Monday November 17. I was 39 weeks pregnant and because of kidney stones and infections we decided to induce labor. At my appointment the week before my doctor had told me that the hospital would call me in the morning and tell me when to come in, that they could call as early as six am, so I needed to be up and ready to go. Sunday night we finished packing our bags and got every thing loaded into the car. Monday morning we were up and dressed at 5:30 and we waited. Miles went with Grandma and Grandpa Stout to dialysis and we kept waiting.
( the last belly picture, taken that morning while we waited)
At 7 am we decided to leave the house and go have some breakfast. I was so excited that the day I had been dreaming of was finally here and anxious to get the call to go to the hospital. But it was nice to have a few final hours alone with Allen. We stretched breakfast out as long as we could and at nine I called the hospital to see if the had an estimate time of when I could come in. They said we would just have to keep waiting. Allen wanted to go by DI to look for something, but they don't open until ten so we took a little nap in their parking lot. Then we went to best buy, just to pass the time. While we were there I got the phone call, it was go time. This was it! I was so excited and nervous I almost puked in the parking lot.
We got to the hospital and got all checked in and settled, By the time they got my IV started it was about 12:30. They started the pitocin and we waited. At two the doctor came in and checked me. I was still a two, which is what I was at my appointment the week before. The baby's head was posterior and still really high. He went ahead and broke my water hoping that would encourage the baby to come down. I started having stronger contraction and decided to sit on the birth ball for a while. Allen was a great help, rubbing my back and reminding me to breathe. The nurse was constantly having to come into the room because the monitors were having a hard time keeping track of the baby's heart rate. I was not able to move around like I wanted to because of the monitors, so we decided to put in an internal monitor. I resisted the idea at first because with Miles they had not let me out of bed after getting it. But they let me stand next to the bed and sit on the birth ball.
My contraction were getting much stronger and closer together, however the monitors were not picking them up.The nurse came in and was going to turn up the pitocin ( which I did NOT want), because it looked like I wasn't doing anything, However she was a great nurse and sat with me for about a half an hour, by watching me she was able to tell that I was indeed having strong, regular contractions and there was no need for more pitocin. But even though I was having strong, regular contractions, I was only a three and the baby had not come down anymore. I called my sister Becky who is a Midwife in Alaska and she suggested that I get down on the floor and do some lunge-type things while lying over my birth ball. I was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever down. But I did it. I would hold the position for three contractions and then switch sides. I did this until I literally felt like my legs were going to give out. The whole time while I breathed through my contractions I was praying and talking to the baby, willing him to come down.
At five o'clock the nurse checked me and I was a five and the baby had turned into a more favorable position and was lower. At this point the contractions really started to pick up. I moved around a lot trying to find a comfortable position and was very restless. I was up and down off the bed and on the birth ball every few minutes. It was around six o'clock I started feeling like I couldn't do it anymore. The contraction were coming so fast I hardly had any time to recover in between them. Also at this point there was a shift change and the nurse that had been really great to work with went home. The new nurse was nice but I didn't feel the same connection with her. I was exhausted and starting to loose my cool. Allen tried to calm me down and get me to refocus, but all I wanted at that point was an epidural. Looking back I realize that I was in transition and probably could have kept going, but in that moment I was not taking no for an answer.
The nurse went to find the anesthesiologist, but he was in a c-section and I was going to have to wait. I almost lost it when she told me that. She gave me something in my IV to hold me over, but it didn't help at all. A few minutes later she came back in and told me that the day time anesthesiologist hadn't gone home yet and she had convinced him to stay long enough to do my epidural.
It was seven o'clock by the time the epidural was placed and right as the anesthesiologist was finishing up my doctor showed up to check on me, I was dilated to a seven.
At this point the baby started having some decels so they had my lying on my left side taking deep breaths. I was terrified that the baby was having problems because of the epidural and it was all my fault. Fortunately, between Allen and my sister Becky ( on the phone), I was able to calm down and the baby's heart rate went back to normal. Everyone convinced me to try and take and nap and conserve my energy for later, so I did.
At a little after eight the nurse came back in to check me again. As she was getting ready I looked at Allen and said "please, just let me be an eight" The nurse checked and I was a ten and the baby was very low. She got up and started flipping on lights. "Let me go call the doctor and tell him to come in." When she came back she had like three other people with her. Two of them started opening up doors and pulling out equipment and the other one came to my bed side with the original nurse. They told me to try and push. I asked them to turn off the epidural and I was able to kind of feel what I was doing. We did a couple more "practice pushes" and then they told me to stop pushing, the baby was "right there" and the doctor wasn't there yet. Just then the doctor walked in. A nurse asked if he wanted to gown up, but as soon as he took a look he said " no time, just gloves" and hurried to take off his watch and wash his hands. I only pushed twice and the baby's head was out. At this point the doctor had to reach in and unloop the umbilical cord that was wrapped twice around the baby's neck. One more push and the baby was out. It was amazing! They handed him right to me and I was able to immediately put him skin to skin against my chest. I was so grateful for that. With Miles he was blue and not breathing so I was not able to hold him right away. Allen cut the cord once it stopped pulsating and I was able to just hold and cuddle my baby
Once the doctor was done delivering the placenta which came quickly and easily and told me I didn't need any stitches ( YAY!), they took the baby for him to look over. He was perfect! Seven pounds three ounces ( the exact same weight as Miles) and 20.5 inches long.
They brought him back to me and I was able to nurse him, he took to it right away and I cried I was so happy. I had so many struggles with nursing Miles that this was a giant fear of mine and I was glad that it was going great. I nursed for about 40 minutes and then they came to give him a bath. Miles got there right as they were starting the bath. He was so excited to meet his new brother and once he was holding him did not want to let any one else have a turn.
Miles and Allens parents visited for about 40 min and then it was time for me to go up stairs to a post partum room so we said goodnight ( it was almost midnight at this point). I was exhausted and elated and don't think I really slept at all that first night. The nurses kept coming in and offering to take him to the nursery for a little while so I could sleep. But there was no way I was letting him out of my sight. I has waited way to long for that moment and I was going to savor every moment of it.
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