The Day Tommy Was Born

Introducing......
Thomas Harrison!
Born Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 9:10 am
7 pounds 10 ounces
20.5 inches long

So here's the story, on Saturday I felt crampy and just plain blah all day. I couldn't sit still and just wanted more and more things to do. I swept, dusted, arranged, rearranged, and basically drove Bill nuts all day. Finally I looked at Bill and said, "you know, we haven't put the car seat bases in yet, the baby won't come until we do that." Bill laughed and reminded me that if I gave birth without the car seat bases in, he could always come home and do it before we were released but he humored me anyway and we went out in the rain and put a base in my car.

At around 7:00, Bill went over to our friends' house to watch the Mets game and I snuggled in on the couch to watch some TV. At 10:30 I went in to bed to watch TV in there. At 11:00 I felt this very strange POP in my belly. I waited to see what was going to happen but nothing did. About 5 minutes later I decided to get up and go to the bathroom. As I stood up, fluid started running down my legs. Not a lot, about as much as peeing yourself. I made it to the bathroom and realized that I had lost my mucus plug as well. I went and laid down to see what would happen and sure enough, more came pouring out. I called Bill and told him to come home, that my water had broken. He rushed home and we called the doctor who told me to go to L&D to get checked out.

We got to the hospital around 12:15 and by that point, the contractions had started and were about 8 minutes apart. They did an internal and I was about 3-4 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. They admitted me and offered to let me get in the tub. It was about 2 am by that point and the hot water felt great. The contractions were painful in my hips and legs and the hot water really helped me to relax. However, it only felt good for about 20 minutes then I just felt restricted since it was a standard sized tub and I couldn't really move around.

At that point, my contractions were really close together and very strong. I was having a hard time concentrating on breathing and was in a whole lot of pain. The nurse offered to give me Nubain but I didn't want to get it because it's in the same family as Morphine and when I've had that in the past, it has caused me to become extremely loopy and fall asleep even in a small dosage. I was afraid that I'd take it and not be able to push. I was open to an epidural and asked for it at 3:00. The anesthesiologist was in an emergency cesarean and wasn't able to come to me right away so I tried to labor through the contractions but they were coming so fast and so strong that I was crying and shaking.

At 3:30 the nurse told me that the anesthesiologist was finishing up in the OR and that he'd be coming by soon but told me that I'd have to be able to sit still while he gave me the epidural. She asked if I thought I could do it and I just cried harder. She left so Bill and I could discuss what to do. I told him I didn't think I could sit still. He told me he thought we should try some sort of meds and I gave in to the Nubain. The doctor checked me and I was 5 centimeters dilated so they approved both the Nubain and the epidural. The nurse gave the Nubain to me and I instantly felt limp. I didn't feel any contractions, in fact, I didn't feel anything. She had me sit up so that the anesthesiologist could start the epidural and I just slumped on her. I remember her talking to me but not being able to respond, as if I was asleep. Bill told me later that she kept checking to make sure I was breathing because I was so unresponsive.

After the epidural was in, the nurse had me lay on my side and go to sleep. She came in to have me roll over a couple of times but the relief I got from sleeping was amazing. It wasn't good, deep sleep, but it was something. I was glad because Bill got to get some sleep too.

At 6:00 they inserted a catheter and I was 8.5 - 9 centimeters dilated. They had me sit more upright so that gravity would cause the baby's head to get me to 10 centimeters.

At 7:00 I started to feel discomfort on my left side. It quickly turned into being able to feel all of the contractions on my left side. The epidural had worn off on that side. This was also the time that the nurses changed. The nurse I had all night was nice but the nurse that came on for my delivery was AMAZING. Thank you Nurse Deb!

At 7:50 they checked me and I was at 10 centimeters and ready to start pushing. The first few pushes felt amazing. It was such a relief. However, this was short lived. Soon the pushes started to hurt. I could feel the contractions and pushing was hurting my hips. They had me roll to my side and push that way. That felt better for a little bit. Then they had me switch to the other side. The nurse kept telling me I was doing a good job but I just didn't feel like my pushes were that productive. I'd start pushing and I'd finally feel like I got it right and I'd run out of breath. The nurse grabbed a blanket and tied a knot in it. She had me grab hold of one end and she held the other. Bill had one leg and a nursing student had the other (oh yeah, forgot to mention, my brother in-law's girlfriend is a nursing student on the L&D floor where I delivered and I agreed to let two of her classmates participate in the birth). When I pushed, we kind of did a tug-o-war and my pushes became MUCH more productive.

After an hour and 20 minutes of pushing, at 9:10am, Tommy was pushed out and placed on my chest. He cried almost instantly and was absolutely perfect. They cleaned him up and let me hold him and nurse him for an hour before they took him to the warmer.

I did end up needing some stitches for a third degree tear but I honestly didn't care. It was the worst pain with the best result ever. I'm totally in love with my new little guy and watching Bill with him makes me fall farther and farther in love with him.

***It took me a few days to write this out. I'll add more information about the following days in a later post.***

False Labor Sucks

Yup. The title basically says it all. I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon and my belly was contracted the whole time. After I got home, I went to my uncle's house to help with some campaign stuff and had BH contractions the whole time about 25-30 minutes apart. They weren't painful but noticeable. After that I went to watch Bill's softball game (they beat the number 1 team!) and the contractions started to intensify and come more frequently. I wasn't timing them but I'd guess about every 10 minutes or so. When we got home, I put some final touches on my hospital bag just in case, and went to bed.

I woke up at 1am with extreme lower back pain and intense, period-like, cramps in my lower abdomen. It didn't come in waves like contractions are supposed to, it was constant. This lasted for about an hour and no amount of moving around or bouncing on my birthing ball made it go away. Bill got up at 2am to go to work and asked if he should go. I kind of broke down because I didn't know. I was pretty sure this was it but I wasn't ready to go to the hospital. He was scheduled to ride with another driver today so we decided that he should go to work and just drive his car to all of the stops behind the truck and if I needed him home, he could come.

After he left for work, I started to have contractions. I timed them for an hour and they ranged from 4 1/2 and 8 1/2 minutes apart. They were painful but not unbareable. I decided to keep timing and see if they became more intense in the second hour. They didn't. In fact, they went away. I went to sleep and only woke up 2 times with contractions. I've been up for about an hour now and I've had 2 contractions.

I'm 38 weeks today and while I know I'm supposed to say that I want our little boy to stay in as long as he needs, I am ready for him to come out after last night. I can handle the contractions if I know that it will result in me holding our little guy but contractions that just disappear? Not fun. I go to the doctor tomorrow and we'll see what they say. My mom told me that when she was pregnant with my sister, this happened to her for 2 days before she gave birth. We'll see!

Update: Swelling

I had my 36 week doctor's appointment today. The good news is that my blood pressure was 132/88 so high for me but not in the hypertension range and my doctor was not concerned about that, my weight gain, or my swelling. He said there was no protein in my urine (yay!) so my weight gain is probably due to the swelling, aka, water weight. The swelling is probably due to the heat and just being at this point of the pregnancy.

Other good news is that our little one is head down and he definitely dropped since he's right behind my cervix! I'm not dilated at all so I shouldn't go too early or anything but yay to a head down baby!

The only bad news is that they didn't even bother with the Group B Strep test because since I tested positive at my 16 week appointment, I'll need the antibiotic IV during labor regardless of the results of this test. Oh well. As long as everyone is healthy right?!

Becoming real

Today is June 17. My due date is August 17. Yikes! We had better get our butts in gear here!

We had our third birthing class last night and it was incredibly informative but it definitely made things feel a bit more real. The fourth and last class next week is basically just a tour of L&D. After that I'm supposed to know how to give birth and if I'm being honest, I don't have a clue! I don't know what to expect at all. I think the scare we had last weekend has really got me realizing that this could happen at any moment. Hopefully our little one stays put until he's full term but he could potentially come at any point. Yikes!

First Labor Scare

One of my very favorite people in the whole world got married this weekend!
Melissa was a bridesmaid in my wedding and I was asked to be one in her wedding! The festivities began on Friday when I left work, picked up her friend and officiant from the bus station, picked up her wedding dress (huge responsibility!), and drove an hour to the venue. We did a quick rehearsal and enjoyed a delicious dinner with all of the guests who had arrived at that point. Bill got in later that evening since he had to work on Friday until around 6.

Saturday morning Bill and I got up and had breakfast together then I went to the salon with Melissa and the other bridesmaids to get our hair done and to spend some time together. I left around 1:45 to get dressed for the ceremony and to bring the officiant from the hotel to the venue. While I was getting ready, I suddenly felt fluid leaking into my underwear. I FREAKED out but luckily my incredibly supportive and calming husband was able to get me under control and I called my doctor. They told me to come back home to the hospital to get checked out. I was so nervous.

We checked out of the hotel and sped back to Syracuse. Melissa was concerned and told me to just take care of myself and the baby. When we got to the hospital, they got me right in and hooked up to the monitors. It was such a relief to hear the baby's heart beating away steadily. My doctor happened to be the one at the hospital so he checked me out and tested the fluid. It turned out that it wasn't amniotic fluid, THANK GOD!!! They think it was probably just a big rush of mucus but not necessarily my mucus plug so they released me less than an hour after I got there.

We quickly got dressed and decided to go back for the wedding. We missed the ceremony, which I'm still pretty upset about, but made it back in time for dinner. I'm so happy that I wasn't really in labor and the baby is staying put for a while longer. Melissa was so relieved that everything was okay and happy to see us back at the wedding. I'm super sad that I missed her ceremony but I'm glad we got everything checked out.

Stay put little guy!