Ender Eli Theisen

We were so excited to welcome Ender Eli Theisen into the world this morning. We are all healthy and strong despite a very scary night. I wanted to get these details down before I forget them! Here goes...

HOW IT BEGAN...

I had been tossing and turning all night not feeling great, but not having real contractions or anything. A little after 11:00pm I awoke with excruciating pain in my abdomen. I got up out of bed and felt a horrible pop or punch in the bottom part of my uterus/cervix. I thought at first the pain was a contraction although it didn't feel like ones I've had during previous labors. I went to the bathroom planning on starting a shower to see if the pain would go away. The pain I felt did not subside, not one bit. It was not a contraction, it didn't let up. I got as far as running the bath water before I realized I could hardly move. I called out to Eric, "I don't know what's going on but the pain won't go away." He immediately awoke and called the family birthing center of our hospital. They said they would page the on-call doctor. While waiting I began vomiting and quickly came to the realization that I could not tolerate the pain much longer. I told Eric he needed to call an ambulance. They paramedics and ambulance arrived in record time. They loaded me on the stretcher and away we went lights and sirens. I received nausea medicine and fluids but they couldn't give me anything for the pain until we arrived at the hospital and the doctor approved it.

AT THE HOSPITAL...

We arrived at the hospital. The pain had still not subsided. However I felt more peaceful just knowing that I was in a place where they would be able to help me. And "Help ME" was all I could muster to pray and I prayed it repeatedly. The monitor showed a healthy baby heart beat (praise the Lord) and contractions every 5 minutes or so. My abdomen was VERY tender to the touch mostly on the upper part near by rib cage. The Dr. Torkelson arrived and examined me. My cervix was still high and not ready for delivery. She hypothesized that my placenta was ripping away from my uterus. She explained that they could not induce labor because it would take too long. They needed to get the baby out before the placenta detaches. Once the placenta detaches the baby doesn't have much time because he no longer has oxygen. I finally got pain meds as I had been begging for. However, my pain was so excruciating that the medicine didn't do anything. The doctor said she literally could not give me any more - if that medication didn't help nothing would.

ERIC GETS TO THE HOSPITAL...

Eric arrived at the hospital shortly before bringing me into the OR. His mom had come to stay with the kids - having family in town is such a blessing! We called my parents, who were at the cabin, and they headed back to MN immediately.

ANESTHESIA...

In the OR they gave me a spinal block which, unlike my previous c-section, was done "lower" so that I didn't feel like I was suffocating (like I did last time). They also gave me anti-nausea meds which I requested based on my previous experience.

THE SURGERY...

I was feeling surprisingly good as they pushed and prodded to get sweet Ender out. Then the doctor told me what she saw..."your uterus ruptured." Those words sent uncontrollable sadness and devastation to my core. To me, this meant, no more children, luckily I didn't have all the information. I didn't mean to be ungrateful for my (almost) 3 amazing children, but to hear that more would not be an option was just heart breaking. The doctor continued to explain that the rupture was right on my previous incision. The baby was being held in my uterus by the membranes (*Update 9/7/10 7:30am I just spoke with the nurse and she told me that the "membrane" holding him in was actually the membrane of the sac of water! The nurses had been talking amongst themselves about how that bag of water must have been made out of steel! Crazy to think that my bag of waters broke with the previous 2 pregnancies, but stayed in tact perfectly for little Ender to provide the protection we both needed!). The doctors and nurses assured us that we had made the right decision by calling an ambulance and coming in right away. We did not have much more time before the baby would have been pushed out into my abdomen which would then pull the placenta off the uterus depriving the baby of oxygen. The baby would not be able to survive in this condition for long.

Ok, so back to the surgery. The pushed and prodded and pulled out a beautiful little boy! 2:09am his loud cry echoed joyously around the OR.

I continued to learn more about my ruptured uterus. The Lord protected us. Because the rupture was right on top of my previous incision they were able to stitch me right back up!! It's looking VERY positive that I will be able to be pregnant again, however a future VBAC is not an option. Praise the Lord my uterine rupture wasn't worse!!

I am now holding my 7 lbs 14 oz newborn baby boy as a struggle to stay awake as I type this. I am currently in good spirits and minimal pain. I expect there will be some blue days as I process the roller coaster of today. But I am so grateful in this moment for so many things.

I promise there will be pictures! I got a new phone so of course I can't figure out how to bluetooth the pictures to my computer and then I didn't bring my camera cable! Tomorrow!! I promise!!

PS: 3 years ago today I lost a little life due to an ectopic pregnancy and almost lost my own. Here is that story. Today, 3 years later, I gained a little life. God is faithful. I love that September 6th will no longer be a day of sadness and anxiety, but a day of rejoicing and celebration.