Thread: Sweetheart Arrivals and Birthstories

My labor started on the evening of Feb. 13th (Sunday night). When I went to bed around 11:00, my contractions were coming regularly, but not close enough together. I couldn't sleep at all. By 2:30 am, the contractions were 5 minutes apart so I woke up my DH. We started gathering our stuff together for the hospital. I lost my mucus plug, and then about 5 minutes later I was standing in the bathroom and GUSH -- my water breaks. And it was a lot of water -- much more than they told me it would be in my birth classes! I called my doctor and she said to go on into the hospital. We arrived at 4:30 am and they got me all settled in. I was only dilated to 1 1/2 cm and 100% effaced. Very disappointing!!

I was doing a good job of breathing through contractions for the first couple of hours, but the contractions were becoming progressively more painful. I was so happy I had my birth ball there. Sitting on it felt the best to me. By 10:30 am I was having a hard time concentrating on my breathing and I was becoming exhausted without any sleep and no food. I asked for an epidural. The nurse checked me and I was thankfully 4 to 5 cm dilated. I had the epidural by 11:00 am and I was like a new person. I was able to rest and I made my DH sneak me some crackers to eat. The nurse checked me again a while later, and I was only at 6 cm, so they started giving me pitocin. I was on that for about 2 hours and they checked me again -- still not progressing. So they turned the pitocin up even higher, and my contractions became more regular. DH and I started to worry that my body wasn't going to do what it was supposed to do and I would end up getting a c/s. Thankfully, the next time the nurse checked me at 3:00 pm, I was dilated to a 10 and she could feel the baby's head descending. I was sooooo relieved.

The doctor came in by 4:00 pm and I started to push. They ended up turning my epidural down because I couldn't feel a thing to push. It started to go much better once I could feel the pressure building with each contraction and push into that. I pushed for an hour, and I just couldn't push him out. The doctor told me they'd like to do an episiotomy to help him out since I was stretched as far as I could go. I went in not wanting an episiotomy, but at this point, I just wanted him out. I agreed and the doctor did it. I pushed again, and he still wouldn't come out. By this time they had put me on oxygen and the baby started to show signs of distress. His heartrate was dropping, so the doctor decided to do a vacuum extraction. On the next contraction, I pushed, and the doctor pulled and his head was out. The cord was across his next so they removed that and they asked me to push again. One more push and he was out. It was the best feeling in the world!!!!!!! They immediately put him on my belly so I could see him. He was screaming his head off. They took him to clean him up, and I could see my DH start to cry as he met him. So sweet!

They brought him back after cleaning him and we tried to do some breastfeeding. It was all just so incredible and emotional from start to finish. Sheldon's apgars were 8 and 9 and he was perfectly healthy. He was only 5 lbs, 11 ozs, and 19 3/4" long. Very long and lean, and strong! The doctors and nurses were all very concerned about his size, but he's a tough, scrappy little guy, and he did great in the hospital. Some jaundice, but not too much. He was 5 lbs, 7 ozs. when we left the hospital. The next day he was back up to 5 lbs, 10 ozs, and the day after that he was 5 lbs, 14 ozs. We have another pediatrician appt. tomorrow and I think he's going to clear 6 lbs!! Let's just say my breastmilk came in the day after we left the hospital and he's been feeding like a champ!

That's my story. It was a week ago yesterday that I gave birth to him. He's so precious and my DH and I are so in love with him. Here's one pic of him, and there are more pictures on flickr, too. I hope you can see them. Thanks for listening!

He's 4 days old here:


Kissing his little red head!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/59737901@N05/

We had a baby girl!! Hazel Sarah arrived at 6:13 this morning Feb 24th weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 in. We are all doing well.


Wednesday morning, the 23rd, I woke up having more regular contractions, they were about 8-15 minutes apart all day. I went about my normal business and even had an appt with my midwife. At about 6:30 pm I started timing them, they were now regularly 7-9 minutes apart and a little bit stronger. They stayed that way until about midnight and I decided to try and get some sleep. I figured the'd either go away or they wouldn't.

I woke up at about 1:30 and I was afraid that everything had stopped. So I decided to go downstairs and have a snack. Turns out they hadn't stopped, they were still the same. So about a half hour later I was getting ready to go back to sleep when all of a sudden they jumped to about 5 minutes apart and noticeably stronger. I waited about and hour or so just to see, but I was feeling like it was time. So I woke up DH and called the midwife.

We got to the birthing center at about 4:15. My midwife was filling the tub and getting things ready. When the tub was ready, she said that I didn't seem as far along as she had originally thought and that I didn't want to get in the tub too soon or it could slow things down. DH counted my contractions for 15 min and I was feeling that the contractions were pretty intense and I wanted to get in the tub. I asked the midwife if she would check me so we'd know if I could get in the tub. It's now about 5 am. She checked me and thankfully, and to her surprise, I was a stretchy 8 and completely effaced. So I could definitely get in the pool.

Here's where things get a little hazy. I felt like I was barely in the pool before I felt like pushing. To me it seems like it was only a few contractions, but DH assures me I was in there for a while. As I remember almost as soon as I got in the tub the contractions became extremely intense. I was so uncomfortable and wow. I pushed a little bit in the tub until I felt like I needed to get out. When I stood up my water broke. I made it to the bed and ended up laying on my side pushing.If I had to guess it was somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45. I do have to admit that once I started really pushing it felt much better. After several pushes and a lot more screaming than I intended, her head popped out... face up. Everyone was very surprised that she was OP. The next push she came out. I was in shock that she really was a girl and I think the first thing I said was about the amount of long black hair that she had. DH and DD were there and watched the whole thing, while my sister and DS were in the other room waiting.

I couldn't believe that DD stayed for the whole thing. When DH asked her about it later she said that all the blood was gross, my yelling was a little scary, and that watching the baby come out was really cool.

Hazel was covered in meconium but showed no signs of aspiration. It was really cool to have her on me right away and start breastfeeding her. I think my placenta tore slightly and I was bleeding more than they wanted me to. So they gave me a few different herbal concoctions and finally a shot of pitocin. Finally the bleeding stopped and everything was alright. I lost more blood than usual, but when I finally got up, I felt fine. I didn't tear at all which was amazing and had hardly any swelling. They gave me an ice pack there, but I didn't need another one. I healed amazingly quickly and all the soreness was gone in a day or two. I was, and am, amazed. I remember being sore for weeks after DS.

The first couple of day were tough on Hazel. She had definitely swallowed some of the meconium and ended up spitting it up after we got home. She did not sleep well the first 24 hours and has had some gassy digestive issues. It seems to be getting better now that my milk is in and she did great last night. I had to wake her up every three hours to eat. Needless to say we both got a fairly good nights sleep.

She is amazing and I can't imagine her not being part of our family. Everyone seems to be adjusting well.

right after delivery


after being weighed, first diaper


family photo

Sorry it took me so long to get this up. I have been very busy with Malia, my older two, and visitors this week! Congrats to everyone who has had their LO's! I have been lurking; just not posting. This turned out way longer than I imagined, but I could not think of a way to shorten it and do it justice. I copied this from my journal so FYI: DH is Carlos, my sister is Christy, and my other kids are Emily and Cody.

Malia Claire C*****’s Birth Story

Malia’s birth story really starts at about 35 weeks; this is when I started losing my mucus plug and having lots of contractions. Every evening from about 35 weeks on I would have contractions about five minutes apart. They were always somewhat painful, but not bad at all. They would last several hours and every night I would go to bed figuring that I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I was really in labor. At first I would get excited every evening, but after a few weeks these were just an annoyance.

At about 38 weeks I started walking just about every evening to try to get the contractions to be more productive. They would occasionally get more painful, but would always go away after I went to sleep. After my due date I started to get impatient and my doctor was beginning to push for induction. After researching natural induction methods I decided to try drinking castor oil. Worst case scenario: I would finally have some relief for my constipation!

So on February 19 (one day past my due date) I took two tablespoons of castor oil mixed with a strawberry milkshake at 7:00 PM. When nothing seemed to be happening I took two more tablespoons at 8:00. I vomited everything up at about 9:00 and figured there would be nothing left to make a difference. I felt puny and horrible and decided to go to bed, but my tummy was too upset and I couldn’t sleep. Then I had diarrhea at 10:00 and started having my evening contractions about seven minutes apart. I felt much better, but got somewhat excited and got up around 11:00 and started watching TV with Carlos. I continued to have contractions and they got to be about five minutes apart, but this was really not very unusual. At 1:00 AM the excitement had worn off and I figured that this was just my usual evening contractions as they did not feel any different than what I had been having for the past five weeks and decided to go to bed.

I fell asleep immediately. I got up about 2:00 and again about 3:00 and noticed I was still having contractions, but they were not any more painful than usual so I went back to bed. At 4:30 I got up to use the bathroom again and noticed the contractions were a little more intense. They weren’t really painful, but I had a lot of pressure with each one. I timed a few of them and they were three minutes apart. I went ahead and woke up Carlos and told him what was going on. He asked if he had time to take a shower and I said yes and that I was going to take one too. I called Christy at about 5:00. I told her I wasn’t sure I was really in labor so I was sorry if I woke her up for nothing, but I thought I was in labor and wanted to give her a heads up so she could watch Em and Cody. She asked me to call her when we were 15 minutes away (she lives about 45 minutes away). Carlos called the doctor to let them know what was going on and they said they would give L&D a call and let them know we were on our way.

I asked Carlos to get in the shower with me because the contractions were getting more intense at that point. I had to hold onto him during contractions. Christy called while I was in the shower and I called her back when I got out. We were thinking the same thing; she should come to us instead of me driving there.

We were trying to pack up the last minute things like toiletries, but the contractions were getting to difficult for me to keep packing. I told Carlos we needed to go ahead and go to the hospital and so he woke up the kids. I called Christy at 5:51 to see if she was almost there. She said she wasn’t really close yet and I let her know we were going to go ahead and go to the hospital. While we were on the phone I felt like I “leaked” a little during a contraction. When I went to the bathroom I realized it was a little bit of blood. I asked Christy to call Carlos and tell him to put the kids in the car. I was feeling a little “pushy” and wanted to get to the hospital asap. When I came out of the bathroom Cody was sitting on the bed crying (no fun getting woken up from a good sleep) and didn’t want to get ready to go. I told Carlos to just grab him and put him in the car. I think when Cody realized how much pain I was in he calmed down a little bit because he stopped crying. Em was an excited ball of energy! We got out to the car and I had another contraction. At this point they were about a minute apart and very intense (although still not really painful)! I had a contraction when I was getting in the car and had to wait for it to pass so I could get in.
Thankfully the hospital is 3-5 minutes away depending on whether the one light is red or green. It was red. I was starting to have to breathe quickly to keep from pushing. I came very close to telling Carlos to run that red light!

When we got to the hospital we went around to the emergency entrance. I told Carlos to let me out at the door while he parked the car. I went into the hospital and there was a desk, but nobody was there. I had to stop and lean on the desk for a rather vocal contraction. Then I walked over to the emergency room. I walked in and said, “Ma’am”. The lady told me, “Sign in if you need to be seen”. I told her, “No. I need to go to L&D NOW and I need help”. Then I had another contraction. I guess that convinced them, because they got a wheel chair to take me up. Carlos and the kids got there at the same time.

A little bit labor we were finally at labor and delivery. They sent me to room seven and a nurse came in and started asking me questions like my birth date and my social security number and telling me she needed a urine sample. My only answer was that I needed to push. While she was trying to get information out of me I felt a pop and a gush and knew my water had broken. I told the nurse and told her my babies come fast after my water breaks. She told me to go get the gown on. The pressure and pain were getting very intense. Carlos helped me undress and put the gown on and helped me to the bed. I kept saying I needed to push and they kept telling me no so I was trying very hard not to.
There were several people in there at that point and they asked if we wanted the kids there. Carlos said he didn’t know and the nurse told him we better decide fast. I said, “No! Get them out!”. I guess I figured they had been traumatized enough at that point! Carlos took them out to the waiting room and got them watching the Disney Channel. Christy hadn’t gotten there yet so they were on their own for a little bit.
The nurses were trying to get the baby on the monitor and check me. They couldn’t get her heart beat and I was getting very nervous. When they checked me I was complete and a plus three station, which basically means the baby’s head is about to come out. They started yelling that they needed this or that and telling me not to push and to wait for the doctor and NICU to get there. Having never experienced (nor wanted to ever experience) natural child birth, I had no idea just how powerful the urge to push really is. As hard as I tried not to push my body took control and pushed anyway. Carlos was wonderful; having me look at him and holding my hand. The pressure and pain was unbearable to say the least. I asked for medicine at one point. I knew it was too late for an epidural, but I was hoping they could give me a shot of something. Carlos later told me her head was already out at that point. The next contraction, at 6:20 AM on Sunday, February 20, 2011 Malia Claire came into this world.

Later, Carlos told me the ER doctor only had one arm in his sleeve and that a nurse caught Malia. Later, I was told all kinds of things. At that moment time had stopped. I asked several times if she was okay and finally was reassured that she was. I stared at my daughter and was only semi-aware of the doctor trying to deliver the placenta and the hum of activity around me. Finally, she was put in my arms. Malia Claire Callo. She was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 19 ¾ inches of perfection. I cannot describe how I felt in those moments that I first held her in my arms. This is the third time I have gotten to experience the utter joy of bringing my child into this world. It does not get any less amazing. The immediate immersion of love is not any less. She was, is, and always will be, a miracle.

When Time Stopped:







Meeting Emily and Cody:



My Daddy:



Pretty Girl:









Coming Home:



Cody:



Emily:



First Doctor's Appointment:

I was due February 18th, but didn't go into labor on my own and was induced at 41 weeks on February 27th. I started out with cervidil that didn't do much to my cervix, so they started me on cytotec the morning of the 28th. The cervidil had gotten regular painless contractions going at about midnight the night they started it. The cytotec strengthened them so that every other one was a little hard to talk through.

The first dose of cytotec didn't do anything except make my cervix efface more, so at 2:30 PM they started a 2nd dose. That made my contractions even stronger. I was leaning against my husband trying to breathe through almost every single one. That STILL didn't do much except dilate me one more centimeter. I cracked. I begged the midwife to let me go home. They talked about it, and talked me into staying another night and they'd give me something to relax me. Well, shortly before midnight, shocker, my water broke!! They'd given me a dose of fentinol to help me sleep, and it crashed me out(after making me throw up! Lol). I woke up to this HUGE gush of fluid that kept going and going. I paged a nurse who helped me get up to the bathroom, and the rest of my water leaked into the toilet. Then things got unbearable. I was still only dilated to a 4, but I begged for an epidural because the contractions were making me nauseated. The nurse gave me another dose of fentinol to relax while anasthesia started my epidural. I fell asleep again after texting my husband to let him know my water broke.

At about 4 AM, the midwife came in to check me again and start pitocin because my contractions stalled out. I was at a 5 and 75% effaced, all from my own body's work. She started pitocin, and I fell back to sleep.

I woke up at 7 AM March 1st with a lot of pain and pressure down low in my pelvis. The midwife came in and checked me at about 7:30, and I was dilated to a 10, and mostly fully effaced, except for a small lip, and my daughter's head was at a +2. She left me to labor down more to get rid of the lip while I called my husband to come up to the hospital.

This is where things got interesting. They had to put me on oxygen because my little girl's heartbeat was dropping. Finally, it was time to push after they'd put a scalp electrode on her to monitor her. They told me they were going to use forceps to get her out as quickly as possible so as to avoid a c-section. At 8:45, I started pushing. I pushed 4 times and she was out, and quickly whisked over to the warmer to check her over, and it was time to deliver my placenta.

After that, they repaired my tear, a 3rd degree tear. They showed my husband the placenta, which had an interesting feature. Instead of being attached in the center of the placenta, the cord was attached at the edge by several veins to the membrane outside the placenta(I can't remember what they called it). The midwife who delivered my daughter said her dip in heart rate was likely due to her weight putting pressure on those veins and making it seem like her heart was dipping even though it wasn't.

Overall, the birth was scary, but so worth it. Cailyn was born at 8:58 AM and was 7 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches long. We're home as of March 2nd, and doing well. My milk has already come in, and she's feeding well, even after a bit of a rough start.

A couple pics:

Grace LaNette is here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything went well with the c-section. She was born yesterday at 1:03pm and weighed in at 7lbs, 20 in. long. She is perfect and we are in love! I'll update with pics when we get home and her birth story.

Update: We got to the hospital at the scheduled time of 10:30, got hooked up the machines and started with the million questions. I was doing my best to stay calm since I was really nervous about the spinal block. My DH was exceedingly wonderful that day. When it was time, I cried a little from nerves and walked into the room. They joked about the tattoo on my back to lighten the mood before they gave me the spinal. It worked very quickly and they put up the sheet and began working. I was in there for maybe 45 min to an hour (I think) and the second they took her out my doc showed her to me over the curtain and I instantly started to cry, just an incredible feeling. Everything went well and I was in recovery before I knew it. She did great on her apgar test and Daddy took great care of her and called everyone to let them know she was here. Then they brought her to me to snuggle but I didn't get to BF until I got up to the regular room. The whole time at the hospital was a whirlwind. Everything happened so fast it seems. BF has been painful but I'm sticking through it. I just have to get things figured out like she does. We're tired but doing well. Here are a few pics...thanks for reading.

Emma Mae
Born 2-21-2011 at 6:12 am
6 lbs 8 oz and 19.75 inches

It has taken me a little bit to sit down and write this out. I figured I had better get it done soon as I am already starting to forget some little details! I am not sure if it is just life or lack of sleep but either way I want to document this wonderful moment before I forget anything else!!

I had been having contractions off and on for several days, but they never turned into anything. They were not time able, not even close enough together to time them. They would often go away and come back with in a few hours and they never got stronger or closer. I was disappointed to say the least. Knowing that I would be working up until Emma was born I just wanted her here! I also was getting very tired and uncomfortable. Sleep was not really happening for me anymore and getting up and going to work was becoming a struggle.

When I left work on Friday 2-18-11, I knew I didn't want to go back to work on Tuesday ( Monday was a holiday -Presidents day). I tried everything I could think of! I walked laps in my living room, I walked laps at the store, I went for walks with DS to try to get things moving. DH and I DTD....but still nothing picked up. I would one or two contractions but they would go away. On Sunday 2-20-11 (my due date) we had family over to watch the Daytona 500 NASCAR race. After everyone left I check our birth board. I had been watching the thread about Castor oil all weekend waiting to see if it worked for either of the ladies who tried it. After the our company left I sent DH to the store to buy some. I had been suffering from some mild constipation over the weekend and figured if nothing else it might help with that. I took 2 tbsps at 9pm, and drank a milkshake to help settle my stomach. I took another 2 tbsps at 11pm. I didn't think it tasted that bad? The texture was the hardest part in my opinion. After two doses I didn't have any action going on. No cramping, no vomiting, nothing!!! I gave up and went to bed.

I woke up at 3am feeling contractions about like I had, but they were actually coming close together. I stayed in bed for a few minutes to see if I could go back to sleep to sleep through them. But after just 15 minutes I knew they were coming closer to together than ever before and I needed to get up and time them. So I got up and went into the living room, I found a timer on-line and started timing them. It didn't take long to realize that they were between 2 and 4 minutes apart and lasting between 45 seconds to one minute each. DH must had noticed that I got up b/c he came into the living room about 3:30am and asked if I was OK. I said yes, just trying to time them. He said well I am going to go back to bed till you tell me it's time to get in the shower. I said uhm, you might want to go ahead and shower now. The contractions were close enough and long enough to go to the hospital but we live about 40 minutes away and I didn't want them to go away during the ride there, I was trying to see if they would keep up the pace for almost an hour.

While DH got in the shower, I got up and finished packing Emma and I's bags. I also called my mom to come set with DS, who had school later that morning. My mom lives 45 minutes in the opposite direction of the hospital so I knew we couldn't wait for her to get there to leave. So when DH got dressed he went next door and woke our neighbor who came over to stay with DS until my mom could get to our house. We left our house some where between 4am and 4:15am I think? I used a timer app on DH's phone on the way to the hospital to keep track and the contractions were getting much stronger!!!

Once we arrived at the hospital they took me to a triage room to check me and get a monitor on the baby. I was already a 7 and 100%. They were asking about pain medication. I didn't really want anything but I think if labor would have lasted very long I would have caved! I told the nurse that I would like to know when the cut off point was so I could gage my pain and make that decision. They moved me to a labor and delivery room quickly. At this point it was 5am or so and I had only been having contractions for about 2 hours and they were concerned I would go quickly so they were rushing around trying to get everything done! My doctor arrived around 5:15am. He checked in on us, I was a 9 at this point- I asked to be checked because I was feeling pressure and they were still asking about pain medication. I was like I don't think there is time for that!!!! The doctor stepped out to get into his scrubs, by the time he was back I could feel Emma moving down and it was happening very quickly! I remember asking DH around 5:45am to call and see if my mom had made it to our house to be with DS. I wanted him to get to be the first person to meet her once born. Mom hadn't even made it to our house yet. Good thing we didn't wait for her!!!

The doctor checked me again sometime around the time DH called my mom. He gave me the green light to push. I think I maybe pushed 6 or 7 times and her little head was out. With one or two more pushed her shoulders were out and she was laying on my chest! She was the most beautiful little baby, I just wanted to hug and kiss her. I couldn't believe she was finally here! I couldn't believe we finally after 9 years together, 6 years of marriage and years of infertility had a tiny miracle laying right there in front of me. And with no medical help, Emma is just that a miracle!

I handled the pain pretty well with just breathing through the contractions, I am really proud of myself for doing this with out medication. Everyone was like why would you want to be in pain? It isn't that I wanted to be in pain, I just felt like I could do it without medication and I don't like needles so the epidural scares the crap out of me!! Up until the last few contractions and during her transition did it get harder to focus on my breathing but it all was moving so quickly there really wasn't time to feel sorry for myself.

DH got to cut the umbilical cord, and took pictures as they weighted her and checked her out. She scored and 8 and 9, and was perfectly healthy. We tried nursing as soon as they had her cleaned up but she would have no part of it! They moved us to our room by 7:30am. Once in our room we tried several times to get her to latch, but never had any luck. I spoke with the lactation consultant twice, who felt like she wouldn't latch because of the bruising on her face due to dropping through the birth canal so quickly. The hospital gave us 12 hours before encouraging us to try to supplement with some formula to maybe help wake her up a little.

Emma is now 10 days old, oh my where has that time gone!? She never did latch, but I am pumping and feeding her with the bottle. Which is fine b/c I planned on pumping anyway when I went back to work. She has had a little trouble with gas, but it eating and sleeping on a pretty good schedule. DS has been amazing with her, he is so in love and it just melts my heart to see him holding her. There was a time not to long ago when I thought that I would forever be a mom to an only child, and now that isn't the case!

OK, I think this is long enough. If you made it this far thanks for reading.

So here are some pics....

Just born, you can see the bruising on her face from coming down so fast!






3 days old

1 week

2 weeks


I have more but still need to get them on the computer. Thanks for looking!

Calvin's Birth Story ~ Mary (marymoonu)

Calvin Michael's Birth Story
February 28th, 2011 - 7:39PM
Weight: 6 Pounds 8.4 Ounces
Length: 18 Inches
Head circumference: 13.25 Inches

L&D Nurses:
Donna
Angela

PP Nurses:
Linda
Linda (another one)
Maureen

Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 9am was my OB appointment for 37 weeks, 5 days. My blood pressure was great for the third week in a row after being high or borderline high at all of my prenatal appointments. The doctor had been talking about inducing at 37 weeks based on the BP's, but decided that it probably wasn't necessary afterall. He informed me that he would be out of town the following week and that we could induce before then if I wanted to, or wait for natural labor and potentially have one of the partners deliver the baby. That was all under the assumption that my fluid levels were still okay. We had been keeping an eye on them because they were borderline low. That day, he did an ultrasound himself and found the fluid was too low. Two of the four pockets of fluid were totally empty and one measured 3.8cm. The fourth he said technically should be considered empty also, but he might be able to count a small amount of fluid there. Regardless, it wasn't enough to put me into the "safe zone" because my fluid only measured 4cm, tops. They induce under 5. He told us we were going to be meeting our baby that day and to head to the hospital.

I hadn't eaten anything yet that day and I knew they wouldn't let me eat, so we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for a breakfast sandwich. I didn't feel hungry, but needed my strength.
Tom dropped me off at the hospital while he and Sean went home to gather some bags, do some last minute cleaning, and wait for the grandparents to come watch Sean.
I went up to L&D and got checked in, then waited several grueling minutes alone in the waiting room until they were ready to take me to my room.

By 11am, we were getting started. I had already changed into my gown and gotten into bed to be checked out on the monitor. They had to have a good tracing of the baby on the monitor before they could begin my induction. I was group B strep positive, and my first IV of clindamycin (antibiotic) was started for that at 11am. My cervix wasn't favorable. It was only 1-2cm and was still posterior and pretty thick, so we had to begin with cervical ripening. This was started at 11:15am. They used a foley catheter which was placed in my cervix and inflated, along with low level pictocin (started at 11:20am) to help things along. It made me feel crampy and I found it uncomfortable because part of it hung outside of my body. I couldn't wait to be done with it because it made going to the bathroom difficult.

Then night before, I had been awake all night with nausea and that morning I had battled diarrhea multiple times. When they offered me phenergan for nausea, I jumped on it because I wanted to feel as good as possible for the delivery and the upset stomach was miserable. At this point, my belly was feeling pretty crampy from the foley.

At 2:30pm, the foley finally came out and I was overjoyed to be done with it. My cervix was 3-4cm, but baby was still high at -2 station. The nurse went to find out whether the doctor wanted to crank the pitocin, break my water, or both. The doctor decided on both. The midwife who was working at the hospital that day came to break my water. I had met her before in the midst of all my NST's and she was nice. At 3pm, my water was broken. It was horribly painful because my cervix was still so high and a bit posterior. I had to really breathe through the pain.

After my water was broken, the contractions became a lot more intense. I was still handling them really well and was able to tell Tom exactly what I needed. He helped by rubbing my back and applying pressure to my tailbone region. Although I was doing really well with the labor, I got scared and finally asked for the epidural.

At 5pm, nurse anesthetist Joe came to place the epidural. He and nurse Donna were really awesome during this time. The contractions were pretty intense and I was breathing through them. They both told me repeatedly how great I was doing. I really was doing well and I questioned why I was even getting the epidural, but I was just scared of the pain.
At 5:30pm, I was 5cm dilated and 80% effaced. My blood pressures started to really dip. They got as low as 80's/40's. It scared me, but I felt fine throughout. Nurse Donna and nurse anesthetist Joe were keeping an eye on me. This epidural was way different than the one with Sean. I wasn't in pain at all, but I could still feel contractions and other sensations like touch. With Sean, I was so numb I couldn't feel anything at all and couldn't move my legs at all. This time, I could still move my legs somewhat.

At 6:20pm, I was still 5cm and baby's heart began decelerating. I was scared at this point. Scared for the safety of the baby and scared that I would need a c-section.
His heart rate decelerated every time I had a contraction. The weird part is, mine did too.
Our heart rates were really mimicking each other. The baby and I were one for that moment, for just one last time.

The nurse told me that the reason for the heart decelerations could be that the baby was decending and his head was being compressed by the birth canal. She checked me again at 6:40pm and I had progressed to 6cm and 90% effaced. I was happy to see some progress and also happy that the nurse gave me a possible non-scary explanation for the heart decelerations.

At 7:15pm, I had progressed to 10cm and +1 station. The nurse didn't expect me to move that fast and called Dr. K. She said he gave an overly dramatic "OH NOOOO!" on the phone, afraid he would miss the birth because he likes to be called at 7cm. It took him 10 or 15 minutes to get there, and he rushed in talking about all the traffic violations he made on the way there. I found it very humorous because I just figured he was used to that sort of thing happening, but he was all flustered. Nurse Angela later told me that after the birth, he told her all about how he had such a bad day and I started it all that morning with my low fluid, haha!

As soon as he was ready, I was told I could push with the next contraction. I pushed twice through that contraction and the baby moved down pretty far, so they told me. I couldn't see anything in the mirror yet. I was told to try to push four times through the next contraction. I made it through about three and a half pushes before I tuckered out. But the baby's head had crowned and was almost all the way out. It was apparent that we were going to have a baby with the next contraction. But of course the next contraction took FOREVER to come! We waited and waited, and then finally it began! I pushed twice and we had a baby!

Calvin Michael was placed immediately on my chest at 7:39pm on February 28th, 2011.
I had always remembered being in a totally different world when Sean was born because I pushed for longer, bled a lot, and was just exhausted. I have trouble remembering his first cry, so I wanted to savor this one. Calvin came out looking purple. I knew it was normal until he started crying, but it still made me nervous. It was no time before he started to cry and I just held him and took it all in. I laughed because as soon as he was on my chest, he started peeing on me! The nurse came to me and asked if she could take Calvin to be weighed, measured, and assessed. I thought it seemed quick in comparison to my delivery with Sean, where I got to hold him for a long time before he was taken away. The nurse told me they normally leave baby with mom while the doctor finishes up, but that I hadn't torn a bit, so he had nothing else to do. No stitches! I was overjoyed and in disbelief at the time to have no tears, but I'm even happier about it now because my recovery has been SO much easier. She took Calvin to the warmer for his assessment and Tom went with her to watch and take pictures. I watched from my bed and fell in love. I couldn't believe how tiny he was.

I loved the actual delivery because it just felt so low-key and casual. There were only three people in the room other than me, Tom, and Calvin. Dr. K., nurse Donna, and nurse Angela were the only other people there. It just felt so calm, quiet, laid-back. It was perfect for me. I almost didn't even have nurse Donna there. She was actually supposed to be off for the day at 7pm, but I think they were short-staffed due to a call-off and she stayed extra for the birth. I appreciated her staying because I'd had her as my nurse all day and felt comfortable with her.

Once everyone had cleared the room and we were doing well, it was just the three of us and nurse Angela in there. She told me that if Calvin started acting hungry, to let her know because she'd help me get him to nurse. I had told her about the latching problems with Sean, and so I was nervous for a repeat. To my surprise, he latched on immediately with no problem and we've been going strong ever since. The nurses in the post-partum department were amazed by what a good nurser he was. He wanted to eat every hour, but that was fine with me. I just wanted to nurture my baby the way my body was made to do! I'm so overjoyed to have this experience this time after pumping for so long for Sean.
I would do it again in a heartbeat to feed my baby the food that is best for him, but I love the additional bonding time that I get. It's something special for just the two of us!

Tom and the nurses kept asking when I wanted to invite the rest of the family in. I hesitated to do it and kept putting it off. I loved the bonding time with just the three of us. It was perfect and I wasn't in a hurry to end it. Sometime around 9pm, we finally asked the rest of the family to come in. My parents were the only ones there at the moment because Tom's parents were watching Sean at our house. My mom and dad were in love and amazed by how tiny Calvin was compared to Sean. Tom had thought his mom was in the waiting room also because he hadn't heard her say earlier that she was leaving to go be with Sean. So at this point, his parents didn't even know he was born yet.
Finally my parents left to come stay with Sean so that Tom's parents could come meet the new baby. His mom had already left for the hospital, so Tom's dad was alone with Sean.
When my parents got to my house, my mom stayed with Sean and my dad came back to the hospital with Tom's dad. I was surprised and happy to see my dad show up at the door again with Tom's dad. His face was happy just like a kid at Christmas!

I am so in love! Sean has been curious and excited about the new baby, and I can't wait to watch their relationship grow!

With Mommy:


With Daddy:




DH says it looks like he's kissing his biceps, LOL:


Meeting his big brother for the first time: