This is a long post. Most of this is for my own memory of baby #3's birth, and to entertain myself after a long couple days...
After a very long Friday and wondering if I'd go in to labor on my own... Saturday rolled around. The hospital was supposed to call us between 6-9am to give me a check in time for an induction. I woke up at 5:30am, nervous, excited and not sure what to do. I showered in hopes they would call while I was busy. By 9:15am we had received no phone call. WHAT!? Thus began the process of having my on-call OB paged. Three pages and 90 minutes later we were still waiting for someone to call us. In the meantime, the doorbell rings and it was a balloon bouquet, congratulating us on our baby's arrival. Evil. Pure evil, to receive a gift for a baby you haven't had while you are a ball of nerves waiting to find out when said baby will arrive!
My OB finally calls back and gives the bad news that no beds are available due to eight babies arriving in the past couple hours. Also meaning they were understaffed. It would be another couple hours and if I didn't hear back from my OB or the hospital by 1pm (1pm!?!?) I had to call her back. Thus, another few hours of me pacing, stomach in knots, the kids asking when grandma got to come over and play with them and why we hadn't left yet. And the doorbell rings again. This time it was a bouquet of flowers to congratulate us on baby's arrival. I kid you not. We now have received a huge bouquet of balloons and a big bouquet of flowers. Both items came from the same sender (who I will spare and not name), and here is proof... Photo taken at 12:18pm.
I talked to my OB at 1pm and still no beds. We live on one side of the lake while the hospital is on the other side, with two bridges to choose from. At 1:15, one bridge closes for 90 minutes for the Seafair air show. This means the other bridge will typically be jammed. So with my OB's suggestion, we headed to Seattle to kill time and walk. She made it clear that if I went in to labor on my own that I could be admitted. But until then, we wait and walk.
We cruised across the bridge during the air show and were one of the only cars on the bridge! We parked at the waterfront and proceeded to walk the entire length of the waterfront and back, then headed up to Pike Place Market via every stair imaginable, walked the length of the market and back, then back down to the waterfront. At this point I was starving. I never thought to ask if I could or should eat. I ate food, but not much because my stomach was in knots. It was 80 degrees by this point and after two hours of solid walking (in flip flops) we decided to get ice cream cones. Mega sized cones. Tony finished his and just as I was half way though, my phone rings. Its the hospital and they have a bed for me. A BED! She asked how fast we could get there, I told her 10 minutes and I wanted to shed a tear as I threw my ice cream cone away. So long beloved, uneaten waffle cone and ice cream. I was having a baby! And according to my phone, we received the call at 3:38pm - I'd now been waiting for over 9 hours!
We sat patiently in triage waiting room and a very cheery nurse greeted us and took us to the room where our baby would be born. We settled in and took our time. I wasn't in labor, my doctor was delivering a baby, and I think the nurses were enjoying this quiet after a very hectic morning of a record number of babies being born in a short time.
I took a photo of the clock once we settled in to the room. We then talked to my OB and our plan was in motion. I needed four hours of medicine before they could really start my pitocin. My first two labors were 5 hours from start to finish, and the nurses feared that if my pitocin was turned on too soon I'd have the baby before the required four hours of IV medicine. I was 3cm dialated on Thursday and they weren't going to check me in fear my water would break. Thus, began a comical back and forth between my OB's plan of just cranking up the pitocen and the medicine at the same time, while the nurses planned behind her back to keep things going slow and within protocol.
The IV medicine started at 5pm and I'd be 'free' to have a baby any time after 9pm, once the medicine was done. My OB declared I'd have this baby at 9:04pm. Sounds good to me, I thought. Now the waiting game began. The pitocin was started at the lowest possible dose around 5:30. Tony read the paper. I sat in bed bored out of my mind and eating ice cubes. I'm obsessed with the pellet ice at Swedish. I never thought to walk around or do anything productive. Instead I literally laid in bed for hours watching comedies on our iPad or other shows. Our nurses were awesome and kept me entertained too.
At 8pm they cranked up the pitocin again. The cafeteria closes at 8:30pm now, so Tony ordered food and I ordered toast and yogurt. I was starving but couldn't really eat much. Who closes a cafeteria, especially with babies arriving at all times of the day/night?
By 9pm I was having contractions, but nothing painful. And having terrible back pain. Now I was super bored and a little confused. My labors previously would be over in the next hour. But at this rate I was not really in labor, nor having a baby at 9:04pm as my OB predicted. Once the IV medicine was completed they cranked things up again. Contractions were coming strong, but I wasn't in pain, aside from some major back pain. My nurse noticed my contractions were coming in pairs and combined with my back pain she told us the baby was probably 'sunny side up' (face going the opposite direction of normal - and causing more pain).
This is when Tony's 'pain' really begins. He kept complaining about his knee really hurting. He reminded the nurse and I that we had walked for two hours. His knee hurt. The nurse and I shot him nasty looks. I then reminded him I wore flip flops and walked for two hours, up and down stairs. He wore running shoes. I gave him two tylenol from my purse. The whining continued and finally the nurse got him an ice pack for his knee. A maxi pad shaped ice pack. One thats used one women who have just gone through a painful labor. My husband used it on his knee. After walking. Like I wasn't going to include this little tidbit from the birth story!?
Around 11pm I was in more pain but not enough for an epidural. My OB wanted me in 'more pain' before she checked me or broke my water. A nice nurse who sat in our room while my nurse got some food, showed me a few movements to help ease back pain. It worked! My regular nurse walked in and found me getting relief from the pain - which wasn't the plan. So back in bed I went to get uncomfortable again. The back pain was relieved so at this point they think the baby may have flipped back to a regular position.
Around midnight (clearly not having an August 3rd baby), I was getting talked to by my OB, the nurses and even the epidural guy. I was barely 4cm. SAY WHAT? Pitocin on low doesn't do much... But they were suggesting an epidural soon, before my water broke. The fear was that my water would break and once that happens the baby would drop and arrive fairly quick - and most likely I wouldn't have time to get an epidural. After 30 minutes of me being indecisive, I was finally convinced this was the right thing to do. Hans (epidural superman), gave me the best epidural ever! No pain, and I could move my toes and my legs pretty well. Now I just sat in bed, waiting. At this same time my OB kept getting called in to emergency C-Sections which really screwed things up. Twice, we had to wait for over an hour to have her break my water. Finally, water was broken but pitocin was going slow - again due to the C-sections taking place. My OB didn't want to miss my delivery...
Around 2am (no sleep for me at this point, meanwhile Tony is snoring), the baby's heartrate would drop with each contraction. Now I had nurses watching me, flipping me back and forth. By 3am, the baby's heart would stop with each contraction. Now we were in trouble and I was freaking out. My OB was in surgery, so I had a 'labor specialist' (who knew there was such a thing) watching my every move from the monitor in the hall and my nurse was turning me with every contraction - meaning every minute or so I was flipped to get baby's heart going again. I was checked and my OB figured the cord was around baby's next or baby was laying against cord.
At 3:30am the specialist turned my pitocin off. It was causing too strong of contractions which were resulting in no heart beat for the baby. I was scared out of my mind and thank god for my nurse who kept me calm and watched the entire season of Duck Dynasty with me on our iPad. I don't know what I would have done without her. Fortunately, I was in labor on my own, without the pitocin. Unfortunately, the baby's heart would still stop. Just before 4:30am, my OB checked me and I was ready to push. But, she wanted me to rest for 30 minutes. The baby's heart rate was okay if I stayed in my current position. She wanted me to attempt to gather up some strength. At 5am I woke Tony up and my OB came twirling and dancing in to my room at 5:30am. No joke. I asked her if she had been drinking... But, she was energetic, excited and ready to get this baby out with little complication after the very long and scary morning.
I started pushing around 5:40am. Poor Tony became a pile of sweat at this point. While I'm pushing and we're dealing with no heart beat yet again, Tony declares he is too hot and rips off his sweatshirt. One push later, Tony's face is pure white and the two nurses, my OB and I all ask if he is okay. Tony looks like a ghost and is now being yelled at by everyone in the room to sit down. He was out of it. One of the nurses yelled at him to lay down. Now. FInally he did, but not before telling us he wasn't sure what to do with my leg. The one he was holding. I screamed at him to just drop it. It was numb at this point so I didn't care. Once he was laying down, I was able to start really pushing. A few minutes later, after pushing through complete numbness of my legs and body (not sure how that happened), I was instructed to open my eyes and reach down. I welcomed my brand new baby BOY in to the world at 5:53am!
He was gorgeous, yet purple due to the cord around his neck. After some serious rubbing and coaxing by the nurses, he started to breathe and cry on me. Our sweet baby boy was just fine. I was exhausted, yet thrilled and Tony had color back in his face! :)
We finally arrived to the recovery room (aka closet) around 8:45am. Exhausted really doesn't describe what I was feeling. I have never been so wiped out, and I'm still baffled by how out of it I felt!
At 9:30 though, old would meet new. The two big kids were so excited to meet the baby - and we hadn't told anyone yet if it was a boy or a girl. B and C walked in to the room with HUGE smiles and came to meet their baby brother. They both immediately climbed on to my bed to get a closer look. My mom brought them but waited in the hall so the kids could be the very first people to meet him.
Blake loves babies and he couldn't wait to be the first to hold his little brother.
A nurse came in to give baby his first bath. They no longer do the baths in the room. Amazing how protocol changes between each child I've had! I was sad I didn't get to see the bath (my one leg was still numb), but Tony took the kids with him. Holding hands... melts my heart!
Then the next group of visitors arrived. Great grandma Bernice, grandma Loretta and grandpa Rick.
Looking back on what took place on August 3rd and 4th, I'm blown away by all the emotions, exhaustion, excitement I felt. Our nurses were all fantastic and I was so glad to have our new baby boy in my arms. The first weekend of August has always been my favorite weekend of the summer since I can remember. Seafair activities were always a big deal as a child and as an adult we love to take the boat out all weekend and spend time with our friends. This weekend was the complete opposite! While we did spend time with family, we welcomed our newest member to the family. No boating, no partying. Celebrating that my favorite weekend of the summer means even more to me and to our family now. It was meant to be.
