An Early Delivery

Preston Mavity Worthen
July 1, 2009
6:02 PM
7 lbs 4 oz


Preston's story...

June 30th: Britton is in Alabama. His phone died and he forgot to take his charger. I am unable to get ahold of him.

As I am heading toward my 5th c-section, I am a true rookie at the game of labor. Contractions had started during the night sometime and were still continuing frequently, but irregularly. Some were hard, some were not. By about 10 AM, I call a friend to ask if this was labor or just Braxton Hicks. She tells me to call my doctor. I do.

As a huge concern to my doctor, laboring on a uterus that has already 4 scars was a concern. He asked me to time them and call back in a couple hours. I do. Benton, being so concerned about this, takes it upon himself to be in charge of timing me. He found this receipt in the bottom of my purse and kept track for the remainder of the day. He would follow me around and ask if I was "doing it again." So cute. I called him my Labor Coach...



As I obviously do not want to have this baby without Britton, I lay low and continue to time. Britton is due in by 5 PM that night and then we can head in after he gets home.

His plane is late. He gets in at 8:30 PM. I am feeling so sick by this point and what I thought were contractions just felt like burning in my legs now. Do I have the flu? I take a bath, some Tylenol and try to go to bed.

July 1st: Speak with the doctor and tell him my current situation. He says to head right in the hospital and he will see us there.

Leaving for the hospital: Not a good shot, but a before shot none-the-less:

Upon arrival, they hook me up and my contractions were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. They start doing the prep work for my c-section until I told them I ate a bowl of Cheerios that morning at 6:30. They inform me we are going to have to wait for until 2:30 now so my stomach will be emptied before surgery. Bummer. They start me on Trib-something to stop contractions and we wait.

2:30 comes around and the hospital, Good Samaritan, has had a record number of c-sections that day. It was craziness at the hospital. Some were scheduled, some were off the floor, some were emergency. They quoted to us at one point they were looking to complete 13 sections by afternoon. I was now waiting for an OR to open up. As I was now quieted from meds, I was at that back of the list.

It pays to have a "spirited" doctor. Dr. Nelson has eventually had enough of being bumped and with a few choice words, gets us into the 5:30 slot for surgery. I swear... the nurses are afraid of him. There was silent jumping going on whenever he came around. Good to be in our position... not theirs!

Once in the OR, I am more nervous for this delivery than any other. I feel myself crying during the prep. Britton isn't allowed into the OR until surgery is right ready to begin, so I sit on the OR table, pleading with myself to be tough. I prayed so hard I swear the others in the room could hear me. There is about a 5 minute time span once the Spinal is in and before I am stable that is so terrifying. As I have done this before, I know what is coming. Heart rates go all over the board, vomiting, dead legs and mid-section so you can't move... panic. It is out-of-body. Once that part is over, I can move forward knowing the worst is over.

Shortly into surgery, I hear Preston's cry and know he has arrived. After a quick peak over the curtain, he is taken to his bed to start oxygen and such. He is healthy and perfect. I feel myself relax now and am able to take in everything that is going on in the room, but only by hearing it. Britton is video taping. Preston is crying. The doctor is teaching the resident how to sew my stomach muscles back together, the nurses are counting instruments, the anesthiologists are getting me warm blankets and watching my oxygen. I closed my eyes and tears readily came. It was over. Preston was healthy. I had no extra bleeding from the 5th section. It was un-eventful. We were truly blessed. I felt SO grateful.

Dr. Nelson spent some considerable time sewing me up this time. He cut out the 4 other scars to leave me with just one. He sewed up the stomach muscles that had separated during pregnancy. I am grateful for the care taken to put me back together, but was ready to see my new baby! They had already taken Preston to recovery to start his work and it felt like forever before I was finished!

Mom had flown in from California and arrived sometime during surgery. She was in Recovery with Britton and the baby when I arrived. It was a great sight! Preston was originally scheduled for a July 10th delivery, which was 38 weeks gestation at the time. So what a great blessing to be even 10 days earlier than that and have such a beautiful, sweet, healthy baby!! I am so grateful...

A few pictures from delivery... (I should note, Aubrey was away this whole week at BYU for tennis camp. She missed all the excitement, and we missed her terribly during this week.)