Cannon Alan Bond...Our Miracle

Wow it's been forever since I last blogged and I figure that since Cannon will be 6months in a few days, it's probably time I write down his birth story before I forget!  What better way then to blog it!?  So here goes nothing. (Note: I am not a writer or a creative on at that, so no judging!)

07/30/2012

So I woke up this morning and got ready for my final OB appointment of my pregnancy as I was scheduled to be induced on August 3rd since Cory was working out of town and my doctor was leaving on vacation August 5th!  I was dealing with hypertension the last month of my pregnancy and was having to daily monitor my blood pressure and had weekly ultrasounds since Cannon had fluid/dilated kidneys.  I went into my appointment feeling AMAZING!  I've never felt better than when I was pregnant!  (Well about 18weeks on!)  Even though I was dealing with hypertension, I never felt the side effects of it!  My hands, feet and legs had started swelling regularly at about 36weeks!  Thank goodness it was a cool summer or I guess it could have been worse!  So, the nurses checked my weight, blood pressure (which was still higher then they wanted) and of course my urine.  I was waiting in my little exam room and the nurse came in and told me I had protein in my urine, which is a bad sign of possible preclympsia.  The nurse said she was going to get Dr. Bahnmiller on the phone and see if he wanted blood drawn or if I should go to the hospital for a more thorough test.  Well when that nurse came back in she said words that I did not plan to hear!  She said, "Well, Dr. Bahnmiller said to head to the hospital!  You're going to have a baby today!!".  I sat there for a minute and then laughed and I said, "No!  I'm having a baby on Thursday!".  The nurse just laughed and said, "No, you're having a baby today and you need to be at the hospital within a couple hours!  Aren't you so happy you don't have to wait until Thursday?!".  I just looked at her and tried to hide my panic and said, "Sure!  That's great!". 

I grabbed my bag and got in my car.  I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, trying to catch my breath.  I called Cory, who had left at 3AM that very morning to head to work in SEATTLE!  Oh it's funny how things happen!  Cory answered all chipper like he usually is when I call. All I said before full panic hit was, "You have to come home! I have to go to the hospital!".  Enter full panic attack here!  I couldn't even catch my breathe, Cory's asking a ton of questions and I can't answer.  Cory ended up hanging up on me!  Yes, he hung up on me!  I finally caught my composure and called him back to explain what was going on!  Well, poor Cory thought was in full labor, yelled at his guys as he's running through his job site that he's gotta go, his wife is in labor!  Now, I have this problem where I panic and I can't really talk.  So at first I can get a sentence out and then the rest gets shut down by tears and labored breathing!  It's gotten worse in my "older" age!  So, I let Cory know that they're sending me to the hospital to induce my labor because with the protein in my urine and my hypertension they don't want to wait the 3days.  He tells me what he said and did on his way out of the job site and we got a good laugh about it!  Now it was time to figure out how I was getting to the hospital!  Luckily my parents were on there way to Washington from their summer travels.  Oh to be retired!  Last I had heard from my mom was they were going to be in town that afternoon or early evening.  I called my mom and told her what was going on.  She said they were in Pendleton and she'd ditch my slow poke dad in the RV (she was in their Jeep) and hurry and come take me to the hospital!

So my mom gets to my house and I say well here I am pregnant!  That was the first and only time my mom saw me pregnant!  It's so funny to think that too! They're in Yuma, AZ for most of the year and the last time we'd been together was at Thanksgiving!  I was unknowingly pregnant then!  We had plenty of phone conversations and facebook pictures/status updates!  The joy of having social media these days!!  So I hug my mom, probably babbled and started to finish packing my bag.  I grabbed my stuff and off we went!  That was probably the longest 3mile drive of my LIFE!  It seemed to take forever to get the hospital and I swear every light we hit was red.  I may be in a panic but dang it, if this is going to happen then lets get it over with! Am I right!?  We get in my "suite" at noon, I get in a gown and in my bed!  They hook me up to my monitors and IV's and we get Cannon on the monitor!  My mom stayed with me since Cory was going to be about 3hours.  We had lunch together and just sat and chatted and watched the monitor!  I think my mom really enjoyed getting to be apart of at least that because once Cory got there, she was out of there!  She had her babies and she didn't need to see any of us have ours!  And plus she knew Cory and I wanted to be by ourselves anyways!  She's great isn't she!?

Cory finally got to the hospital and it was time to wait!  I had been given a pill to soften my cervix that was supposed to make me feel a bit "crampy".  It wasn't so bad.  Then when I finally had enough antibiotics and saline, they started the pitocin.  I hope I NEVER have to have that medication again!  Everything was fine the first and second round.  But by the third dose, I could not take it anymore!  I was at about a 4 and asked for my epidural.  My anesthesiologist Dr. Hannon was AMAZING!  He was a very straightforward man, which is what I look for in my doctors and people in the medical profession!  Just give it to me straight, so I know what to expect.  I don't want the sugar coated version!  My epidural went so smooth.  Cory said he was so proud of me, because he saw what was going to happen and can't believe I handled it the way I did!  I never saw what was coming!  I refused to look at Cory, the nurse, the doctor or the needles!  No thanks!  I felt a pinch and the nerve he said he'd touch that made my foot twitch!  The zing on the nerve was the weirdest feeling.  It was not painful at all!  Thank you Dr. Hannon! 

My epidural started to kick in and I felt great! Mostly!  I carried Cannon very high, so high that he was tucked into my ribs!  Every time I had a contraction, my right ribs would hurt so bad!  I asked Dr. Hannon about this and he said that he'd never heard of contractions in the ribs and that, that just meant the baby was causing the pain and there was nothing he could do!  YAY!  So they then were waiting for me to dilate a bit further before they broke my water.  So Cory and I watched the monitor and listened to his heartbeat for about an hour.  They came in broke my water when I was about a 5!  That was at about 9PM.  Then my labor started progressing rapidly.  At about 8cm Cannon's heart rate would plummet with every contraction.  It would get so low that at one point I started to cry and said I was scared!  Cory just held my hand and told me everything would be okay!  The nurse and my doctor where always right there in a minute when his heart rate was declining.  They checked me again at about 10:30 PM and I was still at an 8. 

Dr. Bahnmiller got real with us!  He said what it seems to him is that my placenta is detaching faster then my labor.  We can wait and try to do this naturally and have things possibly turn into an "emergency" delivery OR we get him out now via Cesarean.  I asked him for a minute and asked Cory what to do!  Cory said, "Let's get him out the safe way!" and all I said was, "OK!". 

Man, did things start to move quickly after that!  I was so nervous and kept asking questions.  I even kept saying I'm sorry and one of the nurses said, "What are you sorry for?!  You're having a baby!".  Okay!  They got Cory in a gown, shut off my epidural medication and started wheeling me to the O.R. to have a baby!  I am so nervous at this point that I am shaking uncontrollably!  At one point the doctor asked me if I'm cold and I said no through my silent tears, that I'm just really nervous with a touch of scared!  At this point Cory was not with me.  He had to wait outside the door until they got me numb enough to do the Cesarean.  If I was unable to get fully numb, I'd have to be put under and Cory wouldn't be able to be there!  I had 3 doses of medication and I still had feeling in my right side.  I was given a fourth dose and the anesthesiologist let me know that if the 5th and final does not work, I'll have to be put under.  They started poking me and asking if I can feel that.  I said, "No!".  Well of course I could still feel it, I didn't want to miss having this kid taken out!  I FELT them start the Cesarean.  It was about 3 seconds of pain and then nothing but pressure!  I then got my wits about me and said, "Where's my husband?!".  The nurse went and got Cory, instructing him along the way that if he felt queasy or that he was going to faint to aim for the wall!  Before I knew it Cory was by my side, talking about random things and occasionally peeking over the curtain! 

Then I felt it!  I felt them pull that little boy out of my belly and into this world!  I cannot describe the feeling I had at that moment!  5years!  5years and you're finally here, was all I could think!  So I start crying, Cory looks over the curtain, smiles and proclaims, "He looks just like me!"!  He kissed me and then he just started to cry!  It was so funny, that all I said was, "What?!"!  The nurses took Cory over to help clean Cannon off and cut the cord!  I heard a faint little cry of disapproval, and then I got to meet that little creature that just came out of me!  We just looked at each other and all I could say was, "I can't believe you're real! You're perfect! Cory, he does look like you!"!  I gave him a kiss before Cory and Cannon, best friends already, went to our room to wait for me! 

They finished stitching me up and off we went to my room so I could see my perfect little boy!  I had texted my mom right before going into the O.R. that the baby was coming via Cesarean.  I had the joy of coming into the room and seeing my parents there waiting for me with Cory and our son!  That still is so weird sometimes!  I couldn't really hold Cannon yet because they had given me so much medication to numb me that I was slightly numb in the arms!  But with strategically placed pillows and the help of Cory I got to snuggle and wallow in my little Cannon!



37Weeks, 1 week before I had Cannon



Cannon Alan Bond

07/30/2012

11:47PM

7pounds, 11ounces

20.5inches

  



Sleeping baby boy





Love this little face



Life has changed so much since the day he graced us with his appearance!  He is the center of our universe and we wouldn't have it any other way!  We can't even remember what our life was before him!  What did we do with ourselves?!  So that is the story of my sweet precious angel!  I know it's been FOREVER but it's better late than never!



Our Little Family