Birth Story
If I don't do this now, I'll either never do it and be very sad about it later or I'll forget some details that I'll want to remember when I finally got around to doing it. So, while my little one is sleeping, I'll get this down...
On the 4th of July, Mike and I decided to go out to eat since I was being induced the next day. We figured we should go have one nice meal alone together before Seamus arrived. I had been having small contractions all day, but I had been having contractions since May, so I didn't think much about them. We had planned on going to the steak restaurant on the Air Force base here, but they were closed for the 4th. We finally ended up at Chili's around 5pm. Not my first choice, but it would do. I had more and more contractions all during dinner, but we finished our meal and headed off to the store. While we were walking around, my contractions got worse and worse, so we finally ended up cutting the shopping short, checking out, and heading home. On the way home, my contractions started coming every 2-3 minutes and Mike wanted to go on to the hospital, but I told him I wanted to go home first. We weren't home even 10 minutes before I had him call labor and delivery and tell them that we were on our way.
When I got to labor and delivery and got all checked out, I was dilated to 4cm and I had contractions coming every 2-3 minutes still. They admitted me at 7pm and I got the nice, big birthing room (at our labor and delivery classes, they told us to ask for room one if it was available; it's the biggest and has the prettiest decor). They had me go walk on the typhoon ramps to get things progressing. We walked from the 5th floor to the first floor. When we got to the first floor, I started dripping blood, so we took the elevator back up. They said the bleeding was probably from my internal exam, but they wanted me to lay down for a bit to be sure. So, I went and laid in my bed and my contractions started coming hard and fast, but I was still dilated to 4.
It had been about two hours at this point and I was in a lot of pain, so when they offered the epidural (for the second time), I took it. It didn't really hurt as bad going in as I was expecting it to. I've heard people say that the epidural hurts worse than contractions, but I didn't think so. Mike had to leave the room while they did it because he couldn't stand the sight of it. They said it would take a bit to kick in, so I just laid there and patiently waited. About an hour later, I realized that I was in the same amount of pain as I was pre-epidural. Why does no one tell you there is a chance this thing might not work?!?! I buzzed the nurse and told her and she brought the anesthesiologist back in. The anesthesiologist was a real bitch and didn't believe me when I was telling her that I was still in horrible pain. She said that they could either pull it out and try a different spot or she could pull it out and maybe use something different. After discussing it with the nurse, she suggested we try a different spot. So, we did and I got a second epidural. Still nothing an hour later. They said they couldn't give me anything different for pain because I had already had 2 epidurals- joy.
They rechecked me and I was dilated to 7 (I went from 4 to 7 in about an hour and a half). I labored (hard) for another hour or so. Mike was lovely, feeding me ice chips and wiping off my brow. My blood pressure kept rising and started worrying them, so they started a magnesium drip in my IV. The magnesium drip was to prevent me from having a stroke (I had no idea my blood pressure went that high until afterwards). My waters had started leaking, but they hadn't fully broken, so they decided to go ahead and finish breaking it. When they broke my waters, there was meconium in it. The doctor talked to me about how they would treat Seamus once he was born for the meconium in his amniotic fluid. She explained that they didn't want him to cry as soon as he was born, so that he wouldn't inhale it. She also told me not to be alarmed when he didn't cry immediately, that he would be just fine. It was 3:30 in the morning I was getting really exhausted by this point. The nurse said the anesthesiologist could give me a small dose of a spinal block so that I could relax and sleep to gather some energy (they left the epidural cathiter in just in case I had to have a c-section). I agreed, but I really wondered if it would work. It did work and I slept really hard for about an hour. They gave me another small dose when I woke up and I slept for another hour. At six, I woke up in horrible pain and they tried giving me one more dose, but it didn't take because I was dilated to 10 and it was time to push. Isn't it nice that your body will override something like that? Ummm...yeah.
They got things all set up for the delivery (dropping the bottom of the bed off, bringing in a bassinette, getting all scrubbed up, etc) and they were all ready about 6am. They had Mike grab my right leg and hold it and one of the nurses had my left leg. They offered to let me have a mirror, but I didn't want one. Knowing myself, I knew it would probably just freak me out instead of making me push harder. Things progressed pretty quickly, quicker than they thought it would, so they had a nurse replace Mike. Mike swears I asked him to kill me while I was in labor. He stayed by my head and wiped my forehead with cool water. I honestly cannot remember the pain. I know I was in pain, I remember that much. I just can recall the actual pain. I pushed for 26 minutes and Seamus was here. He was born at 6:26am, 34 minutes before I was scheduled to be induced.
When he was born, I sent Mike to be with him. They deep-suctioned his lungs before he started to cry. He cried for a good 3-4 minutes and then calmly let them do their thing with him. 8 lbs 6.7 oz, 21 3/4 inches, APGARS of 8 (first) and 9 (second). Mike kept taking pictures and bringing them over to show me since I couldn't see him immediately. I delivered the placenta (no thanks, didn't want to see it either) and they said it looked very healthy. I had 4th degree tears (which means I was literally split from one end to the other for those of you who don't know birthing lingo). I am so glad he wasn't as big as they thought he would be! They started stiching me up and kept doing their stuff with Seamus. It took about 45 mins to sew me all up. When they finally finished doing that and then massaging my uterus (which hurts!), I finally got to see my Seamus. I was going insane because I wanted to see this little guy that I had been waiting so long to meet. Almost an hour after he was born, I got to see him, hold him, and feed him. He took right to nursing, which made me very happy.
I was on bedrest for 24 hours due to the magnesium drip they gave me. About 3 pm, they noticed Seamus' breathing was a little fast, so they took him and checked out his lungs. They decided he needed observing, so they came in and told me they were taking him down to the NICU. His breathing levels were supposed to be around 60 or less and they were 65-70. I thought he would be back in a few hours, but they ended up deciding to keep him overnight. I was on strict bedrest, so I couldn't get up, and they wouldn't bring him to me from the NICU to feed. They tried to give me a breastpump and let me pump to feed him, but I couldn't get anything. They said that it was probably a side effect of the magnesium. so, they ended up having to give him a bottle of formula. At the time, it absolutely broke my heart. I knew that giving him a bottle of formula could ruin breastfeeding. But, I had to get past that and do what was right for my baby. He needed to eat and I needed to put what I wanted to do aside. So, he got formula and I stayed up all night worrying about my baby.
The next day, as soon as I was disconnected from my IV and taken off of bedrest, I went and saw Seamus. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and had an IV in his head. I couldn't stand it. It's heartbreaking to see your baby like that. Every couple of hours I would go down there and hold him and breastfeed him (he did end up taking back to the breast, which was good). I suppose all that walking was good for me, but I still didn't sleep that night. They told me that Seamus may get out of the NICU on Weds, but they ended up not feeling comfortable letting him out, so they ended up keeping him. I burst into tears when they told me. I wanted my baby with me and I was sick of feeling like they were being so overly cautious. I wanted to be the one to take care of my baby, not some NICU nurse (although I now adore her for how much she loves my son). So, now my son was 2 days old and I felt like I had hardly spent any time with him.
During my examination on Thursday, they thought they heard fluid on my lungs, so they took me down and gave me a chest X-ray (there was no fluid on my lungs, BTW). Seamus was scheduled to be circumcised at noon, and my X-ray was at 12:30, so while I was getting X-rayed, Mike headed to the NICU to see Seamus and comfort him. Unfortunately, Mike got there as soon as they were finishing up the procedure. When I saw Mike again, he was as white as a sheet. Poor guy. Thursday evening, Seamus was allowed to room-in with me for the night. He did wonderfully.
Friday morning, they informed me that they were releasing me (THANK GOD, 5 days/4 nights in the hospital is much too long). The NICU also released Seamus since he had done so well with me the night before. The only condition was that we had to bring him back to the NICU on Saturday to be weighed and back on Monday for a check-up. He was weighed today (Saturday) and was just perfect. We are all so glad to be home safe and sound. Both Mike and I are in love with this little bundle of joy and I couldn't imagine anything more perfect.
On the 4th of July, Mike and I decided to go out to eat since I was being induced the next day. We figured we should go have one nice meal alone together before Seamus arrived. I had been having small contractions all day, but I had been having contractions since May, so I didn't think much about them. We had planned on going to the steak restaurant on the Air Force base here, but they were closed for the 4th. We finally ended up at Chili's around 5pm. Not my first choice, but it would do. I had more and more contractions all during dinner, but we finished our meal and headed off to the store. While we were walking around, my contractions got worse and worse, so we finally ended up cutting the shopping short, checking out, and heading home. On the way home, my contractions started coming every 2-3 minutes and Mike wanted to go on to the hospital, but I told him I wanted to go home first. We weren't home even 10 minutes before I had him call labor and delivery and tell them that we were on our way.
When I got to labor and delivery and got all checked out, I was dilated to 4cm and I had contractions coming every 2-3 minutes still. They admitted me at 7pm and I got the nice, big birthing room (at our labor and delivery classes, they told us to ask for room one if it was available; it's the biggest and has the prettiest decor). They had me go walk on the typhoon ramps to get things progressing. We walked from the 5th floor to the first floor. When we got to the first floor, I started dripping blood, so we took the elevator back up. They said the bleeding was probably from my internal exam, but they wanted me to lay down for a bit to be sure. So, I went and laid in my bed and my contractions started coming hard and fast, but I was still dilated to 4.
It had been about two hours at this point and I was in a lot of pain, so when they offered the epidural (for the second time), I took it. It didn't really hurt as bad going in as I was expecting it to. I've heard people say that the epidural hurts worse than contractions, but I didn't think so. Mike had to leave the room while they did it because he couldn't stand the sight of it. They said it would take a bit to kick in, so I just laid there and patiently waited. About an hour later, I realized that I was in the same amount of pain as I was pre-epidural. Why does no one tell you there is a chance this thing might not work?!?! I buzzed the nurse and told her and she brought the anesthesiologist back in. The anesthesiologist was a real bitch and didn't believe me when I was telling her that I was still in horrible pain. She said that they could either pull it out and try a different spot or she could pull it out and maybe use something different. After discussing it with the nurse, she suggested we try a different spot. So, we did and I got a second epidural. Still nothing an hour later. They said they couldn't give me anything different for pain because I had already had 2 epidurals- joy.
They rechecked me and I was dilated to 7 (I went from 4 to 7 in about an hour and a half). I labored (hard) for another hour or so. Mike was lovely, feeding me ice chips and wiping off my brow. My blood pressure kept rising and started worrying them, so they started a magnesium drip in my IV. The magnesium drip was to prevent me from having a stroke (I had no idea my blood pressure went that high until afterwards). My waters had started leaking, but they hadn't fully broken, so they decided to go ahead and finish breaking it. When they broke my waters, there was meconium in it. The doctor talked to me about how they would treat Seamus once he was born for the meconium in his amniotic fluid. She explained that they didn't want him to cry as soon as he was born, so that he wouldn't inhale it. She also told me not to be alarmed when he didn't cry immediately, that he would be just fine. It was 3:30 in the morning I was getting really exhausted by this point. The nurse said the anesthesiologist could give me a small dose of a spinal block so that I could relax and sleep to gather some energy (they left the epidural cathiter in just in case I had to have a c-section). I agreed, but I really wondered if it would work. It did work and I slept really hard for about an hour. They gave me another small dose when I woke up and I slept for another hour. At six, I woke up in horrible pain and they tried giving me one more dose, but it didn't take because I was dilated to 10 and it was time to push. Isn't it nice that your body will override something like that? Ummm...yeah.
They got things all set up for the delivery (dropping the bottom of the bed off, bringing in a bassinette, getting all scrubbed up, etc) and they were all ready about 6am. They had Mike grab my right leg and hold it and one of the nurses had my left leg. They offered to let me have a mirror, but I didn't want one. Knowing myself, I knew it would probably just freak me out instead of making me push harder. Things progressed pretty quickly, quicker than they thought it would, so they had a nurse replace Mike. Mike swears I asked him to kill me while I was in labor. He stayed by my head and wiped my forehead with cool water. I honestly cannot remember the pain. I know I was in pain, I remember that much. I just can recall the actual pain. I pushed for 26 minutes and Seamus was here. He was born at 6:26am, 34 minutes before I was scheduled to be induced.
When he was born, I sent Mike to be with him. They deep-suctioned his lungs before he started to cry. He cried for a good 3-4 minutes and then calmly let them do their thing with him. 8 lbs 6.7 oz, 21 3/4 inches, APGARS of 8 (first) and 9 (second). Mike kept taking pictures and bringing them over to show me since I couldn't see him immediately. I delivered the placenta (no thanks, didn't want to see it either) and they said it looked very healthy. I had 4th degree tears (which means I was literally split from one end to the other for those of you who don't know birthing lingo). I am so glad he wasn't as big as they thought he would be! They started stiching me up and kept doing their stuff with Seamus. It took about 45 mins to sew me all up. When they finally finished doing that and then massaging my uterus (which hurts!), I finally got to see my Seamus. I was going insane because I wanted to see this little guy that I had been waiting so long to meet. Almost an hour after he was born, I got to see him, hold him, and feed him. He took right to nursing, which made me very happy.
I was on bedrest for 24 hours due to the magnesium drip they gave me. About 3 pm, they noticed Seamus' breathing was a little fast, so they took him and checked out his lungs. They decided he needed observing, so they came in and told me they were taking him down to the NICU. His breathing levels were supposed to be around 60 or less and they were 65-70. I thought he would be back in a few hours, but they ended up deciding to keep him overnight. I was on strict bedrest, so I couldn't get up, and they wouldn't bring him to me from the NICU to feed. They tried to give me a breastpump and let me pump to feed him, but I couldn't get anything. They said that it was probably a side effect of the magnesium. so, they ended up having to give him a bottle of formula. At the time, it absolutely broke my heart. I knew that giving him a bottle of formula could ruin breastfeeding. But, I had to get past that and do what was right for my baby. He needed to eat and I needed to put what I wanted to do aside. So, he got formula and I stayed up all night worrying about my baby.
The next day, as soon as I was disconnected from my IV and taken off of bedrest, I went and saw Seamus. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and had an IV in his head. I couldn't stand it. It's heartbreaking to see your baby like that. Every couple of hours I would go down there and hold him and breastfeed him (he did end up taking back to the breast, which was good). I suppose all that walking was good for me, but I still didn't sleep that night. They told me that Seamus may get out of the NICU on Weds, but they ended up not feeling comfortable letting him out, so they ended up keeping him. I burst into tears when they told me. I wanted my baby with me and I was sick of feeling like they were being so overly cautious. I wanted to be the one to take care of my baby, not some NICU nurse (although I now adore her for how much she loves my son). So, now my son was 2 days old and I felt like I had hardly spent any time with him.
During my examination on Thursday, they thought they heard fluid on my lungs, so they took me down and gave me a chest X-ray (there was no fluid on my lungs, BTW). Seamus was scheduled to be circumcised at noon, and my X-ray was at 12:30, so while I was getting X-rayed, Mike headed to the NICU to see Seamus and comfort him. Unfortunately, Mike got there as soon as they were finishing up the procedure. When I saw Mike again, he was as white as a sheet. Poor guy. Thursday evening, Seamus was allowed to room-in with me for the night. He did wonderfully.
Friday morning, they informed me that they were releasing me (THANK GOD, 5 days/4 nights in the hospital is much too long). The NICU also released Seamus since he had done so well with me the night before. The only condition was that we had to bring him back to the NICU on Saturday to be weighed and back on Monday for a check-up. He was weighed today (Saturday) and was just perfect. We are all so glad to be home safe and sound. Both Mike and I are in love with this little bundle of joy and I couldn't imagine anything more perfect.