Nya is Born!

At 2:35 am on Sunday, October 14, 2007, Nya Imani Jade Jancewicz was born. She weighed 6 pounds, 6.1 ounces, and was 20 inches long. And we are happy that she came.

Friday night, Tamika’s mom, and little sister Natalia took the Greyhound bus down from Philadelphia, and on Saturday morning (Nya’s due date), Tamika began to feel pains. At first she thought it was only something she had eaten, but by 8 am, she was sure it was time. We had already bundled some bags of clothes, toiletries and other necessities for the trip, and so I stowed them in our trunk and we took off for Howard County General Hospital.

We got there pretty quickly (after a wrong turn) and pulled up to the emergency entrance (which is right by the maternity ward). Natasha Byus (a good friend of ours) met us at there, and helped us carry our luggage up to the birthing room. The halls were pretty quiet once we got there.
We had visited the room a few weeks before when we had gone on a tour of the hospital. It was large, with a few spidery-looking machines on one end and a transformable gurney bed, but rather nicely decorated in greens and tans.

Tamika was only dilated 2cm at this point, and as soon as she got into the room, she began to feel nauseous. She didn’t want to get an epidural right off the bat, so her and I worked out a secret word so I could let the doctors know when she really wanted it. Of course, they offered (and continued to offer) as soon as she got in, but she was very strong and only took some anti-nausea medicine. Unexpectedly, the medicine made her go right to sleep!

Mary, our first nurse, was a fiery lady with fiery red hair. She reminded me very much of my mom. At one point, Tamika was in a great deal of pain and cried out “I don’t know if I can do this!” To be honest, I was beginning to cave… Mary turned around from the blood pressure machine and responded “Well sweetie, you’re gonna have to. You’re very strong, and you can do it.” Tamika sucked it up, and worked through it! I’m incredibly proud of her. 🙂

The nurses made use of me, which I’m happy for, helping Tamika turn or move, or sit up. Mary invited us to spend some time alone and let me help her take a shower. They had a large shower stall with a cushioned seat and a water-proof pillow, and once the water was just right, Tamika eased herself into it and basked in the stream. It seemed to take some of the aching away.

While she was in the shower, her water broke, and the pain began to intensify. We got her dried off and back into the bed. At this point, it began to be too much, and after she gave me the secret word, I asked the doctors to give her the epidural.

I had to leave for this part. An epidural (I didn’t know until I got there) is a special system similar to an intravenous tube. But instead of going into a vein in the hand or foot, it actually inserts into the base of the spine right into the nerves. Of course, this is a highly sensitive procedure, and there’s a risk of infection since it’s such a vulnerable area. Indeed, I got to meet the anesthesiologist (I’m proud to be able to spell that on my own) in the hallway, and she was covered from head to toe in a turquoise outfit, only here eyes were visible from underneath a large hair cap and wide plastic face covering. She explained to me that the anesthesia would seep into her back and provide the maximum possible relief without harming the baby at all. However, the lowest part of her body would get the most anesthesia, so we would have to help her rotate from side to side to keep from getting too numb. The whole operation took about a half an hour, so I went out to the waiting room.

Tamika’s mom and sister had been patiently waiting out there with Natasha. They were allowed into the room, but wanted us to get as much sleep as possible so that we would be ready for when Nya arrived. Tamika’s mom was a tremendous help, because she brought me food. 🙂 I ate like a king! She also saw to it that we were both comfortable and made sure everyone on both sides of the family was called and let know what was going on. If she already wasn’t an excellent banker, I recommend her for play-by-play sports… 🙂
We startled Mary, though… Tamika’s mom had been talking to someone when she came in the room, and so I said, “Mom, don’t forget to turn off your phone”.
Mary spun around and looked at us with her eyebrow raised. “You only CALL her ‘mom’, right?” she smirked, “’cause the colour of things don’t quite match…” 😀

At some point in the evening, Mary left us, and a new nurse, Latacha, came to take care of us. She was very sweet, and went out of her way to make sure everything was ok for us. Our doctor, Dr. Turner, came in periodically to make sure everything was going smoothly and to check Tamika’s dilation.
Nya had had a bowel movement (nice way of saying “pooped”) in the womb. While this happened on occasion and wasn’t life-threatening, the Dr. Turner and the pediatricians would need to act fast once Nya came out to make sure she didn’t swallow or inhale any of it. They set up Tamika with a saline catheter to help wash Nya, which did a lot of good.

At 2 am, the contractions had been steadily getting stronger, and Tamika was dilated to 9.5 cm (the top goal is 10 cm). At the same time, however, both Nya and Tamika’s temperature had been going up, and had reached the point of a mild fever. Growing a little worried, Dr. Turner told Tamika she had two options. She could try to push, or have a Cesarean section.

For those of you who may not know, a Cesarean section is essentially surgery on the womb. The mother is put on further anesthesia, and the surgeon will cut a section of her belly and lift the baby out. The procedure is rather common at this point and is often done for babies who had passed their due date or are rather large. Often this is out of necessity, because the opening in the pelvic bone on the mother is only so big, and if the baby’s head grows larger than that, there is no other choice. It has become more common for mothers to actually schedule a due date, so that the baby is born on a certain date with a Cesarean section.
Tamika was dreading the procedure, though, because it takes a longer time to recover from, and carries a risk of infection (you have a big ‘ol scar on your belly that you have to take care of, in addition to the baby).
More power to moms who had had the Cesarean section; I admire their strength, but Tamika was adamant to do everything possible to not make this happen.

So when Dr. Turner said this was a possibility, Tamika looked her dead in the eye and said firmly “I’ll push.” Dr. Turner shrugged. “Ok! I’ll give you 1 hour.”

The room seemed to transform. Latacha flicked a switch, and two huge spotlights (just like the ones you see in the surgery room on ER) that were cleverly disguised to be part of the ceiling slowly came on. The end of the bed folded and came apart, with two feet stirrups and a spot for Dr. Turner to crouch. Tamika’s mom ran around helping Latacha get everything ready, and Natasha and I each brandished one of Tamika’s legs.

Slowly, slowly, Nya’s head began to appear! I was running on pure adrenaline at this point. It was 2 am! I was tired!
Of course, not nearly as tired as Tamika was, but she had the advantage of being sedated and slept through much of the interruptions that had come.
When we were first admitted, nurse Mary told us to get as much sleep as possible while we could because we would need it. We happily obliged; Tamika on her bed and me on a special fold-out couch that they had set up for me.
But in half an hour, another nurse would come in and check her blood pressure. And tell us to get some sleep. And in another half an hour, Mary would come back, and check the charts. And tell us to get some sleep. And then, the doctor… you get the idea. So needless to say, I was running a little low.
But when Tamika began to push, I felt none of that. Latacha brought out a mirror so Tamika could see her progress. And boy, did she fight hard. Not a single tear came out, but she gritted her teeth, and with all her might pushed Nya out.
Dr. Turner had to act fast, because the umbilical cord was wrapped around Nya’s neck. Not surprising, given how much Nya liked to do somersaults when she was in the womb. Dr. Turner deftly snipped the cord. In under 25 minutes (which is incredible, as any mom will tell you), and with one more herculean push, Nya was born!

Two pediatricians, masked and robed in yellow, had silently come in and stood of to the side near a warming cradle. Dr. Turner quickly passed Nya off to them, and they speedily cleaned her up, pinched her cord, and made sure any sign of the fluid was gone. Only then did Tamika begin to cry; tears of joy bubbled from her eyes.
Nya was beautiful. We were able to go over to her in a matter of minutes, to where she lay underneath the warmth of the heat lamp. She smiled at us as she lay there, her large eyes darting back and forth between us. She gurgled a little, but didn’t cry. We had been calling her by name since we had decided on one, and when Tamika spoke her name, Nya actually turned toward her!

And then, they whisked her away. They had to bring her to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (that everyone at the hospital calls the NICU, or “Nick-You”) to keep her on antibiotics for a week, which is from where I’m writing to now. Tamika was discharged yesterday, and I took today and yesterday off to spend time with them. Nya’s doing great. She’s very healthy, and very very curious. She’s actually peering out at me from under her pink wool hat as I write, quietly watching my every move. I love her so much.

Tamika is recovering fast, too… within the day she was already walking around, and other than a Motrin every now and then for aching, she’s doing great. I love her so much too. 🙂 The time in the NICU is actually turning out to be a blessing; the nurses are very capable, and have been giving us “baby tutorials”, which is nice. How to change the diaper, what to do when she’s fussy, how to wrap her up, all kinds of useful information we wouldn’t get if we had just gone straight home.

Latacha even left us a note today; she had come by to the recovery room while we were there, but we had both been asleep… but she had come to visit Nya too, and wrote to us. 🙂 I found out from some other nurses that they really really like chocolate, so we may just come in and surprise them in a month or two… 🙂

Praise God that everything has gone so well for us, He has helped us so much!
Keep us all in your prayers, we can’t wait for Nya to come home!