11 Years Ago Today...

at 1:24 a.m. my life changed forever! Today is Garrett's 11th Birthday. I cannot believe that he is that old. I can still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. On February 6th, 1998 my doctor sent me over to the hospital for a non-stress test because Garrett was 3 days OVERDUE! He was supposed to be born on my birthday, but that would have been uncool to have to share your mom's birthday- so he waited. My mom and dad were up visiting from California, awaiting his arrival, and my mom drove me over to the hospital. During the test, I had a contraction and Garrett's heart rate had dropped enough to make them worried. They sent me to my doctor's office. I gave them a urine sample, got naked and under a sheet, and awaited the doctor. The nurse came in and took my blood pressure and it was sky rocketing, which it had NEVER done before. She had me lie on my left side and ran out of the room to get the doctor. As she walked out I began to feel a little trickle between my legs. I tried to stop myself from going to the bathroom all over the exam table, but I couldn't stop it. I sat up to begin looking for a towel or something to clean up my embarrassing mess. Right then the doctor and his nurse walked in. I said, "Dr. Woodmansee, I think I have just gone to the bathroom all over the table. I am so sorry! Oh my goodness, I am so embarrassed!" Dr. Woodmansee and his nurse began laughing as he lifted the sheet. He said, "Honey, your bladder couldn't hold this much fluid this late in the game. I believe your water just broke". I told him there was no GUSH like all of the pregnancy books had indicated. He again laughed and said not to believe anything I read in those books. They tested the mess... sure enough amniotic fluid. He sent me straight to the hospital. That was at 10:00 a.m.
We went to Mt. Timpanogos hospital (which had only been open for 5 days) because that is where my insurance said I had to deliver. We pulled up and half of the hospital was still under construction!!! No joke- plastic still covering where windows would eventually be. Only the ER and labor and delivery were up and running. The good part was, I was the first patient ever to use the room. That was the only good part! I had a nurse that had never worked labor and delivery before. She, nor my doctor (who had never delivered at this hospital before), knew where anything was located. My doctor couldn't even find gloves. Anyway, I got checked into my awesome, new, beautiful, delivery room and waited for Garrett to arrive. My doctor showed up at the hospital about 3:00 p.m. to find me smiling and laughing and enjoying my family's company. He claimed I shouldn't be smiling anymore and started me on "the Pit" (Pitocin). Prior to this I was thinking labor and delivery was a piece of cake and I was going to have this baby naturally because contractions were not so bad. Then the Pit kicked in... and I began to have some major contractions. Around 10:00 p.m. I had a 7 minute contraction, maxed out at 100%, and was HYPERVENTILATING. My dilation had gone from a 3 to an 8 in one contraction. I then got an epidural so I could breathe. I felt good- oh, I felt so good, uh!. They had turned the Pit down so I wouldn't have such intense contractions and it was then that my labor stopped for a while. In the meantime, my legs had gone completely numb from the epidural. In fact, at one time the nurse walked in, picked up my leg and put it back in the bed. It was hanging off the bed and I had no clue. It was an awful sensation not being able to move my own legs.
For over an hour, every time the nurse would check me she would say. "You're only at an 8. Just a little longer". My doctor finally came in and asked what my dilation was at. The nurse told him she had just checked it and I was still only at an 8. Dr. Woodmansee then checked me and said, "She's at a 10 and we need to get this baby out, he is already crowning". Needless to say, two pushes and less than 7 minutes later, Garrett was born. I had torn severely during delivery and the doctor spent the next 45 minutes sewing me up. The umbilical cord had been around Garrett's neck and that was what caused his heart rate to drop during contractions. But, he was here, he was safe, he was healthy, and he was really bruised. His poor head and face looked like he had just finished ten rounds of boxing.
The nurses took Garrett while the doctor fixed me up. When they brought him back he was all cleaned up and content. I never slept that night. I was so excited. The next day we had lots of visitors. I was exhausted and very sore, but doing alright. That night, Garrett began crying and never stopped. I called for nurses, but no one ever came. He wouldn't nurse, wouldn't take a bottle, cried if I held him, cried if I put him down. I felt like a failure already. He finally exhausted himself enough to fall asleep, but by this time I was in so much pain I couldn't sleep. I hadn't had any pain medicine or ice for my 4th degree tear since delivery. Early the next morning my doctor came in to check on us. He asked me a few questions, checked me out, checked Garrett out, looked through our charts, slammed the chart down on the table, and stormed out of my room. The next thing I knew, he was storming back into my room, with a charge nurse on his heels screaming at him. She yelled that she didn't understand why he felt he needed to order a transfer. Dr. Woodmansee got right up in her face and started screaming, "This baby was sick 12 hours ago, and I was never notified. This baby's respiratory rate is up to 98 breaths per minute and no one bothered to call me. AND LOOK AT HIS MOTHER!". The nurse began to respond and he told her to leave the room. As she walked out, the paramedics walked in with a stretcher FULL of machines. On top of the machines was a little box that they put my baby in. They handed me some release forms to sign, and then took my baby away. My doctor then explained that Garrett was sick and he was transferring him to a hospital where he knew Garrett would get the appropriate care. He then released me from the hospital and told me to go home and get 6 hours of sleep before I went over to see Garrett. YEAH RIGHT! He said he would stay with Garrett until I got there. Garrett stayed in the hospital for a few more days and I was running back and forth to the hospital every two hours with breast milk (which literally took me an hour to pump 2 oz.) that he was being tube fed. It was a traumatic time. A few days later he came home, with all kinds of restrictions. We could not have any visitors for 5 weeks. We could not take him out of the house for 8 weeks. Any visitors that came after the 5 week period had to wash their hands, have a clean bill of health, and basically not breathe while holding the baby. Needless to say, we survived all the drama and life became wonderful.
Garrett was a great baby, and still is a great kid. He is one of my very best friends and I love to hang out with him. Garrett is very athletic, intelligent, and humble. He is also very self-motivated and extremely responsible. I never have to worry about him. I am so lucky to be his mom.
I am going to try and get some pictures on here a little later when I can borrow my mom's scanner. But until then... HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY Big Guy!