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July 13, 2006
By Margot | July 13, 2006
Happy Birthday Sam!
Six years ago today I was at home getting my home office set up with our office Computer Guy. I had finally decided that I’d better get going on that – though I was still telling everyone that I had plenty of time to tie up all the lose ends at work because this was my first baby and first babies are always late. Sammy was due on July 23 so I figured I at least had until the first of August. Our office computer guy was very nice but not the most socially adept guy. Anyway, about 1:30 or 2pm I started feeling contractions. I ignored them thinking they must be Braxton Hicks by 3:30 or so they were coming on strong and harder to ignore. I kept trying to get the computer guy out of our without actually freaking him out by telling him I thought I was in labor. He kept explaining to me in excruciating detail the entire setup and how it worked what wasn’t quite working yet. When he finally left it was 4:15 or so. I called Neil at 4:30 and told him he’d better come home because I thought I was in labor. “Oh, it’s probably just Braxton Hicks.” Don’t worry though I’ll be home around 6:30pm.” I got off the phone and called the hospital and they said to start timing the contractions and to come in when they were five minutes apart. I should have remembered to do that but I still couldn’t really believe I was in labor. Anyway, I started to time them and they were only four minutes apart. Uh oh. I called Neil back and he was already on his way home. Apparently, he was interviewing a woman for a job and he got off the phone with me and she said, “Are you insane? Was that just your wife telling you she’s thinks she’s in labor and you told her you’d be home at 6:30? GO HOME NOW!” He got stuck in traffic and got home about 5:15. I was ready to go with everything.
Two weeks prior to this Neil had run into our good friend Joe Monaco whose wife had just had a baby boy (Little Joe with whom we’re celebrating tonight at Pernicanos pizza joint). Joe told Neil all about Colleen’s excruciating 36 hour labor. Neil was under the impression that we were in for a very long haul. So, we stopped at Blockbuster to get some movies. Neil went in and I stayed in the car. I remember holding on to the door handle in major pain and after twenty minutes wondering what the heck Neil was doing. He came out w with six movies! Then he says, “Now let’s go fill the car up with gas.” At this point I put my foot down and said, “No, we need to get to the hospital now.” On the way, Neil was calling the whole family and letting them in on what was happening. At one point he put me on the phone with my brother-in-law Matt and it was all I could do to keep the conversation going. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45pm and checked in. Neil said to the nurse, “These are just Braxton Hicks right?’ She looked at him like he was a complete idiot and said, “No, you are going to have a baby tonight.” The nurse said I was at 2cm and gave me a room and a stack of paperwork to fill out. At this point we realized that we forgot the cord blood kit in the car so Neil went down to get while I filled out the paperwork. Only I couldn’t fill out the paperwork, my hand was running off the page at every contraction and things were starting to become a blur. Neil was taking a long time to get the cord blood kit. I found out later that he was canceling his tee-time and calling everyone we knew to let them know we were having a baby. Meanwhile, upstairs, the nurse looked at me and said, “you know, you seem like you are in a lot of pain for 2cm, let me check you again. “Sh%%$$t!!! You are at nine! Oh my God!” She started calling all of the other nurses stat and they were trying to find a doctor – mine was on the way to the hospital.. It was pandemonium. I think the initial check in nurse screwed up on the cm. About this time, my husband strolled in and asked what was going on. He stepped right in held my hand and was a champ when he figured out what was happening but it all happened so fast I think we were both kind of out of it. It was shift change and there wasn’t a doctor available. They told me to close my legs sideways and not to push. It was too late I was already pushing and they dug up a midwife who delivered Sammy at 7:50 pm – just over an hour after we got to the hospital. Our friend Donny still calls him “Sudden Sammy.” We were in love with him from the minute he was born and still are.
We are going to Soak City today with some friends and then to Pernicanos tonight. We got him a golf club and some soccer goals and a big transformer that he wanted. He’s very excited and proud to be six. He and Andy were playing together last night and Andy was laughing really hard at something Sammy said. He finished laughing and said, “Sam you’re my best pal.” It about broke my heart.
The bone scan and MRI were yesterday. We don’t have the official results but a spot lit up on Sammy’s tib/fib (lower leg) pretty brightly. This was the same spot where he whacked it at school and where it hurt to the touch and made him limp for several weeks so we’re thinking it’s just bone healing which can be picked up on a bone scan. We’d had an x-ray at the time and they did two more x-rays yesterday to see if they could see any bone growth ( a good thing if they see it). The was also a very vague spot that had shown up on the MRI the last set of scans but that looked to our onc. at City of Hope like it was bone healing as well and looked much better after the second MRI. We think we are fine but the waiting is a killer. MIBG, CT and bone marrow biopsy are all next Tuesday and Wednesday and they will tell us a lot more. In the meantime we have lots and lots of birthday activities and though we aren’t sleeping much, we are reassured by the fact that we know exactly when it happened and that it’s gotten better (which doesn’t happen with NB).
Sammy was his usual amazing self throughout the whole process. He didn’t put up a fuss at all about going and was patient and kind and funny all day. Neil went with him into the MRI ( I couldn’t). He had to get an IV put in twice because they didn’t tell us they needed it for the MRI but he was really good about it. He said the guy was one of the best and he didn’t feel a thing. The MRI machine broke down for 45 minutes and he and Neil goofed around while they fixed it. He loves having his Daddy with him and always asks now to make sure Daddy is coming too. Neil makes it fun for him. They have a really special bond.
Sorry for the long post. Please think good thoughts and a very Happy Birthday to our amazing six year-old boy.
Margot
Topics: Progress Reports | Comments Off on July 13, 2006
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