Baby Bossy's Birth Story Part II

The nurses quickly prepared for surgery.  My nurse, Kim, was fabulous.  I remember she kept calling me Baby Girl!  To be honest- the evening is basically a blur for me, but I do remember the important stuff! :)

They wheeled me into the operating room.  I had a curtain over me, so I was unable to see a thing.  The anesthesiologist stood behind the curtain with me (near my head) and talked to me the entire time.  He was such a sweet man.  Mr. Bossy was allowed in after I received my epidural.  I remember him having his phone out for most of the c-section, but I just figured he was taking lots of pictures.  Come to find out-  he recorded the entire thing!!

Baby Bossy was born at 7:59 p.m.  They whisked him away to clean him up and check his vitals.  From watching television shows and movies, I always thought babies came out screaming their heads off.  Not mine!  I asked the nurses and my doctor if everything was alright.  They acted like it was normal that he hadn't cried.  In fact, they said he was asleep the entire time!  Mr. Bossy brought our baby to me soon after.  I remember looking at him and feeling so much love, but also SO upset that I couldn't hold him quite yet.  It felt like forever for the staff to close me up, but I eventually was wheeled into recovery.

My parents and MIL came in soon after to say hello and see their new grandbaby.  They left after a little bit so that I could nurse him in privacy.  I remember I still couldn't stop shaking.  The nurses explained that it was a side effect of the drugs I was given.  I wasn't cold-  I was just shaky!  Complete exhaustion started to kick in (Hey-  I had worked that day too!).  I remember they wheeled me into my room after a while.  Mr. Bossy's recliner in the room pulled out into a bed and we both soon snoring away. 

The next morning and day, we had lots of visitors.  I was still in labor and delivery due to some medications they had me on because of the c-section.  I had to be off of them for 24 hours before they would move me to mother/baby.  Baby Bossy was also in the NICU but doing well.  I was later moved to mother/baby and Baby Bossy left the NICU a healthy baby boy.

I spent two more days in mother/baby before they released us to go home.  I can happily say that Baby Bossy is 8 weeks old and absolutely healthy!  You would never know that he was born 5 weeks early.  He's the love of our lives. 

This is the end of the road for my story.  I've enjoyed the past year that I've spent sharing my journey on Bloomin' Babies.  I hope for nothing but the best for all of our readers- especially Explorer Bud! 

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of  Baby Bossy- or Liam as we call him. :)

XOXO,

Bossy Bud

My Birth Story

Well, Baby DBud is exactly 2 weeks old... and it is time for me to tell the story of his Birth.

It all started at my 38w4d appointment, when the Doctor checked my cervix for any early signs of labor. Can you believe it? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Our little man was still high up, and my cervix was completely hard and closed. I had felt a few slight contractions here and there... but nothing to really report. It was at that moment, that we decided (along with my OB) to schedule a c-section. I was pretty much done being pregnant, and he seemed to have no plans of coming out, so he was getting evicted! They ushered us over to the office manager's office where we sat with her to schedule the procedure. We left the office with our c-section scheduled for Monday, October 22nd. That later changed, when we started looking at our schedule, and everything we needed to get done. We actually tried to have it re-scheduled for Wednesday the 24th, but that date wasn't available, so we had to schedule it for Thursday the 25th. **A little background about why we wanted the 24th - DH's Birthday is 2/24, mine is 5/24 and we got married on 1/24... so naturally, we would've liked the baby to be born on 10/24 ;) Anyway... we were scheduled and ready to go, with our pre-registration taking place the day before, the 24th at 9am. We got up that morning, grabbed breakfast, and headed to the hospital to finish filling out all the paperwork, etc. 

We ran a little late, and actually didn't get there until about 10am (I actually wasn't feeling great, and was praying to the porcelain gods before we left the house - I chalked it up to "nerves" getting the best of me). We went ahead and filled out all the pre-registration paperwork, and were sent over to where the nurse would meet us to run a few tests. All was going well... until they checked my blood pressure. It was somewhere in the 150s over 90s, which was high (especially for me, Mrs. 120/70). I found it strange, because at my last appointment, the day we scheduled the c-section, it was higher than normal as well... not "high" necessarily, but high for what my norm is. The nurse took it a couple more times, to check, and it was not getting any lower. She actually went ahead and called my Doctor to let him know, and see what he wanted to do. Meanwhile, they weren't really telling me much, she just gave me a couple of small bottles of water to see if that helped, but at that point, nothing did. She had me pee in a cup, and have my blood drawn, before sending me up to triage to put me on monitors. The baby's heart rate was fine, but my BP remained high. Within a few minutes, my OB arrived (one of the two from the practice I visit). He was performing a c-section that day, and was able to come and check on me. Well, apparently, I was having some contractions every 4 minutes (which I did not notice). My OB told us that with his experience, high BP only got higher, and that his instinct was to get the baby delivered that day... within 1 1/2 - 2 hours! Oh..My..GOD!!!!! Here we were, in the hospital, a couple of hours from meeting our son... with no hospital bag, no nice expensive camera that we bought to take photos and videos of our son with, and no family members! My Mom was at work, his parents had a Doctor's appointment, and NO ONE expected this. Mr. DBud started calling and texting everyone, letting them know what was going on, as they whisked us off to pre-op. Before long, I was wheeled into the OR, where I got my epidural and was prepped for the surgery, and before much longer time was called, and Mr. DBud was brought into the room. By this time, I was pretty nervous (and worried) watching my BP skyrocket to the 200s/100s. Mr. DBud kept his cool... but he was very worried :( Within a few minutes... I heard him. My son! He had the sweetest and softest cry and all I could think was how I wanted to see him, and hold him. They had Mr. DBud cut the umbilical cord, cleaned him up, weighed and measured him, took his foot prints, and swaddled him before placing him on my chest. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I looked at him - my Son! It was love at first site. The three of us posed for our first family portrait, before they wheeled him to the nursery, with Mr. DBud in tow. I stayed behind to get sewn up, while the Doctors chatted about all sorts of random things like Eddie Murphy and the movie "Coming to America", etc. When they were done, I was moved to another bed and rolled to recovery. 

While in recovery, my BP remained high. They called my OB, and asked what medicine to give me... but apparently, my system LAUGHED at the first two they tried. Neither had any effect, and my blood pressure remained where it was - through the roof! Finally, the last medication they tried worked, and it started to come down. Unfortunately, this made my time in recovery go from about 2 hours (which is the norm) to about 4 1/2 hours, and landed me a stay in SICU. I tried to rest up a bit while still in recovery, in between Mr. DBud coming to see me and being checked every once in a while by the nurses. After a few hours, I was surprised by a Nurse who took pity on us, and brought the baby to me in recovery. This is normally not allowed at this hospital, since the babies have alarms attached, and are not exactly close to the recovery area... but she got special permission, and brought him to us. I tried to feed him with the formula she brought (which I wasn't too happy about because I wanted to breast feed since day one, but needed to get approval from the Pediatrician because of the meds I was on), but because of all the IVs and everything I was attached to (including a BP cuff that went off every 15 minutes, oxygen, etc.) I couldn't. This made me sad :( I wanted to be free to hold him and caress him... and I wanted to breast feed him :( After a little bit, she took him back to the nursery, and I was moved into a room in the SICU. Mr. DBud would go visit him when he could... but it broke my heart to know that he was in the nursery all the time, without his Mommy and Daddy, while all the other babies could be with their Parents :( It was extremely depressing. 

I was in SICU until the next day, when they finally decided to put me in a regular room next to the nursery. It took a while, even after I was told that I could be moved, for me to get moved... but it finally happened. And not long after that, our sweet baby boy was brought to the room, and was with us constantly! Finally, my Mom was able to see and carry her Grandson (her first!) and my Mother in Law was also able to be with us carry him :) We had quite a few visitors over the next few days, and little by little I started to feel normal again. It felt so good to have the IV and all the other cables and monitors removed, and of course with the right amount of pain medication every certain amount of time, I was able to get out of bed, and move around a bit. Baby steps ;)

Now, 2 weeks after his Birth, I am feeling great. My c-section scar is healing well (had the staples removed at my 1 week PP appointment, and replaced by steri strips which have begun to fall off as well), and I am actually functioning well without any form of pain medication. Baby DBud is breast feeding (sometimes constantly) and we were able to get him completely off the formula. He has even been sleeping for a nice long stretch at night, giving us about 5 hours straight of sleep! He is a wonderful and beautiful baby - I couldn't ask for more. I am SO incredibly blessed. 

So, what can I say? This has definitely been an emotional ride. Even though, in the end, I was fortunate in easily overcoming my issues with IF, trying to get pregnant was hard, at times. My pregnancy was pretty good, for the most part, but my delivery and the first 24 hours of recovery in SICU sucked, for lack of a better word... but, you know, all I have to do is look at him - my SON - and it is ALL worth it. It is true when they say that everything "negative" you experience seems to disappear when they are finally in your arms. He is the light of my life, and I can't imagine how I lived all these years without him. We are completely head over heals with our sweet baby boy. To everyone out there who is TTC, whether you are experiencing IF issues, have TTC for a while or just begun... there IS a light at the end of the tunnel - and it is even brighter than you think it is!!! Thank you all for following my story, and for all the support over these past couple of years. I don't know what I would've done without being able to share my story, in moments of happiness and woe. This blog has been such a huge part of my TTC process, and I am extremely grateful to be a part of it :) Thank you!

As I wrap up this, my final post... here is a song for my Son. I love you with everything that I have, and everything that I am. You have made my life complete, and I thank God everyday for making you mine.

Christian Javier

October 24, 2012

2:33pm

7lb4oz, 19 3/4 inches

Ahhh Heaven...

Let me first say how this has definitely been a summer for boys!  Shout out to Bossy - congrats Doll!!  :)

Now to update you all with...my birth story!!!

As I believe I had mentioned before, if Parker didn't come by his due date I was scheduled to be induced on the 21st of this month.  And as I'm sure you've guessed, he did not arrive on his own so his little butt got evicted!

Mr. CB and I checked in at  the Maternity Admissions Unit at 7:15am that morning.  I think they had an admission because I wasn't "checked in" and taken back to Labor and Delivery until 8.  No biggie...I knew my LO was going to be here sometime that day.  Once I got in the room, I had to strip down and put a hospital gown on and then I got my IV for the pitocin and hooked up to the monitor to watch my contractions and monitor Parker's heart rate.

The pitocin was started at a rate of 6mL per hour, but I wasn't feeling anything so the rate kept being increased.  At around 10:30am, my OB came by and broke my bag of waters.  That crap kinda hurt and the leaking was NOT cool!  LOL  I felt like I was constantly peeing on myself.  At around 3-4cm, the pain was starting to get uncomfortable so I had my name put on the list for an epidural (I'm a kind of "go with the flow" kind of girl, so my birth plan included an epidural if I felt I needed one...especially with the pitocin which can make labor pains more acute).  Luckily I was only second on the list so I didn't have to wait long.

The anesthesiologist was fantastic - I wasn't scared at all and barely felt a thing.  It was so funny because before I knew it, the nurse asked "Did you feel that one?"  I was like "Huh?"  And she told me that I was at the height of a contraction.  I wasn't feeling a thing and suddenly everything was fabulous!  Anyway, things progressed somewhat steadily for the rest of the afternoon (times are blurry that day).  I chilled in the bed, sipping Sprite and cranberry juice and talking to my family while updating ALL the girls at work via text messaging.

Later that afternoon/early evening , Parker was still "sunny-side up" so my OB had me lay far on my side with my knee up to open my pelvis and hopefully coax Parker to turn.  At around 8:30pm she came back in, checked me and had me do a couple of "practice pushes" to see what would happen.  After the second push, she said "Okay, let's start pushing!"  Oh man I was so excited...and my parents had gone to get something to eat!!  I had my BF call them on her cell phone but my mom didn't answer! (Her cell has a Minnesota number because that's where she's from)  So I had Mr. CB call them on my cell for her and within a minute my mom was busting in the door.  Luckily, my OB and the nurse were getting everything ready so she didn't miss anything.

It was hard to know if I was pushing correctly since I couldn't feel anything from the waist down.  But I had an awesome team.  My husband was at my head telling me how great I was doing, my mom and BF each had a leg, and of course my doc and nurse.  After about 45 minutes of pushing, Parker was finally here!!!

My sweet boy was born on Tuesday August 21, 2012 at 9:17pm.  He weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces and was 22.5 inches long!!!  When the nurse announced that, I couldn't believe my ears.  There was no way the big fella lived in my belly...I never would have guessed he weighed that much.  But he is mine and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

This past week has been tiring but I have never been happier being at home with Parker and my husband.  We are one happy family.  I am so thankful for this blog > offering a way for us to support each other through such difficult and happy times and seeing that wishes can and do some true.

I wish all my fellow buds this much happiness and I will definitely keep reading posts!

Curly Bud...signing off.

10 weeks.

40 weeks (the BF painted this...the brown at the bottom is supposed to be sand!)

Luckily, he's a much happier baby than he was the night he born...

This  was taken the morning we went home from the hospital.

Welcome Baby Maya

Baby Maya was born June 4th (my sister and brothers birthday!) at 12:11 am. It was a long and difficult labor, but we are both doing well now. I will work on my birth story tomorrow!

Baby Maya, 5 lbs, 9 ounces, 20 inches

Baby SB is Here! Part I

Yes, you read that correctly.  Mr. William decided to come 4.5 weeks early on May 10, 2012.  He weighed 6 lbs 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  Amazingly, no NICU was required.  He came out perfect and I cannot even begin to tell you how lucky I feel.

I must warn you though - reading my birth story is not for the faint of heart.   Even though I had a wonderful outcome, my labor and delivery was kind of a train wreck and probably would scare the curap out of me if I was reading it having never gone through the experience.  So please read at your own risk.

I woke up the Monday before my delivery and immediately took my blood pressure as I had every morning for the past three months.  It was then that I knew something was wrong.  Usually in the morning it is between 115-120/70 or 80s.  That day it was 142/84.  Even though it was a reading that was not in the danger zone for my blood pressure, I knew it was not normal for me.  I called my doctor's office to inform them, and they told me to sit tight and if any other symptoms came about, to come down to triage.  Sounded like a plan.

I continued about my day, but around 5 pm I became extremely dizzy and light headed.  A call was placed once again to my doctor's office and Mr. SB and I made our way down to triage at our hospital.

**Side Note** Even though my water didn't break and I was no where near delivering, Mr. SB still treated our trip to the hospital as though I was in active labor.  He drove like a maniac, almost plowed over some poor old lady in the elevator with a walker (he claimed she blended into the wall) and I was told to "hurry up and walk faster."  I thought this was hilarious.

Once in triage, my blood pressure numbers were high.  Again, not extremely high, but worse than what they were.  For the first time ever my labs were slipping as well.  Kidney function was getting worse and my platelet numbers were dropping.  After surviving over 8 weeks since my diagnosis, pre e was starting to rear its ugly head.

I was admitted to the hospital for overnight observation and was sent first thing on Tuesday morning for a growth ultrasound.  Little SB was measured to be 6 lbs and 14 ounces at 35 weeks and 3 days.  I knew at that moment they were going to push for delivery.

After my ultrasound as I had predicted, a few doctors came in to talk to me about my options.  They recommended delivery.  My labs were getting worse and although I was not in danger yet, it was around the corner (pre e can go from mild to scary pretty quickly).  They said that if I wanted, I could stick it out in the hospital and see how much my body could take, but that was not worth the risk to me and my baby.  I agreed to go in for an induction and a few hours later I was whisked away to labor and delivery.

Stay tuned for my next installment :)

The story I'm not ready to tell

I'm sorry guys, I really want to finish my birth story for you.  There was so much crazy, and with 20-20 hindsight, too many regrets.  I wrote some more of it down on paper, but when I get close to the actual events, the fetal fibronectin test, my hospital stay, the late decels, the low heart rates where we thought we were going to lose him, the semi-emergent cesarean, the 3 weeks in the NICU - it just gets to be too much.

Last week I went to the doctor, finally.  After talking for a little while, she diagnosed my with PPD and PTSD.  She gave me recommendations of therapists, but right now no one I've called is accepting new patients.  I hope to come back and tell this story one day.  I feel like I need to.  But right now it just triggers too much anxiety.  I hope you understand.  I wish you all the best.
Teacher Bud.

Belated Birth Story, part 1

Howdy everyone! Long time no see. Sorry about that! As I said in my previous post way back in October, my November 11-11-11 baby decided that he wanted to be a September baby! Despite being 6w2d early, and 18 days in the NICU he is home and thriving! At almost 5 months he weighs about 14lbs! It won't be too long now before he triples his 5lb 4oz birth weight. 

Here is the start of my birth story. It's long (I started having contractions 5 days before he was born!) and I think I'll probably also give a summary of his nearly 3 weeks in the NICU before he came home too. So this will be a multi-post story as my farewell. Congrats to all the recent BFPs, and I hope for more soon!

Everything started the day after my 27th birthday. On my birthday, everything seemed fine. I went to work, came home, Mr. Teacher Bud and I went out to dinner, came home, and did a Grey's Anatomy Marathon. I felt huge, but it was perfect.

The next day was homecoming for Mr. Teacher Bud's College Alma Mater, and his 5 year reunion. We were running late (of course!) so he dropped me off to pick up our tickets, and went to park the car. I had 2 FULL water bottles with me (the big stainless steel kind, not a 20oz.) I slowly walked (waddled) the 2 blocks to the stadium, where I met up with Mr. Teacher Bud and some friends. Because we were late, the only seats were waaaaay up at the top of the bleachers. It was a struggle getting up there, let me tell you! It was one of those days, that was sweltering when the sun was on you, but it was also windy, and when the sun went behind a cloud it was down right cold. Sitting on bleachers is also not great when you are 33 weeks pregnant - no back =ouch!

Close to half time, I started having contractions. I assumed they were just Braxton-Hicks, and were probably because A) it was hot, and B) I had to pee. So I climbed down the bleachers and went to the bathroom. I had several more contractions, and man! Those suckers HURT! I stayed in the bathroom for a while, and got to 5 contractions before they finally stopped. (When I had had BH contractions over the summer, my midwives said to call if I had 6 or more in an hour.)

I went back to the bleachers, and told Dan, and we agreed to try to take is easy the rest of the day, but we weren’t too worried. We’d used up our worry with the BH in July! Our group of friends decided to leave the game after the halftime show and go walk around campus. As we were walking to the first building they wanted to visit, I had a few more contractions, but, I was outside of the previous hour. I had 2-3 while we were walking, so when I got to the building, I parked myself in a chair. I had 2 more contractions before they stopped. Again, only 5 in an hour. We sat for a half an hour before continuing on. After about 20-30 minutes on my feet, the contractions started again. Same pattern, 2-3, sit down, 2 more, stop. We had one more stop to make, and again, the same thing. I could make it 20 min on my feet before they would start.

At this point, we decided I would just stay out of the heat, sit, and drink lots of water for the rest of the day. We went to his reunion, and I had a few more contractions, but only maybe 5 more over the next 6 hours or so, as I stayed seated the whole time.

We decided that this was just my body’s way of telling me I was over doing it, and so I would just take in easy from now on. I stayed on the couch for all of Sunday, but still planned to go to work on Monday. I’m a teacher, so I stand a lot at work. Luckily, my 1^st hour was taking a test, so I could just sit, and my 2^nd and 3^rd hours had their final research day for their project, so I could mostly sit then too. I decided to change my afternoon plans a bit, and bring a movie incase I didn’t feel up to my original lesson plans.

Monday morning when I woke up, I felt like the baby had dropped. As I described it at the time – my boobs no longer rested on my stomach. I made an executive decision that my afternoon classes would DEFINITELY be watching that movie afterall, and debated calling my midwives. Throughout that morning I also had some tummy troubles. I was having repeated loose bowels, which I knew could be a sign that the body was clearing itself out for labor. That was the nail in the coffin – I was calling.

To be continued…

Baby BB has arrived!

Asher is here!



Asher arrived Friday, November 4 at 9:31 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 11 ½ oz. and was 22 inches long. I went into labor on Thursday around 6 pm. My contractions started around 7-10 minutes apart and at around 11 pm got to 5 minutes apart. We called my Sister-In-Law to come to our house and stay with the older kids. I called the midwife on call to ask her when she wanted me to come in. I could still walk and talk through the contractions but the midwives had advised me to come in as soon as I thought I was in real labor since we live an hour away from the hospital.

The midwife on call told me she wanted me to come in and at least get checked. Our bags were already packed so once Sister-In-Law arrived we left. My contractions were still 5 minutes apart.

When we arrived around 1 am I got wheeled up to the Alternative Birth Center (ABC) to be checked. I was at 5 cm so the nurse was calling my midwife in. Eric and I decided to walk to halls to see if we could get my contractions to pick up. We walked for about a half an hour before my midwife arrived. She said what we were doing was good and also suggested bouncing on the ball. I tried that when I got tired of walking but my contractions stayed 5 minutes apart.

My midwife suggested I try to rest while I could so Eric and I decided to sleep for a bit. It was hard to sleep because the nurse had to check Asher’s heart rate every half an hour. I think I ended up sleeping around 1 ½ hours. When I woke up around 5 am my midwife wanted to check me again and I was closer to 6 cm and 80% effaced. This was frustrating to me because my contractions were not picking up. I felt like I stalled and they would send me home. My midwife assured me she would not send me home because I was in labor.

My mom arrived around 7 am and Eric slept more while she and I talked and laughed while I alternated walking and bouncing on the ball. The first midwife left and my second midwife arrived. She said she would check me around two and suggested I try nipple stimulation to get things moving. I bounced on the ball in the shower for a while and it seemed to pick things up a bit.

My midwife checked me again around two and I was at 6-7 and still 80% effaced. I was definitely getting very frustrated at this point. A student midwife accompanied the midwife at this point and they suggested castor oil or breaking my water. Eric and I talked about it a little bit and I decided I’d rather have my water broken than deal with diarrhea and contractions. The student midwife attempted to break my water for about 5 minutes before I got angry and asked for someone who knows what they are doing to break it. My midwife broke my water around 3 pm Friday, on the first try and she said it was nice, clear fluid.

This is when things finally started to progress. My contractions came harder and stronger and I wanted to get into the tub. The nurse filled up the tub and I got in. I leaned against the side while Eric put a cold washcloth on my head and the student midwife poured water down my back. During my contractions I zoned out and relaxed, my mom and Eric both said I looked so peaceful. They were impressed with how I was handling my contractions.

Around 6:30 I wanted out of the tub because I was uncomfortable. I got out and had to go to the bathroom. Everyone helped me out and dried me off. I went to the bathroom and had a hard contraction. When I was done I wanted to lay down, I was so exhausted because I had been up over 24 hours. I got into the bed and this is where things get hazy. My midwife checked me again and I was at 8 cm, I was so mad because I was in serious pain by now. I started crying and lost my focus. Eric and my mom tried to calm me down.

My contractions were hurting so bad I started thrashing in the bed looking for any position to relieve the pain. My back never stopped hurting so even in between contractions I was in terrible pain.

This is when I started making noises and begging for drugs. My mom and Eric reminded me of all the reasons I wanted to have a natural birth, encouraged and praised me along with the midwives and nurses.

I decided to go to the bathroom again or maybe someone told me to, I can’t remember. I regained some of my focus in the bathroom and made it through a few contractions on the toilet and on the floor.

This is when I remember the most amazing nurse coming in to help. She came in and said “You CAN do this, you ARE doing this. Work with your body!” She gave me some motivation. I went back to the bed and soon I was ready to push. All the midwives (there were 3 now- the student, the midwife who had been there and another one to observe) were giving me ideas of how to push but they were not helping. Eventually my rock star nurse told them to let me figure it out. Once I did what I wanted things moved quickly. Eric said he was out in 10 pushes after that. My mom was at my back and Eric was ready to catch our baby.

I remember my mom telling me to look down and see the head. I opened my eyes and looked and that gave me more motivation. I was almost done. Finally I pushed his head out and with another contraction I pushed his body out. Eric immediately put the baby on me but forgot to check to see if we had a boy or a girl. He lifted baby’s leg and said “It’s a boy!” I was crying now and just looking down at this little person who I was so happy was out and here and mine.

He barely cried so I kept asking if he was okay, my midwives assured me he was. I held him and Eric and I stared at him deciding who he looked like. After the placenta was delivered my midwife told me I had a small, small tear and asked if I wanted stitches. She said I didn’t need one so I opted not to get one.

I was then able to attempt to nurse Asher. He latched on very well and it seemed like he ate and ate and ate.
Overall I had a good experience. I definitely could not have made it through without my husband, my mom and a supportive midwife team. I wanted to give up but they wouldn’t let me. I’m glad I made it through without any medications but mostly I am glad for a happy, healthy little boy. I love him SO much!

Thank you to everyone who read my story from TTC to the birth of my sweet little boy. I enjoyed being a part of a wonderful group of ladies who I wish all the best to in their journeys.

Goodbye for now,

Early Arrival

As it turns out, two of us here on Bloomin' Babies delivered on the same day. (HUGE congrats to Teacher Bud)

This is going to be long as its been an adventure the last two weeks, but I wanted to fill you all in on why I've been 'missing'.

On September 27th I went in for my weekly appointment. I was about 37.5 weeks. They did my vitals upon arrival. Blood pressure was up 10 points (140ish/80ish) range. Weight had jumped up 4 pounds in a week. Then my urine came back that I was spilling more protein. I was being watched prior to that appointment for signs of Pre-Eclampsia and it seems I was crossing over into officially having it. Since I was full term, my doctor decided it was go time to get the baby out of there. I had to call my husband from the doctors office (he was at work) and the doctor arranged for a non-emergency transport from her office to the hospital...a grand total of a half mile distance.

A few hours later I'm told that my cervix was starting to dilate on its own (went from 1 to 2.5 in that time period) and that Pitocin was the best option to start up labor. This is when I realized that things may not go as I'd hoped for this delivery. I'd hoped for as intervention-free as possible. With pitocin the baby has to be on monitors constantly, meaning I'd be pretty much restricted to however far the monitors could reach. Add to that the blood pressure cuff...and yeah, I was having to ring a nurse if I needed to use the restroom.

I continued to labor overnight with pitocin. Not much progress was made. I think I got to about a 3cm by 6am that morning. They gave me a little break from the pitocin, let me eat something for the first time since noon the day before (crackers and Jello have never tasted so good) and then we went back at it.

A prime example of my labor not going according to my birth plan. Taken at the end of labor, that's pitocin, magnesium, saline & antibiotics on the IV pole.

Sometime that afternoon (time is becoming a blur at this point), I get the "We need to either break your water and hope that jump starts labor or we need to proceed with a c-section" talk. I opted to have them break my water. Not the most comfortable thing for the record. Once the water was broken the relatively mild pitocin contractions I'd been having kicked into high gear. I went from being able to talk through the to scaring some poor student with the amount of pain I was in who was coming in to ask for permission ti study the placenta to help further understand Pre-E.

Not long after this point I was pretty much begging for an epidural. The pitocin induced contractions were one on top of the other and were really intense. Plus the nurses were having trouble getting my contractions on the monitors (to which I assured them I was having them as i writhed in pain) and getting an epidural would allow them to monitor them internally and start the dreaded magnesium drip. The epidural was wonderful and provided some much needed relief. Amid an occasional wave of nausea (thank you magnesium drip), I labored on. At this point I could feel the pressure as my cervix was dilated and occasionally I could feel break through pain of the contractions.

Sometime after 3pm the doctors started talking about checking me around 4pm to see how I was doing for progression. At this point I was starting to get the first signs of a fever courtesy of having my water broken. I remember chiming in that they might want to check me before then. I could feel him down really low. No urge to push, but I knew he was further than they seemed to think he was. I was right. I was at a 10 and it was go time.

The pushing stage is kind of a blur to me. I'd been laboring for 24+ hours at that point and was spiking a fever. I felt incredibly weak and remember telling them that I didn't know if I had the strength left in me to get him out. They must've believed me, because they called the vacuum guy in to take a look. He didn't end up helping out (I hadn't progressed far enough).

After that I started to get the hang of pushing. I was pretty much a train wreck...in addition to all the fun down below associated with delivery, I also puked for the first time in my entire pregnancy during the pushing phase. I'd like to blame the magnesium as a known side effect of it is nausea, but the truth is that sometimes women puke during labor. Kind of frustrating to make it to about 20 minutes before I'm no longer pregnant before tossing my cookies though...but it is what it is...

Dylan James joined our family on September 28, 2011 at 4:21PM. He weighed 6lb 2oz and was 19.39 inches long. He came out kind of bluish pink, the doctors say courtesy of the magnesium I had to be on (Apgars of 6 & 9) and had to be worked on a bit to get his lungs cleared. He also got a 4 hour stint in the NICU and 2 days of antibiotics courtesy of the infection I developed during delivery. Him being taken to NICU was so hard as I was stuck in L&D getting myself fixed up (2nd degree tear) in the meantime and couldn't leave. My husband went with him, but it was so hard to not be there...

We ended up with an extended 5 day stay in the hospital courtesy of my Pre-Eclampsia. My labs weren't coming back how they were supposed to and my blood pressure wouldn't drop. In fact, it wasn't until just yesterday after I'd been put on blood pressure meds that my BP has gotten back to normal. The extended stay in the hospital in some ways was a blessing as we had some breastfeeding issues to overcome. Due to the babies slightly early arrival, he didn't have the stamina to put much effort into feeding until my milk came in on Day 4. We actually had to supplement with formula some in the hospital for blood sugar reasons (fed by tube, not bottle), but we've since weaned off of that and are 100% breastfeeding now.

We're now at home and doing well aside from myself and the baby having a head cold.

Without further adieu, here are some pictures of our little man

Riding home from the hospital.

Posing for the camera yesterday.

He's here!

First photo. 

Baby Teacher Bud was born 6 weeks early.  Born 10:30pm Wednesday September 28th by (sort-of)-emergency cesarean at 33w5d. 

He's still in the NICU, but he's doing well.  His only real hurdle to coming own is being able to stay awake long enough to feed himself, and he is making improvement on that each day. More later. 

Baby Cherry Bud: A Birth Story

My sweet girl is catching some Z's in her swing, and I know the moment may be fleeting, so I thought I'd grab the opportunity to write down her birth story.

Monday morning (the day before my EDD), I went into work, feeling very tired and achy, but at 40 weeks, what else is new? I met the woman I will be teaching VPK with, managed to get some work done in my new classroom, and got at least slightly acquainted with the curriculum we will be using. All in all, I was considering it a very productive day. I was aching, especially in my back, but nothing too crazy.

Around 1:30, I was talking to another VPK teacher and suddenly felt a gush of fluid. Not like you see in the movies, where a woman is fine one minute and standing in a puddle the next, but a very definite...you know...gush. I must have made a sound, because the woman I was speaking to asked if I was alright, to which I responded with something to the effect (affect? I can never remember) of "I'm wet." She laughed and said "Oh, the joys of pregnancy." I shook my head and said "I don't think it's pee".

I say very dignified things under pressure, obviously.

I ran to the bathroom to discover that I was, indeed, wet, that it was not, in fact, pee, and that I was slowly continuing to leak fluid. Thank goodness for corduroy, which, until last Monday, I did not know was so wonderfully absorbent. It sounds gross, but it also kept me from looking like I wet myself as I went down to my classroom to collect my things and then informed my boss that I would be leaving early. I had to turn down several offers to be driven home, assuring everyone that I wasn't even having real contractions yet and that I was fine. I called Mr. CB on the way home to give him the update, and within ten minutes, was walking in my front door and changing into comfier (and less damp) clothes.

Contractions started within half an hour, and were about 10 minutes apart, maybe 30 seconds long. They hurt, but nothing I couldn't talk through and handle pretty easily. I was already prepared for a long night, so when ten minutes apart turned into seven within two hours, I was surprised. When that became only three by 5PM, I was incredibly surprised. At this point, contractions were taking some serious concentration to get through. Mr. CB was being amazing, being there if I needed him, letting me handle it on my own if I didn't. I spent most of the time walking around my living room and kitchen, swaying and rocking to help deal with the pain.

My mom called (or maybe I called her. I truly don't remember) around 5:30, and I gave her the update. Contractions three minutes apart, about 1 minute long. Still manageable, but no joke on the pain scale. She was getting worried that we were going to deliver our girl on the side of the road, we assured her that no such thing was going to happen, and that we would leave by six if things continued to progress the way they had been.

At six, I was holding strong at three minutes apart, but contractions had begun to double-peak occasionally, and Mr. CB made the executive decision that it was time to head to the hospital. Contractions slowed down considerably once we hit the road, but were still every four or five minutes apart and strong. We got checked in, triaged, and put in a room within about half an hour. I was a bit disappointed when my triage nurse told me I was only 4cm, but was very happy with 90% effaced and -1 station. The nurses were all very sweet about keeping me off the monitors as much as possible, not hooking me up to fluids, letting me walk around and pretty much just leaving me be. Contractions were staying slowed down (every five minutes), but I wasn't terribly worried.

And then.

My doctor had asked that I consent to being on the monitor twenty minutes for every hour I was off. I felt I was getting the better end of this compromise and agreed. Around 8:30 PM, I was on the monitor, and my doctor came in to check me. I was excited to hear if I had made any progress and also to get off the dang monitors when she said the thing I least wanted to hear.

"That's not a head."

Breech. Awesome. The sweet girl for whom I had prepared a lovely natural birth with no drugs, no pitocin...apparently had other plans. Unfortunately, the only doctor in my city who will deliver a breech baby vaginally is the head of obstetrics at our local teaching hospital. Which I wasn't at. I'm not really sure what would have happened if I had just refused the C-section, but at that point, I really didn't have the energy to negotiate or argue, and, to be fair, while I had researched the heck out of birth, breech delivery was something that I was so, so sure wouldn't happen that I didn't do my research, and I wasn't informed enough to feel comfortable insisting upon a vaginal delivery.

I cried, I bargained with God, I went through a quick five stages of grief, and then accepted that this was happening, and that my baby was going to come into the world via Cesarean.

I didn't realize how afraid I was until they wheeled me back to OR(around 9:45). Mr. CB wasn't allowed into the room until my spinal had taken effect, and I was shaking uncontrollably. My nurse, whose name was Jill, was beyond amazing. She held my hand and assured me that she wouldn't let the anesthesiologist surprise me with the needle. (at my request. I was running out of rational at this point). Let me just say that, while I have full confidence in the fact that, had Baby CB been head down, I would have made it through labor without drugs, that spinal was AMAZING. I was mid-contraction when it was started, and the contraction just went away. So wonderful.

They laid me back, prepped me, and brought in Mr. CB. He kept telling me "You're ok." and rubbing the top of my head. I seldom get sappy, but I really do think that what got me through the fear of surgery was keeping my eyes on Mr. CB, on how calm he was and how seemingly free of fear. I found out later that he was absolutely terrified, but he stayed so strong for me.

At 10:16, My doctor asked me "Ok, are you ready?", and we heard our little girl cry for the first time. I remember telling her "Oh, honey, it's ok, don't cry." and asking Mr. CB how she looked. They did all her statistics (7lbs, 15 oz, 20in long), then brought her over so I could meet my girl for the first time.They took her to the nursery to do her vitals while they stitched me back together. Mr. CB stayed with her, but made sure I was the first one to hold her. He didn't even hold her before I did. Getting to meet her, really meet her, was the most amazing moment of my life. I spent the next hour telling her how perfect and amazing and beautiful she was.

We went home Wednesday afternoon, and have spent the last week learning to be a family of three. Baby CB is nursing like an absolute champ, and Mr. CB is being the most amazing daddy I have ever seen.

A C-section was not what I had planned, and I think there is definitely some grief that goes along with not having the birth you envision, but I labored from 1:30 to 9:45 drug-free, apparently (I was told later) impressing the heck out of my doctor and nurses, and I got my daughter out of it, who is truly the biggest blessing I could have asked for.

Thank you all for sharing this journey from pre-conception to delivery with me.

Much Love,
Cherry Bud, Mr. CB, and Baby Cherry Bud

Baby Makeup Bud's Birth Story

First, let me apologize about this taking so long. Life with a LO, your own business, and finding your way after such a huge life changing event has been harder than I thought! Here's my birth story...

After my failed induction the week prior as well as my zero-progress & regression news at my appointment on the 29th, we scheduled a c-section for 12/1 for a few different reasons (blood pressure was rising after my failed induction, dr didn't want me going over 41 weeks, and I was full term).

We went in at 5:30am and was sent right up to L&D for admittance. It was so amazing, my L&D/OR Nurse got my IV in the first try - which compared to my visit last week where they stuck me FIVE times before they got it, was awesome. After all the boring admit stuff, at 7:30 I walked in to the OR with sweaty palms and a pretty high heart rate from being nervous.

They sat me on the table, put a really warm blanket on my shoulders and my Doctor stood in front of me holding my shoulders & rubbing them. He gave me a little pep talk, telling me how great of a mommy I've been thus far and we're only minutes away from having our baby boy in our hands finally - that got my heart rate down quickly. He then started talking about his trip to Cabo (the next day!) that he was taking their whole office to. We got to talking about Jamaica and our honeymoon last year... all this was happening while the anesthesiologist (who was AMAZING) was injecting the numbing needles in my back - which was what I was most scared of.

After a few tries with placement the anesthesiologist finally got my spinal in and within a minute my toes were tingly and warm. I laid down on the table and it took about 10 minutes to go completely numb. 7:46am is when they made the incision and at 8:08am our beautiful baby boy was born! It went by really fast between my hubby and the anesthesiologist talking me through what was happening and just talking about random things. He was wedged up under my ribs still, so high the assisting Dr had to really push him down to get him out.

I could hear Baby MB's first cry as soon as they pulled his head through the incision. My heart MELTED and at that very moment, our world changed forever. He had a strong cry, too! They took him straight to the warmer after giving us a first glance and he cried a little bit as the nurses were cleaning him up. I started talking to him and calling his name (we did this a lot during pregnancy) and he turned his head in my direction right away. They put him on my chest and we snapped a few photos.

Mr MB and Baby MB went to the nursery for all his weigh-in, stats, and vitals while I got put back together and stitched up. It took about 20 minutes to get stitched & stapled (about 30 staples) and then I was off to the recovery room for about an hour. I couldn't wait to see my LO so that hour went by pretty slow.

Once I was done in recovery I was taken to our room and finally got to truly hold him. We tried breast feeding right away and boy was he hungry! He latched on right away.

Recovery from the c/s hasn't been too bad. I took what many people told me very seriously - stay on top of the pain meds and don't try to be super woman. I've been on 800mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours and I alternated tylenol and oxycodone between those every 6 hours. The first day after the surgery was rough getting up and moving around so I took it pretty easy.

Our doctors were quite proud!

one of his first photos!

And a few photos from his first two months:

Making Funny Faces

First Christmas!

Smiles!

One of our fave cloth diapers!

Thank you so much to everyone who gave support and lent prayers through my pregnancy. There were some scary moments, but it was all worth it. If you'd like, you can follow me to my personal blog to read and see more about Baby Makeup Bud.

Caden's 62 Hour Birth Story

After having weeks of uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions, I sailed right past my due date of Dec. 22 and into the 41st week of pregnancy. By the time I arrived at the hospital radiology lab for a biophysical profile at 40w6d, I was pretty done being pregnant. So when my midwife suggested we start an induction that day for the low fluid that showed up on the ultrasound, I happily agreed.

We were admitted around noon on Tuesday, and settled into a room in labor and delivery. My husband had to go home with a list of items I wrote on the fly, since I had no idea I’d be going in for an ultrasound and not coming out.

In the first hour of monitoring on the fetal heart rate monitor, the baby had a heart rate deceleration. They gave me oxygen and had me lay on my side, and he recovered. But as a result, the midwife changed her course of action. Instead of giving me Cytotec to ripen my cervix, she wanted to try a Foley catheter instead. Her reasoning: The catheter could be removed if the baby was in distress, but the Cytotec couldn’t.

So I spent the first night with a Foley catheter in my cervix, hoping it would fall out, since falling out would mean I was 4 cm dilated. It didn’t. I awoke the next morning and started a Pitocin drip, then sat in bed all day and waited for contractions. They didn’t arrive, and at dinnertime I was still 3 cm. The 2nd night I asked for Cytotec but was given Cervadil instead – again because of the baby’s HR decels – and awoke to day 3 still only 3 cm dilated. So back on the Pitocin I went for another whole day of nada.

By 4 p.m. Thursday I was in tears. DH and I were bored out of our minds. The nurse came in, and I asked if perhaps my body was resistant to Pitocin. She just told me to be patient, which was frustrating to hear at that point. But the frustration didn’t last long – around 5 p.m. I started having hard, painful contractions that put me on my knees within minutes.

I lasted about an hour through the Pitocin-amped contractions before begging for an epidural. It had been my plan to go natural, but I was in so much pain there was no way I could continue. The epidural insertion process was probably the hardest and most uncomfortable part of my labor, mainly because I was experiencing terrible contractions throughout and had to remain perfectly still. Once it was in, it was pure relief.

About 4 hours after getting the epidural, I was checked again for progress and was fully dilated. I had gone from 4cm to 10cm in the course of an evening! It was the best news ever. Because I still couldn’t feel a thing, the midwives had me wait a few more hours until it was time to push. We sat there, rested and talked, and waited to meet our little boy.

At 2:30 a.m. the midwives came in and told me it was go time. I was still completely numb, which made it difficult, because I couldn’t feel the contractions, and couldn’t really feel myself pushing. I had to watch the contraction monitor, and feel my belly with my hands to know when to push. And with every push, the baby’s heart rate decelerated.

Because of the continuing decels, they brought in an OB, who advised me that the baby had to come out in the next hour, or they’d have to do a c-section. I very much wanted to avoid a c-section, mainly because I didn’t want to stay in the hospital any longer than I already had. So I agreed to try a vacuum-assisted delivery, and was given three contractions to get him out with the vacuum.

Pretty soon I was almost out of my “chances”. A pediatrician was in the back of the room now, and assorted other medical personnel, ready to take me for a c-section. On my very last push, at 3:43 am on New Year’s Eve, Caden John Gilbert came into the world. He was 7lb 4oz, 21.5” long, and perfect.

Even though it took 41w3d and a 62 hour induction to get him here, it was worth every minute. All in all, I was only “in pain” for that one hour before I got the epidural. I didn’t feel anything while pushing, and needed 3 stitches for internal tears, but didn’t feel those either. My recovery has been fast and easy, and Caden is now 9lb 1oz on the eve of his 3 week birthday.

Natural.... not: A Birth Story

To the readers of Bloomin’ Babies:

Thank you.

Thank you for standing by me. I was the first infertile to blog regularly here and the support I received from the readers and fellow bloggers was invaluable to my survival. You allowed me to be myself. To vent, to cry, to rejoice and to mourn. With you, I found out I was broken, there was hope, hope was lost, I could have faith, faith could fail me, it actually worked, I lost my twin baby, Smudge could flourish, Smudge was stubborn… and now, finally, Smudge is here.

And SHE is wonderful.

This will be my last post here at Bloomin’ Babies. If you’d care to follow my family’s continuing story, you are welcome to email me and I can send you an invite to our private blog.

But for now – this is how it all went down. The end of a saga, the beginning of a perfect lifetime.

I can’t believe this was 2 weeks ago. It feels like a lifetime ago. Things have been hectic and crazy since delivering our peanut. So, I’m sorry this was delayed at all.

This is Anna’s birth story. I call it “Natural, Not”.

My 40 week appointment was fairly uneventful. My OB wanted to discuss a 41 week induction, because she’d be going out of town, but we decided that we’d simply try every old wives tale in the book, and take our chances with whoever would be covering for her if I didn’t go before then. She was happy with my progress at the appointment anyway. I was at 2cm and 40% effaced.

I did acupuncture that afternoon, step 1 in our 2 step acu-induction process. My acupuncturist gave me a list of things to do to move things along. I decided to do ALL of them. So, for dinner, we planned on a big meal, with some basil, fresh garlic, etc. I cut out the red raspberry leaf tea and was going to go walk the mall, as had become regular activity for me, after dinner.

We went out for dinner to a local hamburger place, and as we were standing up after paying the bill (at 6:45pm), I felt a gush. I looked at Mr. DB and said “um, I have to go to the bathroom – I think my water just broke”. Upon going to the bathroom, there was no question. The rest of my mucous plug (which had been coming out slowly in pieces all week) was in the toilet. My water was clear (thankfully – buying me some time to stay home). I stuffed some toilet paper in my underwear and went back out to my husband. The manager was bussing our table, and I asked her if by any chance she had a maxi pad I could have to get me home, explaining that my water had just broken. We settled on some clean kitchen towels that they wouldn’t need back. And we went home. On the way, I called my doula and my OB to keep them in the loop.

My OB said that if things didn’t get started on their own, she wanted me in the hospital by 6am for a pit induction. Knowing how much I wanted that to happen, my doula recommended that I take some castor oil.

I did.

I won’t do that again.

For a good amount of time, I don’t know what was worse: the abdominal pain or the contractions – but it did get the contractions started, and once they started, they didn’t stop.

Contractions started around 11pm. They were dreadful immediately. (I didn’t know it at the time, but the baby had flipped posterior at some point during the day, and I was having god awful “back labor”.) Fairly quickly they were less than 2 minutes apart, but slowing down if I was lying on the sofa. We called the doula, and she came to the house. For the next few hours she got me through some tough labor. Eventually, we thought I was nearing transition, and the clock was nearing rush hour. With the hospital 40 minutes away, we decided to leave around 6am.

Once we got to the hospital, finding out I was only 4cm was a blow, but at least I was there and 80% effaced.

Things got worse though. Very quickly, the contractions became unbearable. At this point I had been awake for more than 24 hours. My coping mechanisms weren’t really helping; the shower was barely taking the edge off… I eventually asked for a dose of morphine. It did nothing. The contractions were on top of each other with no breaks at all in between. I was only 7-8cm, but 100%. The baby was still high.

At 10:30 I made the decision, and asked for the epidural. I realized that even if I made it to 10cm on my own, I wasn’t going to have enough energy to push. I was exhausted. I needed help.

Once I got the epidural, things were sort of a blur. I was able to get some sleep. By 2:30pm, I was 10cm, and by 3pm, I was ready to push. They turned down the epi, and I was able to push squatting, which was the most comfortable position for me. All together, I pushed for 4 hours. At one point, they did put me on pit, because my contractions were slowing down, and they were hoping to make them more organized and effective.

Right before 8pm, I was still pushing. They could see the top of the baby’s head. Then the decels started. I was completely unaware of them. But the next thing I knew I was on my left side with an oxygen mask on my face and my OB was telling me they had to take her NOW. Within 5 minutes, I was in the OR and at 8:16pm, despite a 21 hour labor and 26 hours ruptured… despite a complete placental abruption (explaining the decels), Anna Renee was born at 8:16pm measuring in at 18 in and 5 lbs 8 oz.

In the Recovery Room

Birth Announcement

Our road since Anna’s birth has been as rocky as the path she took to get here. She has bilateral hip dysplasia, with a dislocated right hip and subluxed left hip. She has to wear a pavlik harness for 6-12 weeks. She’s being seen at CHOP, which is the best place for her. Additionally, the day her daddy went back to work, she choked on some breast milk and is now on an apnea monitor for a month. Lastly, we had our neonatal follow up with the cardiologist. Anna does have a small ventricular septal defect, and we’ll be following up with her again in a month.

So, if you’ve made it this far, please continue to think of us and keep Anna in your thoughts and prayers.

This is Dandelion Bud, signing off.

So this is what happens when you make plans...my birth story

I had so many plans. Plans to have final lunch dates with girlfriends & co-workers. Plans to do some final baby shopping & some final tidying up around the house. Plans to enjoy the final few weeks of my pregnancy with Mr. Worry Bud. Plans to attend a close friend's bachlorette party on October 16th (they went on a wine tour earlier in the day & were gonna do pizza & movies at the bride's house, so I was gonna attend that part). We also had a final baby shower being thrown for us by Mr. WB's co-workers on October 21st. And I even volunteered to act as team leader for my boss who is going out of town for the last couple of weeks in October...we had just talked about it on the morning of Wednesday, October 13th & he asked if I was sure since the time I was volunteering to act on his behalf was only literally days from my due date. I was SO sure I told him..."there's no way Baby Worry Bud is coming before the end of October," I said. And that very same night my water broke & the next day, our little girl arrived!

Now that I've been a mommy for a little over 2 weeks now & things are starting to settle down just a little bit, I decided to finally sit down & write out my full birth story. This is gonna be LONG & very detailed {meaning TMI, reader discretion is advised} because I want to have the whole thing documented for me to be able to come back & read later on, so bear with me.

I went to work on October 13th & everything seemed normal enough. I was 36 weeks & 4 days pregnant...Mr. WB & I had started carpooling so just in case I went into labor at work, then Mr. WB would be able to pick me up & drive me to our hospital. But that day, I rode the metro (my area's local public transit rail - my job subsidizes the cost of it) because Mr. WB stayed home to telework (I switched my telework day that week due to a mandatory meeting). Now if you aren't from the a highly populated city, then it's important for me to note that everyone walks FAST to get on & off the trains and up & down the escalators, etc. So I got a decent amount of exercise in that day because I power walked in the morning & afternoon while commuting...not sure if that is important to my story or not, just my hypothesis, LOL. Anywho, I had a normal day at work, no real contractions to speak of. I had been having a couple of Braxton Hicks contractions the weekend before & that day as well. Not enough to be alarmed or call the doctor or anything, maybe 3-4 a day since the previous Saturday. I got home at my normal time - around 6pm & changed into more comfortable clothes. It was a really nice evening, so we planned to grill some pork chops that night. Mr. WB was out on the deck getting the grill ready & I was relaxing on the couch in my normal spot. :) Then, as I was watching TV, waiting to get started cooking, I felt this pop & gush around 6:45pm'ish. And I immediately stood up to get off the couch. I hadn't sneezed or coughed or anything, but I was in denial that my water had broke, so I just figured I lost control of my bladder randomly for some odd reason. Well, that was NOT the case at all!

I went to our powder room to try & pee & just see if that's what was going on. I said to Mr. WB, "The weirdest thing just happened to me..." He said, "What?" And I said, "I think my water just broke." Then he said, "Stop playing!!?!" So I told him I wasn't kidding & I made him come in the bathroom to check where the "water" was coming from (I had peed & then when I was done the gushing had not stopped - it would gush then stop, then gush again & I could feel that it wasn't coming from the same place pee comes from, haha). He checked & said, "Ummm, yeah that's definitely not pee!" So then he started getting excited & frantic at the same time, saying let's go to the hospital...NOW! I told him to calm down & then I remembered what my OB said at my 36 week appointment - she said if 1 of 3 things happened, then to call the Dr.'s office before heading to the hospital. One of those 3 things was my water breaking, so I had him call my OB instead while I cleaned up in the bathroom & then I put on a heavy pad & went upstairs to finish packing my bag for the hospital. I had never finished doing it! I planned to finish it during the upcoming weekend, but clearly that was too late! It was after office hours, so we left a voice mail for my Dr. & finished throwing stuff in my bag while waiting on the Dr. to call back. The baby's bag was packed already at least. :)  It's important to note here for all you other 1st time moms, I had NEVER lost my mucus plug or had a bloody show that I read so much about while pregnant.  My water just broke while I was resting on the couch with no warning. I did notice a light amount of blood on my pad that I changed once more before heading to the hospital, but otherwise, I didn't have any of the other labor warning signs. When my Dr. called back, she asked me a bunch of questions to try & ascertain if my water had broken & she agreed that it probably had, so she told me to come to the hospital to get checked out - not to rush because it was not an emergency since we had 24 hours to deliver the baby after my water broke to prevent infection.   So Mr. WB walked the dog & I put some food down for him. We got everything together, Mr. WB packed up my SUV & we headed out. I wish I had eaten something because once I got to the hospital, they didn't allow me to eat ANYTHING but ice chips. And I was SO hungry after a while.

On the way to the hospital I called my sister, dad, mom, Mr. WB called his mom & I texted a few close friends to let them know what was going on. I'll never forget that car ride. I think I was still in denial that it was happening right then. Mr. WB & I talked about how we felt about the baby coming so soon - excited, nervous, scared, happy...just a flood of a lot of emotions. So we got to the hospital & went up to labor & delivery (L&D) & they were ready for me because my Dr. had already told them I'd be coming in. They put me in a triage room (which was empty) to check me in, ask me some questions & I think the original plan was to do a test to ensure my water had, in fact, broken, but all the nurse checking me in did was take one look & she knew that it had. I wasn't in triage for long - they moved me to my labor, delivery & recovery (LDR) room shortly after (around 8:30pm), which was big & spacious. My Dr. came in shortly after to check in on me & we discussed my wishes during the birth. I told her I wanted an epidural, but not until I was at least 4-5 cm dilated. She checked my cervix & I was only 1 cm dialated, and since I wasn't really having any good contractions on my own, she said she wanted to give me a low dose of pitocin to see if it would help me progress.

The pitocin started working & it was rough - I mean ROUGH! Like the worst pain I ever remember feeling in my life. I was literally loosing my effing MIND. When I was about 2-3 cm dilated, I asked for a narcotic pain killer to help me manage the pain for a while longer before asking for the epidural. I was scared the epidural would slow down my labor, so I tried to wait it out. The pain killer they gave me in my IV (forgot the name) helped for like a minute, lol. It made me feel nice...between contractions, which were coming about every 5-7 minutes or so at this point, so I took little cat naps between them. The pain killer didn't work for long though. My contractions started to get more & more painful & closer together. I'm talking nobody touch me, grabbing on the bed rails, shaking all over, moaning in agony pain. When my Dr. came to check me again, I was close to 4 cm dilated & she asked if she could talk me into the epidural now & I said YES PLEASE. I had previously told Mr. WB not to let me get a epidural until I was at least 4-5 cm, so he innocently reminded me about that & I told him I literally didn't care what I said before, I needed this epidural! So the Dr. ordered it & it took the anesthesiologist an hour & a half to get to me. Apparently it was a really busy night for births, but sheesh I thought I was gonna loose my mind waiting on him! I was having contractions so closely together - about 1.5-2 minutes apart, so they kept coming while the anesthesiologist was placing the epi. I had to stay SO still, which was hard with all the pain I was in. Anywho, I got my epi around 4am & could only feel it in my right side at first & I thought I was gonna be one of those people you read about that still feel labor in one side after getting the epi. But my nurse told me to lay on my left side for a little while & see if that helped...it did, thank goodness. :)

It took about 10-15 minutes for the full effect of the epi to kick in, then I was all good. Numb from the waist down, so I didn't feel much by way of contractions after that. It was so nice to get a break from those contractions, whew. After that I went to sleep for a couple of hours & woke up around 6:30 am or so. My {new} nurse (they had changed shifts in the middle of the night) checked me & I was 9 cm! She called my Dr. who came in & told me that I'd probably start pushing in about an hour or two, so she told me to call my mom & sister, who were going to be in the room while I was pushing. I called them both & told them when to be at the hospital. By 7:30 am my sister had arrived, but my mother decided to go run an errand before coming to the hospital, lol. Just like my mom!! Ugh. Well by that time I could literally feel the baby's head on my pelvic bone. I told the nurse that I felt like her head was about to literally fall out of me, so she checked me & she was like "oh yeah, she's right there & your 10 cm, 100% effaced!" So she called my Dr. & told me to do a practice push, which I did & she told me to stop & not to push anymore until my Dr. arrived. She said that the baby was right there & ready to come with just a few pushes. By the time my Dr. arrived my mom was STILL not there, so she asked if I wanted to wait for her. My sister had just called to see where she was & she said she was turning into the hospital campus, so I said that I didn't want to wait any longer. I figured by the time she got there the baby wouldn't be out anyways. After a few pushes {about 5 min.}, my mom finally arrived & by that time I had gotten the hang of pushing. I pushed for maybe 10 more minutes for 10 seconds each time & she slid right out @ 8:10 am! They laid her right on my tummy & Mr. WB cut the umbilical cord. I cuddled her for a few seconds until they took her over to get cleaned up, measured, weighed, etc. She was so beautiful & cried right away! She got APGARs of 8 & then 9 & weighed in at 4 pounds 13 ounces & was 17.5 inches long. A teeny tiny little miracle - our sweet little baby girl!

And while they worked on her, my Dr. delivered the placenta, which I asked to see - [TMI ALERT] looked kinda like a redish purplish octopus, and sewed me up - I had a minor tear. The placenta was sorta gross & amazing all at the same time...my child had received everything she needed from me through that thing while growing away inside of me? The miracle of childbirth & God. Simply amazing.

After I got all cleaned up, my dad & little sister came by to visit & see the babe before I was moved to my post-partum room. And that's my birth story!

Although she was small & technically pre-term, she was really healthy, but had a little trouble maintaining a normal body temp & she had some jaundice. Due to her bilirubin levels/jaundice, she had to stay in the hospital one additional day for photo-therapy, which was scary for me & made me sad, but was best for her in the end. And I think it looked much worse than it actually was - I think she liked the warm lights & she did excellent sleeping under them:

 My poor baby! It looks worse than it was, she was pretty calm under the lamps (the nurse told me it was 85 degrees & comfy under the lights). It's just scary seeing your 3 day old baby with those "sunshades" on in that big incubator.

We are still adjusting to being parents & caring for a newborn is much more hectic than we both expected, but we are loving every minute of it! I am not saying goodbye just yet though, I still have a couple more posts in me - one of which will be What I learned being KU... the 3rd Tri Edition!

And for kicks, here are my final two sets of bump shots @ 35 & 36 weeks (in chronological order):