He's Here! Part 1

June 17th, 2016

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on Friday, at 40 + 5, with what I thought were just more Braxton-Hicks. Around 6:30, while my husband was getting ready for work, I downloaded a contraction timer app, just to see if I was being worrisome over nothing. A few days before, I had contractions off and on until noon and then nothing, so I wasn't trying to get my hopes up.  The app confirmed that I was indeed having real labor contractions and that I "needed to call an ambulance or head to the nearest hospital as soon as possible" which was SUPER comforting…NOT. 

Being stubborn, as I usually am, I decided to take a shower and see how things felt after that, after all, it had only been about an hour and a half of fairly regular contractions. After getting out of the shower, I wasn't feeling much better, in fact, the contractions were getting stronger, and I told my husband we needed to go to the hospital right away. 

He took the longer route to the interstate and he might have driven 2-3 mph over the speed limit….which I WILL bring up….one day…. ;) 

Once we got to the hospital, all of the laboring mother parking spots were full, so we parked on the 3rd level, took the elevator down, and then walked over to L&D. 

They took my weight (BLESS), height, and some background info, and then walked me over to triage. In triage, we had a nice nurse named Kelly (I think) and she did an over-all assessment, hooked me up to the monitor, and checked my cervical dilation.  I was at a four and was 90% effaced.  When I had my 40 week appointment two days prior, I was only at a 2 but I was already about 90% effaced, which was wonderful since we had no progress up to that point. 

After watching the monitor and my contractions, the nurse called the doctor and they agreed to keep me and take me to a room.  The nurse started an IV and we walked with her to a delivery room and decided to let our parents know that I was being admitted. 

Around 10:00, the anesthesiologist came to talk to me about an epidural and we ended up deciding to do it right then and there.  The nurse had just checked me and I was at a 5.  It wasn't a terrible experience but it definitely was helpful. I barely noticed contractions after that, unless I was watching the monitor.  I think they moved the computer and monitor back out of my eyesight after a while, because they knew I was a NICU nurse and they probably didn't want me to worry, if anything changed.

At 12:00 I was at an 8 and we were just waiting on my water to break on its own.  They gave me a lovely catheter. Thank goodness I had already gotten my epidural at this point…and that I had given up on being modest :\ 

At 3 that afternoon, I was an "8-9" according to the nurse and we were still waiting on my water to break.  They said my water bag was "bulging" and that it would be any time. My family showed up about this time, my parents and my oldest brother. I gave my mom the go-ahead to tell my younger brothers.  Logan and his wife Morgan jumped in the car VERY quickly after they heard the news. Clark came after he got off work.

At 4:20, Dr. Large (the on-call OB) came, checked me, and we decided to break my water, as she thought that would complete my effacement, which it did. She also said we would start pushing in the next hour or so.

Excited. Nervous. Anxious. Tired. I was all over the board with my emotions. 

At 6:00, we started pushing. 

1 hour in, my baby boy was still not progressing and dropping down like he should. The Dr. said his head was against my pubic bone and that it felt "big" but we would keep trying for a little longer. He was head down, but his face and head were at an angle. 

1 more hour passed and she came in and said that our options were to go to the OR for a section or to push for another hour and then possibly go to the OR for a section.

(this is when I lost it)

I was scared. Scared for myself, but scared especially for my baby boy. 

I agreed to go ahead and do the C-section. I texted my mom to update the family in the waiting room and the anesthesiologist came in to increase my epidural and prep me for the OR. I tried to calm myself down, but my muscles just shook and shook. Partially due to anxiety and partially due to sheer exhaustion. 

The next two hours were a blur. The section was quick and relatively painless (HA). I knew the two NICU nurses that came for the delivery. I remember them sticking and alcohol swab under my oxygen mask next to my nose bc I had a surge of overwhelming nausea when they first put me on the table. Aaron took some wonderful pictures. When I heard my baby boy cry for the first time, I lost it. Totally LOST it.  He was born at 8:48pm and his APGAR scores were 9 and 9.

I remember the Dr saying "Oh my goodness, he's HUGE!" and something about him peeing all over them and then something about "look at those LIPS!" and then something about "no wonder he wasn't coming out, he's a BIG boy."

They showed me my sweet baby boy very briefly over the curtain.  It was not long enough. 

Now I have to take a minute to brag on my husband.  He always says he doesn't "do" medical stuff. Doesn't like talking about it. Doesn't like hearing about it. AT ALL.

He was SUCH a trooper. He sat through my cervical checks, my iv placement, held my hand through my epidural, was at my bedside ALL DAY LONG, and held my leg while I pushed. He also took some GREAT pictures at the delivery. I was shocked…and so happy. 

Aaron held our son while they stitched me up.  They let me hold him while they wheeled me back to the delivery room for my recovery period and our hour of kangaroo care (which is a new policy that the hospital is implementing and I'm so thankful for it). 

We had an hour or so for time with just the three of us, plus the nurses and the Dr. of course. 

Our son Rhodes Everett weighed in at 9 lbs 1.5oz, and he was 20 1/4 in long. 

He was absolutely perfect. I know I'm a little biased. 

Recovery took a little while longer than we thought, and I had not eaten literally all day, AND our families were anxiously waiting in the waiting room and had been for several hours….BUT we were FINALLY able to be moved to a postpartum room and after midnight, our families were able to come in and see us. 

We are blessed and we are loved. I am so thankful. Praise the Lord. We are so thankful to our God for getting our boy here safe and sound. 

Now excuse me while I go bawl my eyes out.

'Tis the Season,

Holly