Hudson's Birth Story

As I look back to December 17th, the day our son was born I can't help but get teary eyed. It was one of the scariest but best days of my life. With him having gastroschisis it made everything about his delivery very unsure and uncertain. We didn't know if he could tolerate labor, we didn't know what amount of surgery he would need, we didn't know if he would even be able to make it through surgery. All we knew was to trust God because it was all in His hands and we knew that was the best place it could be.

We went into the hospital on Monday December 16th to start our induction. I had gone to the doctor on Monday morning to check for any progress, have one last NST, and get all the paperwork we would need to be admitted at the hospital later that day. I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced, which for only being 37 weeks our doctor was very pleased with that amount of progress. When we arrived at the hospital at 6pm on Monday night, we were excited and nervous all at the same time. Of course we got there right before shift change so we had our first nurse for 45 minutes before meeting our night nurse. Once we got settled and checked in, my doctor came in to place the cytotec to get the ball rolling. I thought I had a very low pain tolerance until that night. I was being constantly monitored and the nurse kept coming in to ask if I was in pain because I was having contractions one on top of another and I kept telling her I was fine. By 4 am when they were about to place another dose of cytotec, my doctor checked for progress and I was already 3 and 1/2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. So they decided to not give anymore cytotec and to let me walk and shower before they started the Pitocin because once it started, I was pretty much going to be stuck in bed. They started pitocin around 8am on Tuesday morning when the doctor came in to check on me and that was when things started getting intense. Suddenly I could definitely start feeling every contraction, but I could breath through it and all was fine. The nurse came in and out checking on me to make sure I was ok. Hudson was doing great though all the contractions and my doctor said she would be back around noon to break my water. Well around 9, I was having a contraction and leaned over for something and gush- there went my water. I laughed because the nurse was checking my blood sugar when it happened and I told her "either I peed all over myself or my water broke, but my guess is the latter since I have never peed that much in my life". She chuckled and checked and said that was indeed your water. Our doctor walked in right after that and said I changed my mind and am going to break your water now and we laughed and said well you are about 5 minutes late for that. She said "oh good, well I will be back at noon to check you then". The contractions started to get really intense then, one right on top of the next without any break between them. The nurse came in and said the anesthesiologist was coming around and doing early placement since labor and delivery was full and they had 4 scheduled c-sections that day. When they came to place it about 30 minutes later they decided to dose it too because they did not want me to get tired so early in the day. The epidural was what I was most anxious about and I have to say that my IV placement hurt worse then the epidural. I think Sean was more bothered by it then I was. Once the epidural was placed, life was GREAT! I felt nothing and it was incredible. Sean would watch on the monitor and say that contraction was off the page, did you feel it? And I didn't feel a thing! My doctor came back around noon and checked me and I was only 4 cm dilated at that point but 95% effaced, his head was still a station 3 though. My doctor and nurse were both disappointed that I didn't have more progress with all the contractions I was having. Since we knew Hudson was going to go straight to surgery after birth my doctor had to keep the pediatric surgeon up to date on what was going on so he knew when to get ready. They were hoping I would have him during "regular business hours" so that he wouldn't have to come back at midnight. My doctor said they were going to bump up the pitocin to try and get me progressing more. I decided that was a grand time to take a nap so I fell sound asleep. I woke up at 2:30 to a nurse flipping me back and forth. Hudson was starting to be intolerant to labor and so they were thinking he was probably pinching his cord so they kept moving me. When nothing was working they quickly called my doctor to come back to the hospital. I was amazed at how quick she got there although Sean said it felt like an eternity. With every contraction Hudson's heart rate would go up to the 180's and then drop down to the 80's. Every heartbeat I heard was music to my ears but I kept worrying that I was going to stop hearing that sweet heartbeat. That was when I got upset and the nurses told me I had to stay calm because it would stress Hudson. My doctor came in and looked at the monitor for all of 5 seconds and said alright a C-section it is. I have never seen so many nurses scurrying around in my life. Anesthesia came back to very heavily dose up my epidural. They gave me a shot to stop labor so that we wouldn't stress Hudson out anymore. As scared as I was, I had this tremendous peace over me. I knew God was there and had it under control. As they raced me back to the operating room all I could see were the lights flying over my head just like they depict in movies. When we got to the operating room, Sean had to wait outside until they got everything ready. I know he had to be scared out of his wits letting them take me and Hudson back and leaving his out there. We talked about it and he said he knew God went back there with us and when he started to stress about it, God gave him a complete peace and calm about it. While I was laying on the operating table all I could see were people scurrying around everywhere. We had more in there then most people would have due to Hudson having gastroschisis. There was a NICU team, an OB team, and a team from the OR waiting to take him down for surgery. After what felt like an eternity Sean finally got to come back- the drape was up and my doctor was doing a test cut to make sure I didn't feel a thing. And I definitely didn't. At that point though I started getting really nauseous and threw up. I apologized to the CRNA like 100 times because I threw up on her. All of a sudden I could smell that they were starting to cut and I could start to feel the pressure, the tugging, and the pulling, but absolutely no pain. And then after what felt like forever, I heard the most precious cry I have ever heard in my life and at 3:58 Hudson Lee McKaig came into the world! They held him over the curtain for me to see and he was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on. He was a perfect 5lbs 10oz and 18 & 1/2 inches long. We found out the reason that he was intolerant to labor was that the cord was wrapped multiple times around his neck. They instantly took him to start prepping him for surgery and Sean got to go over and watch. He scored 8 and 9 out of 10 on his APGAR's which the neonatologist was pleased about. When Sean went over, he said "Hey buddy, Daddy is here" and Hudson opened his big beautiful eyes and stared straight at Sean. He knew that voice after 9 months of hearing it. After they placed his IV, his NG tube, and his ventilator they wheeled him over in his isolette and he looked through the hole on the side right into my eyes and it was one of the best moments of my life. He was even more beautiful and incredible then I could have ever imagined. Now that we had made it through the scary part of delivery, next was the part that I had been dreading since we found out he had gastroschisis- my poor baby was about to go have surgery only 30 minutes after entering the world. Nothing is scarier then having to have your sweet baby who you just met after 9 months of carrying them to leave you and go have surgery. I cried as they wheeled him away from me, but knew that ultimately he was in God's hands just like he was during delivery. One of the nurses had taken my cell phone and taken a ton of pictures and videos so we could look back at it all. I am so very thankful for all those incredible pictures of my sweet baby. I definitely got sick about 5 more times before we left the operating room while they were stapling me up. When I got into recovery, Sean went out to inform everyone of what happened and show off the pictures of Hudson. It was love at first sight for everyone. While I was in recovery I started to get nervous because we hadn't heard anything from the pediatric surgeon, and right then he walked through the doors and was smiling. Hudson's only ended up having a small amount of small and large intestine out and they didn't have to resect any of it. They put it all back in his stomach and surgery had only taken about 45 minutes. He was very pleased and was hoping he would progress quickly. Hudson was out of surgery and up in NICU before I was even out of recovery. They wanted to take us up to see Hudson from recovery, but it just so happened to be at shift change and they don't allow parents up in NICU during shift change. Once we got up to the Mother-Baby floor they had to do hourly assessments of me so after they were done with the assessments they were going to let us up to see him, but every time I tried to get out of bed I would get sick. We did not end up getting to go see him until almost 1am. When we finally got to see him, he was so incredibly perfect. It was worth the wait just to see that sweet face. He turned out pretty much to be 90% his dad and only 10% of me. But he has my nose which is one of his cutest features in my opinion.

Hudson's birth story was nowhere near what I would have imagined but it was perfect in the end because we got him! We are so madly in love with him and he is making incredible strides. He is 6 days old now and they have already taken him off the ventilator and he is breathing on his own, they have removed all of his IV's except for his central line, and he is even out of the warmed isolette bed and into a crib! And as far as the gastroschisis goes he has been making huge strides. Because his bowels were put back in they are never sure how long it will take for them to start to function on their own so poopy diapers are a huge deal- well he already had 2! I think God made it possible for us to change that first poopy diaper because of our apprehension. We were planning to be discharged to go home on Friday in the early afternoon, well due to some emergencies on the unit, the nurse didn't get into us until almost 4. So before we left we went up to say our goodbyes until the next day and the nurse asked if I wanted to change his diaper before we left and of course I wanted to. Well when I opened it there was a meconium poop and it was his first poop since he was born! It was such a blessing from God to see that!

We are so incredibly blessed and God is so so GOOD all the time!!! We give him all the praise and glory in this whole situation. Hudson was a miracle from conception to birth and we thank God everyday for this awesome miracle of ours!