A better late then never birth story – Cash Presley Repcik :)

The entire story of how Cash came into the world is a miraculous one.  You see it isn’t a typical story, it isn’t something that would happen again if you tried, it is something absolutely amazing and so special that I never want to forget the way that it panned together.

It was an unseasonably warm November day that I finally decided to head to Target to pick up a pregnancy test.  It just didn’t seem like things were happening like they usually do (tmi) and I figured it was worth a try to see if I could in fact be pregnant.  I loaded Dante into the car and started out to the store when I got a phone call from my sister.

Now my sister very seldom calls in the first place, but for her to call and be beaming through the phone, I knew something had to be up!  Obvious first question was “Your so happy, are you pregnant?”  She giggled a bit and then said “why would you think that?”  She didn’t have to answer the question for me to know that it was true!  She had taken a test just that morning and had been brimming with excitement the entire work day to call and tell me.  Of course little girl screams ensued!  She wanted to come over and talk and I told her that I was headed to target myself because I thought I might be as well.  Of course our little girl screams started up all over again.  When we got back to my house she immediately went to my computer and looked up OB’s so that she could call and schedule an appointment and I decided to give that test a try.  That minute or so is one of the longest of your lives.  But the digital test was loud and clear, I was pregnant!  In a state of shock I came down the stairs to my sister who was still on the phone and tried to play her off shaking my head as if to say no its a false call.  She squeezed my hand and said that it would happen and I placed the test on the desk in front of her.  Needless to say the receptionist on the line got an ear full as we jumped and screamed around the room.  I mean how is it possible that two sisters could find out the same day that they were both pregnant and that we would be due just one week apart!

It was just a couple of weeks before Christmas but we were not able to contain our excitement.  I immediately called Mike and told him and then we called our mom, who asked if she couldn’t call us back!  Didn’t she know she had two grandchildren brewing?!  Of course there were girly screams again and excitement all around.  My sister and I are were going to be moms!

So on to the birth of Cash.

On August 11th I went to the Dr.s office for one of my last appointments.  I was scheduled to be induced on the 15th and had one last stress test to make it through.  Unfortunately I had some complications in this pregnancy and had to make a couple of visits to triage for blood pressure issues.  They had the results from another test that clarified that I had developed preeclampsia.  I was going to be admitted and induced right away.  Now to go to a Dr.’s appointment knowing that it is your last before you have a baby is nerve wrecking enough, but to go to a Dr.’s appointment and be told that you were not going to leave the hospital is something all together!  I was alone and had a written order to report to labor and delivery to be checked in.  After a frantic call to Mike and family I checked in and sat in to wait for Mike to arrive and a room to be available for me.

Mike arrived ridiculously fast and we settled in for a couple hour wait.  I don’t think that we actually got into a room until around 6:00 and then it was not long before our family arrived.

I was started on pitocin and then given magnesium to keep me having a stroke if my blood pressure skyrocketed during labor.  It was absolutely one of the most terrifying parts of the whole experience but I had a mild reaction compared to some.  The Dr. checked in with me after a couple of hours and I had progressed from the 1 centimeter that I started at to a 3.  It seemed like good progress and I was having some consistent contractions.  I was starting to have some stronger contractions and the Dr. suggested having the epidural before the contractions became too painful.  Being someone who does not have a high pain threshold I was fine with the thought of having a painless delivery.  Cash was so strong already and was kicking away in my belly and knocking himself off of the heart monitor constantly.  They had to place a monitor internally and thank goodness that epidural had already kicked in.  I remember laying in bed watching the Jersey Shore and laughing just about 4 hours into the ordeal.  The Dr. was sure that we would have a baby by the time he went off shift at 6 or 7 in the morning, but Cash had other thoughts.  After 17 hours of being induced and my water broken I remained at 5 centimeters.  It didn’t appear like Cash was in any hurry and the Dr.s were beginning to get a little concerned about him not fitting through my pelvis.

Now my sister had delivered just 4 days earlier via c-section and was at home with her new baby when my parents got a phone call.  She was headed back to the hospital in need of a blood transfusion after losing blood.  I was 17 hours into this and it didn’t look like things would be progressing too fast for me, so I sent my parents running to my sisters aid. She was of course distraught to be back in the hospital and from having to leave her newborn for an overnight hospital stay already.

I remember that it seemed like minutes after they left that the Dr. came in to give me the news but it was at least an hour.  They were going to have to do an emergency c-section to make sure that both the baby and I would be ok.  It was a scary scenario already but without my parents there even scarier.  Mike called to tell them the news and they headed back to the hospital  to be there for Cash’s arrival.  They gave Mike his scrubs and before I knew it they were already wheeling me into the operating room.  This is not how I pictured my baby being delivered.  Its not what I wanted and of course I had a million thoughts going through my head, but the most important was for my baby to be ok.

I remember very little of the preparations and in fact the entire delivery is a little fuzzy.  It seemed to happen so quickly that they were ready to deliver my baby even though Mike says it was an excruciating amount of time that he was forced to wait in the hallway.   I will spare you all of the gruesome details, but it is nothing like they show on tv.  They delivered him and there was no birthday celebration!  They simply stated the time he arrived and that he was a male.  Cash didn’t even let out a cry!   I didn’t get to see him immediately, they didn’t call out height and weight and the room just seemed too quiet for the birth that had just occurred.  I looked at Mike with tears in both of our eyes and just wanted to know that everything was ok.  I couldn’t see or hear my baby.   That 45 minutes or so of not being able to hold your new baby that you have held so tightly for 9 months is just torture.  When they finally did hand him to me it was the most overwhelming feeling of love.  I absolutely could not imagine my life before him even though it was a mere hour ago.

Of course there is way more to the story that involves pain and grossness and frustration and tears (happy and sad) but the most important thing is that we had brought an amazing creation into the world.  That God had given us this amazing gift that he trusted us with for hopefully the next 60 or 70 years.  Cash was delivered at exactly 1:29 pm and from that moment on my life has been changed forever.