I am so happy Tyler is finally here! I want to type out the entire birth story while I still remember most of the details.
For the menfolk: the stork dropped him off during his midnight hospital rounds.
For the womenfolk: I had started having some contractions on Friday that had us at the hospital, but they weren't progressive and I was only 2cm. On Sunday, Kevin and I both woke up around 5:00 in the morning because we were anxious about my going into real labor. After falling asleep in front of the TV, we went out to breakfast to get out of the house. I felt uncomfortable the entire time. My tummy felt tight and it hurt to walk because I would get little twinges down there, especially when I used the bathroom. After breakfast, we went to walk around the mall to hopefully get things going. We were in Carter's and I was looking at a cute pair of camo pants when I felt a contraction that made me grab at the clothes railing. We started timing and they were 5 minutes apart. We walked back to the car, making a bathroom stop along the way for me, and made our way to the hospital (with another stop... I knew Tracy was low on her food and I made Kevin swing by the house to fill up her food and water in case we were going to be gone for a few days.)
When we got to the hospital, I was still only 2cm and the nurse said it felt like my bag of water could break anytime. She consulted with the doctor, who wanted to induce me since I was already overdue. I was very hesitant about receiving Pitocin so I asked if it would be okay if I walked around a little bit to see if that naturally got things going and even considered them manually breaking my bag. Doctor was fine with walking, so off Kevin and I went making the rounds around the birthing center floor. I had a few contractions that would make me stop and lean over because of the pressure. Not too long into our walk - SPLASH! - water broke! The nurse said I was the first patient she's had whose water had broken in the hallway. It was the weirdest sensation, like I peed myself A LOT. Also, why didn't anybody ever tell me that things don't stop gushing out after the initial break? I could go 100 years without having to sit on another Chucks pad!
We made our way back to the room where I cleaned up and they put me back on the monitors. By this time, my aunt and sister were at the hospital with us. I felt SO MUCH BETTER after my water broke. It was like all this pressure had been relieved from my abdomen. I was even having contractions and not really feeling them while moving from 2cm to 3cm. Because of some light meconium staining in my water, the doctor wanted to start Pitocin to move things along. At this point, I was okay with it even though it meant I couldn't use the shower or walk around because I had to stay on the monitor, unless they unplugged me when I had to use the bathroom.
The Pitocin started working pretty quickly and the contractions got stronger. At one point, they were coming maybe 90 seconds apart and I was getting very tired. After about 4-5 hours, the nurse (different one than the start) came to examine me and when she stuck her fingers in, it hurt so badly that I made her take them out. When I asked where I was, she said "I don't know, you made me get out!" I felt so exhausted that I was whimpering about wanting an epidural just so I could relax. The nurse wanted to examine me first and it turned out I was already 5-6cm ("closer to 6") and 100% paperthin effaced. This sent me into one of the biggest highs I ever felt. I no longer wanted the epidural and even sat up and started brushing my hair back into a ponytail!
Of course, the high eventually wore off as the labor got harder. The two biggest things that kept me focused were holding (not squeezing) Kevin's hand in the way you hold hands while arm wrestling and him counting "1, 2, 3" each time I would inhale and exhale slowly through the contraction. I hated being in the bed and especially hated when I had to use the bathroom and having a good 3 or 4 contractions on the toilet (which is so not comfortable!) before being able to get back up. The rocking chair definitely helped and that's where I spent most of my time. At one point, sitting near the edge of the bed with one leg bent and the other straight forward while rocking back and forth helped but got old quickly.
After another couple hours, I was at 8cm and in A LOT of pain, but knew I was getting closer to the end. The nurse said the next time she'd check me is when I felt the urge to push with every contraction. It wasn't long after that, maybe an hour, that I felt that urge. My Bradley instructor said it best: You feel like you need to poop and nothing can stop you from it! The nurse paged the doctor who took about 10-15 agonizing minutes to get to the room and all suited up for delivery. Thank god my nurse was so incredibly wonderful and she kept me focused on her face when all I wanted to do was push but I wasn't allowed to yet. I hated laying on my back and asked if I could push while on my side. I did during the "fake" pushes where I was only allowed to do a small push and breathe when I felt the urge. At this point, I was terrified, thinking to myself, "I have to push this baby out with absolutely no pain medication. What was I thinking? How am I going to do this?" I felt so tired and scared that I asked the nurse to get him out with a vacuum!
Once it was okay to really push, they had me on my back and my legs up. They wanted me to grab my thighs when pushing but I didn't feel like I had the strength and could only hold onto the stop of the bed above my head. At first, the baby nurse and my aunt each held a leg (I think these were the people.. I'll have to check that with somebody who was there - and sane - at the time.) Before even starting to really push, his head was already crowning and I felt that ring of fire. I could feel the nurse's fingers down there and I exclaimed, "Get your fingers out of my butt!" She said, "I thought you wanted a perineum massage?", which I had listed on my birth plan to avoid needing an episiotomy, but after finding out what it felt like, I was like, "Not anymore!"
Since Tyler's head was right there, they had me reach down and feel it. Once I felt that little soft, spongy scalp, something came over me and I was able to grab my thighs and push. After two good pushes, they said not to push again until I felt another contraction. I was like, "You'll have to tell me when that is because I can't feel my contractions anymore, only the urge to push!" A second later, I pushed twice more and he was out! My sister loved my very first reaction. Instead of "Is he okay?" or "I want to see him!", I said, "I can't believe I just did that!"
They couldn't place him on my chest right away because they had to check him regarding the meconium. However, they sat him on my tummy for a second so Kevin could cut the cord, which sprayed all over, "christening" the three of us. While the doctor sewed up my little tearing, the baby nurse checked Tyler all over and had to stick a tube down his throat to get out the meconium he had ingested (around 17 cc's, poor thing.) Other than that, he checked out just fine, and his Apgar scores were 8's and 9's. I could not believe how tiny he looked and was shocked when I found out he was only 7 pounds. I always swore he would be at least 8 because he felt so tight in there near the end of my pregnancy.
The minute I saw his face, I knew he looked just like Kevin. If I have time ever again, I'll try to post Kevin's just-born picture to compare to Tyler's and you'll see exactly what I mean!
I got maybe an hour of sleep total the first night. The nurse brought us food and Sprite, which tasted so incredibly awesome after not eating anything but water for over 12 hours. My sister and aunt left around 3am and then the baby nurse came in to show Kevin how to give Tyler a bath. We didn't really settle down until maybe 4:30, but I was still on my New Mom High and would take little 10-minute naps before waking up to watch Tyler in his little bed.
We got to switch to the postpartum side of the wing mid-morning, had lots of visitors and hospital staff stopping by throughout the day, then had a rather eventful night when Tyler had his first major freakout around midnight. All he wanted was a little breastmilk nightcap and a warm blanket and he was out for 4 hours, which is the longest stretch of sleep I've had since Saturday night. Since we were all doing so well and Tyler's bilirubin levels were fine, we were discharged a day early as long as we brought him in to the pediatrician the next day to check on him. The ride home that usually takes 10-15 minutes of course had to take over half an hour because of a stoplight outage on a main thoroughfare in town and an overturned semi on the freeway. Tyler was very good in the carseat and slept the whole way.
We're all home and much more comfortable. Although we appreciated all the help from the hospital staff, I'm happy that now it's just us and we don't have people walking into the room every half hour for one reason or another.
Minus his occasional whiny, red-faced moments, our little man is very mellow and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful child :)
For the menfolk: the stork dropped him off during his midnight hospital rounds.
For the womenfolk: I had started having some contractions on Friday that had us at the hospital, but they weren't progressive and I was only 2cm. On Sunday, Kevin and I both woke up around 5:00 in the morning because we were anxious about my going into real labor. After falling asleep in front of the TV, we went out to breakfast to get out of the house. I felt uncomfortable the entire time. My tummy felt tight and it hurt to walk because I would get little twinges down there, especially when I used the bathroom. After breakfast, we went to walk around the mall to hopefully get things going. We were in Carter's and I was looking at a cute pair of camo pants when I felt a contraction that made me grab at the clothes railing. We started timing and they were 5 minutes apart. We walked back to the car, making a bathroom stop along the way for me, and made our way to the hospital (with another stop... I knew Tracy was low on her food and I made Kevin swing by the house to fill up her food and water in case we were going to be gone for a few days.)
When we got to the hospital, I was still only 2cm and the nurse said it felt like my bag of water could break anytime. She consulted with the doctor, who wanted to induce me since I was already overdue. I was very hesitant about receiving Pitocin so I asked if it would be okay if I walked around a little bit to see if that naturally got things going and even considered them manually breaking my bag. Doctor was fine with walking, so off Kevin and I went making the rounds around the birthing center floor. I had a few contractions that would make me stop and lean over because of the pressure. Not too long into our walk - SPLASH! - water broke! The nurse said I was the first patient she's had whose water had broken in the hallway. It was the weirdest sensation, like I peed myself A LOT. Also, why didn't anybody ever tell me that things don't stop gushing out after the initial break? I could go 100 years without having to sit on another Chucks pad!
We made our way back to the room where I cleaned up and they put me back on the monitors. By this time, my aunt and sister were at the hospital with us. I felt SO MUCH BETTER after my water broke. It was like all this pressure had been relieved from my abdomen. I was even having contractions and not really feeling them while moving from 2cm to 3cm. Because of some light meconium staining in my water, the doctor wanted to start Pitocin to move things along. At this point, I was okay with it even though it meant I couldn't use the shower or walk around because I had to stay on the monitor, unless they unplugged me when I had to use the bathroom.
The Pitocin started working pretty quickly and the contractions got stronger. At one point, they were coming maybe 90 seconds apart and I was getting very tired. After about 4-5 hours, the nurse (different one than the start) came to examine me and when she stuck her fingers in, it hurt so badly that I made her take them out. When I asked where I was, she said "I don't know, you made me get out!" I felt so exhausted that I was whimpering about wanting an epidural just so I could relax. The nurse wanted to examine me first and it turned out I was already 5-6cm ("closer to 6") and 100% paperthin effaced. This sent me into one of the biggest highs I ever felt. I no longer wanted the epidural and even sat up and started brushing my hair back into a ponytail!
Of course, the high eventually wore off as the labor got harder. The two biggest things that kept me focused were holding (not squeezing) Kevin's hand in the way you hold hands while arm wrestling and him counting "1, 2, 3" each time I would inhale and exhale slowly through the contraction. I hated being in the bed and especially hated when I had to use the bathroom and having a good 3 or 4 contractions on the toilet (which is so not comfortable!) before being able to get back up. The rocking chair definitely helped and that's where I spent most of my time. At one point, sitting near the edge of the bed with one leg bent and the other straight forward while rocking back and forth helped but got old quickly.
After another couple hours, I was at 8cm and in A LOT of pain, but knew I was getting closer to the end. The nurse said the next time she'd check me is when I felt the urge to push with every contraction. It wasn't long after that, maybe an hour, that I felt that urge. My Bradley instructor said it best: You feel like you need to poop and nothing can stop you from it! The nurse paged the doctor who took about 10-15 agonizing minutes to get to the room and all suited up for delivery. Thank god my nurse was so incredibly wonderful and she kept me focused on her face when all I wanted to do was push but I wasn't allowed to yet. I hated laying on my back and asked if I could push while on my side. I did during the "fake" pushes where I was only allowed to do a small push and breathe when I felt the urge. At this point, I was terrified, thinking to myself, "I have to push this baby out with absolutely no pain medication. What was I thinking? How am I going to do this?" I felt so tired and scared that I asked the nurse to get him out with a vacuum!
Once it was okay to really push, they had me on my back and my legs up. They wanted me to grab my thighs when pushing but I didn't feel like I had the strength and could only hold onto the stop of the bed above my head. At first, the baby nurse and my aunt each held a leg (I think these were the people.. I'll have to check that with somebody who was there - and sane - at the time.) Before even starting to really push, his head was already crowning and I felt that ring of fire. I could feel the nurse's fingers down there and I exclaimed, "Get your fingers out of my butt!" She said, "I thought you wanted a perineum massage?", which I had listed on my birth plan to avoid needing an episiotomy, but after finding out what it felt like, I was like, "Not anymore!"
Since Tyler's head was right there, they had me reach down and feel it. Once I felt that little soft, spongy scalp, something came over me and I was able to grab my thighs and push. After two good pushes, they said not to push again until I felt another contraction. I was like, "You'll have to tell me when that is because I can't feel my contractions anymore, only the urge to push!" A second later, I pushed twice more and he was out! My sister loved my very first reaction. Instead of "Is he okay?" or "I want to see him!", I said, "I can't believe I just did that!"
They couldn't place him on my chest right away because they had to check him regarding the meconium. However, they sat him on my tummy for a second so Kevin could cut the cord, which sprayed all over, "christening" the three of us. While the doctor sewed up my little tearing, the baby nurse checked Tyler all over and had to stick a tube down his throat to get out the meconium he had ingested (around 17 cc's, poor thing.) Other than that, he checked out just fine, and his Apgar scores were 8's and 9's. I could not believe how tiny he looked and was shocked when I found out he was only 7 pounds. I always swore he would be at least 8 because he felt so tight in there near the end of my pregnancy.
The minute I saw his face, I knew he looked just like Kevin. If I have time ever again, I'll try to post Kevin's just-born picture to compare to Tyler's and you'll see exactly what I mean!
I got maybe an hour of sleep total the first night. The nurse brought us food and Sprite, which tasted so incredibly awesome after not eating anything but water for over 12 hours. My sister and aunt left around 3am and then the baby nurse came in to show Kevin how to give Tyler a bath. We didn't really settle down until maybe 4:30, but I was still on my New Mom High and would take little 10-minute naps before waking up to watch Tyler in his little bed.
We got to switch to the postpartum side of the wing mid-morning, had lots of visitors and hospital staff stopping by throughout the day, then had a rather eventful night when Tyler had his first major freakout around midnight. All he wanted was a little breastmilk nightcap and a warm blanket and he was out for 4 hours, which is the longest stretch of sleep I've had since Saturday night. Since we were all doing so well and Tyler's bilirubin levels were fine, we were discharged a day early as long as we brought him in to the pediatrician the next day to check on him. The ride home that usually takes 10-15 minutes of course had to take over half an hour because of a stoplight outage on a main thoroughfare in town and an overturned semi on the freeway. Tyler was very good in the carseat and slept the whole way.
We're all home and much more comfortable. Although we appreciated all the help from the hospital staff, I'm happy that now it's just us and we don't have people walking into the room every half hour for one reason or another.
Minus his occasional whiny, red-faced moments, our little man is very mellow and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful child :)
1:28 am posting time--- yep, you are a new mom!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!! Sounds like a tough, but rewarding (of course!!) experience! I'm happy that all went well for you and Tyler and you and your new family are well on your way to settling in!
that is so wonderful! isnt it great to be able to look back and say...'i did that! there isnt anything i cant do now'. so empowering. so porud of you! i just keeps getting better and better and better. im sure you hear that all the time. great job mommy! im sure your mom is so so so proud of you. im sure she helped you in those moments you thought you couldnt go on. congratulations again elinor!
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