D's birth story.

So, I've been meaning to document D's birth story for a while now. (Uh, hello, he's almost TWO! It's about time I write it all down!!) Today I visited a friend in the hospital who had just had her first child (a boy) and reliving the experience with her made me want to write D's birthday story...so here it goes...

My due date was September 6, 2010. Pretty close to our 4 year anniversary, which was September 8, 2010.

It was Thursday September 7, 2010 - still no contractions, nothing progressing, and I had a doctor appointment scheduled for September 8. My OBGYN had talked about scheduling me for an induction, due to the fact that my blood pressure was high and there was no need for me to keep carrying the baby past my due date. I was hesitant about being induced, but ultimately I knew I needed to do what was best for the baby, although I secretly hoped I would go into labor on my own.

So September 7, the day after my due date, was nothing special. I don't remember what we did that day, but that evening, after dinner, we decided to watch Brokeback Mountain (the hubs had never seen it before, and I thought it was worth seeing again...) so we stayed up later than normal to finish the oh-so-romantic movie. We finally went to bed around midnight.

At around 4am on September 8 (our 4 year anniversary - yay!) the hubs got up to go to the bathroom, and accidentally woke me up when he turned on the light. A few seconds later, our home phone rang. I decided not to answer it since 1) we didn't have caller ID, and 2) I really didn't think it was going to be important. A few seconds later, I checked my cell phone (which happened to be on silent, but was sitting on the nightstand next to the bed) and saw the incoming call that I recognized as the hospital phone number. Being half-asleep and completely oblivious, I thought it was my mom calling to tell me my grandma was in the hospital for some reason. I answered the phone right away.

Me: Hello?
Woman: Hi, is this Julianne?
Me: Yeah...
Woman: Where are you? You were supposed to check in to the hospital last night to be induced! We are still holding a room for you.
Me: Whaaaa...? No one told me!
Woman: Okay, we'll hold the room for you until you get here. Your doctor ordered an induction. Take a shower, grab something to eat, and come right to the hospital.
Me: Uh, okay. (Hung up the phone, turned to the hubs...) We're going to the hospital! We're having the baby now!

After some explaining, we jumped out of bed and proceeded to get ourselves hospital-ready. Luckily, my bag was already packed, and I took a shower, got dressed, ate a PB&J, and away we went.

Happy Anniversary! It's hospital time! (Not sure why our dog's ears made it into this photo...)

Stopped at a McDonald's drive thru on the way to buy 2 water bottles, drove to the hospital, and arrived just before 6am. The semi-annoyed nurses checked me in, led me to my room, instructed me to change into the hospital gown, which I would wear for the next 2 days while my (excuse my French) ASS hung out for everyone to see...and started the IV. Boy, did that thing annoy me! I was then informed that my doctor's office hadn't faxed over my medical records, and we would need to wait until the office opened at 9am for them to begin any sort of induction procedure...

At some point in the morning, my mom came to be with us in the hospital. (Besides the hubs, I wanted my mom in the room with me. What can I say? Sometimes you just want your mama! Especially because she knows what you're going through, right?!)

The view from the labor & delivery room - not bad, huh? :)

The next few hours were sort of a blur...lots of check ups from the nurse, asking how I was, what I needed, my pain level, etc. Finally my records must have been faxed, because they began the Pitocin (or something like that) in my IV to get my contractions going. Eventually a doctor on staff (who happened to be the same doctor that delivered me) came in to put the Cervadil (or whatever pill) in my cervix to help things progress. A few hours later my OBGYN came to break my water, and a few hours later, the contractions began to get more intense.

My birth plan? To not really have a plan. Just sort of go with the flow...and that worked for me. I wasn't against getting an epidural, but I wanted to see if  I could go au naturel. I definitely didn't WANT a c-section, but again, whatever happened was going to happen. Eventually though, I did decide to get the epidural, as my contractions were IN-TENSE and I hadn't dilated much.

Oh, the anesthesiologist was my best friend. Even though the first attempt he hit bone. And the second attempt there was a kink in the tubing and he had to redo the epidural needle. But soon enough, he brought me sweet, sweet relief from those horrid contractions! :)

See? Those were my contractions. The nurses seemed to be pretty impressed with my pain tolerance. I decided that taking pictures of my contractions on the monitor was a good way to distract myself...

Sometime during labor, I developed a fever. (We think this was because I was being given erythromycin, an alternative to penicillin, in my IV. I had tested positive for Group B Strep, which is a bacteria, and the treatment is an antibiotic, usually penicillin, in the IV during labor to prevent the baby from getting sick when traveling through the birth canal. Since I'm allergic to penicillin, I was given the alternative antibiotic, which I am allergic to as well. The doctor thought it best to treat me for an allergic reaction as opposed to risking the little guy getting sick...) Around 3:30am or 4am, the nurses checked me and told me I was fully dilated, but the baby hadn't moved down, and I would need to push him down or (doctor's orders!) they would have to turn off the epidural. (NOOOOO!!!) Needless to say, I pushed that little guy down FAST. The nurse actually told me to stop so she could call my doctor and tell her to get her booty back to the hospital!

Ready for the little guy!

With each contraction (that I could somehow still feel...), I felt the urge to push. The nurse told me I could push A LITTLE, but, to anyone that's been in labor, you know - when you gotta push, you're gonna push. And that's THAT.

After what seemed like hours, but was really only about 30 minutes, my doctor arrived, and she couldn't put on her gloves fast enough! She pretty much set her bags/purse down, put on some gloves, sat down, and I informed her, "I'm gonna push now, K?!"

I have to say, myself (and the nurses) were pretty impressed with my pushing skills. But, HELLO! They had told me they were going to take away the epidural if I couldn't push, so you KNOW I pushed like I was a pro! So, 20 minutes or so later, just after 5:00am, my little miracle was born. Daddy cut the umbilical cord, and he was put on my chest, and it was LOVE.

Because of my fever, D had a fever as well (106 degrees) and an accelerated heart rate. They called in a specialist, and he was taken to the nursery to be monitored for 90 minutes to make sure his fever subsided and his heart rate calmed. That was the LONGEST 90 minutes of my life! I sent Daddy with little D to the nursery, and I was left in the room with my mom. It was the strangest feeling knowing I had just given birth to my little guy, but I couldn't see him or hold him or kiss him! :( Soon enough though, I was moved to the recovery room, and the nurse brought in my little man, and all was well in our world. <3

Overall, my experience was great - the nurses and doctors were wonderful, and so sweet. I would do it all over again (which I will be doing in 2 months!) for this gift.

 

 

Coming soon...our love story. It's unique, fun, and crazy!

i feel like i'm The Machinist.

Yeah, this one. If you haven't seen it, it's a pretty good/creepy movie.

Why do I feel like I belong in this movie right now? Well, for the past 3 days I haven't slept. Like, at all. Which is EXTREMELY rare for me. I usually never have a problem hitting the hay right after my little man. But for some reason, the past 3 nights, I haven't been able to sleep. (Note: it's currently 2:44AM and I've been laying in bed trying to sleep since 10PM.) Last night, I was awake until 7AM, and fell asleep for a mere 1 1/2 hours until the little man woke up.

WHY? WHY? WHY????

I am SO TIRED, but my mind won't stop RACING. I know I'm not the only one with this problem, but how do you deal when you're 7 months pregnant, can't take any medicine, have a toothache, and are so restless you just can't fall asleep?!

Speaking of being Prego, a friend of mine went into labor yesterday. So exciting!! It's always a miracle when a new little one is welcomed into this world, and it makes me so excited to welcome our Miracle #2! Which brings me to the fact that I've sort of been in denial about being pregnant this go-round. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm dealing with a toddler in the terrible two's where everything is SO. MUCH. HARDER. THAN. I. THOUGHT.

Creepy Mc Creeperson - BUT I was trying to take a picture of the blood vessels that suddenly burst/popped up on my face yesterday, all around my eyes. This is probably due to a horrible bout of throwing up in the morning when I got so upset about not sleeping. And yes, this was in a bathroom, Chuck E Cheese's to be exact.

I don't even know if this post is making any sense. What did I start out writing about? Oh yeah, not sleeping. Who knows, maybe this will be a new productive thing for me! If I don't sleep, then I have an extra 8 or so hours a day to do chores (HA!) or craft (okay...) or whatevs! :) It's called, The Bright Side people, and I've gotta start looking on/at it.

Tootles...