Comment on last post: Some have asked us how we came up with the name “India”. I honestly don’t remember the exacts of how they came about but I know Tony had picked out “India” from an Alanis Morissette song and we had India and Oscar picked out before we ever even decided to have children.
When India was about a year old, we decided that it was time to try for a second child to put them around 2 years apart because we thought that that would make them closer as siblings – we forgot to consider that it would give us two children in diapers for awhile. As quickly as we had conceived India, we were a little troubled to find that it took about 3 months to get Oscar on board (yes, I know, we were really lucky every time – it seems absurd that we were worried about the 3 month stretch now based on all the couples I know with difficulty) – I do remember being mad at Tony the night Oscar was made – I don’t remember why, but I wanted a baby. I used to blame Oscar’s anger as an infant (cried for a solid 9 months) on my attitude when he was made.
The next week, we went to Colorado to have Christmas with my family. I had an awful headache the whole trip and thought it was the altitude, but that headache ended up continuing for the next 4 months. While on the trip, my sister announced her second pregnancy, which surprised us as she was NOT trying, and got me thinking maybe that’s why I was feeling off. On the way home from Colorado, I got the call from Dr. Pol offering me a job in Michigan. I took a pregnancy test the next week and got to share my entire pregnancy with my sister which was a neat experience.
My pregnancy with Oscar was pretty uneventful, except I got terrible morning sickness with him that I didn’t get at all with India. I had migraine type headaches and nausea for a solid 3 months. No scares, no bleeding, although I’ve told people that you’ll never realize how many non-white fibers are in toilet paper until you’ve been pregnant and inspected the toilet paper EVERY time you pee to check for signs of bleeding. I had no trouble that is, until he got super comfortable with his little butt in my pelvis and refused to turn the proper way (make like a baby and head out). My OB didn’t believe me at first, and kept putting my concerns off, but at 38 weeks, you could almost see his little round skull sticking out from under my ribs (and I could ultrasound myself). I actually embarrassed myself pretty good with my doctor – I didn’t want to seem like one of those “I’m a doctor, I know” so I told him I was pretty sure Oscar’s head was still up but wasn’t 100% sure because “we only have a rectal probe at my job and it doesn’t penetrate very deep” – didn’t think anything of it, left the office, then realized what I had said a few days later and was incredibly anxious to get back to the office and inform him that I did not, in fact, probe my rectum, but that the probe was designed for cattle or horse rectal pregnancy exams and the ultrasonic waves only go about 4 cm into tissue. *insert foot in mouth*
So, a couple of weeks before my doctor decided to be concerned, I was out doing some TB testing on some dairy cows and the owner was a midwife and was asking me about my pregnancy and I expressed my concern that the baby was not head down. She got very upset about how the doctor will likely just want to do a c-section and that these babies can be turned. So, naturally, I got upset and went and read about “turning babies” and then spent the next 2 weeks or so with my hips above my head. Tony would find me just laying on the couch with my butt in the air just watching TV on numerous occasions, but none of this seemed to do the trick.
Finally, at 38.5 weeks, my doctor scheduled a cervical version – this is a pretty darned uncomfortable procedure where the doctor grabs the baby from outside your belly and with the help of an ultrasound technician, attempts to dislodge the baby from your pelvis and then turn him to where his head is then in the pelvis and hopefully stays there. Well, unfortunately, as late as 38.5 weeks Oscar (a beast) was already 8.5lbs and 19.75 inches and was wedged pretty hard in my pelvis. After lots of very uncomfortable shaking and shoving of my abdomen, the doctor was able to get Oscar about halfway around and then Oscar promptly went right back to where he was.
What the version did accomplish was to piss off my uterus. I started bleeding almost immediately at the park we took India to play. I called the nurse and she said that it was normal. I went to bed that night on my back with my hips propped up on some pillows because that’s just what I did at that point. I awoke very suddenly about midnight to the most intense contraction. I jumped out of bed and told Tony it was time to go. We ran down the stairs and didn’t even stop to tell my mother who was staying with us to be with India that we were leaving. I just grabbed a couple pairs of clean underwear and then jumped in our Toyota Echo and sped off, texting my mom on the way.
We got to the hospital in less than 15 minutes, I told them I had a breach baby and would need a c-section, they got to work very quickly. When I got to the hospital I was already dilated to 9 cm and the nurse could feel feet trying to come through the cervix, but the membranes were still intact. They didn’t believe me when I said I had only had one contraction. They probably thought I had been sitting on this all night, but I swore I came in as soon as I woke up to the first one. They very quickly got my IV and urinary catheter placed, then rushed me to the surgical suite. I was stark naked at this point in a large room full of people with all the spot lights on me. I didn’t care too much, having full blown contractions and worried about my baby, but I was sitting there, straddling a large (very warm and soft) table while 4-6 people looked on and I tried to harness some calmness and stillness as the anesthesiologist was piercing my spinal fluid as I didn’t care to have a lacerated spinal cord.
Once the epidural kicked in, it felt like I was just swaddled in a big, soft, warm sleeping bag and couldn’t move anything from my neck, down. It was actually quite comfortable and in stark contrast to the sharp contractions, pains, and body tremors I was having seconds ago, it felt amazing – euphoric. Then, the surgery started. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel my whole body shaking as they tried over and over to wedge Oscar’s head out from under my ribs – he was apparently stuck with his butt in my pelvis and his head under my ribs. Finally, after one of the doctors pressed really hard on my diaphragm, Oscar popped out. The pediatrician took him and held him to my face while he screamed. I wasn’t sure what to do or what the doctor expected me to do, so I just said “hey” a few times (all awkward like when you first meet someone) before he finally took him to clean and “process”.
When they finally brought Oscar to our room after everything they do with them and I was starting to feel things in my toes again, I looked at his tiny, sweet face, gently stroked his face, studied his tiniest of features, then looked at Tony and asked if this was actually our baby. Tony was confused. I asked if he saw them take him out of me. He said “yes”. Then I asked if he saw them put the ankle bracelet on him. He said “yes” Then he asked why I was asking all of this and I told him “He doesn’t look like either of us – are you sure this is ours?” – Ends up there was only two babies born there that night and Oscar was the only one in the nursery while I was recovering – so yes, he IS our child.
