Aleenah's First Few Moments In This World

Friday, March 20^th, 2009, was a very special day. Little Aleenah Marie Louise Hughes made her first appearance into the world. Although she had been growing inside me for the last ten months, nothing could quite prepare me for our first moments together.

On Wednesday, March 18^th, 2009, I went to see my obstetrician; Dr. Edgar Antolinez. He informed me, like many times before, that my blood pressure was extremely high (145/112), and that I would have to be induced on that following Friday. I was already four centimeters dilated, and seventy percent effaced, meaning labor had already begun.

Chad and I were very excited, our baby girl would finally be put into our arms, and we would finally be able to look at her beautiful little face. It was decided that I would have my mother there with me in the delivery room; however, when the day came she was too sick to attend.

The day arrived, and we got to the hospital at 9:00am, and immediately I changed into my lovely hospital gowns, and was placed on an Oxytocin drip. The drip was an intravenous inserted into my left hand (one of the many holes poked into my body that day), which would be increased throughout the day. At roughly 11:00am, an anesthesiologist came in to put the epidural. This was by far the worst pain I had ever felt, and even Chad found this extremely hard to watch. I had to sit at the edge of the bed, and lean forward on a table while arching my back like a cat. Now on a regular day this would be uncomfortable, but when you are pregnant with a baby that has not dropped, this is excruciating pain. I immediately started sweating, and having shortness of breath, the whole process made Chad nauseous. Good thing it only took forty minutes.

Once the epidural was in, it became a waiting game. Contractions were sporadic, some as close as 30 seconds apart, and lasting sometimes up to 3 minutes. However, my water had yet to break, so when Dr. Antolinez came back he tried to pierce my membranes. They would not break, so I was left to wait some more. Unable to get up, I was placed on a catheter. Grandma Hughes stopped by at roughly five in the afternoon, and we asked her to stay. She was pretty happy to be able to attend the birth of her first granddaughter.

Contractions came and went, and by 7:00pm I was roughly eight centimeters dilated. However the baby had yet to drop, or even enter the birth canal. At this point the nurse tried to break my waters, but once again the attempt failed. So Grandma, Chad and I watched Wheel of Fortune in the room, all the while my dose of Oxytocin was at the max. By the time 7:30pm came around my contractions were very close together and very painful, because I could not push. Dr. Antolinez finally broke my water, but then decided to inform me that my pelvic bones were too narrow and that a caesarean would probably be the only way to safely deliver this baby.

Needless to say I was shocked, and upset. After nearly twelve hours of labor, I was informed that I would have to go in for a c-section. I cried a little, but Chad was right there to comfort me. We were both scared but by 8:30pm, I was being wheeled down to the Operating room. While they got me ready, Chad waited in the hallway. The doctor informed him he was allowed to take pictures so he went back to the room to get the camera, if not for those pictures I would not remember the first moments of my baby Aleenah’s life.

The caesarean is all a blur to me, all I can remember is Dr. Antolinez lifting Aleenah up, and telling me she was a girl. Here are a few things Chad told me;

- my water broke all over Dr Anderson Kay (the assisting doctor),

- the anesthesiologist kept increasing my dose of whatever they gave me every few minutes which made me more loopy,

- Aleenah was so high up there that even Dr. Anderson Kay could not bring her down,

- Dr. Antolinez had to press her down with his elbow to take her out,

- I kept babbling on and saying thank you to everyone,

- I passed out for most of the surgery and came to only at the end

As soon as Aleenah was born, Chad and her were taken out of the room with the nurse. Grandma Hughes was waiting in the waiting room, and apparently Chad was crying when he came out so she thought something was wrong. When she saw that baby was good, and the nurse informed her I was fine, she realized that her little boy was just happy that everything went so well. They went upstairs, weighed Aleenah and measured her. She was 6lbs 15oz, and was 20 inches long. They sat with her and got to know her, while I waited in the recovery room for an hour.

Finally the moment came where I would meet my daughter for the first time. The nurse came in my room and asked if I was ready to meet her, up until that point I was fine. However, as soon as I saw Chad walk in the room with her I cried. Our family was complete, and although the day had been long it was all worth it. To hold baby Aleenah for the first time, was one of the most magical and memorable moments of my life. She was perfect, beautiful in everyway, and most of all she was a symbol of Chad and I’s love for one another. After two rough miscarriages, we finally has our little miracle, our lives had taken on a whole new meaning. We were no longer Chad and Marie, we were Daddy and Mommy.