr. Shah was wonderful!!). As we finished discussing how we'd handle things, Todd and Tim came in. We talked about Shannon's delivery - a friend of ours who is married to a surgeon in India - had come back home to deliver her baby. The baby was taken at 34 weeks gestation for intrauterine growth retardation due to placental insuffiency. A few minutes later, my new nurse (shift change) came in. She actually had to come on shift early to be there for my section. I said, "In cas you haven't heard, we're on a major deadline from Paul." She laughed and said, "Yeah, I heard something about that in report." We realized that the rest of the nurses and the anesthesiologists were "hovering" in the entry to my room. Todd said, "Tim, if we don't pray now I think we'll be praying as they wheel her into the OR" So, Tim prayed and then Todd prayed quickly that I wouldn't get sick. As soon as he said "Amen" the medical team advanced on me, tossed Brad his blue suit and we headed off to the OR. They parked Brad in his chair outside the operating room and rolled me in to finish the prep work.

Dr. Shah and Amber served as my support while Dr. Wilkerson did my spinal. Once I was on my back, they gave me phenergan and I started feeling loopy. Then I heard Paul come in and start cracking jokes. "Has anyone bothered to check that we have the correct patient? This is Maria Dominguez and we're doing a tubal. Right?" Dr. Wilkerson said, "Oh, I thought it was a brain transplant and that's why I gave her a spinal." I was so drugged from the phenergan I couldn't talk until Mary Pat, the OB resident, asked, "Gina, are we doing a tubal?" My reply was a loud, clear, "Don't you DARE!" Paul said, "Don't tell the guy in the hall, but she wants to do this one more time whether he's part of it or not." Then he said, "Okay, let's go get this little boy. Are we all here? Everyone scrubbed?" Everyone laughed because they all knew Annie was the baby they were going after, not some little boy. They raised the drape and Paul said, "Go get Brad" and before Brad was in the room, I heard Mary Pat say, "I'm starting!"

Brad sat on his stool and held my hand. Dr. Shah stood at my head and rubbed my head, making sure I was okay and not feeling sick. I could hear Paul and Mary Pat talking to one another, I felt a lot of tugging. At one point, I felt like they were going to pull me off the table. Paul told me later that wasn't my imagination; had they not had me strapped to the table, I would've been on the floor. They had to do a lot of pulling and tugging to get through the scar tissue.

It seemed like forever, but was only about 15 minutes after we started that I heard the loudest screaming I've ever heard from a newborn. Annie was born at 7:17a.m. and she was none too happy about it. She was howling before Paul ever suctioned her. Brad was snapping pictures like crazy. Everyone on the other side of the drape was laughing and saying how they'd never heard a c-section baby scream that loud but how wonderful a sound it was. Of course, Paul couldn't resist and several times said, "She's her mother's child" I told him, "If I could move my legs, I'd kick you." He replied, "That's why you have a spinal and I have your legs strapped to the table." The pediatrician didn't stop to let me see her, which really ticked me off. They took her straight to the warmer. Brad was still taking a ton of pictures. Every few seconds he would stop, turn to me and say, "She's got hair!" Then he'd take more pictures, turn to me and say, "She has a ton of hair! And it's curly!" I would reply with "Let me see her!!!" I wanted to see her so badly! Finally, they wrapped her up, handed her to Brad and he carried her to me. Then, all I wanted to do was look at her face, touch her, tell her I loved her and kiss her before they carted her off to the nursery.

After Paul & Mary Pat put me back together and I was being wheeled into recovery, Paul said, "You've had another little Egg clone!" Yes, and how sweet is she?! He told me he'd be in recovery to talk to me in a few minutes. After he finished paperwork, he went down to the nursery to check on Annie before coming in to see me. He reported to me that she weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. He also said, "As much as I hate to say this, I think you and Brad have made the right decision in making her your last. The scar tissue was pretty bad and another section would be difficult on you." That made me feel good about our decision to limit our family to three children.

I didn't get Annie until 9:30 because she had trouble regulating her temperature in the nursery. Shortly after they brought her to me, they brought me a syringe of formula because her blood sugar was dangerously low at 29. We gave her the formula and they retested her an hour later - her glucose level had recovered to 71 which was excellent. There weren't any open rooms in the Mother-Baby unit so they held us in recovery. While we were there, Sammie came up, then Jennifer H. and Mary Kate A. came by. We had a great time since we had the entire recovery room to ourselves.

They finally moved us to 5A at about 5:30p.m. But, they moved us to room 501. After Brad had already unpacked everything they said, "Oh, we're moving you to 503 as soon as it gets cleaned - this room doesn't have a shower." So, Brad packed everything back up. About 45 minutes later, they did move us -- but to 502, which was the room I was in when Katherine was born. I even had several of the same patient care techs this time - and a couple of them remembered us.

That evening, after dinner, Mom and Dad brought the girls up to see us and meet their baby sister. Katherine immediately climbed onto my bed and wanted to hold the baby. Elizabeth wasn't far behind her. I could tell they were excited as they kissed Annie and loved on her. They were so sweet. Brad took a million photos and everything was wonderful - until it was time for them to leave. Elizabeth cried all the way to the elevator and I learned later that she cried all the way to Mom & Dad's house. Poor punkin. She wanted to stay there with me and her "new baby sister". Sweet biggest girl. That made me ready to get home!