David's Story Part 1

Welcome to the World David

The story of how David got here is quite different from that of his sister Emily's.  Hers was the classic story of awaking in the middle of the night finding you are in labor and proceeding to the hospital to have a text book (practically storybook) type of labor and delivery!  Little David on the other hand starts back about 33 weeks gestation....

It was a rather general ultrasound checkup at 33 weeks to see if my pesky placenta had moved up and out of the way.  Apparently at 20 weeks it was down a little low.  Doctor had said this was pretty common and it should move out of the way by then, no biggie.

I figured since it was just going to be a quick in and out appointment, daddy didn't have to come with me, so instead Grandma Choate came along.  It was supposed to be a lighthearted and fun appointment.

Well, things suddenly changed when the tech started to do his measurements.  Something wasn't right, however, not a word was spoken.  Next thing I know he's telling me he's going to bring in the doctor to double check a few things and try to accurately find where the placenta was as well.

Doctor "no beside manner" came in and did his thing.  The tech and him whispered things back and forth and proceeded to scare me even more.  Finally the news.  "Your amniotic fluid is rather low and your baby is measuring too small."  Huh?  What does that mean??  "Oh and he frank breech (butt down, feet up against face).  Fabulous.

They put me in a small office and said they were going to call my doctors office.  I sat there and tried my best to hold it together.  I had no clue what was going on.  Finally they came back and simply said "Your doctor will call you later."  Wow.  So I just had to leave and speculate on what the heck was going on.  Me and Grandma went down to Starbucks and had a coffee, trying to figure out what to do next and what was going on.  Without talking to my doctor, all we could do was just hope it was nothing and try not to dwell on it too much.

We parted ways and I went to my car and just lost it.  I called dad and he instantly said he was coming home.  Figures, the only appointment he doesn't come to is the one where I needed him most!!  I just thought it was going to be the same old humdrum thing - look at the baby, tell me the placenta has moved, get a few pictures, send me on my merry way!!

I called the doctor and got the "diagnosis".  Baby was measuring under the 5th percentile.  It was something known as IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction).  Typically is can happen when the placenta is not developing well or if the mother is not taking care of herself properly (poor diet, drinking, smoking, etc).  I was instructed that I would now need to monitored quite heavily and go to the doctors and hospital about 4 times a week for numerous scans and checkups.  I took a deep breath and immediately set up all the appointments I needed for the next few weeks.  The doctor also said he felt the baby would need to be delivered at around 37 weeks, which is full term.  That was only 3 1/2 weeks away!!

After the shock wore off, I did a little research and set up an appointment for a consultation with the doctor.  I came in with a laundry list of questions to get to the bottom of what was going on.  We left feeling confident that baby was just going to be a little on the small side, but that there shouldn't be any other issues.

Mere days later (a Saturday morning), I went in for one of my many appointments to get monitored.  They hooked me up just to check out baby's heartbeat and movement.  They also decided to take a peak at my fluid levels as well.  Not so good.  Need to stay for observation.....

Well, my phone didn't work in the hospital so getting ahold of dad was proving to be a problem.  I had to end up borrowing a nurses phone to call home.  As soon as I relayed the news, he sprung into action, got Emily to her grandparents and came to the hospital to be with me.

Four IV attempts, two steroid shots, three ultrasounds and a four day stay total we finally came out of there in the clear.  What exactly happened is completely unclear and really seemed like just a little bad luck in the chain of events.  But it was just a relief to know that baby was okay and we still had a couple weeks left before delivery.

The last few weeks went quickly with all the appointments keeping me busy.  Since everything was going as well as it was besides the small factor, I now was given the option of an induction under one condition - baby needs to flip out of the breech position!

Well, mama tried everything.  Exercises, cold packs against baby's head, and even acupuncture with moxibustion - now that was some interesting stuff.  But nothing happened.  He moved a ton, but still not in the right direction.

We dropped Emily off the night before at Grandma and Grandpa Choate's house without incident.  We then headed over to one of our favorite restaurants for my "last meal" as I wasn't allowed to eat prior to surgery and who knew when I would eat next.  We went to Kona and ordered our favorite appetizer and split our favorite entree.  We shared a creme brulee for dessert.  It was definitely a great last meal!

Here are some photos of my last weeks of pregnancy, including the pesky impromptu hospital stay.....

32 weeks! Emily's birthday party.

33 weeks!

Contractions picked up on the monitor....

Yucky IV

Mom just wants to get out of here

35 weeks

36 weeks - The day before the big day!

Stay tuned for Part 2!