Little Mister Roman: Roman's Birth Story

Monday September 15th 2014:
I got home from work around 4:30 pm and I was having terrible back pain! This wasn't unusual after standing at work for 8 hours so I didn't think much of it. I laid down on my bed to try and relieve some of the pain. After a little while I started having some back cramps that would slowly travel to my lower abdomen. This was something new that I had never felt before...so of course I googled it! Every symptom I was experiencing were the symptoms of back labor! This was the first time my whole pregnancy that I had even had a contraction. I hadn't even really had any Braxton Hicks contractions from what I was aware of. My contractions weren't super bad so I figured I had just over done it that day and that they would go away after laying down for a bit. Vong got home from work around 6:30 and I told him I thought I was having some contractions, and they had been pretty consistent since I got home from work. [[Over the weekend Vong had kept talking to my stomach and telling Roman he needed to come out and play...and I kept telling him to stop saying that. ha!]] Vong got kind of nervous and told Roman he was just kidding and he couldn't come out yet! After dinner we started watching Sons of Anarchy...we had been binge watching the last season all weekend so we could be caught up to the current season on TV. We had 3 episodes left until we were caught up and we just had to finish that night! While watching TV I started timing my contractions and they were consistently 5 minutes apart and about 30 seconds long. By the time we finished all of the episodes I had been having contractions for about 5 hours, consistently 5 minutes apart. I read online [what did people do before google?!] that if you are in labor your contractions need to be 3-5 min apart max and 60-90 seconds long..mine weren't quite long enough so I figured I probably wasn't in labor haha.
We decided to go to bed..I took a Benadryl to try and help me fall asleep faster. My contractions were still about 4 minutes apart and getting more painful...I would almost fall asleep and then one would hit and I would jump out of bed and walk around to try and distract myself from the pain. Poor Vong trying to fall asleep while I keep jumping out of bed every 5 minutes! haha After about an hour of this game I decided to call labor and delivery to see what I should do. They asked me how far apart my contractions were and how painful they were. She said I could come in and get checked if I would like. I realllllly didn't want to go the hospital and get sent home...after all this was the first time I had even had contractions there was no way I could be in labor. I tried to lay back down for a little while but couldn't get comfortable, so I told Vong I was going to take a shower [my hair hadn't been washed in 4 days...and there was no way I was going to give birth with dirty hair lol] Vong was delirious and so confused why I would be taking a shower at 2:00 AM..I told him not to ask questions. After my shower my contractions were only a minute and a half apart and about 40 seconds long....uhhh yikes! I woke up Vong and told him I think I really am in Labor and we should go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital just after 3:00 am. We went up to labor and delivery and got all checked in. Of course while we are checking in I didn't have any contractions... but I told the nurses I was still having them. They got me all checked in and had me change, so they could see if I was dilated at all. Turns out I was dilated to a 3! Which was surprising because the last time I had gotten checked at my doctor I wasn't dilated at all. The nurse told me that they couldn't admit me until I was dilated to a 4, so she was going to monitor the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes and then I would have to go walk around the hospital for 2 hours...2 hours?! She hooked up the monitor and left the room...about 10 minutes later 3 people came into the room, one of the nurses told me that Roman's heart rate was dropping significantly with each contraction so they were going to admit me to labor and delivery right away so they could monitor him more closely. Honestly Vong and I were a little in shock because we were thinking we would just get sent home, and that there was no way I was really in labor. All the nurses started bustling around the room, put an IV in my arm, and got the bed ready to wheel me away. Once I arrived in my labor and delivery room they hooked up more monitors for the baby and asked me if I wanted my Epidural right away. We had only been at the hospital for maybe 30 minutes at this point and I wasn't sure how long I would be in labor for and didn't want to be numb all day. I asked if there was another option to help manage the pain and they said they could give me some meds through my IV. I opted for that option...bad idea. Didn't do anything for my pain, and it just made me so tired and groggy! About 15 minutes later they came in and told me they needed to give me my epidural now because there was a good chance I was going to have to get a C-Section if they couldn't get Roman's heart rate under control. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural, but before she could hook it up to the continual drip she got called out to an emergency C-Section..she apologized and told me she wasn't sure how numb I would get with the dose she gave me, but she would come back as soon as she could to finish it. Well just my luck, the numbness only went half way up my thighs, so I could still feel my contractions and I couldn't move around very well cause my legs were numb!
About 30 minutes later Roman's heart rate was getting worse with each contraction so they checked me again and I was already at a 6! They decided to break my water and see if that would help him at all. They then inserted a Vaginal heart monitor and hooked it to his head so they could get a more consistent accurate reading. Shortly after this the anesthesiologist came back and finished my epidural, and at the same time they decided they needed to give me a shot to stop my labor because it was putting too much stress on Roman. They told me we had to do a C-Section because the contractions were just too much for him and they were pretty sure the cord was getting pinched with each contraction. We then waited for the Doctor on call to get there and they took me back for my C-Section. I was still a little out of it and I was having a lot of anxiety. Everything had happened so quickly, we had only been at the hospital for 4 hours...fastest 4 hours of my life!

Vong was able to come in after they prepped me for surgery and it was so nice to have him right by my head. Being awake while your abdomen is being rummaged through is the strangest thing ever! The U of U is a teaching hospital so there were residents and other students participating in the operation. It didn't help my anxiety to hear them talking through the whole process haha. "Oh be careful...don't cut too deep...oh that's her bladder...etc" uhhhh yeah freaked me out! If I ever have to get a c-section again I already told Vong I want to be put to sleep :/. The c-section was pretty quick, they got him out and he immediately started screaming! His cord was wrapped around his neck really tight 3 times! No wonder is poor heart rate was dropping so much during my contractions. Such a blessing that they decided to do a C-section. Vong was supposed to cut his cord but when they saw how small he was everyone was concerned and just got him cleaned off and wrapped up as fast as possible. They brought him over so I could see him before they took him to the nursery. He was wide awake and content. He had already stopped crying :)

Vong left with Mr Roman to go get weighed and cleaned up all the way. They put all of my insides back...and stapled me up. Vong then came back in and told me that he only weighed 3 lbs 7 oz at that point I was really concerned and confused because he was only a week and a half early, and should have weighed a lot more than that! [More to come on his size]
It really was love at first site, and we fall more in love with him every day :)