Colin's Birth Story

As promised, here is Colin's birth story...

Well, my fluid had been low and I was measuring between two to four weeks behind at all my doctor visits toward the end of my pregnancy. The doctors did an ultrasound to make this determination and since it was only borderline-low, we just monitored the situation. Then on Friday the 8th of April, I woke up feeling a little crampy so I thought I would just wait and see what happened. For weeks prior, I had been three centimeters dilated, between 75 and 90% effaced, and so literally I knew the possibility of the baby could be any day now. I was 38 weeks so as far as the medical community was concerned, I was full-term so the timing was fine in that respect. About an hour or so later, I thought I saw what looked like fluid and so called my doctor immediately. The doctor told me to meet up with her at the hospital in the next half hour, and so when I got there, the nurse hooked me up to the monitor which showed that I was having no meaningful contractions. When the doctor arrived, she gave me a litmus test which showed a possible leakage of fluid and therefore she performed an impromptu ultrasound. She informed me that the baby was virtually in a dry sac and that most likely I had been leaking amniotic fluid slowly for some time now and so they were going to keep me there for an induction. The plan was to start me on a Pitocin drip to induce contractions and labor, since I was not contracting. Since I had rupture of the membranes for longer than 24 hours, they also started me on an antibiotic to prevent infection. I handled the Pitocin very well...a LOT better than I did with Caitlyn. After several hours of labor, I maxed the Pitocin out twice and only ended up dilating to about 6 or 7 centimeters. We were clearly not progressing as much as the doctor and we had hoped for. They started me on my third series of Pitocin. I ended up going through the whole round again and still ended up only around 7 centimeters. This baby was clearly not going to cooperate and God knows how long he had not been encompassed in water for, so the doctor advised me to consider a cesarean section. I was devastated. I had gone through 36 hours of labor and then this! It was virtually epidural free because I had finally gotten my epidural out of PURE exhaustion after 24 hours of labor. The pain was not anything I couldn't handle, but it was more than I could handle and still be able to fall asleep. So I got the epidural hoping I could get some rest, but I let the med run its course for one round and then I just let all the meds run out. I didn't like not knowing if I was lifting my legs or not because I was so numb so I just layed off the pain relief button. Being that numb was making me have panic episodes. I just do not like not having that level of control over my body.

I decided to go ahead with the c-section so they pumped my epidural back up with meds, so much that I could barely feel my chest. It really freaked me out. When the anesthesiologist got out of another surgery, he came down to my room and asked me some questions, we geared up and then at 6 p.m. on Saturday the 9th day of April, they rolled me down to surgery. I started to really panic. I thought I was going to die, I was having full blown panic attacks, but thankfully God graced me with a wonderful OB and anesthesiologist. Dr. Markowitz (I still remmber his name) was my anesthesiologist. He put on some rock tunes and really talked me down, and then Chris came in and with enough focus, I really tried to pull it together so I wouldn't have to go under. Not being in control of my legs really scares me and so I panic and the level of numbing was up to my upper chest and I couldn't feel myself breath and I was just panicking. My heart rate was so high. Thank God for that Dr. Markowitz who really calmed me down and at 6:21 pm, We happily welcomed Colin Matthew Crumpler to the family. He weighed in at seven pounds even and was 20 inches long. Dr. Benjamin Isbell delivered our littlest blessing at Williamsburg Sentara Medical Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. Colin was born with big dark blue eyes and dark reddish blonde hair. He came out showing off his lungs immediately upon entrance, but after a few hours later, his breathing became labored and he was put in the NICU where he remained for ten days with respiratory distress syndrome and jaundice. The doctors and nurses were awesome and very compassionate, nursing our baby back to health. After a rocky road, we finally left the hospital a week and a half later. We are so blessed that Colin is in our life and ended up with no permanent problems as the result of his respiratory distress. You would never know he was the same baby now at six month and over 20 pounds. He's our little chunk and we love him!