the chronicles of us: November 2013

Our little pumpkin decided to come a little early!

He debuted at 1:15am on October 28th. (Originally due November 7th)

His story goes a little something like this:

I worked Saturday, October 26th. Lost my mucus plug at work. Sorry if any guys are reading this. :) I'd already had some concerns that my BP was rising above my normal. (Even had L&D check it, and it was elevated for me, but not necessarily dangerous) Anyways, I finished my shift at work, and was planning on coming in to work the next day. I knew that it could still be a few days before labor actually began. My mom was urging me to call in. I assured her I knew what I was doing.

When I got home, I had a nagging back ache. We got Cohen to bed and I laid down around 11pm, probably. Hector slept on the couch, because his snoring irritates me at this point in pregnancy. ;) I think I woke up every hour or hour and a half. Looking back, I bet contractions were waking me up, and I just thought it was needing to use the restroom. At about 4:30am, I decided to stay up. And I started timing contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. I went ahead and called in to work. At 5:30, my water started breaking. I say "started," because it wasn't a big gush, all at once. It was small spurts every time I moved or got up. At that point I woke up Hector and surprised him with, "I think we need to go to the hospital!" He stared blankly at me. Then it started to sink in. And our apartment was in shambles because we weren't exactly planning on this happening today! So he got up and started cleaning up. I called my mom at 5:45am, so her and my dad could start heading over. I took a shower. I called the on-call doctor, my doctor was not on. :( A very nice Dr. H called me back at 7:25am. He told me to get to the hospital! After I finished getting ready, packing and getting Cohen ready, we left at 8:30am.

We got to the hospital at 9am. First thing I did was put on a gown, and Cohen cried. :( It scared him. All the while fluid is just leaking out of me. I got an IV started and the drew a little blood for labs. Contractions were still 4-5 minutes apart. My nurse checked me, and it was the worst pain I've ever known. I cried. Hard. I was 3cm dilated and Liam was still pretty high up. (picture me, bummed) My parents got there about 10 minutes after us. :) Cohen was thrilled!

A last, big belly picture! Notice it's only 2:30pm. And those contractions are 4 minutes apart.

We had started Pitocin at 1:45pm. My original nurse got busy, so a new nurse took over. Guess what? It was the same nurse who I had for Cohen's delivery! Judy! I was so happy to have her. We were increasing the Pit every 20-30 minutes. At 3:45 Dr. H checked me and tried to place an internal monitor. It hurt so bad again, I cried again. :( I was still 3cm, 75% and -3. So bummed.

I cramped a lot after that check, so at 4pm I got a Stadol shot. It made me sleepy. I think I had a quick nap. At 6pm, Judy checked me again. 3-4cm. My mom took Cohen home and my Dad had to return to Paris. :( Wasted his whole day. Next check is planned for 8pm. I'm starving and discouraged. I also have a new nurse, Dianne. I was nervous because she looked young.

At 8, Dr. H checked me.... 3cm! :'( So, I went ahead and asked for epidural. The anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist got there at 8:30. He placed one, but it went in a vein, because the catheter filled with blood. Dianne was a great support during the whole process. They removed the first epidural and placed another one... it worked! I felt the cold sensation run down my back, then my legs went numb. My right leg was considerably more useless.. I could somewhat move my left leg. So. After that, Dianne put in the urinary catheter. Dr. H came back in and replaced the internal monitor, since it didn't get placed properly the first time because I was pulling away in pain. So, at about 9pm, I was still 3 cm. I can't tell you how discouraged I was at this point. He said he'd come back in at 12am (midnight) and check again.

Hector was able to lay on the couch and catch a few cat naps. Liam started having late decels (if I remember correctly) with contractions, so Dianne put an oxygen mask on me. She also had to give me a dose of Ampicillin (antibiotic) since my membranes had been ruptured for so long.

Dr. H came in and checked me at midnight. You'll never believe this... 3-4cm, he said. And I think he added on the "to 4" just to give me hope. He did say that he'd check me again at 3am, and if no progress, we'd need to do a c-section, since that would be about 24 hours since rupture. (Infection risk goes up after 24 hours..) I wanted to cry, I was so scared and disappointed. They left us alone for a minute.

At 12:30am, Dianne came in and said, "I want to try something... a new position, to help baby move down." I was up for anything. Hector was completely asleep. Snoring even. So this position.. It was awkward. She'd told me it would be. :) I rolled way over on my left side, almost onto my belly. Then I pushed my left leg back behind me. And Dianne took my right leg, and raised it up and over onto the stirrup on the left side of the bed. I think "scissors" best describes this position. She left and we waited.

At 12:45am, I felt intense pressure down there. I told Dianne and she told me to just give myself an extra dose of epidural and see if that helped. I told her it really wasn't pain, just a pressure.. like I needed to push. At 12:55am, she just decided to check me, instead of me getting extra pain medicine. So she checked, and said, "Oh my goodness! His head is RIGHT THERE! You are complete! We are ready to have this baby, let me page the doctor!" So, lights came on, Hector was shaken awake, nurses rushed in, NICU team rushed in, Dr. H got there... It happened quick! Dianne asked me to do a practice push while Dr. H was scrubbing in. Mid-push, she said, "Stop! Nevermind! He's coming!"

Dr. H took his position at the end of the bed, I pushed once and his head came out. I took a breath, pushed again, and out Liam came at 1:15am! He cried and was very alert! Dr. H cut the cord and handed him to the NICU team to look him over (for the prolonged rupture of membranes). They scored him 9&10 for APGARS, just for color. They put him on my chest as soon as they decided he looked fine. He was breathing a little fast, but nothing else.

My sweet Liam getting his first smells and feels of Mama!

Loved the skin-to-skin!!

Our perfect boy.

Our first breastfeeding experience. He latched on right away.

Daddy and his boy! In love. :)

I knew when I saw him that he was small. I had always told Hector, "I just want a smaller, healthy, term baby! Is that so much to ask??" Since he was born at 38 weeks and 3 days, he missed 11+ days of growing. He weighed 6 pounds, 11.9 ounces! The Lord answered my prayers! :) haha. He was 18.5 inches long. I've just loved having this little cuddle bug.

Danelle was Liam's nurse. She had to draw some blood for cultures (to watch for infection) and a CBC. She gave him a Vitamin K shot and a Penicillin shot. :( My poor baby.

At around 4:30, they finally moved us to a postpartum room. Before that, though, Dianne had brought me a ham sandwich, chips, jello, graham crackers and like 4 juices! I ate and drank it ALL! I was starving! A bag lunch had never tasted so good!

I think we kind of took a little nap between 6 and 8am. But then my Dr. R came in, and the pedi came to look at Liam. Dr. R was so upset she missed his birth! Around 11am, Cohen and Granna got there to meet Mr. Liam!