Mom and I spent the afternoon relaxing. It was super hot so we sat in the backyard and soaked up some sun-- also dragged out the kiddie pool so we could put our feet in. My feet were looking kind of swollen, but that was nothing new. Daisy was outside with us and we were having fun trying to coax her in the water. She is such a chicken shit! My Mom made an awesome turkey dinner that night with a turkey breast we had in the freezer. After dinner, I got up from the table and she noticed that my feet looked even more swollen than before. We took my BP with the cuff we have at home and it was high... something like 160/90. She was immediately concerned. I wasn't convinced that that cuff was giving us a totally accurate reading, so Josh and I went out to go to CVS and use the machine there. I got a reading something like 180/100 and thought that there was no way it could be that high. We went to the firehouse nearby and had one of the EMT's take my BP and he confirmed that it was 170/100. Called the hospital and they said to come on in.
By the time we got to the hospital my BP was 192/110. I freaked out a bit and the nurse was like, its OK! They decided to admit me (obviously!) and start the induction process again. It was close to midnight by the time we got admitted. They gave me some drugs to lower the BP and then started me on Cervadil to start the induction around 2 am. This drug was supposed to help soften the cervix to help it dilate. After that they told us to relax and get some sleep... nothing else would happen until the next morning. Josh and I both slept but my poor Mom was stuck sleeping in the chair in the room and didn't get much sleep. I sent them both home the next morning to try and get some sleep and told them I would call if anything happened.
Around 10 am, the stopped the Cervadil and started me on Pitocin. I was having mild contractions but they weren't too bad- really just felt like menstrual cramps. My doctor came in and said that she would try to break my water once I dilated a bit more so I called Josh and told him to head back. They ended up breaking my water around 1 or 2 pm. At that point, I was happy because it meant that I would not be sent home again. I labored for several more hours and got up to about a 4 or so. The whole time the contractions really weren't that bad. We watched several movies and just hung out.
Around 5 or 6 pm, I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. Although my contractions hadn't been that bad I was convinced they were going to get much worse and wasn't looking forward to that kind of pain. I had heard all of these wonderful stories about women who get the epidural and then have a totally blissed out experience and feel no pain- perhaps just a bit of pressure during the pushing stage.
The epidural process kind of sucks. You have to bend over and lay completely still while they stick a needle in your back and thread a catheter down your spine. Not the most comfortable process to say the least. Thank God I had Josh there to help calm me down and hold me :) Once they got the thing placed and I was starting to feel numb, I started getting very tired. Then an alarm went off- turns out the epidural made my BP crash. It was something like 70/50 or something like that. So, I had to have several injections of Ephedra to try and increase it, as well as the oxygen mask. I could hardly stay awake!
By the time they got me all situated again, it was probably 8 pm. I was checked and they said that I had dilated to about a 5. The on call doctor came in and said that one of his patients was down the hall and already at an 8 and that he suspected she was going to "beat" me. I responded that it wasn't a race! I was feeling pretty good for awhile but then definitely started feeling some pressure that was getting progressively worse every few minutes. After about an hour I complained to the nurse about it and she checked me again-- she said that there was no more cervix! I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in roughly an hour which is pretty fast.
The pressure was getting really bad, and although she gave me several more hits of the epidural medicine, nothing seemed to help. She said I would just have to start pushing. This was at about 11 pm. I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. They kept telling me how strong I was and how great I was pushing but I didn't understand why, if I was pushing so well, it was taking so long to get the baby out! We tried several different positions and techniques but still no baby. After almost 2 hours, the doctor came in and said he thought he would be able to get the baby out with the vacuum. Although we hadn't really wanted any interventions, we were under the impression that we were almost out of time and options before they suggested a c-section so we went ahead and gave the OK for the vacuum. On the next push, Nicholas was born at 12:55 am on Thursday, September 16th. They took him over to the bassinet and cleaned him up and did his APGAR test, which he scored an 8 and 9. Josh came over and told me that he thought the baby looked like me. I told him to go over and be with the baby- I didn't want him to be alone! The doctor and nurse were working on fixing me up- I had a second degree tear that needed to be repaired.
Finally they brought me my baby! I will never forget the way I felt when the put him in my arms. Instant, unconditional love. Totally indescribable and I immediately started to cry, weep even. Definitely the best moment of my life.
We hung out in the delivery room for a few hours while they got us all sorted out, fixed up, cleaned up, etc. I tried to nurse the baby for the first time but he really didn't latch very well. More on that later. I got to order some food (it had been prolly 12 hours since I ate, and I was hungry from all of that pushing!) so I had some pancakes, which were awesome. I probably had pancakes 5 more times during my stay there- for some reason I was obsessed with them lol. Around 3 am, they finally moved us to the mother baby unit to our recovery room. On the way, we were able to hit the button that plays a lullaby that the whole hospital can hear to signify that a new baby has entered the world. It was a really special moment.
By the time we were settled in our recovery room, I could barely keep my eyes open. We were all so tired from really not having a proper night sleep since Monday night. The nurse was trying to go over some information with us but I think she could tell that I was done. We let them go ahead and take the baby to the nursery so that he could get a more thorough checkup and get his first bath. We finally got to sleep around 3:30 am. What a day!
They brought him back to the room around 7 am. By that time, my Mom had gotten up and drove home to get a few hours of real sleep and get a shower. Josh was totally passed out and sleeping on the couch. I again tried to nurse Nicholas but didn't have much luck. So, I spent the next few hours just cuddling with him and staring at him. It was so awesome!
The next few days in the hospital are kind of a blur. We spent a lot of time just staring at our baby! Jason and Julie stayed in town for a few extra days so that they could spend time with him. We tried nursing several more times, and had some success while the lactation consultants were around but not too much success on our own. It was stressing me out that I didn't think he was getting enough to eat, but he was having the correct amount of wet and dirty diapers so the nurses told me not to worry too much about it. We spent Thursday and Friday night in the hospital and then were discharged on Saturday afternoon. Mom was here to welcome Nicholas home with us!
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