It was around 3am when we got to our room. I had to be hooked up to monitor the baby for 20 minutes before I would be allowed to walk about and labor freely. I lay down on the bed, got hooked up, and about 10-15min later, I had a really good contraction and *pop* - my water broke. Mark looked at me with a funny look as he heard the pop on the monitor for Cole's heartbeat and I told him he needed to go get the nurse.
From this point on, things get a little blurry so I am having to confer with my husband as to what exactly happened as it was such a whirlwind.
About 5-10 minutes after my water broke, my contractions kicked up significantly and I started to feel more of an urge to push. My nurse started getting help to get the warmer unit and all the necessities into the delivery room, so 3 nurses and a stand-by doctor were running around our room getting things set up. They had called the midwife who was the on call for our office, but she was busy so the stand-by doctor was sitting there in case something happened.
All I know is that from this point on there was a lot of telling me to push, a few quiet moments to try and relax and then they started talking about getting a doctor to come in with a vaccuum and the nurses were trying to figure out if it was Cole that was stressed if it was me. They put an oxygen mask on me as well as a pulse monitor while the midwife was working on getting Cole out. Come to find out, he was trying to come out with his head turned which I was unable to push out and in turn he was getting stressed and his heartrate was dropping. The midwife finally got his head turned and it was only a push or two after that he came out. Once his shoulders were through Mark was able to help pull him out and lay him on my chest, something I know he will never forget!
It was less than an hour from the time my water broke to when he was born, and my doctor who visited us Monday morning before being discharged told me that it was 14 minutes from completion (I believe this is when I was fully dilated and effaced) to delivery. As she said, thank goodness I was at the hospital when my water broke!
Cole weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 15oz, 2oz shy of being 2lbs bigger than his big sister, and is over 21in long, which is 3in longer than his big sister. Breastfeeding has seemed so natural this time as he has latched on SO well, I am a little sore, but no cracking, bleeding, and my milk is already coming in.
I will update more on his foot as well as some concerns we might be having on hematomas that he has on his head from trying to come out sideways when we know more (in the next week or so). But he is here, his big sister loves him to death and it's going to be a lot of work, but i'm already taking to this mommy of two thing pretty well!
Monday, March 26, 2012
He's here! - Part I
I figure I should write out the birth story before 1) I forget and 2) Elizabeth comes home and I can't find time to even brush my teeth.
Yes, Cole is here, he is absolutely perfect and I am so happy!
Friday I went in to see my doctor to check my cervix for the induction on Monday. If I wasn't dilated to at least a 2 they would have to order up a foley (sp?) to get things moving Sunday night before even starting the pitocin. I went in and my doctor checked, and for the first time the check was pretty uncomfortable. She said I was just barely 2cm dilated, but enough that we would just proceed with the Monday induction and she stripped my membranes one last time.
I went back to work after my appointment and left early after saying my 'see ya laters' to my coworkers and came home to relax in a quiet house.
I started getting contractions late Friday night, and figured it was due to the internal + membrane stripping, but they were pretty strong, so I got up in the middle of the night and timed them for an hour or so. They weren't consistent, so I figured it was silly to try and walk around the house in the middle of the night, so I decided to go back to bed and at least get some sleep. My contractions continued through the night and into the morning. I would go and time the contractions every few hours but they were consistently inconsistent being 5-7min apart for 45 minutes and then they would stop for 20 minutes and kick back in at 8-10min apart.
After doing this all morning we decided to run to Costco and get some necessary shopping done as I was tired of sitting at home anyways. I had a good couple contractions in Costco, so we went right from Costco to my parents house to drop off Ellie and call L&D to see if I should come in. They said I should come in and away we went.
Contractions continued to be inconsistent but between 7-9min apart. To get to the point, they checked me and I was only dilated to about 3cm, my cervix was soft, but still pretty thick. The nurse gave me the option of going walking for a few hours and then come back, or just go home. I didn't figure it was worth walking around for a few hours, so we decided to just go home. I was in tears, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
We went back to my parents and picked up Ellie, said we would hold on to her for the night and then she would go back to Nana and Papa's on Sunday for the Monday induction.
Mark wanted to watch a movie so we pulled up Netflix streaming and decided to start Iron Man 2 to get our minds off of everything and just relax. I laid on the couch next to Mark and my contractions subsided enough to relax for a bit. I was just too tired to sit through the rest of the movie so I decided to draw a bath and go to bed.
Between 11-12pm I was having contractions, good enough that I was moaning through them, they would wake me up and then I would slip back into a semi-sleep. They became a part of my dream that was like Iron Man 2 and when anyone said the 'trigger word' I would have a contraction. I started to realize that every time I was waking up with contractions the hour was not changing on the clock, it was 11:something and then I would wake up again and it was 11:something, over and over. At this point I decided to get up, go to the bathroom and start timing contractions again. 4-5 min apart for 30 min was enough for me to get Mark out of bed, get the car ready and everything ready to drop off Ellie and call L&D again.
I was told to come into the hospital and we called my parents to meet us there to do the baby swap (I got an 'I told you so' from my mom who had offered to take her that night - she had a feeling). We went in and I was checked around 1:15am and was dilated to 3.5. The nurse wasn't very confident in admitting me as I was only possibly .5cm more dilated than the day before, and it was a different person, so she said we could walk for an hour and come back. I wasn't going home, so we chose to walk the halls of the hospital for an hour.
We were back after an hour and I was so prepared for the bad news, but I had dilated another cm and we were on our way to a room! FINALLY!!
Yes, Cole is here, he is absolutely perfect and I am so happy!
Friday I went in to see my doctor to check my cervix for the induction on Monday. If I wasn't dilated to at least a 2 they would have to order up a foley (sp?) to get things moving Sunday night before even starting the pitocin. I went in and my doctor checked, and for the first time the check was pretty uncomfortable. She said I was just barely 2cm dilated, but enough that we would just proceed with the Monday induction and she stripped my membranes one last time.
I went back to work after my appointment and left early after saying my 'see ya laters' to my coworkers and came home to relax in a quiet house.
I started getting contractions late Friday night, and figured it was due to the internal + membrane stripping, but they were pretty strong, so I got up in the middle of the night and timed them for an hour or so. They weren't consistent, so I figured it was silly to try and walk around the house in the middle of the night, so I decided to go back to bed and at least get some sleep. My contractions continued through the night and into the morning. I would go and time the contractions every few hours but they were consistently inconsistent being 5-7min apart for 45 minutes and then they would stop for 20 minutes and kick back in at 8-10min apart.
After doing this all morning we decided to run to Costco and get some necessary shopping done as I was tired of sitting at home anyways. I had a good couple contractions in Costco, so we went right from Costco to my parents house to drop off Ellie and call L&D to see if I should come in. They said I should come in and away we went.
Contractions continued to be inconsistent but between 7-9min apart. To get to the point, they checked me and I was only dilated to about 3cm, my cervix was soft, but still pretty thick. The nurse gave me the option of going walking for a few hours and then come back, or just go home. I didn't figure it was worth walking around for a few hours, so we decided to just go home. I was in tears, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
We went back to my parents and picked up Ellie, said we would hold on to her for the night and then she would go back to Nana and Papa's on Sunday for the Monday induction.
Mark wanted to watch a movie so we pulled up Netflix streaming and decided to start Iron Man 2 to get our minds off of everything and just relax. I laid on the couch next to Mark and my contractions subsided enough to relax for a bit. I was just too tired to sit through the rest of the movie so I decided to draw a bath and go to bed.
Between 11-12pm I was having contractions, good enough that I was moaning through them, they would wake me up and then I would slip back into a semi-sleep. They became a part of my dream that was like Iron Man 2 and when anyone said the 'trigger word' I would have a contraction. I started to realize that every time I was waking up with contractions the hour was not changing on the clock, it was 11:something and then I would wake up again and it was 11:something, over and over. At this point I decided to get up, go to the bathroom and start timing contractions again. 4-5 min apart for 30 min was enough for me to get Mark out of bed, get the car ready and everything ready to drop off Ellie and call L&D again.
I was told to come into the hospital and we called my parents to meet us there to do the baby swap (I got an 'I told you so' from my mom who had offered to take her that night - she had a feeling). We went in and I was checked around 1:15am and was dilated to 3.5. The nurse wasn't very confident in admitting me as I was only possibly .5cm more dilated than the day before, and it was a different person, so she said we could walk for an hour and come back. I wasn't going home, so we chose to walk the halls of the hospital for an hour.
We were back after an hour and I was so prepared for the bad news, but I had dilated another cm and we were on our way to a room! FINALLY!!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Hypocrite - that's me!
With only days to go before my due date I sit here completely conflicted. I called my doctor yesterday to set up an induction date, which is something I really didn't want to do, but for so many reasons I knew it was what I needed to do. At my 39 week appointment on Monday I was dilated to a 3 at the bottom of my cervix and a 1.5 at the top, and she didn't mention if I was anymore effaced than I was a week prior (75%). She also asked if I felt like Cole had gotten any bigger as when I laid down I wasn't very big, but didn't seem concerned (I'm not either as I was informed with Ellie that my opening was not very large and to know this just in case there were issues that might lead to a c-section during delivery). We talked about any changes or how I was doing and that's when I just broke down into tears.
Now, tears have been quite the norm for me the last week or so. I wake up in the morning, nothing has changed, he's still inside and all I can do is cry when I stand in the shower just thinking about it all. I cry when someone asks me how I'm doing, and I don't even want to pick up the phone most of the time for fear of the questions and the impending waterfall of tears. I don't remember being like this with Elizabeth, even with all the unknowns of a first pregnancy, this one has just been too much. I know that much of it continues to have to do with the unknown of Cole's situation, and though I can't do anything about it and it's not something I dwell on, it is such the fuel for this roller coaster of emotions that I knew I had to do something.
My doctor asked me if I had any other appointments scheduled and I said that I had one for 40 weeks. She then asked me, through my tears, if I wanted to set up an induction date, or just wait until my next appointment as they would only let me go 41 weeks at the most. I know the power of pitocin and want so badly for Cole to come on his own, so I stuck my heels in and said that I would wait until my next appointment to make any decisions. As I left the doctor's office, it was all I could do to hold back tears before getting into my car where it was safe to let it all out. She had done another quick check for me for fluid leakage, which was negative, and I had another quick AFI scan to check the fluid levels due to the lower levels a week ago, and that all looked good.
As I cried on my way back to work, and then to my sister, my mom, Mark, and a few others at work, I realized that this whole thing was taking a bigger toll on me than I had wanted to believe it has been. At the honest suggestion of my sister, I decided to call my doctor back on Wednesday when she was in the office again and set up an induction date. She had already told me that my cervix was plenty favorable and that I was already progressing along that an induction was not going to be an issue, so that is what I decided to do. At this point in time, Mr. Cole has 4 days to make his entrance on his own, otherwise I will be induced on Monday. And this is where I feel like such a hypocrite.
I have been such a proponent of waiting until your baby/body tell you it's time. With Ellie I had no choice, but I felt like I had the choice with Cole, and thus far there have been no extenuating circumstances to change that, other than my mental state. I feel like I didn't do it for all the wrong reasons, but there is still a part of me that tugs at my steadfastness and says that I am messing with nature here.
The appointment has been set and I will know on Sunday what time we will be checked into L&D Monday morning (unless he decides to come earlier of course!!!), and oddly enough I have more peace. I am still an emotional wreck, and I am doing all I can to walk this baby out, stay on my feet when I get home (made dinner AND a batch of cookies last night after a nice walk with the family) and keep my mind and hands busy, but the end is in sight. Mark will be taking next week off, and my mom has spring break the week after, so the timing works out perfectly as well. And though I may be a hypocrite, my current mental state is sure a lot more manageable than it was just a day ago, and for me, that is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Now, tears have been quite the norm for me the last week or so. I wake up in the morning, nothing has changed, he's still inside and all I can do is cry when I stand in the shower just thinking about it all. I cry when someone asks me how I'm doing, and I don't even want to pick up the phone most of the time for fear of the questions and the impending waterfall of tears. I don't remember being like this with Elizabeth, even with all the unknowns of a first pregnancy, this one has just been too much. I know that much of it continues to have to do with the unknown of Cole's situation, and though I can't do anything about it and it's not something I dwell on, it is such the fuel for this roller coaster of emotions that I knew I had to do something.
My doctor asked me if I had any other appointments scheduled and I said that I had one for 40 weeks. She then asked me, through my tears, if I wanted to set up an induction date, or just wait until my next appointment as they would only let me go 41 weeks at the most. I know the power of pitocin and want so badly for Cole to come on his own, so I stuck my heels in and said that I would wait until my next appointment to make any decisions. As I left the doctor's office, it was all I could do to hold back tears before getting into my car where it was safe to let it all out. She had done another quick check for me for fluid leakage, which was negative, and I had another quick AFI scan to check the fluid levels due to the lower levels a week ago, and that all looked good.
As I cried on my way back to work, and then to my sister, my mom, Mark, and a few others at work, I realized that this whole thing was taking a bigger toll on me than I had wanted to believe it has been. At the honest suggestion of my sister, I decided to call my doctor back on Wednesday when she was in the office again and set up an induction date. She had already told me that my cervix was plenty favorable and that I was already progressing along that an induction was not going to be an issue, so that is what I decided to do. At this point in time, Mr. Cole has 4 days to make his entrance on his own, otherwise I will be induced on Monday. And this is where I feel like such a hypocrite.
I have been such a proponent of waiting until your baby/body tell you it's time. With Ellie I had no choice, but I felt like I had the choice with Cole, and thus far there have been no extenuating circumstances to change that, other than my mental state. I feel like I didn't do it for all the wrong reasons, but there is still a part of me that tugs at my steadfastness and says that I am messing with nature here.
The appointment has been set and I will know on Sunday what time we will be checked into L&D Monday morning (unless he decides to come earlier of course!!!), and oddly enough I have more peace. I am still an emotional wreck, and I am doing all I can to walk this baby out, stay on my feet when I get home (made dinner AND a batch of cookies last night after a nice walk with the family) and keep my mind and hands busy, but the end is in sight. Mark will be taking next week off, and my mom has spring break the week after, so the timing works out perfectly as well. And though I may be a hypocrite, my current mental state is sure a lot more manageable than it was just a day ago, and for me, that is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Not much news
Went into the office yesterday hoping that I was progressing nicely. I have continued losing small amounts of mucus, which I'm assuming to be my mucus plug, so I had assumed something was going on. The doctor asked me if I wanted my membranes swept, and told me it usually doesn't do much of anything unless you are ready, so more along if I was 2-3cm dilated. I told her to go ahead if she is able to.
She checked my progress and I had gone from a 50% to 75% effacement and from a 1cm dilation to a little over 1cm dilation. Yup, not much change. Over a week and not much change was NOT what I wanted to hear. She did the sweep, which was totally and completely painless (honestly, didn't hurt at all) and mentioned I may have some bleeding. I went home and waited. I expected to get some contractions a few hours later, as that is what happened last week after my internal exam, and, well, nothing. I was crampy much of the night, but that's about it.
Woke up this morning with some mild contractions, but didn't feel like timing anything as I knew it was only going to end in frustration. About an hour ago I had a good hour or so of mild contractions around 7-10 minutes apart, but alas, they are gone.
Had a rough morning thus far between tired of fielding phone calls and comments about how I'm doing, asking the same questions day in and day out about contractions or if anything has changed, I am ready to not be at work right now. I am still 11 days from my due date so there is no need to get excited people. Cole will arrive when he's ready, and I have a gut feeling that it will be a little while before he decides it's time.
So I continue to sit at my desk, be as productive as possible, and pray he decides to prove me wrong!
She checked my progress and I had gone from a 50% to 75% effacement and from a 1cm dilation to a little over 1cm dilation. Yup, not much change. Over a week and not much change was NOT what I wanted to hear. She did the sweep, which was totally and completely painless (honestly, didn't hurt at all) and mentioned I may have some bleeding. I went home and waited. I expected to get some contractions a few hours later, as that is what happened last week after my internal exam, and, well, nothing. I was crampy much of the night, but that's about it.
Woke up this morning with some mild contractions, but didn't feel like timing anything as I knew it was only going to end in frustration. About an hour ago I had a good hour or so of mild contractions around 7-10 minutes apart, but alas, they are gone.
Had a rough morning thus far between tired of fielding phone calls and comments about how I'm doing, asking the same questions day in and day out about contractions or if anything has changed, I am ready to not be at work right now. I am still 11 days from my due date so there is no need to get excited people. Cole will arrive when he's ready, and I have a gut feeling that it will be a little while before he decides it's time.
So I continue to sit at my desk, be as productive as possible, and pray he decides to prove me wrong!
Monday, March 12, 2012
False Alarm
So, I just got back from the doctor's office, so yes, that means this baby is not coming today; well, at least this afternoon. And yes, my appointment was/still is for Wed, but I went in today to have my fluid checked. I got into work this morning, drank my cup of tea and had almost polished off an entire water bottle (24+ oz water) and went to the bathroom for the first time. This may be a little TMI, but it smelled, and not like normal smell, but very different and then I went back in the bathroom 15 minutes later and my underwear was wet, and not just a little like normal, but much more. I didn't have anything odd for dinner last night, and in fact I went to the bathroom multiple times in the middle of the night and I didn't have the same issue I did at work this morning. So, I called my doctor (who is actually out of the office today) and talked to a nurse. I monitored my moisture level for an hour and called back. At this point in time, nothing was really obvious, just a little extra I guess (which has been normal).
They ended up having me come into the office, so Mark left work in case the same situation arose as with Elizabeth. He picked me up from work and we went to my appointment. All the tests came back negative and there was a sense of relief along with feeling a little bummed. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to be induced, but it would at least tell me I wasn't completely crazy about this whole thing. the doctor ordered a quick ultrasound to check fluid level and then we would know for sure. The u/s tech finished and after re-measuring, I was on the low side of normal. Her first measurement was 8.1 and the second was 8.6. 7.3 is considered too low and is in the 5th percentile, so we were getting pretty close there, considering I was over 12 just a week and a half ago. That part was a little nerve wracking, but I guess I just have to continue to wait it out to see Dr. Delorit on Wednesday afternoon to find out where I am in the grand scheme of progression and whether a membrane sweep will be called into order.
Thus, I am back at work, sitting on my butt praying for something interesting to do.
They ended up having me come into the office, so Mark left work in case the same situation arose as with Elizabeth. He picked me up from work and we went to my appointment. All the tests came back negative and there was a sense of relief along with feeling a little bummed. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to be induced, but it would at least tell me I wasn't completely crazy about this whole thing. the doctor ordered a quick ultrasound to check fluid level and then we would know for sure. The u/s tech finished and after re-measuring, I was on the low side of normal. Her first measurement was 8.1 and the second was 8.6. 7.3 is considered too low and is in the 5th percentile, so we were getting pretty close there, considering I was over 12 just a week and a half ago. That part was a little nerve wracking, but I guess I just have to continue to wait it out to see Dr. Delorit on Wednesday afternoon to find out where I am in the grand scheme of progression and whether a membrane sweep will be called into order.
Thus, I am back at work, sitting on my butt praying for something interesting to do.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
OH contractions - how I loathe thee
After the internal check on Monday, I had a nice bout of contractions which is to be expected. After a few hours of being HORRIBLY uncomfortable at work, I made it home where things started to die down. Ever since then though I have been having a handful of contractions every few hours. Not just uncomfortable, but radiating into my back and I've been feeling nauseous in between each contraction as well. SO much fun!
Luckily I am still sleeping well, and in fact I've actually be sleeping better the last week or so, but I have woken up around 4am the past 2 mornings with more contractions. This morning's was the worst yet, and was so bad that Mark rolled over to ask if I was having a contraction, which tells me I was having to breathe through it pretty good. Afterwards, my pelvis was radiating with an achy feeling, and after getting in the shower, Mr. Cole was so very low that it HURT. And yet now I sit at work with wonderful back pain and little to no more contractions. Ugh! Hopefully this just means that things aren't too far away as contractions all day long for days on end is just not fun, and it's more of a tease than anything!
Luckily I am still sleeping well, and in fact I've actually be sleeping better the last week or so, but I have woken up around 4am the past 2 mornings with more contractions. This morning's was the worst yet, and was so bad that Mark rolled over to ask if I was having a contraction, which tells me I was having to breathe through it pretty good. Afterwards, my pelvis was radiating with an achy feeling, and after getting in the shower, Mr. Cole was so very low that it HURT. And yet now I sit at work with wonderful back pain and little to no more contractions. Ugh! Hopefully this just means that things aren't too far away as contractions all day long for days on end is just not fun, and it's more of a tease than anything!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Progress - 37 weeks
I'll make this quick, but I had my 37 week appointment this morning, and, after losing some of my mucus plug earlier this morning I had my internal check. As I was so worried on Friday that my cervix was still long and nothing was happening, I was dilated about 1cm, 50% effaced, and Cole's head was resting nicely on my cervix this morning. My doctor didn't strip my membranes today, but she said she could do it at our appointment next week, so I wait until next Wed for my next appointment. I guess I can just pray something happens between now and then, but at least I know something is happening. A sweet reminder that he won't be in there forever!
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