Tuesday December 2nd I had a baby appointment at the doctor's office. The week before they had checked me for dilation only to find I had yet to start dilating. She checked me again at this visit to see if I was starting to dilate. I was dilated to a 1, and I've never been more excited about a 1 before! At this point my anxiousness to meet this little wiggle worm in my tummy had grown with such impatience that I was trying everything in my power to get this show on the road.
My office Christmas party was Friday afternoon at a bowling alley. What better way to get your labor started than throwing a heavy ball? Normally I quite despise bowling, (like I literally would rather be stung by a thousand bees), but again I was anxious. So very safely I went bowling praying that maybe my water would break while there. How epic would that be? But I went home with nothing but a sore back.
That evening, Friday December 5th, I was laying in bed and was feeling incredibly nauseated. I had started to feel mild contractions, which I can now say definitely that they were contractions however much I questioned it. At the time I kept thinking, "shoot this isn't so bad. I got this..." Bahahahahaha. Brandon and I started timing the contractions to see how frequent they were. They started irregular and then became 8-10mins apart. We decided to head to the hospital, (I know we jumped the gun). We got to the hospital, they checked me, and to my disappointment they told me my dilation had not changed from my Tuesday appointment. So they sent me home.
I woke up Saturday morning, Troy's due date, with very intense contractions. They kept up at 8mins apart. We went back to the hospital hoping that this time they would admit me seeing as the contractions were strong, and having me double over. They again checked me with no change in dilation. They gave me an ambien to help me fall asleep as I wasn't sleeping at this point, to help rest up for the main event. The ambien lasted only a few hours until I woke up in the worst pain of my life. We waited until the contractions became more frequent before we went back in. We were getting tired of being sent home.
Early Sunday mornin December 7th at 4AM, we went into the hospital. My contractions were at 5mins apart and unbearable. I wasn't sleeping and couldn't handle the pain. I'm kind of a baby. I had only dilated to a 1.5 when the nurse checked me. Luckily my dr happened to be at the hospital and came in to see where I was at as well. She watched my contractions, but didn't feel comfortable inducing me since I was technically dilating. She prescribed me another ambien along with a shot of morphine in hopes my body would relax enough so I could start dilating more. Usually I'm not a fan of strong drugs, but dude was I lovin life with that morphine and would TOTES do it again.
I finally slept a good four hours before I woke up again Sunday afternoon around 1pm. My contractions were even MORE intense and closer together. I feel bad for any neighbors that happened to be home because it was impossible for me to not express very loudly how painful my contractions were. My mom came over to help Brandon get ready, again, and helped time my contractions. We left for the hospital when they were 3mins apart determined not to come back home this time without this baby.
When we got to the hospital the nurse checked me, and alas told me I had dilated to a 3! She had me get into this jacuzzi tub to help keep me relaxed and help me dilate so they could admit me, (they needed to see my cervix changing in order for me to stay). I stayed in the tub for an hour before they brought me back to our room. She checked me again, and I had dilated to a four. FINALLY, I was admitted.
The nurse came back in a little while later, and introduced us to the anesthesiologist who went through with me how the epidural would work. I was super nervous about having a hole in my back, but either that or feel all that hell, (yeah just be cool about it), which was not happening. An hour later he placed my epidural. I was able to relax fully like I hadn't before in a couple days.
Every hour or so the nurse would come in and check me, check contractions, check baby, and have me roll on my side to help the epidural work it's magic with gravity.
2AM December 8th, I started to feel the contractions on my right side which were coming a minute apart. The nurse had me roll on the opposite side in hopes it would flush to the side I was feeling the contractions on. Unfortunately that just made the whole thing wear off. The nurse called in the anesthegiologist again who offered to replace it. There wasn't even a question there... Turns out as he checked it the epidural, or whatever the thingy is called, had come out which we assume was because my nurse didn't have anything underneath me helping me roll on my side so it "wiggled" out. So many curse words. They replaced it along with some magic drug that worked instantly to help with the pain. Wahoo! Brandon asked them what it was they were waiting for, and why they were not starting pitocin. We had been there already for almost 12 hours watching me dilate a centimeter an hour. The nurse told us that if they started pitocin it would cause my uterus to contract even more, and potentially stress out the baby. It was better for both me and baby that we let my body do it's thing. Made sense.
430AM I woke up AGAIN feeling my contractions on my side. My nurse checked me to see how I was dilating, and told me it was finally time to push. I was terrified as I was feeling the contractions, and the baby in me could not handle a "natural" birth. She encouraged me to do some practice pushes just to see if I could handle it. I did, and turns out I could. Once I was on my back pushing, I didn't feel the contractions on my side. So we let the game begin. Brandon and my mom helped encourage me to keep going throughout the whole thing. It was very intimate. The lights were turned off except for one over me watching for Troy. At this point my dr was on her way to deliver him. She made it with 15mins to spare.
535AM Monday morning December 8th, exhausted, the most beautiful cry filled the room as this blue little human fell on my chest stealing my heart. I could hear Brandon crying and ahhing over his new baby boy. My mom was crying over how sweet he was. They took him and weighed him while my dr finished with me. I watched them put my calm little boy on the scale, and then Brandon yelled "HOLY CRAP BABE HE'S 10 POUNDS 5 OUNCES!" I looked at my dr horrified, then shortly after the nurse followed saying, "whoa whoa whoa no he's 8 pounds 10.5 ounces..." When you see the picture you will understand... He didn't see the number on the scale on the far left. He only saw the numbers on the right. They measured him at 22inches long. They cleaned him up and put him right back on my chest. We tried to feed him right away, but we were both too tired to really try that hard. Brandon took Troy and held him for the first time. I watched them together and watched Troy not only steal my heart, but steal my sweet and loving husbands heart as well. With that image in my head, I fell soundly asleep.
I woke up several hours later to my mom ooing and ahhing over Troy while his parents slept. The nurse came back in and helped me nurse him for the first real time. He took to it like he knew the whole time that is what we were doing.
They started testing Troy and doing the whole shabang. He was in the 95th percentile for jaundice. So step two was to feed him frequently to flush it out of his system. They checked him again 12 hours later and he had gone down to the 75th percentile. They gave us the OK to go home with a follow up appointment the next day which turned out he no longer had jaundice. Wahoo!
Since we've had our monkey, here is what we know of our boy Troy...
- He hardly ever cries when he tries to communicate, instead he just grunts
- He definitely knows his mom and his dad, and turns his head in our direction when he hears our voices
- He does NOT like to be swaddled.. He likes to have free range of motion with his arms when he sleeps, and tends to sleep with both his arms out on his sides or above him
- He loves skin on skin time
- He is very aware and alert, and looks around whenever he is awake
So I definitely rushed the end of this post, but my baby is awake and adorable so priorities. Here's some pictures. Prepare to fall in love as we have:
This is the picture that Brandon freaked out about
First family picture taking our boy home
So we originally had a different outfit picked for him to come home in, but our friend Hannah brought us this jersey when she came to meet Troy in the hospital, and needless to say his dad was thrilled
Just got home
