The Friday before Sumner was born I spent the night at my
mama’s house because some friends of ours had gotten married in Thomasville and
Matthew was in the wedding. Since I was
38 weeks pregnant at the time, I did not feel like staying out late. So, I rode home early with some friends and
they dropped me off at my mama’s and Matthew was going to pick me up on his way
home. Well, I fell asleep as soon as I
got there, so I just decided to spend the night. The next morning I woke up and felt as if my
water might have broken. However, it
wasn’t the “water break” I had imagined.
It wasn’t like a gush… Instead it was an occasional leaking
feeling. I shared my concerns with my
mama, and she suggested I call the doctor just in case. After a few hours of this going on, I
did. Since it was the weekend, I had to
call the “after hours” number and speak to which ever doctor happened to be on
call. I left a message and in a matter
of minutes Dr. Edmonson called me back.
He was the one on call. I was a
little disappointed because he was not the doctor I used. He is a good doctor, but he is much more laid
back than Dr. Jordan (my primary doctor).
When I told him what was going on he blew it off and said I would know
if my water had broken and just to relax and take it easy… So, that’s what I
did. I went on about my day as if
nothing was going on. That day I went to
Savannah Hampton’s (now Savannah Harvin) wedding shower at our church. When Matthew picked me up that afternoon I
rode around and went to work with him.
The following week I continued my usual routine. All the while I was continuing to have these “leaking”
episodes. Dr. Jordan told me since I was
full term I could go ahead and start exercising again in hopes of moving things
along, so I did! I walked or did the
elliptical every day. I even went to
Americus to grad school two days that week!
I was so tired of being pregnant and so ready for Sumner to get her that
I was desperate! I ate spicy food, rocked on a big bounce ball, and of course
exercised. My last result was to have a
pregnancy massage. People told me they
worked. So, Thursday night after class
in Americus, mama and I went to have one!
I hoped I would go into labor that night ! Well, nothing happened! I had my weekly
prenatal visit with Dr. Jordan the next morning (Friday, June 8th). My appointment was at 8:00. Matthew and I were the first people
there. In fact, we were so early we had
to wait outside for them to unlock the doors.
Once I got into the room, Dr. Jordan’s med school student came in and
asked me several questions. I told him
how I called Dr. Edmonson the weekend before because I thought my water may
have broken, but Dr. Edmonson told me it hadn’t. The med student left to tell Dr. Jordan what
I said, and in minutes Dr. Jordan came in.
I could tell he was worried. He
asked several questions and then did a test to see if the leaking had been my
water breaking. Once he realized it was,
he told me to go straight to the hospital.
He said do not go home to get things, go straight there! So, that’s what
we did! I remember feeling numb! I was
excited because I couldn’t believe we were REALLY about to have a baby. It was the strangest thing. Even though I had known for nine months I
would have a baby, it just didn’t seem real until that moment! I didn’t have anything with me! Matthew had
on his work clothes and I don’t think I even took a bath that morning because I
had planned on coming back home and going to exercise! But ready or not, to the hospital we went!
We got there around
9:30. Even though Dr. Jordan said I was
paper thin and dilated, they had to start the drip to get things going since my
water had been broken for a week. Dr.
Jordan came in and finished breaking my water and started the drip around 12:00.
They started it slow and gradually increased it. An hour after starting the
drip the nurse came in to check my progress and I hadn’t changed. She told me it would probably be a
while! So, since we thought we had a lot
of time, we sent our parents away to get some things for us at our house and
the store. I started feeling contractions
around 2:00. I didn’t want to get the
epidural yet because the last time the nurse had checked I was only 3 cm, so I
didn’t want to seem like a wimp, even though things were starting to get
intense. Matthew talked me into going
ahead and getting it since I was in pain, and I did. It made since that I was in pain because when
the nurse came back in I had changed from a 3 to a 7 in a short amount of time.
Matthew held me up while the man gave me the epidural. I couldn’t watch or even look at that
needle. I was so proud of Matthew,
though. He gets really sick and weak at
the sight of stuff like that. I really
didn’t even know if he would be able to be in the room when I gave birth in
fear he would pass out! But, when push came to shove, something in him changed,
and he did so good! All I have to say
about the epidural is that it is a miracle drug. Instantly the pain went away and I became a
new person. I decided I wanted to have
pictures taken so I started primping! I
was laughing, talking, putting on lipstick… just having a good ole’ time! Then, out of nowhere, I started feeling pressure
on my left side. I started worrying that
the epidural wasn’t going to take. I
told the nurse and she checked me. She
was surprised at how fast I was dilating and told someone to call Dr.
Jordan. I went from a 7-10 in about 10
minutes.
It all happened so
fast and just felt like a blur. I
remember when they told me to start pushing I couldn’t believe it was
happening. I don’t know how long I
pushed. I was concentrating so hard on
pushing that I didn’t even realize anything was going wrong. I didn’t notice the look of concern on Dr.
Jordan’s face. I do remember hearing the
machines start beeping and Dr. Jordan telling the nurse to turn the volume
off. The next thing I knew, I had an
oxygen mask on my face and they were ripping the cords and wires off me as fast
as they could. Dr. Jordan said they
Sumner’s heart rate was dropping very low and very fast and he was going to
have to do an emergency C-section.
Apparently I was progressing too fast for Sumner to keep up and he also
flipped over and was “sunny side up”. I
didn’t even really have a chance to tell anyone anything. They didn’t even let Matthew come with
me. I went under full anesthesia. Matthew said it wasn’t 5 minutes after they
rolled me back that he heard Sumner cry!
I was unconscious, so I didn’t get to see him until hours later in
recovery. But Matthew got to hold him immediately.
I will never forget
the first time I saw Sumner. It was
amazing. I felt a connection so strong I
can’t even explain it. When I looked at
his eyes I remember feeling as if I had known him for a lifetime. It was the strangest thing. I would do anything to re-live that moment
again now! He was perfect and beautiful!
I was so thankful! The most special
thing of all was when they laid him on my chest and I nursed him for the first
time. I’ve heard people talk about how
special breastfeeding is, but I just couldn’t understand what they meant until
I did it for myself! It was an incredible
moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life! I could thank God every
minute of every day for giving Sumner to me, and it still would not be enough!
Sumner was born at
4:35 P.M. on June 8, 2012. He weighed 6
pounds 5 ounces and was 19 inches long.
He had a head full of black hair and beautiful blue eyes.
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