![\"IMG_6375web\"](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6375web.jpg\")
<\/a>Ah, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.<\/p>\n
When my water broke on a Friday night, I was surprised at how right a friend was who told me it felt like peeing yourself over and over again. Upon arriving at the hospital, I sloshed as quickly as I could with my husband to the labor and delivery floor.<\/p>\n
Unlike our daughter, who had to be evicted from the womb, this baby seemed to be doing everything by the book.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have to be induced this time,\u201d I marveled to my husband, Derek.<\/p>\n
After being taken to a room, a doctor came in to see how much I was dilated.<\/p>\n
\u201cUm, so I can\u2019t really tell, which means you\u2019re not really that far along,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
How could that be, I asked, adding that my water broke, as if she couldn\u2019t tell by the mountain of wet towels beside me.<\/p>\n
She assured me it would only be a matter of time and advised me to try to relax, which is easy to say when you\u2019re not the one waiting to push out a human head. Eventually, however, my contractions grew strong enough to earn me placement in an actual labor and delivery room to await the magical 10-centimeter dilation.<\/p>\n
It never came.<\/p>\n
You see, while we were waiting, every now and then, our baby\u2019s heart would decelerate. We knew this because, in addition to the monitor beeping a significant decrease, the nurse on hand would call a team comprising other nurses and a doctor with the somewhat alarming \u201cdecel\u201d message.<\/p>\n
The first few times we experienced the \u201cdecel\u201d call, the nurse, a petite woman, would ask my husband to help her shift me to the other side in an effort to help the baby find a better position. Of course, this was done after administering me my epidural, so it was like Derek and the nurse were trying to roll me back into the ocean with a lot of rocking me back and forth before a big \u201cOK, now!\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, my obstetrician, Dr. Hulley, came in during the last \u201cdecel\u201d call and calmly recommended I deliver via cesarean section. I felt my heart plummet until the fetal heart monitor reminded me that a more-important someone\u2019s heart rate was decelerating. I immediately agreed to the C-section.<\/p>\n
To my medical team\u2019s credit, they were amazing. There was a pediatrician on hand in case something went wrong, an anesthesiologist who made sure I didn\u2019t feel anything, several nurses, and the very competent and wonderful Dr. Hulley. Still, I remember turning to Derek, who by then wore a hospital cap and scrubs, and telling him I was scared.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t the plan, I said.<\/p>\n
He reassured me this was a common procedure and that we would be holding our baby in no time. It\u2019s times like these I realize that, if plans go awry, there\u2019s no one else with whom I\u2019d rather be.<\/p>\n
In what seemed like mere minutes, Dr. Hulley showed our son\u2019s little face quickly over the curtain.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s your baby!\u201d she said happily.<\/p>\n
A minute later, she also showed me his umbilical cord. Sounds routine enough, except this cord featured two \u201ctrue knots,\u201d which is an expectant mother\u2019s Googling nightmare \u2014 a potentially dangerous occurrence that endangers a baby\u2019s oxygen. I believe we narrowly escaped a much different outcome by going off plan and getting him out immediately via C-section.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a miracle baby,\u201d a nurse told me. Another doctor nicknamed him \u201cHoudini.\u201d<\/p>\n
And now, a month after our son was born, as I fight for several straight hours of sleep and sneak showers in between his care, I only have to stop for an instant to remember how lucky I am to hold and comfort my little son in the wee small hours of the morning.<\/p>\n