Sorry it took me so long to get back online. I'm still stuck in Sleep Deprivation Land on a feed-change-sleep cycle, so please forgive my absence. We're starting to get into a routine, so hopefully I'll be able to get back into whatever the new normal is soon.
Thank you all for your caring and well wishes. I did get a chance to read them all, it's just taken me this long to get a minute to post a reply! So here goes the longer version of Zachary's birth story, as well as some more pictures
For those who don't know, my husband and I were told many years ago that we wouldn't be able to have anymore children due to scar tissue tying off my tubes. We were obviously upset, but have had plenty of time to "get over it" and be happy with the kids we do have. Early this past October we received the news that the docs were mistaken, and we were expecting a miracle child (with our older ones being 13 & 14 years old
).
Since this was definitely not planned ahead of time, I was still on all of my AS meds for the first eight weeks of the pregnancy (stopped cold turkey when I found out though- that was fun), and so I was seen my a perinatal specialist in addition to the regular OB for awhile. Between the two docs, it was decided that I should stay on my Enbrel shots, and take Norco (hydrocodone and Tylenol) when I absolutely needed it. They also had me take Protonix once my heartburn got too severe to cope with
. (My hips, pubic joint, and back were in agony by the time I was ready to deliver because of the extra weight and the shift in my center of gravity, but I would do it again in a heartbeat, without hesitation.)
The perinatologist did frequent (monthly) ultrasounds to keep an eye on the baby. When I was about seven months along, he told me that unless I developed gestational diabetes or some other late-pregnancy related condition, there was no reason for me to return to see him. There was simply nothing concerning about the baby to "follow". The regular OB did weekly nonstress tests for the rest of the pregnancy, and again the baby was just perfect in all aspects.
Now, each of my other two children were born via emergency c-sections for different reasons. Due to this history, and the damage from the AS, the doc and I agreed that we'd go ahead with a planned repeat cesarean rather than risk injury or worse from labor. Since the baby was developing perfectly normally, and looked to be a healthy weight as well, we scheduled his delivery for 1 1/2 weeks before he was due.
We went friday morning (May 19) at 5 am for a 6:30 surgery. They took me in right on time to get the spinal anesthesia. I was a little afraid of this part even though they'd done spinals with my other deliveries... back then I had never heard of AS, although looking back I had already developed symptoms... but the spinal worked perfectly without any "incident". Since this OB wasn't the one who had seen the scar tissue all those years ago, he was allowing for the possibility that it might take a while to get to the baby, and even longer to sew me up afterward. He made his first cut at 6:58, and Baby Zachary was born at 7:01. No idea what happened to that ghost tissue. I was back in my room by 7:30, holding my perfectly healthy boy in my arms by 8. He was able to stay with me in my room the entire stay in the hospital, and we went home just before lunchtime on Sunday.
Pretty smooth for a high risk pregnancy, huh?
Ok, now for the good part... PICTURES!!!
