Okay, here is the first in a series of over due posts (if I can get my fingers to type, that is). On Sunday, April 25th, we had a get together of friends and family for Shane’s Dad, and his fiancée, Rosalie. My parents were there and a few other folks. Well, my Mom told me a few times that she felt light headed so I told her to go sit down. She did, then she went outside, and then she came back inside to tell me she still felt light headed. I told her to sit down and I got her some water. Next thing I knew she was passed completely out sitting at our dining table. I walked over to check on her and noticed her eyes were rolled back, she felt cold and clammy too, needless to say this scared the crap out of me. My Mom never has health issues like this. Ever. Yeah, she gets sick on occasion, but nothing as severe as passing out. So, we got her moved to the couch and the paramedics were called. Luckily, the fire department is about 3 blocks down the street, so they were there in minutes; it was the fastest I’ve ever seen. At first, they really didn’t take the situation seriously, until they checked Mom’s blood pressure which was really low and then they were more on the ball. They decided to take her to Baylor ER near our house, Dad rode in the ambulance and I followed in my truck. Two comments Mom told me from the EMTs, first, they thought I was good looking, second, they said I was following too close and were afraid I would rear end them – obviously they don’t know how much I love my truck and would never intentionally cause it harm (forget about what happened in October). Anyway, we get settled in the ER and they run a few tests and do some X-rays. The EMTs had already started her on IV fluid and she finished that, later, they started her on another bag of fluid (I didn’t understand why they waited so long between the 2 bags of fluid). At around 9:00pm or so a doctor came in and asked a bunch of questions (ones we had answered many times previously) and said she would be admitted over night for observation since she was over 50 and passed out, they wanted to make sure it was not heart or head related. Around 11:30pm-ish they finally moved her to a room. Dad and I got back to my house around midnight-ish and he went back to DeSoto and went to bed.
MEANWHILE…
Michael and Claire had checked into their hospital in Fort Worth to start the inducing (induction) process for her baby. Mom, Dad and I debated on whether or not to let him know about Mom being in the ER. Michael was keeping me updated via texts on their situation. Here is how our conversation went:
Michael: You kids having fun? You are missing this. It’s “fun”.
*I am freezing
*Claire isn’t allowed to eat until an hour after the cervidil
*there is no place to sleep for me
*we have to watch those informational videos on the “newborn channel”
Kelly: We at least have the mavs game
Michael: At least
Kelly: At big Baylor ER
Michael: Yeah, we have cable, trying to get these vids watched so we can sign it off. What time you heading over tomorrow? Cervidil went in about 6:30pm…usually its 12 hours before they start pitosin.
Kelly: I’m at big Baylor hospital ER
Michael: Wait, what? I missed that somewhere…For you? Or?
Kelly: Your mother
Michael: What happened?
You get the picture; he was a bit preoccupied with his wife getting ready to give birth. Oh, and I say big Baylor because I used to live in Ellis county which has a Baylor hospital, but it’s a little one and everyone in Ellis county refers to Baylor Dallas as big Baylor since it’s the main one and, oh yeah, it’s big. HUGE in fact – I’ve walked the whole place a time or two in my former life.
So on Monday, Dad and I went to visit Mom and were expecting to take her home. Wrong. They were still waiting on the echo cardiogram results and decided to keep her another night. I really don’t get that. They had pretty much decided that she passed out due to exhaustion and dehydration, so why the need to keep her another night??? I wasn’t happy about that, and thought maybe Baylor needed some more money for the construction they have going on –no I didn’t really -but money was a key reason in my mind why they kept her. So around 5:00pm Dad and I left.
I went home to see Shane and the girls and then headed to Fort Worth. Had I known, I should have packed a bag for an overnight stay, I really don’t know what I was thinking and why I didn’t do that, because I ended up staying all night. Sleeping on this skinny arse couch that felt just like a weight bench. The worst sleep in some time, but better then Michael, who was very sweet in giving me the couch, because he pushed 2 chairs together and attempted to sleep sitting up with his legs stretched out. The first and second round of cervidil did not work for Claire, so they gave her 2 doses of cytotech (I think that’s what it’s called), which did not work either. At 6:00am (Tuesday, April 27) 2 nurses came into the room and put Claire on oxygen and hooked her up to IV fluids. They told her the baby’s heart rate kept dropping and were going to keep coming in to move her if it continued. Her regular nurse was in another room helping someone else give birth. At around 7:30am her doctor came in to suggest Michael and Claire think about a C-section since the baby’s heart rate kept dropping and the doctor felt the baby was in a bit of distress. At 8:00am Claire went back to the OR, and at 8:41am, Corbin Kiefer McCown was born. I finally got to hold my brand spankin’ new nephew around 11:00am or so. My Dad busted Mom out of the clink – just kidding he picked her up from the hospital in Dallas. They came to Fort Worth to meet their new grandson. Dad, Michael, Bonnie (Claire’s mom) and I went to get a bite to eat at On the Border (on a side note – so long since I’ve been there and soooooo flippin’ good). Dad left Mom with me and I took her back to Dallas since her car was parked at my house. I got a lot of sleep that night in my cozy bed snuggled up with my boyfriend and 2 dogs (we need a bigger bed). Thursday I went back to see my cutey patooty nephew. Now I know what people talk about when they say babies smell so good. He smelled amazing and I could have eaten his little feet up they were so tiny and cute!!! I didn’t get to have these type experiences with my niece since she was born in Indiana. Michael, Claire & Corbin went home that Friday, and had a check up appointment on that Saturday. Poor little Corbin had to spend the weekend in a light box because he was having jaundice issues. He is all good and healthy now and still cute as a bug. Just wish they would have come to my birthday party this past weekend (okay when I originally wrote this it was right after the weekend of May 8th when we had a family get together for my birthday).
