(no subject)
Tristan Michael
April 22, 2007
1108 AM
7 pounds 6 ounces
20 ¾ inches long
I started feeling contractions around 10am on April 21st. They became progressively stronger and more painful throughout the day. I also had several other prelabor signs so I knew that we were close. At bedtime I figured that I would call L&D in the morning after I woke up. Well, how naïve was I? I was sometimes able to sleep between contractions, but mostly not. I spent the night doing whatever I could to get through the pain. When Michael came home from work at 4 on Sunday morning we packed up Erik and headed to the hospital.
The plan had originally been a scheduled c-section on Thursday, the 26th. A relative was coming to stay with Erik so that Michael could be with me and the baby. Sounds simple enough…
After being admitted I decided to have a trail of labor and I wanted my epidural ASAP. I had to wait for blood work to come back but my nurse was AWESOME and helped me breath through the pain. A few hours later I was finally able to have the epidural. Then the baby’s heart decided to play peek-a-boo with the external monitor so I had an internal monitor put into place and my water broken. It was also around this time that the pain started radiating into my legs and it was by far the worse pain imaginable. The anesthesiologist tried 2 times to start the epidural and failed. He said he wasn’t used to working on tall women. He left to find someone else to do it, but no one else was available so he tried a third time. Third time was a charm. At this time I started having a really funny feeling in my belly during contractions. “What’s it feel like” the nurse asked. “Like I need to push”. Thankfully the epidural only numbed my waist so I could still feel things and move my legs.
Michael and Erik were in and out during the entire labor. Mostly, though, they were out. I told Michael that he could have take Erik to a friend’s house but he didn’t really want to. Thankfully they were close by when I started pushing so they could both be with me.
I pushed for an hour. Sometimes I even had Erik on my bed watching me. We were not planning on having him there (he’s only 17 months old), but it was kind neat in the end. I did end up with an episiotomy which is painful but not as painful as another c-section. It was a strange experience. Little by little the head was coming out (I even felt it with my fingers, was cool). Then all of a sudden the whole head and body were out. Michael announced that Baby has been a boy all this time. Erik was very interested in the crying thing in the corner.
The Doc stitched me up while the corpsmen were doing their thing with Tristan. She even showed me the placenta. The epidural started wearing off as she finished stitching me up.
Eventually Michael left to put Erik down for a nap and to get some sleep of his own. I stayed in the delivery room for a couple of hours with an ice pack on my privates and nursed Tristan and finally ate for the first time in 18 hours. I eventually was moved to my room. It was a double room but I didn’t have a room mate (thank god for that). That was when I started calling people (we didn’t tell anyone that I was in labor so it was surprising for our family). I pretty much spent the rest of my hospital stay hanging around with my three guys. Tristan decided that he wasn’t interested in the breast that much, he just wanted to occasionally nibble until last night. We had him circumcised before we left the hospital yesterday, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain and it is much easier then with Erik.
Erik is really into his little brother. This morning I put Tristan in the pack’n’play while I got Erik up and gave him breakfast. As soon as Erik heard Tristan he made a bee line for him. He keeps trying to snuggle and kiss him. I think it’s great, but he isn’t old enough to get that he has to be EXTRA gentle with the baby.
All in all this birth was much better. I have actually been pretty much normal today. I did some light cleaning while Michael slept. The extra Boppy pillow has been amazing. I sit on it to keep pressure off my stitches and wow does it help. So glad I bought a new one.
April 22, 2007
1108 AM
7 pounds 6 ounces
20 ¾ inches long
I started feeling contractions around 10am on April 21st. They became progressively stronger and more painful throughout the day. I also had several other prelabor signs so I knew that we were close. At bedtime I figured that I would call L&D in the morning after I woke up. Well, how naïve was I? I was sometimes able to sleep between contractions, but mostly not. I spent the night doing whatever I could to get through the pain. When Michael came home from work at 4 on Sunday morning we packed up Erik and headed to the hospital.
The plan had originally been a scheduled c-section on Thursday, the 26th. A relative was coming to stay with Erik so that Michael could be with me and the baby. Sounds simple enough…
After being admitted I decided to have a trail of labor and I wanted my epidural ASAP. I had to wait for blood work to come back but my nurse was AWESOME and helped me breath through the pain. A few hours later I was finally able to have the epidural. Then the baby’s heart decided to play peek-a-boo with the external monitor so I had an internal monitor put into place and my water broken. It was also around this time that the pain started radiating into my legs and it was by far the worse pain imaginable. The anesthesiologist tried 2 times to start the epidural and failed. He said he wasn’t used to working on tall women. He left to find someone else to do it, but no one else was available so he tried a third time. Third time was a charm. At this time I started having a really funny feeling in my belly during contractions. “What’s it feel like” the nurse asked. “Like I need to push”. Thankfully the epidural only numbed my waist so I could still feel things and move my legs.
Michael and Erik were in and out during the entire labor. Mostly, though, they were out. I told Michael that he could have take Erik to a friend’s house but he didn’t really want to. Thankfully they were close by when I started pushing so they could both be with me.
I pushed for an hour. Sometimes I even had Erik on my bed watching me. We were not planning on having him there (he’s only 17 months old), but it was kind neat in the end. I did end up with an episiotomy which is painful but not as painful as another c-section. It was a strange experience. Little by little the head was coming out (I even felt it with my fingers, was cool). Then all of a sudden the whole head and body were out. Michael announced that Baby has been a boy all this time. Erik was very interested in the crying thing in the corner.
The Doc stitched me up while the corpsmen were doing their thing with Tristan. She even showed me the placenta. The epidural started wearing off as she finished stitching me up.
Eventually Michael left to put Erik down for a nap and to get some sleep of his own. I stayed in the delivery room for a couple of hours with an ice pack on my privates and nursed Tristan and finally ate for the first time in 18 hours. I eventually was moved to my room. It was a double room but I didn’t have a room mate (thank god for that). That was when I started calling people (we didn’t tell anyone that I was in labor so it was surprising for our family). I pretty much spent the rest of my hospital stay hanging around with my three guys. Tristan decided that he wasn’t interested in the breast that much, he just wanted to occasionally nibble until last night. We had him circumcised before we left the hospital yesterday, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain and it is much easier then with Erik.
Erik is really into his little brother. This morning I put Tristan in the pack’n’play while I got Erik up and gave him breakfast. As soon as Erik heard Tristan he made a bee line for him. He keeps trying to snuggle and kiss him. I think it’s great, but he isn’t old enough to get that he has to be EXTRA gentle with the baby.
All in all this birth was much better. I have actually been pretty much normal today. I did some light cleaning while Michael slept. The extra Boppy pillow has been amazing. I sit on it to keep pressure off my stitches and wow does it help. So glad I bought a new one.