Pictures!

Henry Allan Shell and Daddy

Henry is just a minute or so old.

Henry and Mommy, just a few hours old.

(After I came out from the anesthesia)

Henry just a day old with his "Oh Henry" bars.

Henry just 2 days old wearing his first Polo shirt.
Henry at 2 weeks old! He's so precious!

The Birth Story-Teresa's Point of View

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009- One of the scariest and happiest days of my life! In order to get the full picture of the story though, I've asked that my mom and Spencer both blog their versions as well.

My Version of the Birth of Henry Allan Shell:
On Monday, October 12th, 2009 I was taken to a delivery room at Northside Hospital to begin the induction process. My nurse, however, was a bit crazy and decided that I did not need to start the Cervidil after all. And so, Spencer and I spent the night in the delivery room as our last night together as just a couple.

At 5am I was woken up to begin the day. I was allowed to shower and then it was back to bedrest. The nurse began the Pitocin which brought on contractions and Henry's heart rate, as well as my blood pressure, were continuously monitored. At about 8:30am, my OB, Dr. Henke, arrived and decided that the night nurse was incorrect and I should have been started on Cervidil. Too late for that, she decided to break my water. Because it was so early, breaking my water was VERY painful. Even the OB said I did well for being in such pain, but at least I was one step closer to having my baby. On a side note, there is a LOT of amniotic fluid in a uterus. At one point I was able to get up and go to the bathroom, but when I got in to the bathroom I realized I was flooding it. I quickly jumped into the bathtub to continue the flooding and called for Spencer. He opened the door to see me squatting in a tub in a hospital gown looking at the flooded floor. His words were: "Oh Dear God!" hahahha. End of side note.

So around 10:30am the contractions were getting quite a bit uncomfortable. The nurse was able to give me a painkiller that she said would only last for 30mins to an hour, but I took it. Around 12 noon the pain was QUITE uncomfortable so the nurse called for the OB and they decided to do an epidural. I was told what to do for the injection and I was told that it would probably put me to sleep or I could expect a long day of watching daytime television....oh how wrong they were!

So at 12:15 pm the Anesthesiologist arrived to give me the epidural. He was finished in about 5 minutes (12:20pm) and left the room. He said the epidural would take 30 minutes to go into effect, but I figured I could handle 30 more minutes of pain.

The nurse immediately begin searching for Henry's heart rate to make sure there were no side effects of the medicine. She had me lay on my right and she shook my uterus, but couldn't get a good heartbeat. Then she rolled me on my left and checked and then back to my right. I had no idea what was going on, but Spencer could see the monitors. Apparently Henry's heart rate which was typically between 130 and 150 was now in the 40s. I didn't know this though and was very confused as to what was going on.

Between 12:20 and 12:25 the nurse looked for the heart rate and then called another nurse to go find my OB. A few seconds later my nurse pushed the intercom button and did an all call that said "Any OB to Room A-3 stat." I still didn't realize what was going on, but I was definitely still in a bit of pain (remember, the epidural wasn't effective yet). Then I remember a whole bunch of doctors and nurses coming into my room and one of them asked me to get on all fours. I did as I was told, although this confused me even more. My OB arrived at 12:26pm and said to take me immediately to the Operating Room and she was going to go scrub in. The team of nurses unplugged all of my monitors and began racing my bed down the hallways. I remember the bed hitting a door and then going super fast until the bed broke in half. Yes, that's right, the bottom part of this collapsible bed decided to collapse with me on it. At least I'm short. They left the bottom part of the bed in the hallway and continued to race to the OR. Eventually they hit a housekeeper and her cart which stopped the bed. They turned the corner into the OR and I remember seeing about 15 people in the room. I kept thinking, "wow, is this an assembly line? who all is in here?" Apparently I was the only patient in there and all 15 medical personnel were there for me!

The nurses lifted me from my broken bed onto the operating table and hung a sheet in front of my face (just like on TV). Then I heard my OB say the word "scalpal" and I looked up and said "Wait, I need anethesia!" The Anesthesiologist that had given me my epidural was there, but didn't realize I was that same patien from 6 minutes ago! He said "there's no time" to my request and then I felt the first slice into my skin. Apparently it takes your abdominal muscles in order to scream because I couldn't get a scream out. All I could do is moan loudly! I felt a few more cuts and then I felt two hands pull open my skin. The doctor said I would feel a lot of pressure on my stomach as they pushed Henry out. At this point the anesthesiologist had gotten the general anesthesia set up and he put me under. A minute later Henry was born at 12:40pm. Seriously, the one part I'd want to be awake for and they put me under! Oh well. Let me just advise to any other pregnant women that "going natural without drugs" and having a C-Section are two things that should not be combined. And in case you didn't do the math, the epidural didn't take affect until around 12:50pm. Ten minutes too late!!

After that, the next thing I remember is waking up in a small makeshift room surrounded by curtains. This room was apparently the Recovery Room, but I was pretty loopy at this point. I couldn't feel my arms or legs or any pain actually. I stayed there for awhile though and eventually they wheeled me into a real room and I got to see my family, Spencer, and Henry. Although Henry was in the Recovery Room with me, I can't remember him. Spencer's version of this story will have more details of this time.

And that room is where we stayed until Friday, October 16th when we got discharged. Apparently I was supposed to stay until Saturday, but come on...I'd spent enough time at the hospital by this point.

Now it has been about 2 weeks since Henry's birth and we are learning a new routine at home. Motherhood is hard...very hard... and I just hope every day that I'm doing it right. I guess only time will tell, but I sure do love my little Henry and Spencer, the greatest husband in the world!

Week 36- Still Week 36

Less than 72 hours from now Baby Shell will be joining us! Hooray! Spencer and I are enjoying these last few days (as best we can in a hospital room) as just a 2 person family. It is really sinking in what life change is about to happen...and we are thrilled! Baby Shell has been doing great for the last few days with 2 exceptions. On two different nights (both with the same night nurse that we don't care for), Baby Shell's heartrate has dropped for longer than is typical. Our nurse has had to call the OB late at night and we've had to do a longer NonStress Test both times, but eventually his heartbeat has returned to normal. Possibly, he was laying on the cord, but I think he just has a sense of humor and acts up for attention.

So today is my last day (unless any labs change drastically) that I will be living in Club 127 in the Women's Center at Northside Hospital. Tomorrow between lunch and dinner time, I will be taken to a delivery room and begin the whole induction processs. Tomorrow night I will get Cervidil to start the dilation. In a perfect world, that will be all it takes and baby will come overnight. More than likely though, Tuesday morning I will be given Pitocin and the labor fun will begin. Hopefully the Pitocin combined with my Preeclampsia will cause the delivery to occur sometime on Tuesday. If not, I may be put back on Cervidil and then try again with Pitocin or eventually given the option of a C-Section. I've met with my doctors and we agree that whatever is best for the baby is what we'll do. I told them not to worry about my health too much. I figure I can bounce back a bit more easily than a 5lbs 4 oz newborn which was his estimated weight a week ago. I'm guessing he'll be around 6lbs on Tuesday, but what do I know??

The last 13 days have not been my idea of how I'd like to spend my last days of pregnancy, but I've been so incredibly blessed with friends and family that I've had very little time to be bored. In fact, many of my friends have visited multiple times and I'm beginning to wonder if they have nothing better to do with their time! :) Just kidding. I have enjoyed every minute of their visits and couldn't ask for better friends or family.

It has been very interesting to be "surprised" with this illness and the subsequent hospital bedrest. Spencer teases that I like to plan my life in 15 min increments and these last two weeks have thrown me off! I guess this is God's way of telling me I'm going to need to learn to be more flexible.

During these last weeks, my mom has been spending each day at the hospital with me and we have been having such a good time together. It's been years since we spent this much time together and I had almost forgotten how much I really like her! I mean, she's my mom so of course I love her, but I really like her as a person too- not just because she's my mom. At night, Spencer comes to stay with me and my mom goes back to our home to play "housewife." She's been cleaning and doing chores and taking care of the dogs. She's been great and worked so hard to make this easier on us. I don't think I could have done all of this time without her and I'm pretty sure Spencer appreciates all of her help too. Spencer did spend the night at home last night and my mom spent the night at the hospital. When I asked Spencer why he didn't want to stay he replied, "Sweetie, I just want to sleep in my own bed!" I think after seeing the look on my face he started to backtrack and said, "oh, I'm sorry. I guess you do too." Well yes, I've missed my bed quite a bit, thanks! :) However I'm glad Spencer can keep some sort of normalcy right now- he needs it!

And so now we are on the downside of the waiting game. I'm anxious to see what the next few days hold for us, but I'm sure Baby Shell will be worth it. Thank you to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. It's almost time!!

Week 36-What a week!

So last Wednesday I went in to my OB for an appointment after 2 days of mandatory bedrest at home. The OB took my blood pressure and told Spencer and I "go to the hospital, do not pass go, do not stop for lunch." This was not exactly the news I was hoping for. So on Wednesday, September 30th, I was officially admitted to Northside Hospital as a High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) patient. I'm hanging out in Room 127 of the Women's Center for the remainder of this pregnancy.

Fortunately, I am officially 36 weeks along as of yesterday and if I have not delivered by next Monday, the OB will schedule an induction for Tuesday early morning. This means we will have baby boy sometime between now and next Tuesday, October 13 (which happens to be my great- grandfather's birthday).

I have been having contractions each day since I arrived and yesterday I had them for a bit over an hour. They are not putting me into labor yet though.

The swelling had gotten so bad that I now have to wear wraps around my calves 24 hours a day which are connected to an air compressor at the foot of my bed. The air compressor switches between each leg putting pressure on the legs and then releasing. My swelling has gone down- not completely, but enough so that I've lost 8 lbs since I've been here. (Hooray, less weight to lose when I get home, even if it's just water weight.) Apparently my sweet mother and father had talked about me last weekend and decided I looked like the Michelin Man. They didn't mention this to me until I was hospitalized and the swelling in my face went down. It's still not polite for my mom to mention every morning that my feet look huge, but I guess politeness isn't my family's strong suit.

I've had blood tests run just about every day I've been here. My platelet count is the issue they are testing for as well as liver enzymes. My platelets had gotten pretty low and the OB was concerned that I wouldn't be able to clot during delivery and if they got too much lower they would not be able to give me an epidural. I informed them that if they let them get that low, I would be using Tequila as my epidural regardless of platelet count.

My blood pressures have been very volatile. Sometimes I have as low as 102/63 and sometimes I have as high as 177/90. These are my blood pressures laying down on my side after complete rest so they are not actually accurate blood pressures to compare to a normal person in their normal life. My blood pressure goes way up when I sit up or stand up.

Because of the blood pressure issues, I am still on mandatory bedrest at the hospital. This involves me laying down on my side for about 23 hours and 25 minutes a day. I am allowed a 5 minute shower break and a 30 minute wheelchair privilege. Luckily, my mom is in charge of the wheelchair privilege and she is not good with telling time. We wheel around the hospital pretending our nurses are after us and I'm pretty sure there is one nurse who has put out an APB on us before. This hospital will be on lockdown until I am recovered, removed, and replaced in my bed. I've heard prisoners get more privileges and times out of their cells. Plus, with my leg compressors on, I am litterally tied to my bed.

I have chosen to lighten the mood by wearing my own pajamas. My mom has run from Targets to Old Navy's buying up any pajamas that are not flannel. This resulted in 3 pair. Spencer refers to my room as "The Icebox" and is planning to bring an electric blanket to sleep with. Luckily, we don't pay the electric bill here.

The other issue with my body is that I have protein in my urine. I really have no idea why this is bad, but the OB was concerned. With all of these issues, I am officially Pre-Eclampic which happens to about 8% of all pregnant women. If you look at it this way, I'm in the top 92% of pregnant women. I'm basically an overachiever.

While today is my 8th day in the hospital, I'd like to mention a few of the exciting things that have occurred during this stay. On Saturday, I had a baby shower in Roswell, Ga. My college girlfriends all lived in the same apartment at one time or another and it was apartment number 107. Since college, we've had an annual Mother-Daughter Reunion for the 107 Girls. It's about 9 of us and we have such a blast catching up. Well this year, they also celebrated my upcoming blessing and my friend Catherine's upcoming wedding! It was a double shower and I was scared I wouldn't be able to attend. Fortunately, with the power of technology and the abilities of my friends, I was able to use the webcam to be in the same room. I got to see everyone and everything going on and had a BLAST! My mom even opened the gifts for me. It was so much fun even if I never left Club 127 (the nickname of my hospital room).

Afterwards, many of the mothers and daugthers came to Club 127 to visit me. My nurses are getting concerned that I'm breaking fire codes because I've had so many wonderful visitors!! I knew that Spencer and I were blessed with great friends and family, but it has really been unbelievable! My friends have gone above and beyond with their visits, calls, emails, texts, and gifts to keep me entertained. I really think I have a least one or two friends stop by every night and this past weekend it was more like 4 to 8 visitors! It's a revolving door here at Club 127 and with all of these blessings, I certainly can't complain too much! God has been so good to me, Baby Shell, and Spencer!

We have started a routine to keep up until the baby arrives. During the days, my mom stays at the hospital and causes trouble with me. At night after work, Spencer comes and spends the evenings relaxing, watching TV and then sleeps here all night. They are very dedicated caregivers. Spencer also calls 8,000 times a day to check in with me. He cares so much he just doesn't want to miss a thing. I told him I'd call him after the baby's here, but he did not find that funny AT ALL.

Here are a few pictures:

Club 127 Dinner Club with Catherine, Suz, and Kamber

ULC 107 Girls:Cristina, Eleanor, Kamber, Catherine, Amy, Suz, and Darragh. Casey and I were unable to attend in person.

The ULC 107 Moms: Jean, Banh Le, Virginia, Maura, Kathy, Elaine, Krissy, and Neva

So here's to the next 6 days or less! Baby Shell, we are anxiously awaiting your arrival and can't wait to bring you home- healthy! Love, your mom