Izyk James Nichols

Warning: There are not a lot of pictures at the moment but there will be more coming. If you don't like to read...I suggest you skip this blog. :) Also, I'm a little bit bitter...actually a whole lot bitter about how this labor went, though I'm thrilled that we all survived it. Enjoy...ish.

First of all, we are getting a lot of grief for his name. I don't care if teachers or people won't be able to pronounce his name when he gets older...you forget...my last name was NORBRYHN. I'd like to think I turned out okay even with a tough name. Secondly, his name isn't hard to pronounce, it's just spelled differently. SOUND IT OUT...eye-zik.

Let us talk about July 10th. I'd like to just say that my body does great pregnant. Pregnancy is grand for me. Labor apparently is my enemy. I've learned this and I've accepted this. July 10th was emotionally and physically traumatizing. I will never again drink raspberry leaf tea in my last trimester of pregnancy. I thought it was coincidence with Charley but 2 out of 2...I'm starting to believe the stuff works. I had a big mug of it at work on Friday afternoon. After getting home from work Ryan and I TALKED about how I should probably pack a bag...just in case. I said I'd do it this weekend sometime. I wasn't in a big hurry. I had 2 weeks left and my mom was planning on flying out here the following week anyway.

1:53 am I had woken up to use the restroom. Out came my mucous plug and amniotic fluid. Lots of it. Really? I sat on the toilet and cursed the red raspberry leaf tea. If you believe it to be coincidence, that's fine. It still gives me something to blame. I will blame tea. It took me a good 3 minutes to wake my hubby from his peaceful slumber to inform him that my water had broken and 1) we had no one to watch Charley 2) my bag wasn't packed 3) I'm trying really hard not to stress at the moment.

2:00am - Ryan spent a good 10 minutes calling people. We did not want to have to bring Charley with us being as it he is very unpleasant when woken up. I mean, who wouldn't be at 2 in the morning?

2:15am - We are on our way to the hospital with Charley coverage.

We get to the hospital and sign in. Two other women showed up at the same time with broken waters. Popular night. We got escorted to our room where I was instructed to remove all clothing. Oh goody. Let's begin my "birth plan"...

Side note: I've given up on birth plans as they clearly have no room in my life. I only become more and more disappointed as each time my birth plan is clobbered by the unexpected.

For the first 2 hours of labor, I didn't mention the internal monitors that my doctor had warned me about hoping that they might be forgotten. But 2 hours is all I got. My nurse came in and told me the doctor on duty said I needed internal monitors and if my doctor had mentioned it. Why, yes she did mention it. (As a laboring VBAC, they closely monitor contractions, the uterus, and the baby's heart rate) She then begins to tell me that she doesn't like putting in these internal monitors without an epidural. I ask why and am convinced that's not the kind of pain I want to feel on top of contracting. I agree to the epidural and am very thankful I did. The downhill path begins. The doctor on call comes in and talks about how everyone NEEDS to have their babies BEFORE 1pm. I ask why...wasn't really thinking about maybe she has some personal thing she needs to get to...at that moment, I really didn't care. I wanted to know why there was a cap on my laboring time. I got some "Well..." and "She needs to be somewhere..." blah blah blah. On top of it all, they would only let me push for 2 hours (due to me being VBAC and that whole uterine rupture chance [insert more blah's]). It came time to push, so I pushed. I pushed for two hours. I could've pushed longer...but I had surpassed the two hour mark. I tried every position in the book. It was kind of fun. I found my favorite positions to give birth in...if...I...ever...yeah, onward.

So, on top of laboring, this dude saunters in to my roomattached to the heels of my nurse. I'm a little confused. Is he lost? Does he not realize he's on the Labor & Delivery floor (there are NO males on this floor except spouses, significant others, family, etc.)? Everyone has left the room and Ryan and I begin to discuss this visitor. Ryan is getting a little uptight that he was in there. I think I was more confused than anything because they usually ask BEFORE new people are introduced into the mix. The doctor on call comes in, Ryan asks about this dude. She says they usually ask if it's okay, we tell her they didn't, she asks if we don't want him in there, Ryan tells her as long as he stands...I say no. I don't want random people in myroom.

So I get wheeled into the surgery room with an audience. They prep me for the c-section. The doctor begins to cut and saw away at my mid-section. Much to my horror, I'm feeling this. I say something and the doctor says that she has stopped. That's nice, I'm in absolute pain. Everyone starts kind of running around in a panic. Ryan is getting rushed out of the room, they're talking about knocking me out, and I'm trying really hard to keep calm. I wake up in Recovery with 2 different alarms going off and the nurse telling me to take deep breaths.

Break: Everything written in this paragraph is what I heard second hand from Ryan. He was watching from outside the operating room. Several things occurred. I shall list them:

1) Doctor "stabbed" herself with the cauterizing knife. She needed a new glove.

2) Doctor cut the side of my son's face while cutting me open giving him what she deemed to be a "superficial" cut.

3) Doctor apparently cut me in several areas not anywhere NEAR my c-section area. *thumbs up*

4) Izyk experienced some respiratory issues. He was under stress and couldn't "catch" his breath leaving him purple.

5) Ryan had to carry our newborn son, not breathing, to NICU.

Needless to say, Ryan got to experience a whole slew of emotions within 20 minutes.

Okay, I wake up in Recovery...wait, wait, wait, I get WOKEN up every 2 minutes because (AGAIN) my heart rate is too low. (Note: I've always had a low heart rate. For one, it runs in my family and two, as a runner I am graced with an incredibly slow pulse. This same thing happened when I had Charley).

The rest of the day is spent talking about the events of the day...oh and stats...

Born 2:19pm via c-section (that I was unconscious for) on July 10th 2010. Izyk weighed in at 6lbs 15 oz and measured at 20 inches long.