Birth Story

Sunday night the 19th was my official due date. It came and went without any contractions. It had been an interesting week with inconstant contractions every night throughout the week, so we thought we might be getting close. We decided it's really nerve racking waiting for things to happen, and we're not big fans of the anxiety it creates. If you guys couldn't tell that by my rants and raves on this blog. Ha. So when he hadn't come before Sunday, like we thought for sure he would, it was a little annoying. Sunday night I was up and really uncomfortable. I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. When I started having contractions a little after 4 a.m. it just irritated me, cause I wanted to sleep. Until I realized for the first time they were constant and every ten minutes apart. Well they stayed that way for a lot longer than I would have liked, but I was glad something was happening. When 9:30 rolled around and I was still breathing through them, I looked at Adam and said, "Okay this is getting old, let's do something to speed this up." I tried a bath, and nothing. So Adam and I went strolling around the neighborhood for a bit. It moved them to about eight minutes apart, so it was a little closer, but not quite what I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, I was happy things were going, but it was getting to be a long morning.

I called my doctor to see if it was okay to eat something. I remembered with Gabe they wouldn't let me eat or drink anything the whole time. I hadn't eaten anything and I was starving. They told me to go to the hospital. That wasn't even why I was calling, so I was a little annoyed they were being dramatic. If I were to have gone to the hospital they would have sent me home or given me pitosin. I know this, cause I called the hospital for their opinion afterwards. The nurse there told me to walk and have a meal. I had some lunch and my contractions moved to every 4-6 minutes apart. So at about 1p.m. we headed to the hospital. The whole way there I didn't have any contractions. It's about a 15 minute drive, so I was worried they had stopped and I was going to get sent home or something. Walking into labor and delivery they were every 2-3 minutes, so it reassured me I wasn't being silly. They got me checked in, which takes forever doesn't it? Then they sent me to the Trias (sp?) to see if I was really in labor. Now I had never done this before, (I was induced with Gabe), so I didn't know what I was doing. They kept saying how busy they were that day, so when I walked in and saw six beds, I said, "Is this where I'm delivering?" They laughed at me. I didn't know! They used to have you share recovery rooms until they redid their rooms. Anyway they checked me and I was at a 5-6 they said. His head was pressing on my water and making it bulge, so they said it's probably break soon. They sent me to my delivery room. They told me to hang out and do my thing, and that my doctor would be over in a bit and break my water if it hadn't broken on it's own by the time she got there. I had to be hooked up to antibiotics cause I tested positive for the Strep B virus. My veins are hard to find, and with Gabe they stuck me like six times. This time it took them twice, surprisingly.

A little background on my nurse. There is a lady in my ward who works in labor and delivery named Debbie. I actually worked with her in primary for a bit. She told me to ask for her when I went in. I didn't, cause on Sunday I thought she had told me she wasn't in until Wednesday. She really had told me Monday through Wednesday. I didn't know how I felt at first having someone I know help deliver and seeing all my goods, then going to church with them. Ha. However, when she showed up in my delivery room and asked if she could take over for the other nurse, I couldn't have been more grateful. The other nurse I had was a little odd, and I didn't like we weren't clicking. You know how some nurses you just feel more comfortable with? She wasn't one of them. So when Debbie showed up I was happy. She was so wonderful and supportive of what I needed. She checked me after a while. I was at a 8-9 they said. My doctor came and broke my water and told me to let them know when I felt like pushing. I did a little, but not much. Debbie told me if I wanted when I had a contraction, she could actually go in and move my cervix back, so his head could come down. I was up for it, even though it hurt like you couldn't imagine. She told me she wouldn't do it though until I was really ready to push. So we all kind of talked and chatted in the room until that point. It was a very easy going, nice atmosphere. Within one push, after she moved my cervix, his head came down and I was ready to push the rest of him out.

With Gabe I didn't feel hardly anything when pushing her out. It probably helped she was two pounds lighter. With Ollie I felt it all. It was an experience that felt to me to be taking ten minutes. HA! It's funny now, at the time not so much. I made it, I survived. I had a very helpful/loving husband whose hand should probably be broken, and a very encouraging group of medical staff cheering me on. I pushed for a total of about 20 minutes I was told. I don't remember. He made his appearance on September 20,2010 at 3:38 P.M. When arriving I got to hold him for the first time, and I was a lot more emotional than I thought I'd be. I think that I felt like we went through a lot to get him here, and it was such a great feeling to finally see him. He weighed 8 pounds 12 Ounces, and was 19 and a half inches long. I think he looks just like his Daddy is so many ways. He also came out looking like a boy version of his big sister. He has tons of hair, and one or two dimples yet we aren't sure. I once again passed on my "butt" chin to another child, even though it's not as noticeable at this point as his sister's. We got to be with him for a while before they took him off to the nursery, so that was nice.

Our hospital redid their recovery room floor, and put in new suites. We got one of the rooms that was too small to make into two rooms, so it was huge, and new, so it was nice. They were going to keep us two days to monitor him for Strep B. I guess it's up to your pediatrician. Ours gave us the okay to go home. If they did find something in his blood culture, we'd have to come back. He said 99.9999% of it is found within the first three days of having him. They keep the culture for a week to test it. So if we haven't heard from them by Monday he is out of the clear. That's nice to hear.

He had his first appointment yesterday as well. Everything is looking great on him. His skin is patchy and dry just like Gabe's was. What can I say, I bake my kids well I guess. It'll heal in a few weeks though. Besides being congested like crazy, and having a reverse schedule, we're doing good. He still likes to party at night. It's no wonder I was up all the time pregnant with him. Silly boy. Anyway, there is the jift of it, if anyone cared to read more about it. I'm probably missing more I want to add, or other details I don't remember that Adam will have to fill in. It'll probably be edited a lot before I put it in a book. I got the natural birth that I wanted, our baby boy is here, and we couldn't be more excited for our new changes.