Robert Reid French's Big Debut

So this post has been a long time coming...but the littlest Frenchie is now exactly one week old!!! I know it sounds cliche, but I didn't exactly realize just how busy life is with a newborn. I am basically a milk factory! ;) I look back at the past week and wonder where all the time has gone, but then if you think about it, I am feeding the little guy about 9 hours out of the day, not to mention the endless diaper changes, wondering why he's crying this time, and most importantly...just gazing in awe and wonder at the little miracle God has entrusted to us! What a blessing!!!!

In the words of Maria on The Sound of Music, "let's start at the very beginning..." Last week was the final week of the 2009-2010 school year. Jason and I enjoyed a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend--just what I needed after a nutty week at school. We kept waiting for "the" moment...anytime...and it just didn't happen. I awoke Tuesday morning (on the wrong side of the bed, apparently) and was just in an icky mood. I made it through the kindergarten learning celebration (kind of like a little graduation, slide show, and special book reading back in the classroom) without my water breaking, which had been a scary little daydream I'd been having. On Wednesday morning, I had to take a half day off for my doctor's appointment (the absolute only day I could do it that week)--I was still 3cm dilated and my cervix was soft, but baby boy's head had still not descended anymore. Our end of the year party was at the end of the day...another school event I was hoping to "make it through"...yet at the same time, I just longed to meet our little guy. I was finally resigned to the apparent fact that he would be coming on our induction date the next week, 6/8/10. The date was really cool, anyway ;) So I puttered around at school, didn't leave anything out in preparation for the next day (the first day I'd done that in weeks!!) and went home thinking I'd be there for the last day of school for sure.

But Mr. Reid had different plans than we did! I had trouble getting comfortable all night--got to bed early, then sat there...and sat there...finally got up at 10:30 because my brain wouldn't turn off, so I checked my personal email account (which I never, ever use anymore) and deleted the majority of the 800 emails (mostly junk), checked my sister's blog again (yay--a new post!), etc. Had a glass of milk hoping it'd put me to sleep, and got back into bed. I was still awake at 11:30, so for the first time in months, I took Tylenol PM. Blessed relief--it put me to sleep soon after. The next thing I knew, it was 3:45am and I was pretty sure I'd had the little "trickle" people talk about when your water breaks. At first I thought it must be a dream, but sure enough, another little trickle, so I bolted to the bathroom. Sure enough, I sat down on the commode and a ton of liquid came pouring out. (sorry if that's t.m.i.) I was soooo excited...until I looked down and saw that it was bright red--and amniotic fluid is supposed to be clear. I called for Jason to go get my phone and after what seemed like an eternity (but was only about 4 minutes, I think) the answering service had my doctor on the phone. He wanted to know how fast we could get to the hospital. Trying not to panic, we grabbed a few more essentials to add to our already-packed vehicle, said a frantic little prayer together, and sped off toward Baylor Frisco. The good news is that there is virtually no traffic at 4am, so we got there in record time. I was increasingly concerned because the baby hadn't moved the entire time I'd been awake, but once we were there and I was all hooked up to monitors, things looked great.

I was already having regular, strong contractions that were only 2-3 minutes apart. (Once he found that baby and I were stable and heart rates were fine, my doctor actually told the nurse to start me on pitocin, but she said my contractions were so strong/regular that I didn't need it!!) I was dilated to a four (maybe a little more) and having to pee every 30 minutes or so...but sometime after 7am when I went to the restroom, I passed a large clot (I say golf ball sized...nurse claimed orange sized when she came back into the room a little later). My doctor showed up soon after thinking we needed to do a c-section (noo!!!) since I was passing so much blood and that clot, I was encouraged to go ahead and get the epidural "just in case" we should need to do a c-section. I couldn't see the monitor, but Jason said some of the contractions were off the chart. I really was shocked that aside from lower back pain, these contractions really weren't that bad! (the ones I'd had the Friday before were much worse!!) Shortly after, they put a scalp monitor on Reid to more carefully see what his heart rate was doing, which broke my water (apparently, the liquid from earlier that kept gushing out was from a high leak in the amniotic sac, and this monitor ruptured the rest) and showed traces of meconium--more bad news because the baby can inhale this and it can cause major lung problems, etc. My doctor was quickly called back and I was to be prepped for a c-section as soon as anesthesiology could pump up the epidural and there was a clear OR. Not what we wanted to hear, but we just wanted a healthy baby. The jokes began to fly that we'd planned this because the Browers, a couple from our Bible study group, were having their planned c-section that morning to deliver their twins. Jason actually passed them coming out of the OR just before we went in--how crazy is that? Here's my handsome McFrenchie in his scrubs: (please excuse the directionality of the pic--we got a new laptop and I'm not sure how to flip the photos after they've been downloaded)

The OR was a bit freaky...I've had two surgeries, but never been awake for one! I don't see how women did it in the days where daddies weren't allowed into the birthing rooms/ORs...he was my human strength (and of course, we were both praying like crazy!!). I was pretty scared about a c-section, having heard the horror stories about all the pressure, having it feel like a horse is sitting on your chest, etc, but quite honestly it really wasn't bad at all! Now recovery will probably be a different story ;) Here's the new daddy with our little guy.

I realized later I didn't get to see him for the first ten minutes or so because the curtain (which was about one inch from my face! Claustrophobia!) was in the way, but despite my grogginess I could hear most of what was going on. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life--the little guy we've been waiting to meet for nearly ten long months!!

Here I am in recovery, where I got to nurse him for the first time in his little life. There really are not words sufficient to describe what an amazing, special thing that is...especially when you've waited so long and prayed so hard for just that. I teared up on and off because I was just so grateful that God had said, "Yes!" to our prayers.

Reid's first visitor, proud Papa French with daddy--three generations! After getting Jason's phone call that morning about my water breaking, he didn't wait for the second update...when Jason called back, Bruce was already at Bucky's in Madisonville getting coffee :) So here we are, one week later (well, okay--it's now 1:45am so one week and a couple hours later...little man doesn't want to sleep because he is an eating, peeing machine!!). Proud mommy and daddy have gotten little rest, but Grammy (my mom) has taken great care of us since we came home from the hospital. I am so fortunate she's that wonderful!! I know that now being a mom myself, I'm only just beginning to appreciate all she's done for me over the years... I have sooooo much more to tell, but it will have to wait for another day. This tired mama needs some beauty sleep!