Birth Story Part II

After the epidural was in, they noticed the baby was in distress. I *think* they lowered the pitocin again to see if that helped the baby, I'm not really sure what happened after the Epidural went in. I do know that it was very weird not being able to feel my lower body. I would touch my legs and they would feel so huge and jello-y.

Since the baby was still in distress, my ob came and talked to be about having to do a c-section. At this point I already knew in my mind it was going to happen, so I wasn't scared or anything, I just wanted my baby safely out. It's funny because I thought a c-section was the worse thing that could happen to me, and I was pretty calm at the moment.

So there we were, after all we went through, we were finally going to meet our little guy. My mom and mother in law started packing up, since only Mike could go in the operating room with me. They took me to the operating room and later Mike joined me. He held my hand the entire time, while we silently just looked at each other, I guess we were both nervous and at the same time relieved and excited.

(Less than a day old)

So that's how little Mr Andrew James (who's name we didn't agree on until 2 or 3 days after he was born) was born on Saturday November 13 at 11:45pm. He weighed 5lb 12oz and measured 19.5 inches. Even though I know my exact conception date and was 40 weeks, he was very little. The pediatricians at the hospital said he was small for gestational age (SGA), that he was more like a 36 week baby.

Unfortunately, he stayed in the NICU for a whole week. On Sunday he had a choking incident, thank goodness the nurse was in my room when it happened and took him to the NICU right away. Once in the NICU, he had more desaturation episodes while feeding. He also had mild jaundice due to my blood type. It was an extremely stressful week for us, even though it wasn't anything serious, it was still sad seeing our little baby there.

So there you have it, my long birth story. It didn't go as planned, which I knew could happen, and besides the small complications, he is doing great. I can not say enough great things about all the nurses at The Winter Park Hospital, they were all amazing. Andrew has been with us for 5 weeks now and we are still slowly adjusting to our new life. We are so in love with our little boy ♥

PS: If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I'll respond :)

Birth story

Continuation from last post:

As we left the OB office that Friday (Nov 12th), I think Mike and I were pretty shocked, I was silently freaking out and trying really hard not to cry. I just didn't want to be induced! But I had to do what was best for my little boy.

We headed home to get some stuff we needed for the hospital and for a quick lunch. After that, Mike, my mom and I headed to the hospital to check in. We really wanted to have a natural birth, but I think that's one of the reasons I feared being induced, I knew things would go downhill from there, I just knew it.

First they did an internal and I was still only 2 cm dilated, the same I had been for the past few weeks. They started the induction process with Cervadil, it really hurt when they put it inside of me. I was of course, also hooked up to an IV (ouch!) and to some monitors on my belly to check the babys heartbeat and my contractions (which I felt none so far).

I felt super restricted and uncomfortable with all that stuff on me, but I guess I knew that would happen if I gave birth in a hospital, which at this point would have had to happen anyway, even if I would have chosen the birth center. My ob let me have dinner (my last meal until Sunday). I had a burger and salad from Outback.

Mike went back home for the night and my mommy stayed with me. I didn't get much rest because nurses kept coming through out the night to check on me. At around 3am, my OB came in to check if there was any progress, and there was none. I think it was at this point when they started the Pitocin.

The next morning, Mike and my mother in law arrived at the hospital. I remember there was a Harry Potter marathon on tv. I was hungry but was only allowed to eat popsicles or ice chips. It was an uneventful morning. I still didn't feel any contractions and the baby was doing good. At some point in the afternoon, that's when I finally started feeling contractions. It wasn't anything like cramps, to me it was more like a pressure on my butt and pain in my lower belly.

Edit: I forgot, but it had to be somewhere around this point where my ob came and broke my water, it didn't really hurt or anything. Afterwards they put "fresh water" back inside my belly for the baby, so I was hooked to a little hose that went to the baby.

I don't remember exactly when or how, but the contractions started to get stronger and stronger, and yup, it was the most painful thing I have ever felt in my life! I still get shivers remembering them. Mike tried to comfort me but I didn't even want to be touched. I don't know how long I was in agony, my mom was pretty much begging me to be checked by the OB again to see if there had been any progress and to get some pain relief.

I was scared of the epidural (Um hello? huge needle in your back!) and I knew that once I asked to be checked, it was going to hurt a lot again. I started to feel super weak, I was shaking from the pain and I felt like I was going to pass out any second. The contractions were coming right after another. I finally agreed to be checked for progress and yet again, no progress. So I agreed to the Epidural at that point, since there was no way I could be in that pain for who knows how much longer.

It took around 30 min to get the Epidural in, and of course while they were trying to put it in, I was still having contractions, but this time I had to stay still and not move, those were probably the hardest contractions. Poor nurse, I'm sure I left bruises on her from holding on to her so tight. The relief came soon after, I still felt the contractions at first, but not as painful, then after that I felt nothing at all, awww relief!

To be continued...