How Ash Got Here

No, I'm not going to explain the birds and the bees. I'm sure you can Google that if you have any questions...

Up until May 26th, I had a pretty easy, low-risk pregnancy. All of my pre-natal visits went very well, I had virtually no negative side-effects except for just a couple of weeks of nausea early on... Then, the week of May 22nd, I spent the week in Atlanta for work. By the time I got home, I had swollen ankles - not surprising considering the long plane ride and the hot and humid weather down south. I woke up Friday morning, May 26th, and the swelling just hadn't gone away yet.

Since it was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, and Sean was down in Texas visiting Eric, I decided I'd give the doctor's office a call just to see if I should come in. They suggested I should, and when I arrived, my blood pressure was a 'little high' and the swelling was still there - although going away. They decided to do a quick blood test to just make sure I wasn't showing any signs of pre-eclamsia. Friday evening the doctor called back to say the blood tests were mostly fine, and since my regular doctor's visit was that Wednesday, she was ok with me going on with my weekend.

So, I went camping Saturday night (couldn't miss the Iron Camp Chef contest!!) and when Sean came home Monday, we went for a bike ride down to the Creek Festival here in Boulder.

Then Wednesday at my doctor's appointment, my pressure was up again. She asked that I take it easy and do a 24 hour urine test to check for protein, which I guess is released with high blood pressure and is a sign of concern.

We went back on Friday to get the test results. And that was the 'beginning of it all'!! The test results showed a TON of protein. My doctor put me on a monitor to watch the baby's heart rate; called a high-risk pregnancy OBGYN, Dr. Plotnick; and then gently told us that we'd need to go to the hospital - the baby may need to come early.

Needless to say, Sean and I were . We did drive home, packed a bag or two, called Pat to pick up Boscoe (THANK YOU AGAIN, PAT) and drove to Boulder Community Foothills Hospital.

Once at the Hospital, they sent me to the Labor and Delivery area where they checked me and Ash out. They decided that his heartrate looked stable enough to see if he could stay inside a while longer. The next morning, Saturday, they had me start another urine test while I was on bedrest and they monitored Ash's heartrate the whole time.

When the results from the second urine test came back on Sunday, the protein had more than doubled. Although we had REALLY hoped that the bedrest would bring down my pressure and allow Ash to stay inside longer, they made the final decision that it was time for Ash to make an appearance. So, on Sunday night, the started giving me medicine to induce labor...

Monday morning, I had contractions for a few hours. I kept pushing the nurse to turn up the volume on the medicine giving me contractions because I was DETERMINED to have this child on 6/5/06 - not on 6/6/06 which would just stink as a birth date (The Omen...). We were going through contractions until it was noticed that Ash's little heart rate would continuously drop with each one. It was determined that natural childbirth was going to have to be forgotten, and I was prepped for a C-Section. At this point, I think we were both feeling pretty defeated - keeping him in didn't work, natural childbirth didn't work, and now we were going with the 'last resort'. In a way, it was at least a relief to know there wasn't going to be another plan. This was it. We were having a baby today.

Sean snapped a few photos after putting on his very sexy scrubs, and we wheeled off to the operating room to meet the baby and find out if it was a girl or boy!!!

During the procedure, Sean was behind the curtain next to me. It was a very weird feeling to mentally know what was going on, but not being able to feel a darn thing. After what seemed like an eternity and a flash of a second all at once, the doc said, "OK Dad, time to look now". Sean stood up, peeked over the curtain (a vision I'm so glad I don't have in my head!!) and out came the baby! They told us it was a boy. I cried.

Sean will probably have to tell his story about what happened then. I know they took Ash to a little warmer in the corner, and then brought him over to me and set him on my chest. I cried.

All in all, when and how Ash was born was not exactly our 'birth plan'. But I have to say that I'm so thankful for the great pre-natal care at the hospital here, my great team of doctors and nurses that worked with us (and continue to work on little Ash), and Sean. He was cool as a cucumber towards me when I lost my sh** every few hours - I don't know what on earth I would have done had this all happened when he was in Texas!! (Eric, you are so lucky as I'm sure I would have figured out a creative way to blame ya...)