Clay and I became grandparents this week,
and it has been an amazing experience. Becoming a mother more than 38 years ago has been a highlight of my life, but this ranks right up there. We were fortunate that we got to be with Katie and Ben every step of the way, and it was a lot of steps, and some were pretty treacherous, but she crossed the finish line and we have a healthy and happy baby boy at home, and mom is doing great as well.
Our daughter chose UAMS Women’s Clinic to be her medical team as soon as she found out she was pregnant., It was different from my private OB/GYN experience since she didn't have a main doctor to call her own, but she had so many extra tests, ultrasounds, procedures, etc. that it was a fair trade-off. She did see some doctors along the way, but many more nurses and nurse practitioners who were being directed by doctors and they were all excellent. They scheduled her for induction July 6 and it was midnight July 7 when the journey began.
Katie had the best nurses ever. She started out with Kim
who was with us from midnight until her shift ended at 6:30 am, and then we got Alyssa.
They both were so kind, compassionate and knowledgeable and were with her at every turn. Labor started out a bit slow, but momentum started building by late afternoon. By 5:30 p.m., Katie was 10 centimeters dilated and the pushing began. Alyssa was scheduled to be off at 6:30 p.m. but we were hopeful the baby would be there by then. Unfortunately, that was not to be, but Alyssa was fully invested and stayed with us through delivery at 8:39 p.m. The new nurse was Kim again,(when she saw Katie was still there, she asked to be assigned to her) so we had quite the team. They were so much more than proficient labor and delivery nurses—they were cheerleaders, coaches, instructors, encouragers, motivators all rolled up in two people.
I am not sure we would have made it without them.
Katie was a machine. She would not stop even when others asked if she needed a rest. Katie has always been tough, but Clay and I were in awe of her that night. Ben was by her side the entire time too, and never got rattled. Clay and I pitched in when we could. As the baby appeared to be imminent, the room filled with people—more doctors and nurses for Katie, and a whole team of pediatric doctors and nurses for Christian. We were told of this upon arrival—it is how they do things at UAMS, not just because of risk.
When Christian made his appearance, the plan for mother/baby skin-to-skin time was off the table. The time period had gone a little long, and the team whisked Christian to one side to work on him, while two other doctors started sewing Katie up. There was a lot of blood loss. The baby was slow to start, and very quiet, which worried us all, but the doctor told Katie his vitals were good, he was just a quiet baby. Katie got to hold him for a little while, but more doctors came to check on him.
At one point he was trying to breast feed and he started to turn blue, and an emergency code was sent out and once again, the room was immediately full of people doing amazing things. Christian came back quickly, but they decided he needed a little more oversight and sent him to NICU for 48 hours. Ben went with him, while I stayed with Katie. Katie’s blood pressure tanked (she got a blood transfusion the next day), but she rallied and with Kim’s help we finally made it to a room at 3 a.m. Monday went by in a fog, and Tuesday everyone was feeling better. Katie was released and spent the night with Christian, and Ben brought them all home on Wednesday before noon.
In the 3 ½ days they were at UAMS, we only had one bad nurse who had a minor roll. Otherwise, the staff of nurses, doctors, technicians, etc. were outstanding, but the gold medals go to Kim and Alyssa from Labor and Delivery. I cannot commend them enough. They made a tough day so much better.
Now our little man is 1 week old and we couldn't be happier. He is a wonderful baby, and we are GRANDPARENTS!!