So here it is- the story of his birth!
On Friday, July 24, Justin and I were scheduled to go to the hospital in the morning for a pre-operative screening. It was only supposed to include a scan of the baby's heartbeat, a meeting with the anaesthesologist, and some blood work. Well when they took my blood pressure, it was really high, so they hooked me up to a monitor and made sure the baby's heartbeat and movement were good, and measured any uterine contractions I was having. Once I laid down on my side, my blood pressure went down, and the baby seemed OK, but they called the doctor anyway. They also did some extra blood work.
The doctor took a look at the results of all my tests and put me on bed rest for the weekend. I was scheduled to deliver via c-section on Monday, July 27, at noon, and I was to stay off my feet and in bed until then.
Justin and I left the hospital at about 11am, went to Panera for a quick lunch, and then I dropped him off at work and went home to get in bed. I organized myself with a laptop, plenty of books, lots of movies, etc. I decided I would take a little nap. I slept for about an hour, and woke up at about 1:45pm to use the bathroom. I was walking back through the bedroom to the bed when I heard a loud "POP" and felt a large gush of fluid down my legs. I knew immediately what it was, and I called Justin and said - "come home now! My water just broke!" Poor Justin was expecting to be at work for at least a few more hours and had no car! (Thanks John for bringing him home in a hurry!)
I called my doctor and they said go to the office so that they could check me. I wasn't having any contractions yet, so I ran through the house and grabbed a random assortment of things I thought we'd need in the hospital. (I had my bag, and Jack's, packed for awhile, but I hadn't yet packed things like a toothbrush, shampoo, our camera, laptop, etc.)
Justin came home and rushed me into the car. He was so cute and flustered - he even ran to his car to grab the Fast Pass for the turnpike and grabbed the garage door opener instead! We headed to the doctor's office.
By the time we got there, I had started gushing large bursts of fluid about every 5 minutes. I soaked my jeans and everything around me. They even had a pad for me to sit on in the waiting room while they got my room ready for an exam! (See picture below.) I went to the bathroom to give a urine sample and noticed that I had lost my mucus plug. While I was waiting on the exam table for the doctor, I gushed fluid all over the table, down it, and all over the floor. Poor Justin was trying to clean it up but there was just so much! Dr. Wroble came into the room, took one look at me, and said - "go to the hospital! It's time!" (I guess a lot of women call and say "I think my water broke" but it's really just urine leaking out. With me, there was no doubt what had happened!)
We got in the car and headed to the hospital - unfortunately Justin was asking me directions and at this point I was starting to have contractions. I confused South and North, and we ended up going the wrong way on 128 for about 5 miles before we figured it out and turned around. We got to the hospital just in time for the contractions to turn a little more painful. We parked and went in, and I remember this reaaaalllly long hall between us and the elevator to the maternity wing. It felt like it took me forever to get down it! We finally got in, registered, and into a pre-op room to wait for an OR. (At this point Jack was still breech, confirmed multiple times via ultrasound, so it was obvious he was staying that way through labor.)
We got into our room at about 3:30pm. They set me up on monitors and started an IV line. At this time I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart. Because my blood pressure was so high, they wouldn't let me do anything except lie in the bed - and I was still leaking so much fluid that I kept soaking through my bed linens.
As the night wore on, it was apparent that the hospital was really busy. Justin kept trying to determine where in line I was for an OR, and my contractions got steadily worse. By about 7:30pm, they were 2-3 minutes apart and I was almost 5 centimeters dilated. The pain was making me so nauseous that I threw up. At this point the doctor came in and said - "I think I will use your quick progression as a reason to bump you up in line." By 8pm I was getting out of bed and being prepped. At 8:19 we entered the operating room, and by 8:25 I had the spinal and it quickly numbed me below the chest. It was an AWESOME feeling to have relief from the pain I had been in. Once the pain was gone and I was on the table, I was a very happy camper! They brought Justin in, all in scrubs, and set up the screen. At exactly 8:45pm, Jack was born! I couldn't see anything but I heard him scream bloody murder. Justin had watched everything and went over while they weighed him and cleaned him off.
They brought him over to me and he was alert and wide awake. He was so cute! With a full head of hair (that they had originally thought was blond, hence my mistake. Once I took off his hat and saw ALLLLL of his hair, it was so dark!)
They stitched me up and wheeled me out of the OR at about 9:20. I spent an hour or so in the recovery room while Justin went with Jack to the nursery for his first bath. They brought him to me, and I started my first breastfeeding attempt. He did eat well on that one! They let me hold him while they wheeled me into my hospital room (#504!)
The first night was great. He slept in our room right between us in his little baby crib. (Justin had a cot.) Justin got a few hours of sleep, but I was so hopped up on adrenaline (and the nurses came in every hour or so to check my vitals as I was still on an IV and had a catheter.)
...I will continue the rest of the story shortly! I did find that the old cliche is true: when you first see your baby, you feel a huge rush of love and emotion. I did. It was amazing to finally meet the little person that had been growing inside me for so long. And although it has been exhausting and a challenge so far, it has been worth every minute! Especially watching Justin be SUCH a great dad...he is so attentive and loving and you can tell he is so proud of Jack. It's precious and it makes me love him even more!
I am so happy for our little family of three!
On Friday, July 24, Justin and I were scheduled to go to the hospital in the morning for a pre-operative screening. It was only supposed to include a scan of the baby's heartbeat, a meeting with the anaesthesologist, and some blood work. Well when they took my blood pressure, it was really high, so they hooked me up to a monitor and made sure the baby's heartbeat and movement were good, and measured any uterine contractions I was having. Once I laid down on my side, my blood pressure went down, and the baby seemed OK, but they called the doctor anyway. They also did some extra blood work.
The doctor took a look at the results of all my tests and put me on bed rest for the weekend. I was scheduled to deliver via c-section on Monday, July 27, at noon, and I was to stay off my feet and in bed until then.
Justin and I left the hospital at about 11am, went to Panera for a quick lunch, and then I dropped him off at work and went home to get in bed. I organized myself with a laptop, plenty of books, lots of movies, etc. I decided I would take a little nap. I slept for about an hour, and woke up at about 1:45pm to use the bathroom. I was walking back through the bedroom to the bed when I heard a loud "POP" and felt a large gush of fluid down my legs. I knew immediately what it was, and I called Justin and said - "come home now! My water just broke!" Poor Justin was expecting to be at work for at least a few more hours and had no car! (Thanks John for bringing him home in a hurry!)
I called my doctor and they said go to the office so that they could check me. I wasn't having any contractions yet, so I ran through the house and grabbed a random assortment of things I thought we'd need in the hospital. (I had my bag, and Jack's, packed for awhile, but I hadn't yet packed things like a toothbrush, shampoo, our camera, laptop, etc.)
Justin came home and rushed me into the car. He was so cute and flustered - he even ran to his car to grab the Fast Pass for the turnpike and grabbed the garage door opener instead! We headed to the doctor's office.
By the time we got there, I had started gushing large bursts of fluid about every 5 minutes. I soaked my jeans and everything around me. They even had a pad for me to sit on in the waiting room while they got my room ready for an exam! (See picture below.) I went to the bathroom to give a urine sample and noticed that I had lost my mucus plug. While I was waiting on the exam table for the doctor, I gushed fluid all over the table, down it, and all over the floor. Poor Justin was trying to clean it up but there was just so much! Dr. Wroble came into the room, took one look at me, and said - "go to the hospital! It's time!" (I guess a lot of women call and say "I think my water broke" but it's really just urine leaking out. With me, there was no doubt what had happened!)
We got in the car and headed to the hospital - unfortunately Justin was asking me directions and at this point I was starting to have contractions. I confused South and North, and we ended up going the wrong way on 128 for about 5 miles before we figured it out and turned around. We got to the hospital just in time for the contractions to turn a little more painful. We parked and went in, and I remember this reaaaalllly long hall between us and the elevator to the maternity wing. It felt like it took me forever to get down it! We finally got in, registered, and into a pre-op room to wait for an OR. (At this point Jack was still breech, confirmed multiple times via ultrasound, so it was obvious he was staying that way through labor.)
We got into our room at about 3:30pm. They set me up on monitors and started an IV line. At this time I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart. Because my blood pressure was so high, they wouldn't let me do anything except lie in the bed - and I was still leaking so much fluid that I kept soaking through my bed linens.
As the night wore on, it was apparent that the hospital was really busy. Justin kept trying to determine where in line I was for an OR, and my contractions got steadily worse. By about 7:30pm, they were 2-3 minutes apart and I was almost 5 centimeters dilated. The pain was making me so nauseous that I threw up. At this point the doctor came in and said - "I think I will use your quick progression as a reason to bump you up in line." By 8pm I was getting out of bed and being prepped. At 8:19 we entered the operating room, and by 8:25 I had the spinal and it quickly numbed me below the chest. It was an AWESOME feeling to have relief from the pain I had been in. Once the pain was gone and I was on the table, I was a very happy camper! They brought Justin in, all in scrubs, and set up the screen. At exactly 8:45pm, Jack was born! I couldn't see anything but I heard him scream bloody murder. Justin had watched everything and went over while they weighed him and cleaned him off.They brought him over to me and he was alert and wide awake. He was so cute! With a full head of hair (that they had originally thought was blond, hence my mistake. Once I took off his hat and saw ALLLLL of his hair, it was so dark!)
They stitched me up and wheeled me out of the OR at about 9:20. I spent an hour or so in the recovery room while Justin went with Jack to the nursery for his first bath. They brought him to me, and I started my first breastfeeding attempt. He did eat well on that one! They let me hold him while they wheeled me into my hospital room (#504!)
The first night was great. He slept in our room right between us in his little baby crib. (Justin had a cot.) Justin got a few hours of sleep, but I was so hopped up on adrenaline (and the nurses came in every hour or so to check my vitals as I was still on an IV and had a catheter.)
...I will continue the rest of the story shortly! I did find that the old cliche is true: when you first see your baby, you feel a huge rush of love and emotion. I did. It was amazing to finally meet the little person that had been growing inside me for so long. And although it has been exhausting and a challenge so far, it has been worth every minute! Especially watching Justin be SUCH a great dad...he is so attentive and loving and you can tell he is so proud of Jack. It's precious and it makes me love him even more!
I am so happy for our little family of three!
Until then, hope everyone is doing well! Nothing much new to report, just lots of "fake" contractions that aren't doing much to move this process along. I was hoping or thinking he would come early, but now I am not so sure. He sure does like to keep us guessing!
