Sunday July 24th began a little unusual. I woke up first at around 9 am, but Shae later awoke at 10 am.(She usually wakes up at 7:30 to 8 am) She was hungry as usual for pregnant women that morning and she was in obvious discomfort but not too severe. We ate breakfast together. I do not remember mine but Shae ate cheese grits. For the next two hours Shae started feeling worse. She felt severe cramping and aches. She sat on her exercise ball and had me roll a tennis ball on her back.
Shae contacted her doula to see what her opinion was of what was going on. The doula gave some advice on relaxing and then Shae made a turn for the worst when she became nauseous. I did not think much of it after the first time Shae threw up. She had done it so many times before but it was the return visits to the toilet and the barf bowl compounded with the phrase from Shae, “I am tasting blood,” started to alarm me enormously. We called the hospital for a nurse in labor and delivery who recommended Shae take a bath and drink cranberry juice. I filled up the tub and called a friend for some juice. In the tub Shae relaxed for a moment. Yet the hot water soon became too cold to Shae to the point I had to refill it again.
Shae also kept drinking water and throwing it back up and that was accompanied with some painful dry heaving. It was at this point I noticed some dried blood in her vomit that prompted another call to the hospital. The nurse recommended that we come and I still had not prepared the hospital bag. I quickly put together the bag and just as I was done the juice arrived too little too late. Shae voiced her frustrations because I was not going fast enough and continued to moan as her pain became a constant wave of agony over her baby inflated stomach.
We left our apartment gingerly going down the stairs to the car at around 12:50 pm. The drive was painful and miserable for Shae as Rexburg has some of the most uneven streets in the country. We showed up and I was driving fast but I did not get a police escort along the way. I parked outside the labor and delivery wing of the hospital and ran inside to get a chair for Shae. I emerged with three nurses but I apparently took too long for Shae. She struggled to get out of the car, no doubt from dehydration but she was quickly taken in and put in bed with an IV. I quickly signed all the papers for admission and rushed to Shae’s side.
The doctor came in with casual clothing on and it was Shae’s least favorite doctor from Madison’s Women Clinic. They hooked her up to monitors and put towels on the floor where Shae continued to vomit. Shae was in such pain that she was blacking out and becoming unresponsive. Inserting the needles became more difficult as Shae had relied on me to fill the doctors in on her activity of the day, what she ate, what she has taken and how it was similar or different from her last visit. Shae continued being agitated but often powerless to speak because of the pain. Even when I pressed her for answers to give to the doctors she would give me the “mean look of death” meaning to leave alone. The doctor could see she was in labor but the extent of the pain he feared the worst of a possible placental abruption.
The doctor tried to find other possibilities for the pain and her reaction to the pain but I assured him that the pain was the result of something else. Some of his farfetched suggestions even included that Shae possibly had taken recreational drugs which caused Shae to dislike him more. However, the point was clear Shae had to be delivered to find the cause of the pain. The doctors told us that if Shae was unable to communicate with them she would be put under for a c-section and I would not be in the operating room something both Shae and I did not want. After some coaxing from me she finally composed herself to give the best answers she could and they then prepared us for an operation. Through the whole experience I worked hard keeping it together because it is the scary feeling that you are incapable to help the ones you love.
I called for the home teachers to come and give a blessing, but unfortunately they could not make it on time. So before entering the operating room I prayed to God to be with my wife and son. I waited for them to open the door, which seemed like very long minutes and then a male nurse opened the door and let me in. I went over to Shae’s side. She was at peace because the doctors had administered the painkillers and nausea medicine. She said she felt much relived of pain and was now anxious about Kayson. I saw the work of the doctors occasionally because one of the doctors had big shoulders that prevented me from seeing the whole procedure. At 3:14 Shae’s water was broken and the doctors proceeded to extract Kayson.
Shae listened attentively for anything and then he was out. Kayson gave little yelping cry as all babies do. That was it; at 3:15pm on July 24th Kayson Jerome was born. After some brisk cleaning, they brought him to me and Shae for a brief moment. I laid him on the left side of Shae’s chest. He was then taken back by the nurses to get him cleaned all over and check his vitals. The verdict came back that Kayson was a very healthy (especially strong legs and lungs as noted by the doctor) baby boy. He continues to be every much the blessing in our lives who we adore.
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