And he's here!

It's taken a few days to be able to write this up, but here is our little man's birth story...

Friday night (3/25) my hips were really bothering me so I decided to soak in the tub. J walked in after I was in there a while and asked if I was supposed to do that.  I said as long as it wasn't too hot it was fine.  Later when I crawled in bed I made the comment that if this hip pain was going to last the next two weeks he better just come on out. If I only knew!

At 3:03 AM I woke up with what felt like cramps like I needed to go the bathroom. I rolled over and felt a little gush of fluid.  I went to the bathroom and more trickled out, but I didn't feel like I was peeing. I sat there thinking "This better not be labor, I'm not ready!".  I put on a pad and crawled back in bed.  About 20 mins later the cramps returned. I went the bathroom again (so glad that I did - kept me from pooping on the delivery table!) and more fluid came out.  I decided that yes, this must be labor and maybe I should start watching the clock to see how far apart the contractions were.

I crawled back in bed and made it through the next one. They were down to 15 mins apart.  The next one came only 12 mins later.  When the next one hit I went back in the bathroom, sat on the rug in the middle of the floor rocking back and forth and decided maybe I should call the doctor. The contractions were down to 8 mins apart - I couldn't believe how close they were getting so quickly.

I called the answering service and the guy said Dr Osborne would call me back. Great - the one doctor in the practice that I didn't love was the one that was on call for the weekend.  I sat there on the floor waiting for the call.  After 10 mins (and another contraction) the answering service called me back to see if the doc had called. Nope.  A few minutes later Dr Osborne did call and after I told him what was going on he told me to go to the hospital and he would call to let them know I'm coming.

I went out and woke J up. He was confused, thinking I was waking him up to go to work. "No, we need to get to the hospital."  He jumped up and turned on the light and said "Seriously?  You don't even have a bag packed."  "I'm pretty sure I'm in labor, and I know."

I was hobbling around the room trying to grab things I might need, but as I stood there hunched over from another contraction he told me to sit and tell him what I needed.  We threw what we could think of in my bag and headed out.  By this time it was 4:48 AM and the contractions were 5 mins apart.

We got to the hospital and went in through the ER.  J dealt with admissions since I was being hit with another contraction.  They brought a wheelchair and took me to labor and delivery. I started feeling nauseated from the pain and possibly from the nerves.  The nurse gave me a pan in case I was going to throw up and continued to my room.  I undressed into the gown and got in the bed.  The contractions were getting strong and more painful.  The nurse tried to check me, but my cervix was still tilted so she couldn't tell how dilated I was yet.  She tested to see if it was amniotic fluid that was leaking and once the strip turned blue she said "You are definitely having a baby today.".

They got the info they needed from me and gave me an IV of some pain meds to see if maybe I could get by with just that.  They were doing nothing for me.  I got up and went to the bathroom and when I got back in bed the anesthesiologist came in to do the epi. I barely felt it and he was able to get it in between contractions.

Once that started to take effect I was able to rest a little. I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep prior to the contractions starting so I was already tired.  J stretched out on the pull out couch in the room and I tried to rest.  This time when the nurse checked me I was already up to 7 cm dilated.  This was really happening.  I had been laying on my right side with the monitor on my belly and the nurse came in to roll me to my other side. When she did, his heartrate dropped down into the 70's.  They rolled me back and put me on oxygen.  He had dropped so much so fast that it put him in distress.  At this point they checked me and I was 9 cm.  Time to start pushing.

They put me on my back, the nurse grabbed one leg, J grabbed the other, she told me to take a deep cleansing breath and then push for a count of 10.  We did that in sets of 3.  I had to grab my knees, put my chin to my chest, take a deep breath, and push. I couldn't feel if I was pushing, but she said I was doing great. Between sets of pushes they put me back on the oxygen.  I was so tired from the pain meds prior to the epi that I wanted to just close my eyes, which I did between pushes.  I started to feel sick again and they gave me a bag to throw up in. Nice.

After an hour or so of pushing like this he was down and ready to come out.  The doc came in and said we were ready. I wasn't.  I was so nervous I actually threw up in the bag they gave me.  They took the end of the bed out and got the stirrups into position. With the epi I couldn't feel my legs so they heaved them up there for me and it was time to start pushing.  It followed the same pattern - 3 sets of pushes for a count of 10.  Again, in between pushes I had the oxygen and tried to close my eyes and conserve energy.  J was on one leg still and did a good job at offering comfort.

The funny thing is - I was totally quiet during all of this. There was no yelling or anything at all.  When I was pushing I was just concentrating on getting through the count of ten.

We went through several sets of pushes and the doctor said "There's the head - have a look" to J. He wasn't going to, but he glanced down and looked.  He had thought that he would be spending all his time up at my head, not taking part in helping me deliver.  He did a great job though.

After about 45 minutes of pushing and resting I had one more big one.  The doctor and nurse both said "Here he comes" and it was the oddest sensation to feel him leave my body. There was no pain at all (thank you epi!) but just the feeling of him being there one second and then my belly being empty the next.

I asked why he wasn't crying, but they still had to suction out his mouth. As soon as they did he let out a howl. They held him up and he was all white since he was covered in the stuff from being in my ute.  They clamped off the umbilical cord and the doc offered J the scissors, but he passed. He wasn't ready to do that. So they cut the cord and took him over to the baby warmer to clean him off and get his APGAR scores (all 8's and 9's).  While they had him over there it hit me again and I got sick.  Soon my placenta came out and the doctor asked if I wanted to see it. Umm - no.  That's ok.  He went to work stitching me up (he had to cut me) and I waited for my baby.

Once they had him all clean they brought him over to me.  Absolutely love at first sight.  I could not believe that he was there, on my chest, instead of in my belly.

They took him over to weigh him and J snapped the picture:

7 lbs 4.9 ounces and 20 3/4 inches

We had some skin to skin time and I got to nurse him just a little bit before he zonked out.



My parents were already headed down and got to the hospital about an hour after he was born.  They are so excited for their first grandson.

After my epi completely wore off they had me get up and go the bathroom and take a shower.  Then they moved me from the labor and delivery room to one of the post partum rooms. Not as big, but just as nice.  While this was going on they had taken the baby to the nursery to be checked and for his first bath.  They brought him to us once he was done and he was very sleepy.

We tried nursing that night, but since he had his bath he was super sleepy and didn't want to wake to feed. We got a little in him, but not nearly what he'll be eating normally.



J is still in awe of the little man

I can't believe he is here and that he is mine

Cute and tiny little feet

My sweet little baby  :)

There's been a little drama since his arrival, but I'll cover that another time. I just want to enjoy looking at him and watching him sleep.  I'm still in awe that he is here and can't believe that the past 9 months have bought us this sweet little man.