Sunday, June 1, 2014...day of induction
12:36am I'm wide awake. I felt certain all day long that contractions would start on their own, but they never did. I should really be getting as much sleep as I can, but there are too many thoughts. Mostly about Katie Wynn. Her world was about to drastically change and she had no idea it was even coming.
2:00am All I can think about now is the red gatorade in the fridge. I'm so parched I could chug the whole thing in one swoop. Would they be able to tell if I drank it after midnight? The possibility of bright red throw-up (would I get nauseous?) keeps me from breaking the rules.
3:30am Matt's alarm goes off. It's finally time to get this process started! I hop in the shower first to start getting ready (still no contractions). He strips the bed so our sheets can be washed and starts loading the car with some of our stuff. He also moves small pieces of furniture into our bathroom since our carpets are being shampooed while we're at the hospital.
4:05am One last weigh-in before delivery: 155 pounds!
4:29am I choke back tears as I check on Katie Wynn in her crib. She is sleeping peacefully. I promise her I'll be back home soon.
4:30am Matt's dad is downstairs to see us off. The car is loaded up and we make our exit. Lolli is very confused about why we're leaving and not putting her in her kennel. She gives me the saddest face as I close the door. Her little world is about to change too!
5:00am We arrive at the hospital right on time and get an awesome, up-front parking space. Not many people out and about this early on a Sunday morning. There is one family in the waiting room and that's it. I sit down at admissions to get check-in and then we have a short wait.
5:20am We are settled in in L&D room 6. My gown is on and the monitors have been hooked up to my [enormous] belly. Still no contractions.
5:45am A nurse arrives to put in my IV. She has to draw blood first. She pokes around on my left wrist to find a good vein, pokes in the needle, and draws blood. As she flushes the tube, she realizes she has busted my vein and the fluid goes into my arm. Holy cow, that hurt! I held on to that bruise for a couple days. Thankfully, she does a better job with the second stick and IV fluids are started.
6:10am I am finally checked for the first time and I'm still just at 1 cm, same as my last doctor's appointment. No progress has been made at all! Pitocin is started to get the ball rolling.
7-9:00am The 7am shift change brings in our new nurse, Laura. She's nice and informative but awfully chatty. It's only bothering me because I'm sleepy. She catches on and lets me rest for a while. Contractions have started but are totally manageable. Matt runs to the hospital cafeteria to grab some breakfast. He sits outside to eat and rushes in when he sees my doctor pull into the parking lot.
9:00am Dr. Cole arrives to check on me. I've only progressed to 2 cm. She literally climbs onto the bed with me to break my water. With Katie Wynn, I already had my epidural when this happened so I couldn't feel it. This time I'm very aware and it feels like a huge gush of water. Smaller gushes continue for several minutes. I finally ask nurse Laura if I'm peeing on myself. Nope, just more amniotic fluid. Dr. Cole estimates maybe a 6pm arrival time for baby. She has another delivery in progress at a different hospital and is jumping back and forth between us.
9:30am I didn't last very long before requesting the epidural. With my water broken, the contractions were immediately intensified. Mev, the CRNA, arrives to give me the epidural. He has a thick accent and is hard to understand. Nurse Laura tells me that he was a "real doctor" in his country (don't know which one) and that in the United States he is only certified as a CRNA. I decide that Mev hates his job as he is not very happy and bubbly at all. Either way, the epidural goes in and the pain slowly starts to lessen.
10:20am We've been at the hospital for 5 hours and have had pitocin going for 4. Nurse Laura checks me out and I'm at 4 cm. She says that's good progress. Just like with Katie Wynn, I have a hot spot that is not being numbed from the medicine. It's in the same spot, too - right side lower abdomen. She asks my pain level and I tell her I can handle it as long as it doesn't get worse. We both know it's gonna get worse so, with her help, I roll to my right side to see if the medicine will make it's way over there. It works!
12:00pm I'm up to 5 cm now so Nurse Laura ups my pitocin drip. My mom and dad arrive! Mom pats my right foot and I ask her to stop - it's too weird knowing she's touching it but not being able to feel it!
12:10pm I have spent too much time laying on my right side and now all the medicine has traveled over there. My hot spot has switched to the left side so nurse Laura and Matt help tilt me back over that way.
2:15pm Dr. Cole stops by for another check and I have progressed to 7 cm. She says I'm making good timing! Matt notes the time and writes it down in the notebook I brought with us. Dad left the room before I was checked and I don't see him again until later in the afternoon. Rumor is he took a nap on a couch in the main lobby.
2:30pm My sister-in-law Beth arrives for the delivery. She joins Mom on the couch to wait out the baby. I hope it won't be much longer because I hate that everyone is just sitting around waiting! Nick and their kids have joined Dad in the lobby.
3:15pm As we sat and visited, my pain began to worsen. Now I was able to feel the contractions all the way across both sides of my lower abdomen. Nurse Laura came in so I told her my pain level was at least at a 6. We talked about my options - spinal tap, more epidural medicine - before she checked me again. Ten centimeters! In just an hour, I had made it the rest of the way. She called Dr. Cole to let her know it was baby time. As for my pain, we decided to push the epidural medicine one last time and if it didn't work, I'd just push through the pain. Either way, my baby was about to be born!
3:30pm Dr. Cole arrived and we did a practice push to make sure it really was time. When a contraction came on, I took a deep breath, pushed for a ten-count, and then repeated two more times. After one set of pushes (3 x 10 count), Dr. Cole got suited up in her gown. It was go time!
3:31pm Everything about having Dr. Cole for delivery was better than using the on-call doctor with Katie Wynn. She made me feel very relaxed and not nervous at all. As she got everything set up, we placed bets on what the weight would be. Beth guessed 7 lbs, 3 oz; Mom guessed 7 lbs, 9 oz; I said 7 lbs, 10 oz; and Matt threw out 8 lbs, 2 oz. Dr. Cole looked at me and said she'd be very surprised if he weighed that much since I looked so little.
3:32pm On Dr. Cole's command, when the next contraction came, I took a deep breath and pushed for a ten-count three times like we had practiced. She told me one more push would get him there if I could do it, so I pushed for the fourth ten-count.
3:33-ishpm After seeing his chubby cheeks, Dr. Cole tells us we're probably gonna get that weight we guessed!
3:36pm William Thomas was born and placed on my belly. We immediately exclaimed how much he looked just like his big sister!
3:40-ishpm In a surprising turn of events, Matt decided to cut the umbilical cord. He did not want to do that at all for Katie Wynn so my mom did, but this time he felt braver! :)
I love these two pictures below. Thomas came out pretty ticked off at the world. He was screaming and very unhappy! My mom obviously had sympathy pains for her newest grandbaby. She didn't like that he was crying!
I have no concept of time for the rest of these events. It's funny how, during childbirth, everyone is crowded around the mom until the baby arrives and then they all shift over to the baby bed and the mom is just left to hang out.
I listened as Matt, Mom, and Beth talked about how big he looked. After a few minutes, the official weight was announced...8 pounds, 4 ounces! I am currently holding the record for biggest grandbaby on my side of the family and I'm pretty proud of that! I think it justifies how miserable I felt in the last couple of weeks. :)
This is the look of relief. Relief for a big, healthy baby, relief for a smooth delivery, and relief that he was no longer in my belly!
After he got wiped down and weighed and wrapped up, Matt got to hold him for the first time. He also got his official "I'm the Dad" bracelet.
We had a proud daddy and a proud Mimi in the room! Beth got to hold Thomas too (I think?) but I unfortunately don't have a picture of her. Special shout-out to her for taking pictures period and helping us document Thomas's big day!
After what felt like an eternity, the doctor was finally done with me and I could have my turn to hold my son. What a precious boy he is and what an honor it is to get to be his Mama.
5:30pm I am so glad I did not have any complications afterwards this time. Thomas, however, was having high respirations (normal range is between 30-60, he was at 100) so we had to wait awhile for him to calm down so they could drop to normal range. He cried a LOT during his first two hours so calming him down wasn't the easiest task ever! They finally dropped, though, so we were allowed to leave Labor and Delivery and head to our postpartum room that we would call home for the next two days.
Overall, everything about Thomas's arrival went so well. We are so, so very grateful that he is here and that he is healthy. LOTS more pictures of him (and all his visitors!) coming soon!