1/12/09 9am: Dr. appt w/ Dr. Rouse
Baby's heart rate is in the 150's, FH is 37 1/2" so she presumes that I've "dropped" a bit and I am dilated 1-2cm (progress!). She decides to "strip" my membranes while doing my exam to promote continued progress toward labor. Joel came w/ me and asked a bunch of questions and Dr. Rouse said we would do a quick u/s to check the position of the baby now that we're in the "home stretch". During the u/s, Dr. Rouse notes that my placenta is calcifying, which tends to happen at the end of the pregnancy when it is "used up" (so to say). Unfortunately, this has also led to decreased performance and low amniotic fluid. She says, "It looks like we're having a baby today"
We called Dan on the way to the hospital and left a VM on his cell. Side note - when he heard the message he got into a fender-bender (and he is the safest driver we know - I think that was his first accident ever...or at least in a very long time). While we are trying to park the car in the garage at the hospital, Bernadette calls my cell (Dan called her when he heard the news). The big sister in me knows she's in school and asks her why she is using her cell in school...she explains she's at lunch so "it's ok". She asks me how I feel and I respond, "I'm a little terrified right now" She replies, "Well, if I was about to have a human come out my vagina I would be a little terrified too...." LOL - that is one for the scrapbook! Obviously she was very excited and sends a text to Bridgie (later find out she was upset to get the news second hand but then again she found out before Bern that we were pregnant so all's fair in sisterhood!). Joel's instructions were not to contact anyone else until after the baby was born (except Andy and Nicole, who were on stand-by to take care of Graham)....so much for that - his status in Facebook and an e-mail out to our WFU class and work made sure everyone knew we were on our way to have the baby - so much for instructions!
1/12/09 12pm Induction Begins
We arrived at the hospital between 11 and 11:15 but spent most of the first hour getting checked in, meeting our nurse - Sheilaugh and just getting settled. At noon was about when they actually got the IV in and started the Pitocin. I find out that Dr. Rouse ordered the "extra-strength" pitocin...but Sheilaugh explains that they will gradually increase the dose and try not to give me more than I need - hopefully my body will take over naturally once Dr. Rouse breaks my water (although my contractions are fairly regular by the time I get to the hospital - about 10-15 min apart). Sheilaugh asks whether I have a birth plan and I did, but of course as so far nothing had gone as planned, my birth plan was at home on the computer (and had already been thrown out the window). I was disappointed to find out that I would be confined to a small walking distance around my bed because since I was being induced I needed to be continuously monitored. That made me upset because I knew walking around would help promote progress - oh well...sadly I also was confined to clear liquids (though this is WAY better than ice chips...). Since my Dr. appt was so early in the morning I had only had a banana on the way to the Dr. Knowing my diet would be restricted, I ate a granola bar and a clementine on the way to the hospital - luckily I was more thirsty than hungry and the chicken broth was actually quite sustaining (and I enjoyed the jello more than I've ever enjoyed Jello before!). Joel and I passed the afternoon looking at magazines and playing UNO. He also spent some time on the phone w/ work and answering e-mails due to his sudden departure from the office. Sheilaugh came in every half hour to increase the dose of Pitocin and check my monitoring strip. Baby was very active and contractions were occurring less than 5 min apart for most of the late afternoon (by 5 I couldn't concentrate even on UNO - the most mindless activity I could think of bringing but wasn't in enough pain to get pain medication). Dr. Rouse stopped in briefly probably around 3pm to make sure I was ok and explained that she had a case at the hospital and then a meeting and would probably be back between 5:30 and 6pm to check me and break my water. Sheilaugh explained to me how to read the monitoring strip while I sat on the birthing ball and found out that my contractions were as long as they were going to get though likely to get a little more frequent, though by the time Dr. Rouse returned, they were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 60-90 seconds...and I was dealing w/ them w/o pain medication (so far at least that was going as planned....)
1/12/09 5:30pm Dr. Rouse Returns
Dr. Rouse came in with Sheilaugh and brought the lovely device to break my water (looks like a big crochet needle). She checked my cervix and I was 3cm dilated (after all those contractions that was very disappointing though 100% effaced) However, while she was checking me she noted that my amniotic sac was really taut and suddenly my water broke (didn't need that crochet needle after all!). However, the pitocin was still running at full strength and then when my water broke, my body kick started into labor on it's own so all of a sudden I was having continuous contractions - literally there was no break from one contraction to the other. One contraction would peak on the monitoring strip and then come halfway down and peak again...it was really rough. Joel looked at me and said I should get something for pain. Although they were going to decrease the pitocin I wasn't really sure what was going to happen from that point so it seemed like a good idea. I decided that it didn't make sense to take IV pain medication b/c then later on I would still have to get an epidural if I wanted pain relief b/c you can't give IV pain meds too close to the delivery or you get a groggy baby....so I decided to just go w/ the epidural. Sheilaugh called anesthesiology and they arrived probably around 6pm to put in the epidural. It was very difficult to sit still through the contractions while they put in the epidural and then she explained that I should have relief in about 15 min. Well, 15 min came and went and I was still in a lot of pain. Sheilaugh contacted anesthesiology and she explained that because of my height I may require a slightly higher dosage so she gave me another bolus. This helped but now I was completely confined to bed :-( My contractions waned a bit and started occurring regularly at about 3 min again. Joel decided to go home and take care of Graham and Sheilaugh turned down the lights so I could rest. Unfortunately, as soon as everyone left the room, I felt like my throat was getting numb. Of course at first I thought I was being paranoid but I then I started to get nervous (especially since I was in the room alone) so I called for the nurse. She contacted Anesthesiology which suggested they monitor for awhile and see how I felt (ultimately they wound up turning the epidural off for a half hr b/c my throat was still numb). All in all, I did NOT like the way the epidural made me feel (though the contractions weren't pleasant either so it's a bit of a toss-up).
1/12/09 8:15pm The Action Begins
Dr. Rouse came back to check me (that was more pleasant w/ the epidural) and come to find out I'm fully dilated (wow!) and ready to start pushing baby out. (Joel had returned probably less than a half hr before - talk about good timing) We probably didn't start pushing until about 8:30...it was very informal and that was surprising - Joel held one leg and Sheilaugh held the other and Dr. Rouse checked on the baby (and read my People magazine in between contractions - w/ added commentary -it was really funny). As I expected with the epidural, I found it really difficult to push - though Dr. Rouse and Sheilaugh said that I "got the hang of it" quickly (commenting on a woman who never "got the hang" of pushing...not sure how that happens, but they ultimately had to use forceps and brute force to get that baby out). Pushing was tough, but not as bad as I expected. Since they turned down the epidural, I was feeling a good part of the contractions (though only on the left side b/c of a crooked epidural....I swear, only me). This started about halfway through pushing and actually made it easier to push in the right direction (it's hard when you can't feel anything below your waist. After about an hr of pushing, it was a little concerning because baby's heart rate was dropping but they could see the baby so Dr. Rouse decided to see if she could use the vacuum extractor (Joel's question: Is it a Kirby or Dyson? That made Dr. Rouse, and me laugh) to help baby out.
Finally, at 10:12pm, Benjamin Joel entered the world. It really was amazing to feel the baby come out of me - absolutely indescribable, but incredible. The funny thing is that because we were so concerned about getting baby out, we didn't think to ask whether it was a boy or girl right away (the problem was the umbilical cord tightly wrapped around baby's neck - Dr. Rouse actually cut it as soon as baby's head was out). Probably 15-30 seconds after baby is out, my nurse actually asked Dr. Rouse whether it was a boy or girl....she was really funny - "I think I saw a penis....(she checks between the baby's legs) Yup, there's a penis" I think after all the hard work of labor and my concern over baby's health, I didn't really have a strong reaction to finding out it was a boy (after all, I SAID it was a boy....LOL) though Joel did admit to getting a little teary-eyed to find out he had a son (though said it was anti-climatic and wished he would've known during the pregnancy....) Due to his rough patch coming out, Dr. Rouse put him on my belly for just a few seconds (immediately I said "You look like your daddy" - the lips and the cleft chin!!) and then whisked him over to the nursery area. He cried a little when he came out but was really "junky" so they spent quite a while suctioning him and patting his back and chest (Joel spent most of the time w/ me b/c he felt like they were "beating him up"). I could hear him grunting from where I was but couldn't see him (all that work and I had to wait all this time to hold my new baby - how frustrating!). Since I was familiar w/ grunting babies, I wasn't that concerned, but obviously didn't like the fact that he wasn't with me. After about 20 minutes, they decided that he was going to go to NICU for observation during this transition but would likely be up to the full-term nursery in the morning. I got to hold him briefly (long enough for Joel to snap some pictures) before they whisked him downstairs.
1/13/09 2am Visit to NICU to see Benjamin
Joel and I fell asleep in my room waiting for someone to bring us to NICU to see Benjamin. The nurse's aide finally came in around 2am and brought us down there. I could not believe how far the NICU nursery was from post-partum. Benjamin was laying on a radiant warmer in the nursery, sleeping peacefully. His nurse came over and explained that he was doing fine and would move to full-term in the morning. He said that he took an ounce of formula (AHH!! I wish I could've breastfed him in his first feeding, but so much for plans...) and was doing great. We touched his hands and admired him but didn't hold him (his nurse left for a break right after we talked to him) - though I did lift him up in the radiant warmer, so I got a half hold. I was so excited to meet him, but also exhausted, so we spent about 15 minutes with him and then went back upstairs. As soon as I was back in bed, Joel went home to spend the rest of the night w/ Grammy.
Benjamin was transferred later in the morning to the full-term nursery and in the afternoon got his first visit from Grandpa and Oma. We got a picture w/ Daddy holding Benjamin as well and then spent our first sleepless night together :-) Joel went home to take care of Graham (if only he realized this was his last night to sleep - instead he was uploading baby pics to facebook and e-mailing the news....just an excited Daddy)
We came home on Wednesday (1/14/09) - a WFU fan already, and got to spend the next week and a half with Joel at home as well. It has been amazing having this little being home with us - what a great Journey we have ahead of us - WE ARE PARENTS!
