The Day Our Little Guy Was Born

Whew....I can't even believe that a whole week has passed since our little guy was born.   But here we are, a full week later and I am just getting around to sitting down and posting his story.  Hopefully, after reading his little story it will make a little more sense as to why it's taken so long. 

So last Saturday morning....Hubs had to work early, so I got up with him to fix his coffee and give him a kiss before he left for work.  Why, yes I do this every early morning that he works.  And no, I don't look like June Cleaver or Betty Draper when doing so--not by a long shot.  I am every bit the fright when I get up with him--and he still loves me!

Our last "progress" photo--40 weeks--and less than 24 hours before he was born!

A friend of mine was having a baby shower that day so I got moving that morning to get showered and dressed before our little Peanut woke up.  We had been at my parents fairly late the night before, so she actually slept a little later than usual.  She got up and I was still in the process of getting ready, so I made her some breakfast and while she was eating, I went to our room to finish getting ready.

10:00 that morning

As I was getting ready, I thought perhaps my water might have broken--as I had some fluid leak from down there.  I apologize if that is TMI, but I'm just sayin'.  Plus, right after that, I started to have some pain, just for a minute or so and then it went away.  Then sure enough, ten minutes later--same pain again.  Hmmm, I thought, I just might be in labor.

During about the next hour or so, I started having regular contractions at about ten minutes apart.  I wanted to call Hubs, but then I didn't want him to have him come home and have it turn out to be false labor.  Ever the practical one, I was trying to avoid having him waste precious vacation time.  But then I also heard him in the back of my head saying, "Jackie, you know it's going to go quicker the second time around."  Plus, he was very concerned about getting stuck in traffic on his way home from work and making sure he/we got there in plenty of time, etc, etc.  So I ended up only waiting about an hour into the contractions before I called him.  Oh, and also note too, that at this point in time, the contractions were very manageable--which was another reason for my hesitation.

11:00 that morning

Anyhow, Hubs got home a little less than an hour after that.  I called the hospital where we were planning on delivering. They told us to go ahead and come in so they could determine things from there.

My parents also came over during that time bringing over some groceries they had picked up at Costco for us.  I had packed an overnight bag for Peanut that morning so she was ready to go have a fun time spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's.  I took my time saying good-bye to her, knowing it would be my last moment with just my girl.  It was bittersweet, at best.  Of course she didn't understand why Mommy was crying, but I knew.  I knew our world was about to change radically--all for the better of course, but from that moment on, things would be different.

1:30 that afternoon

So Hubs and I finished rounding up the things we knew we would need for our stay and we headed to the hospital. Once we got checked-in, I went through all the details with the nurse and they ran a test to determine if my water had broken.  From the way things were sounding, I thought they were going to be sending us home--but Hubs didn't think so.  My nurse came back in and sure enough, she told me they were going to send us home.  By this time (around 2:00?), my contractions were starting to get way more intense.  Still not unbearable, but much more uncomfortable then they were before and that made me very nervous.  The nurse went to go finish my discharge paperwork and she told me to go ahead and get dressed and she would be back in a few minutes.  So like the good little patient, I went and got dressed and laid back down on my side on the hospital bed.  That standing up and moving around moved things right along--I started to have another contraction (while Hubs was messaging my Mom and sister on my iPad--so he wasn't even really paying attention at that point) and I felt this pop right during the middle of the contraction and warm fluid gushing out.

2:30 that afternoon

"OhMyGosh!" were the next words out of my mouth.  Hubs head snapped to attention (by the way--I had asked him to keep my Mom and sister posted of my status--just so y'all know he wasn't neglecting me at all) and I told him my water just broke.  He walked around the foot of the bed to see for himself and started laughing (because he was excited!) and then immediately headed out to the nurses station to let them know to forget about discharging me.  No, he wasn't that rude--in fact, I think his exact words to our nurse were, "Um, I think my wife's water just broke," when of course, he knew without a doubt that it had.

The nurse came back in and was laughing as well, saying our little guy just wanted to make clear that today was his day and they weren't going to change that.  Me?  I was just thankful that that little episode hadn't happened in our car.  Yes, me the ever practical one.  But seriously?  Cleaning up amniotic fluid from the seat?  And knowing that cleaning wouldn't happen until after our baby was born?  Um, gross.  Very thankful that so didn't happen (and Hubs was thankful too!!).

4:00 that afternoon

From that point on, that was all he needed.  Everything seemed to kick into high gear after my water broke.  Not long after they checked me and I was at 4 cm and by 4:00 that afternoon, I was at a full 10 cm and was ready to push.

It looked like there was some meconium in the amniotic fluid, so a team of nurses were brought in to help assist immediately after our little guy came out.  They were all hanging around in the back of room busying themselves getting things ready for our baby boy.  I'd say there were 4 or 5 them?  Including a male nurse, which like my mom always promised, when you are in the middle of labor you won't really care who can see down there.  And you know what?  So true.

So, so true.  

While I was laboring through my first round of pushes, the team of nurses finished their tasks and then they proceeded to hang out a while......and then they all left.

So I clearly I wasn't as far along as I thought.  I understand that they just can't wait around all day for me to get my act together and push that baby out, but talk about deflating your expectations!  It was so disheartening for this mama! 

Everyone I know that has had multiple children says that the second one is way faster and the pushing?  Way less pushes and and way less time pushing....but me?  That SO was not the case.  Well, I guess it was in part.  With Peanut, I pushed for three hours.  Yes, three hours.  With our little guy though, I pushed for about an hour and a half.  It was faster, but it certainly was not the 20 minutes or three pushes I had been praying for.

This was for several reasons--first, my babies like to be born in the posterior position.  Meaning they are face up during the delivery.  Apparently that typically makes for a much longer/tougher delivery?  I didn't quite understand it, however Hubs gave me a really good analogy.  It's like trying to crawl under a fence.  You would never think to crawl under a fence face up--you would always do it face down.  The fence is like the pelvic bone and it's simply easier to get under it heading face down.

Second, this "little" guy was exactly 2 full pounds bigger than his older sister.  Yep, I couldn't believe it either.  I mean I could, judging by my size this time around, but a full two pounds?  That's 20% bigger, ladies. 

Crazy!

Last, because I am stubborn and because I made my stubbornness known to both my midwives and my husband, like last time, I wanted to avoid pain medication if at all possible.  And please, don't kid yourselves....it's not like I didn't ask for pain medication this time around.  I did.  More than once.  But because Hubs, the midwives and all the nurses knew of my request before hand--they were all great cheerleaders/coaches. They cheered me on and in some cases got in my face (which I definately needed!).

When my contractions first started to get really intense, one of the nurses (the one who successfully set my IV) cheered me on, telling me what a good job I was doing and that how that contraction was one more I didn't have to do before I met my baby.

Then towards the end during one of my last pushes, the baby nurse (I am SO bad, I don't remember any of their names!) came and got in my face when I was begging the midwife and Hubs for a shot of the Fentinel like I had with Peanut.  She told me I was truly almost there and that I didn't need that shot and with one or two more pushes I would be able to hold my baby boy, so I better get serious and put my game face on. 

Both of these instances may sound simplistic, but it's those little accomplishments/encouragements that helped me through!

And my dear, sweet husband?  There are no words......I simply couldn't do it without him.  I know at the end of the day, their job is pretty easy in relative terms to what we go through.

But is it, really?

Our husbands have to watch the one they love and adore go through incredible pain to bring life into our fallen world.  And there wasn't anything my sweet husband could do, but hold my hand and tell me a thousand different ways how I was doing such a good job, how I was almost there and how proud he was of me. 

I tell you, I can't even begin to describe how much I love this man.  

5:32 that afternoon

So finally an hour and a half and tons of pushes later, we finally got to meet our sweet little boy.  He was finally here, but little did I know things were about to get even tougher......



Read Part II here.