How Carrick Was Born

Jenni and I went to the Maternal Fetal Specialist on Monday afternoon for our regular appointment with them. We thought we wouldn't have to have any more special appointments after this one since Jenni had stopped bleeding. But the doctor kept asking Jenni if anything had leaked out. She said no. They did a test. Nothing was leaking. But Jenni had low amniotic fluid around Carrick, about half of what she should have had. So they sent us to the hospital. We checked in and filled out a bunch of papers and signed a bunch of forms, all to the reassurance that Carrick was fine and he wouldn't be delivered any time soon. They hooked Jenni up to an IV and started pumping her full of fluid to get her amniotic fluid levels up. That night they moved us at 1:00am to the High Risk Perinatal section of the hospital--a more long term room. Jenni's levels weren't up so they kept up the IV and waited until Thursday morning to do another ultrasound. Wednesday we hung out and waited until Thursday, when we thought they'd let us go home. Thursday morning the ultrasound nurse came and did her thing, but very quietly. After a while she said, "I think you might be in labor." Then all these other people came in at once, but wouldn't tell us anything. It just so happened that our OB, Dr. Marshall, was on call that day. She examined Jenni and said, "Yep, there's the head; you're going to deliver today." She told us they could give Jenni drugs to stop it, but it would harm her and Carrick. So at about 9:55am they wheeled Jenni down to deliver with me close behind. Jenni dialated quickly so they prepared us for a quick delivery. But she plateaued after that so she had time for an epidural. Before that a doctor came in and gave us the run down on Carrick and his chances and what the next 3 months would be like if he made it. But after hours of waiting, Jenni's contractions became more severe and they wheeled us in the OR. They had a room set up with a whole team ready for Carrick when he came out. I got to hold Jenni's leg up during the delivery. Carrick came out after about 7 minutes of pushing. They cut the cord and rushed him to the other side of the room. For about 10 minutes they did a bunch of stuff to him, after that let Jenni get a brief glance, and I followed him up to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). He was born at 5:17pm on April 24, 2008. It was a lot to take in. But Jenni did a great job, we both managed to keep it together, and Carrick is hanging in there. Jenni was fine during and after the delivery. She was tired but well. The only complication was that she delivered 3 months early. His original due date was August 10, 2008. He was 1 lb 8 oz and 11 inches long when born. All his parts were there and he looked like a normal baby, except that he was so small and had no fat on him.