Alex was a baby that I desperately wanted after Matt turned 1. Howard wanted to wait a little longer and I finally nagged him enough that he settled after 18 months to try again. See it took 9 months to get pregnant with Matt and I didn't want to have more than 3 years between the boys. Well with Alex it only took 2 months so we must have learned some tricks along the way. The doctors were optimistically thinking the preterm labor I had with Matt wasn't going to happen again.
At 31 weeks I started to get regular contractions and they put me on tributalyn pills. I had tests from 28 weeks on called Fetal Fibronectin which can tell if you are releasing a protein that indicates birth in a two week period. During the 32 week test I knew something was going on and made sure my bag was packed.
The phone call that changed everything....
Mrs. Warsofsky you need to go to the hospital for a two day course of lung developing betamethozone. Ok, let me get my stuff and I will be there. Well, when they checked me I was dilated to 3 cm so they decided to transfer me to Woman and Infants. I also was contracting very regularly. If you have read Jacobs Story you'll find out how I hate that place. Back to the story... So I am in the ambulance and they keep asking me are you ok? I said,"Don't worry I am not having my baby in the baby factory."
That is not what the hospital thought though. I was rushed to the labor and delivery floor and they were certain I was going to have Alex at 32 week gestation. But if you know me then you can be rest assured if I said he wasn't going to be born, he wasn't coming out. The next day they brought me to the fifth floor (high risk) where I was going to stay until the baby was born or I was 35 weeks.
Three trips to the labor and delivery floor and three weeks later they said I could go home and have my baby back at Sturdy Memorial my local hospital. They said to Howard that when they saw the countdown napkin(how far along I was) that I taped to the wall every night at midnight they knew I was going to make it to 35 weeks and be released.
At 36 weeks I went into full blown labor contractions. However, unless you are 37 weeks they won't help you if your labor fails to progress. So I was having real contractions every 5-10 minutes but wasn't dilated past 4 cm. Finally by the fourth day of no sleeping and 2 hospital trips I called the doctor and said I am dying you need to help me sleep or something. Howard wasn't very nice and said you have to go again to the hospital when nothing was changing. I could have killed him right there and then. The doctor said I could go into the hospital for a theraputic admission.
The nurses were going to give me some pain meds for me to sleep and later I would be released. I got a room but I was still 4 cm. Howard went downstairs to get my bag. This when the fun started. He thought this was another false labor thing and was making fun of me in his head and told everyone around that nothing was new, stay home.
The doctor says lets just check and see if you dilated now that you are relaxed. I went from 4 to 7 1/2 in less 5 minutes. The doctor says she is going to break my water. "Wait, Wait I want an epidural!" I said. I went to ten when she broke the water. Howard is still not back because he is calling people saying that nothing is happening and I am upstairs getting ready to deliver.
Howard gets off the elevator and the nurses yell at him that I am pushing and he better hurry up. I don't think I was there more than 15 minutes in my room before things went crazy fast.
"Sheri, the baby is not coming out with you pushing after an hour and half and he is showing signs of distress. You need a c-section." What the hell were you waiting for? No problem lets go. I was falling asleep on the operating table. I was so tired.....
Mrs. Warsofsky open your eyes you have a son. Wait did that baby have red hair? Is that my baby? I closed my eyes for a little bit in the recovery room. All it took was them separating me from the baby to give me the second wind I needed. The call to the recovery came that they had a baby who wanted his mama and wanted to eat.
Oh my little redheaded baby how I love you!
Later that morning Dr. Miniker said to us that we had a healthy baby but beware with that red hair and fair skin they tend to have food allergies. How right he was. But it didn't occur to me that the bad ecezema on his face and legs were from the green beans and peas that this baby loved. He was allergic to penicillin like his Poppa too.
At 15 months old I got the frantic yell from Howard,"Sheri you need to get down here. Sheri get down here!" I was upstairs doing something. Alex's face was bright red but pale at the same time. His eyes were watering and I could see he was in ananphaxis. Thank God I had purchased Benadryl the week before. One teaspoon later I can see that the reaction is starting to go away.
What did he eat? What did he touch? He was in his high chair when it happened. Howard said he turned his back and when he turned around the sandwich that Matt was eating (peanut butter) was on the high chair. He either ate a bite or just touched it which we will never know.
The call to the doctor said you now have a child with Peanut allergies and they are calling in a prescription for an Epi-Pen Jr.
Everything from that day forward changed how we ate as a family. For the good and certainly for the bad.
