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| Jack Elliot Duesing Born December 18, 2013 9lbs. 14 oz. 20.5 inches long |
Well, he is here and it is hard to believe that he is over 3 weeks old! 'They' say the time goes by quickly and I can now confirm that 'they' are right. I do not know where the time has gone. To be fair, I am going on half the sleep and probably half the calories and days and nights are truly a blur. But still...
I want to get his birth story down before I forget it and I
already feel the memories fading ever so slightly as they are replaced by new,
even more amazing memories of Jack.
The most important aspect is that this little man, Jack
Elliot Duesing, is truly a little miracle.
We woke early, really early Wednesday, December 18th,
2013 in order to get
to Providence Medical Center for our 5:30 check-in. The whole morning felt surreal – it was hard
to imagine that we were leaving our house for the last time as a couple, and
would be returning with a new baby and a new family. Just like that.
The morning was cold, freezing to be exact. We had just had a few weeks of freezing and
below freezing temperatures and that morning was no exception. We gathered our bags, made sure the dogs were
fed, chickens had water and out we went.
We arrived on time and checked into the maternity ward. We were set up in our room and immediately
things were on their way. Our nurse
came in, started to get all the lab work done and get us prepped for
surgery. The anesthesiologist arrived, a
nurse to get the IV going, and eventually Johnson, herself. Brett was given what can only be described
as a white spacesuit and booties and by 7:30 we were being wheeled into the
operating room. If you’ve ever been in
an operating room, you know two things about them: they are freezing cold and
they are the brightest rooms you’ve ever been in.
Up until this point, I think I had kind of hoped that
perhaps we would still be able to have a natural childbirth. But as luck would have it, and I do truly
believe it was luck, we were having a C-section. It is a strange way to have a baby; I can say
that. I’ve seen natural births before
and this was nothing like that. Brett
was waiting outside the OR until they had everything ready to go. After receiving the spinal block, not an
epidural, my body became entirely numb from my chest down. I was laid down on the table. A tent was placed at about chest level that
kept Brett and I from seeing the actual procedure. And Brett was allowed in. Johnson looked over the tent and said, “Let’s
have a baby!”
What happened next wasn’t painful or uncomfortable, but it
was a lot of tugging and pulling. I
could see Johnson’s face and hear her – she was getting quite a workout trying
to get Jack out. It went on for what
seemed like forever. I kept waiting to
hear the emerging cry of a new baby…waiting…the longer it took, the more
worried I became. It seemed like it was
taking an awful long time to get him out.
I expected that once the incision was made, out he would come. At some point, we heard the anesthesiologist
call out “two minutes.” Neither Brett
nor I knew what that meant, but my gut told me that any call out of time was
probably not a good thing. Things seemed
to get a little more frantic and within just a few moments I saw one of the
nurses bring Jack over to the baby warmer.
Johnson told Brett that he could head on over to the warmer. A number of nurses and doctors circled around
the warmer and within just a few moments, I finally heard his cry. Relief.
Breathe. I could finally breathe. I felt like I had spent the last 9 months
holding my breath, waiting for this little guy to come and worrying that he
might not. Johnson told Brett to go and
cut the cord. She looked down at me,
assuring me he was fantastic, weighed a whopping 9 lbs. and 14 ounces, and the
process of ‘closing me up’ began. As she
worked sewing things back up, delirium set in and the most intense chills and
shakes I have ever experienced. And
nausea, the last thing I wanted to do was to get sick. Brett brought Jack over to me, I kissed his
little cheek and then he was whisked away to the nursery where he was
thoroughly checked out. Brett went with
him. Although I was still filled with
worry and apprehension, I knew it was going to be okay. He was here with
us. After two long years, being told we
had a 1-in-a-million chance of it happening - he was finally here.
What we now know is that he was very, very transverse. He was basically laying sideways with his
back to my front. Johnson and her
colleague struggled and fought to get him out. They tried to get him out foot first, that didn't
work. Then they tried to get him out headfirst,
that wouldn’t work. Ultimately, she had
to make another incision vertically in order to get him out. What
does it matter? It definitely has made
the recovery a bit more extensive and it means that if there are more babies in
the future, I won’t ever be able to have a natural birth. Johnson seemed so apologetic when she told me
that she had to make the additional incision, but all I kept thinking was
whatever it took to get Jack here safely is all that mattered. All that does matter.
I still don’t know what the time meant and I don’t really
want to know. But all the nurses were calling
Johnson a rock star in the delivery room.
Later she told us that it was one of the most difficult deliveries she’d
done. Later, she told us that there has
only been one other time that she has completed a delivery and wanted to ‘take
a moment’ to herself before she began to stitch things back. And to be clear – she is a rock star. I cannot tell you how much I love this
doctor. She is one special woman and an
extraordinary doctor. 
And so here we are 3 weeks later…Jack is growing and we are
getting into the groove of having a newborn.
Life, of course, has changed. My
friend Errin came to stay with us shortly after we got home from the hospital
and mentioned that it would be hard for us to even remember our life pre-Jack
and she was right.
He is amazing. He is
beautiful. He is perfect in every
way. Not sure where this blog will go
now. We shall see. Thanks to everyone who has followed us along
this journey, cheered us on, and supported us in so many different ways. We are off on a new journey with Jack leading
the way.
