Shelby's Birth Story

Shelby's due date was September 8th. Well, that day came & went with no Shelby! When I went in for my 41 week appointment on September 14th, there was still no sign of a baby coming any time soon. I hadn't had a single contraction (Braxton Hicks or real) nor was I dilated at all. (They estimated at my 39 week appointment that I was dilated somewhere between 1 & 2 centimeters...and I never progressed beyond that. They estimated I was between 1 & 2 cm at my 40 & 41 week appointments as well.)
These are the last photos taken of me when I was pregnant..although we didn't know they would be the last! My mom & sister came into town on September 12th in anticipation of Shelby's arrival (I was already 4 days past my due date upon their arrival). At my 41 week appointment, they scheduled a non-stress test for me on Friday, September 17th to make sure all was well with little Shelby; assuming all would be well at this appointment, they went ahead and scheduled me for an induction on Monday, September 20th. Since my pregnancy had been as smooth as humanly possible (no morning sickness, no cravings/food aversions, virtually no complaints whatsoever to speak of!), we had every reason to believe that the non-stress test would be very anti-climatic and that this baby would be coming into the world via induction on the 20th.

On the morning of the 17th, my sister headed back to GA for work since there were still no signs that Shelby would be coming into the world just yet. After my sister hit the dusty trail, we went to the hospital for my non-stress test at 10:30am. My mom, dad, & Derek all came along for the appointment. The appointment was supposed to be pretty quick, and we had made plans to go to the grand opening of the new event center here on base that afternoon. Little did we know, we would not be leaving the hospital! ;)

Upon arriving to the hospital, the nurses hooked me up to the fetal heart monitors to administer the non-stress test. This is a routine test done when babies are late. They check to see if the baby's heart rate increases a certain number of times within a certain time frame...but baby Shelby didn't want to play. Her heart rate was just constant, so they had me drink some cold water to get her moving. When that didn't work, they gave me some OJ...and then some apple juice. Then Shelby suddenly became super active, and her heart rate was going up, down, up, down, etc. Looking back, I should have realized something was wrong b/c at first there was just 1 or 2 nurses in the room. Then, nurse after nurse was coming in to look at the monitors, then they were asking for the doctor to come look. The doctor on call that day had never seen a baby react that way to a non-stress test, so he called the high-risk OB doctor to ask her opinion. She had never seen anything like it either, and they didn't like the fear of the unknown. At this point, I was feeling kind of confused and nervous...but I just kept thinking, this had been such an smooth pregnancy..everything must be fine.

The doctor quickly moved us to another room to do an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid levels. In the middle of the ultrasound, the doctor randomly asked me when the last time I ate was. When he asked me the question, I thought he was just being nice b/c my tummy had started to growl during the ultrasound. :) Derek later told me he knew at that point we were going to have a C-section b/c they don't like you to have eaten before surgery. The doctor then explained that there are 4 quadrants for amniotic fluid...I only had a teeny bit of fluid in one of the 4 quadrants. The doctor told us he recommended we go ahead with an emergency C-section at that point b/c they were concerned there might be something wrong with Shelby's heart, and she might have to be transferred to a different hospital (Keesler's hospital hasn't had a NICU since Hurricane Katrina) immediately following delivery.

At this point, the tears were flowing b/c I was terrified. But I was feeling a bit relieved that we would have some time before surgery due to the fact that not only had I eaten breakfast before my appointment..but I'd also had juice during the non-stress test...so I thought there would be at least a couple of hours to wrap my brain around everything before going into the OR. I was wrong. I never even had a chance to talk to Derek or my parents about what was happening before they were handing me a gown and starting my IV (which was the most painful part of the whole thing...they could not find a vein for anything, and I came away with several bruises because of it!).

This photo was taken right before going to the OR..I was not happy to be having my picture taken at the time! I still had a tissue in my hand from wiping away tears.

When they finally got my IV going--which took about 45 minutes!!--they quickly took Derek & me back to the OR. It took them a while to get my spinal tap in, and while they were doing that I just kept looking around the room. I was just so scared...there were so many doctors & nurses, and everything was just happening so fast. I know Derek hated it too...being a doctor and having no control over what was going on with his wife and baby. But once they got the spinal tap in, everything went into high gear. I remember laying down and looking at Derek and asking him to tell me when they started. He looked at me confused, and I said: "Ya know? Like tell me when they start making the incision." Again, he looked confused..then replied: "Sarah, it's almost over now." I barely felt anything..just a little tug here and there..then suddenly I heard a baby screaming. It was the best sound in the world. After being so worried there might be something wrong with her, it was so relieving to hear her cry!
The nurses let Derek hold Shelby for a minute & I got a quick look at her in his arms; then they whisked her away while we finished up in the OR. My dad was waiting back in our hospital room, and suddenly the nurses brought a baby in the room. My dad greeted them by saying: "I guess this means I'm a grandpa now?" :) So Grampy was the first one to greet her!
We got to the hospital that morning at 10:30, went to the OR a little before 1:00, and Shelby was born at 1:31pm. It was a fast-paced day, that's for sure! Never in a million years did I think we'd be having a baby that day, and never in a million years did I think I'd be having an emergency C-section..but it all turned out wonderfully in the end. When the pediatrician came in to talk to us, he didn't have a concern in the world for Shelby. The doctors have no idea why Shelby's heart acted the way it did in the hours leading up to her birth, but thankfully she came out perfectly healthy! Shelby definitely made us wait for her and gave us quite the scare there at the end, but she was certainly worth it all. We love you, Shelby!