The longest 37 hours of my life

I can honestly say that Monday - Wednesday afternoon were the scariest hours/days of my life. I now understand how it feels to watch someone you love work so hard and there is nothing that I can do to help.

We knew that this might happen from our visit to the hospital last Friday (08/28/2010). The day began like every other day as I went to work and Taylor got ready for her Doctors appointment. As I was at work I received a text message from Taylor informing me that she was heading to the hospital for a non-stress test. I left work to find her checked into a room in the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. She quickly updated me on how Doctor Grover was concerned that she might have preeclampsia. Little did we know that she did have preeclamsia and that it was severe.

After a full 24-hour urine collection, many blood tests Doctor Grover prescribed strict bed rest for Taylor. Which we strictly followed for one day, because Doctor Grover told us that she would like another non-stress test on Monday (08/30/2010). Well Monday came and I went to work and Taylor tried to relax so that her blood pressure would be lower than it had been previously.

Lets just say that I received a text from Taylor at 3:30pm informing me that she is again at the hospital waiting in one of the Triage rooms, for another room to open up. As we moved into another room and started another 24-hour urine collection, we were told that we would again be spending the night.

7 hours later Doctor Grover informed us that the blood pressure is not reducing and that she will be inducing Taylor, this started the longest 37 hours of my life. Since Taylor was only 35 weeks pregnant she had to be put on Pitocin to help her body to start preparing for labor. They also had to put her on another drug to prevent the side effects of the Pitocin. Lets just say that her body did not like this at all. It took her 30 hours to progress from being 1cm dilated to 4cm dilated. Doctor Grover came in and told Taylor that when she came back if Taylor was not to 5cm dilated that they (the doctors) who have to preform a C-section.

Well when Doctor Grover came back in to the room Taylor progressed from being 4cm dilated to 7 cm dilated, this was definitely a miracle and Doctor Grover was convinced that she would get to be 10cm dilated. Well she did, but as she would contract Skylar's heart beat would drop. At first it would only drop from 120 beats per minute to 90 beats per minute. Then it dropped to below 50 beats per minute. Causing the Doctor's to roll Taylor into the operating room.

Doctor Grover respecting Taylor's request to have the c-section to be the last result decided to have Taylor push a couple of times to see if she could give birth vaginally. After 3 contractions and 9 attempts at pushing they put her asleep and started the c-section.

The next 30 minutes flew by as I watched them pull Skylar from the womb and bring him into the room I was in to clean him off and give him his apgar score. As I watched him being cleaned off I could not stop thinking of the miracle I just witnessed. I witnessed a Doctor listen to her patient until she felt prompted to started surgery. I witnessed another life come from the DNA of my wife and my DNA. And I witnessed nurses work miracles as they took him for not breathing, to Skylar breathing without any assistance.

The past 5 days have been my longest, but they have definitely been the most rewarding. You will never know the feeling of holding your child for the first time until you do it. And you will cherish it for the rest of your life. Or at least I will, and I will continue to reflect on the miracles that brought him here. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father, and for all the work he continually preforms for my wife and sons well being. I would never forget the feeling that I had when I picked him up and listen to his heart beat. Becoming a parent has been one of the best experience of my life.