In the movies...

In the movies, when a woman has a baby her water always breaks when she is in the middle of dinner with her husband at some fine restaurant. They rush off to the hospital in a taxi, with the woman doing her breathing exercises along the way. Next scene shows the woman in the delivery room and the husband pacing in the hallway. After a few "arrrr's" and "eeeeee's" and some sweat dripping off her forehead the woman delivers her little bundle of joy. The husband and wife then hold their new baby on the terrace of their hospital room, all the while gazing into each others eyes while a fireworks display is going off in the near distance.

In reality, it's not so much like that.

Cory Scott Myers was born on Friday, January 2nd at 8:09am. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 21" long. He looked healthy and pink and had all his fingers and toes. You'd never know by looking at him that he was in need of open heart surgery.







I was taken to the hospital on December 31st to be induced. Junior's heart rate had been up and down over the past couple of days, so the doctors decided it was time to get him out. After laying on a really hard stretcher with monitors on my belly for over 4 hours, I was given some medication to help Junior make his appearance. I was finally moved to a room with a more comfortable bed. I thought "This is great! I can catch up on some reading... relax and watch TV... get some much needed sleep..." This was not to be the case. Doctors and nurses were constantly in and out of my room, monitoring me and Junior. Then finally, when it was time to sleep I discovered that my roommate snored louder than anything I had ever heard in my life. It was incredible. It was like trying to sleep across the way from a dozen freight trains. I swear the whole floor of the hospital was shaking! Honestly!

A nurse came into my room just before midnight of New Year's Eve to monitor Junior. His heart rate was really low. Doctors and more doctors were called in to decide what to do. Lee was not allowed to be in the room after visiting hours so I was ringing the New Year all by myself, worried sick about my unborn baby. The doctors finally decided that an emergency C-Section would not be required and told me to "get some rest". Ya, right! Like I could get some rest after that! I assumed that after all the commotion that Junior and I would be monitored closely for the rest of the night. That was not to be the case. So between the freight train roomate, the near emergency C-Section, and the new roommate who was wheeled in shortly after midnight with her very loud husband who insisted on wishing everyone a Happy New Year about a dozen times, I finally nodded off for an hour or so.

In the morning I was told I couldn't eat anything, in case I needed to be rushed to surgery. I asked when I'd be getting Junior's heart monitored again, and the nurse told me she would do it later in the morning. I insisted that she do it immediately because of all the hubub the night before. She finally hooked me up and discovered that Junior's heart rate was still very erratic.

After waiting all day to see a doctor, I was finally wheeled back up to the 4th floor for more constant monitoring. Junior had all the doctors scratching their heads. They consulted with each other, monitored us some more, then consulted with each other again. They finally decided that it was time to get Junior out. They decided to put off the C-Section for the time being, as that would make it nearly impossible for me to get around and especially difficult for me to take care of Molly. I still wasn't allowed to eat, just incase I needed surgery.

I was given some drugs that were supposed to really bring on labour. They helped a little, but not too much. The medication did, however, make my contractions much, much stronger. The nurse suggested that I try the Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) to ease the discomfort a little. What can I say about the laughing gas. Not so great for pain... but oh boy was it good for a buzz!! I had the whole room spinning and I was as giddy as a school girl! Then another contraction would come and I was instantly transfored from giddy school girl to foul mouthed truck driver! I'm pretty sure my head was rotating in full circles too!

Finally the nice man with the epidural came. Initially he was not my friend. How on earth is someone supposed to stay still while a needle is being inserted into your back during nasty contractions. I was told it's Ok to curl my toes, or talk through the contraction, or grip someone's hand... but I was not allowed to move my body even a very little bit as that could really complicate things. The anesthetist finally got everything in place and he suddenly became my very best friend. After that labour was a breeze!!

While I drifted in and out of sleep (this would be about 8:00pm or so on January 1st) the doctors and nurses continued to monitor Junior and I. Things were still very touch and go. All through the night they had to adjust my medication to accomodate Junior's erratic heart rate. We were again back to a possible emergency C-Section. Finally Junior decided he wanted out. I told the nurse I was ready to go but she didn't believe me. My regular nurse came back from her coffee break shortly after and I told her the same thing... that Junior wanted out now. She thought it might be too soon, but checked things out anyway. To everyone's surprise Junior really was ready to go!

We were wheeled into the operating room for the delivery. There were so many people in there it was insane! We had several nurses, two obstetricians, a neonatologist, the NICU transfer nurse, and a few more I can't remember.

When Junior finally arrived I was so relieved that he had made it and was healthy and pink. He also had a good set of lungs on him! After the neonatologist checked him out they let me hold him for a few minutes before he was taken to the Children's Hopital. It was really hard to let him go, but I knew he was in good hands. Lee followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed with Cory for a few hours.

So Cory is now at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton. We are hoping that he will have his surgery around the 8th or 9th of January. Right now he is stable and breathing on his own and looking very good. He has dedicated nurses who take care of him around the clock. He has a few monitors on him, an IV, and some other tubes going through his belly button. We are hoping he won't need a breathing tube to be put in until close to his operation.

It is very difficult to hold him with all the wires and such around him. I haven't been able to spend too much time with him yet, as I only got home from the hospital myself on January 3rd and I'm still recovering from the delivery. Lee has been spending a lot of time with Cory and bonding with his son. Molly visited her brother on his first day in the hospital. She didn't have too much to say about him yet... but I think she's going to love being Cory's big sister!

Well... I think that's all I've got to say for now. I'm going to go visit Cory and see how he's doing. It's really tough not having him here with me... not being able to feed him, or hold him, or change his diapers, or comfort him when he cries. But I know he's in good hands and will be home with his family soon.

Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. I will keep up with my posts, hopefully more regularly now that Cory is finally here. I will also likely be changing the name of the blog from "Adventures in Edmonton" to some other title for the next post. Keep you comments coming, as Lee & I love to hear from you! You can comment either here on this site, or at my email address: kmyers@mts.net

Take care everyone! And Happy New Year!