Yay! Yay! Yay! We have finally reached the point in the Wednesday’s Wild Chronicles that I get to write about the best, most scary day of my life: Turkey-Man’s birth!

Two days after Mama A and I’s lengthy conversation about changing the adoption from semi-open to open with contact, I got another phone call that would forever change our lives.

It was about 10 p.m. and my phone rings from an unknown number. Usually, I would just let it go to voicemail and figure out who it was later, but I just had a feeling that Mama-A was going to deliver early. Sure enough, it was Mama-A’s mom calling to let us know that Mama-A thinks her water broke. We were their ride to the hospital so we had to act fast.

Being that it was still a month before his due date we were woefully unprepared for this event. We packed a quick bag. I was very sure that the little man had kicked her bladder and she had just peed her pants. Surely, this was a false alarm! I figured we might have a few of these before little man made is actual arrival.

We arrived at Mama-A’s house in record time, which was especially alarming due to the fact that we were in the middle of a snow storm. (Do any crazy birth stories happen that don’t involve a snow storm?!)

Once there, it was quite clear that this was no false alarm. I felt sorry for her because it was obvious that she was uncomfortable with the state she was in. Fortunately, her contractions had not started yet.

Hubby raced us all to the hospital! (Did I mention there was a snow storm?!
And, her contractions hadn’t even started yet?! No need for the racing!) His nerves that night has been something we have all had a good laugh about over the years.

Once at the hospital, Mama-A was settled in. Her original birth plan was for us to be at the hospital, but not in the room with her. Once settled, I went to leave, but Mama-A said for the time being she was okay with me staying with her.

Hubby worked with the hospital staff and was able to secure a room of our own. We are very grateful that the hospital was considerate enough to extend this generosity to us! As he settled into our room, I sat with Mama-A waiting for the action to begin.

I am a nurse. I did my final semester of nursing school with an emphathis on Labor & Delivery so I had an idea what the night would be looking like. Again, Turkey-Man had other plans for us all and decided to scare us all and make his own unique entrance! We should have known then that we had a strong-willed child on our hands!

When the first contraction hit, Turkey-Man’s heart rate plummeted, and remained very low for a considerable amount of time. Knowing what the monitor was saying, I put on my “calm nurse” persona and did my best to keep Mama-A relaxed as the nursing team came rushing into her room. They tried changing positions and giving her oxygen, but very little changed. Turkey-Man’s heart rate would recover slightly and then plummet with the next contraction and remain very low until almost the next contraction.

Chaos filled the room. It was one of many moments in my nursing career where I wished I did not know as much as I did. I knew Turkey-Man’s life was in jeopardy. As Mama A could increasingly sense the degree of danger he was in, she started repeatedly apologizing to me as if it was somehow her fault that he was not able to withstand labor. I did my best to keep applying my “calm nurse” persona and carefully explained what they were doing, trying my best to keep her anxiety at bay.

What happened next I can only say was a Godsend in the most literal sense. Due to the emergent nature of the situation, the nursing staff called the in-house doctor to the room. Completely to my surprise, Dr. V, a man I have gone to church with since I was 3, walks into the room. Unexpectedly seeing a trusted, familiar face felt like God’s reassurance that despite the grave situation before us everything would be okay.

Dr. V. administered a medication to stop Mama-A’s contractions. Turkey Man’s heart rate recovered. It was then decided to wait until Mama-A’s regular doctor could come in and Turkey-Man would be delivered via cesarean section. As she was being prepared for surgery, the once held adoption plan that I would not be in the room was put into question as Mama-A began asking if I could come into the operating room with her. I felt it was best that she had her mom by her side, so I went to our room with my hubby and waited for what seemed like an agonizing amount of time to hear that he was born and if he was okay.

Being 4 weeks premature and delivered via c-section, I was prepared that Turkey-Man would be spending time in the NICU. Thankfully, to my surprise, other than being a bit scrawny, his lungs were perfectly happy.

About an hour after his birth we were called in to meet him for the first time…

(Yup! I am going to make you wait until next week’s edition of Wednesday’s Wild Chronicles to describe meeting our son for the first time 🙂 )