welcome to the world baby boys (part 1)

I know that I have been MIA the past three and a half weeks. I’ve had two specifically good reasons…but I do apologize. I know I’ve waited, with baited breath, for other bloggers I read to post their birth stories, and I’ve never had to wait three and a half weeks (I’m not assuming you’ve been waiting with baited breath, but…I’m just saying it’s taken me a while).

So…here goes the birth story –

I was on medication to keep contractions at bay until I reached 35 weeks. I got to 35 weeks without going into labor thanks to procardia. That was Monday, January 30. Almost immediately after the medication left my system, I started having regular braxton-hicks contractions. They were not painful, but I was timing them and they were 5-8 minutes apart. I was supposed to call my Dr. when they were consistently 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. So, I didn’t call.

Both the hubs and I thought I was going into labor and we both slept TERRIBLY that night. I kept trying to time my contractions around sleep, my snoring was so bad the hubs couldn’t sleep in the same room as me (at this point everything on my body was so swollen, I was on anti-biotics for an ear infection, and even my teeth had shifted so that my bite felt weird and not good…that has since all cleared up almost immediately after the birth), neither of us got any sleep at all. I had a scheduled Dr. appt on Tuesday at 8am, so when it was time, we got up and went to the Dr.

By this point, we had packed the car, thinking that we might be sent straight to the hospital. I knew I was contracting a lot. That was confirmed at the non-stress test that morning…I was contracting every 3 minutes. Still all of these contractions were painless. I had to really pay attention to make sure I knew I was having one.

The Dr. checked my cervix and I was still only dilated 1 cm. I was sent home with instructions to be still and try to wait everything out. If we could get to 36 weeks, that would be great.

The hubs took the day off of work and we both slept most of the day. I was so uncomfortable and huge that I literally laid on the couch all day long. Still contracting those painless contractions.

We go to bed and take a glorious sleeping pill that had been prescribed to me for insomnia during pregnancy. Slept the most fabulous sleep. Woke up the next morning, moved to the couch and fell asleep again.

At this point, I’m still working for the architecture firm (not yet on maternity leave) and my phone rings with one of our clients that I was doing some work for. He’s explaining an additional building he wants for his project, when about halfway through our conversation, I start to feel uncomfortable during contractions. I try to diligently take notes and go ahead and put it all in an email to my boss to make sure he gets everything. I just have a feeling it’s going to happen that day. Wednesday…02.01.12. The last line in my email reads, “I think I’m going into labor, so I won’t be available the rest of the day.” I love how I wrote “the rest of the day”, instead of something like, “the next three months”!

I immediately get in the bath tub and the hubs fixes me something to eat. I knew I wouldn’t be eating the rest of the day. For some reason, I knew this would happen quickly. They had been ready to come out since 30 weeks, and now, they weren’t going to take their time.

I spent about 2 hours in the bath tub and called my Dr. She told me to come on in…

By this point, the contractions were getting stronger and pretty quickly. The hubs kept on asking me questions and trying to get things together before we left, but I could not answer him. The only thing I wanted to do was to lay face down on our bed with my feet still flat on the floor with my belly hanging down. It didn’t really feel good, but it gave me a chance to breath and calm down.

When we get to the Dr’s office, I am 4 cm dilated. She even knew I was going to come in that day, so she had called the hospital that morning to let them know. After this point, everything was a blur until I got the epidural (at a previous Dr appt, my Dr told me she was requiring me to get an epidural. I protested for a bit, but she told me that because Baby B was still breech, I might have to deliver him breech. If that were to be true, she would need me 100% with her mentally and she could not count on that unless I had an epidural. I understood. And in some ways I was glad that I didn’t have to make that decision).

We got to the hospital and I was basically having one long contraction. There was no break in between. I had just been tested the day before for Strep B and they hadn’t gotten the results back yet, so I was put on an antibiotic just in case. Because of this, they actually had to slow my labor down. My Dr. waited to break my water until the second round of anti-biotics was administered. As soon as I got to the hospital I really wanted the epidural. I couldn’t walk around or change positions because I was so big. It honestly had nothing to do with the fact that I was on the monitors. Even if I hadn’t been on the monitors I wouldn’t have been able to walk around. I could barely walk before I went into labor.

My mom came in and she and the hubs started talking and I had to send her out because I could not stand to hear anyone talking. I needed it quiet. I needed to concentrate. At this point, still, I was having one long contraction.

The anesthesiologist got there (not sure how long it took, but I don’t think it was very long) and he was fantastic. He was in complete support of a vaginal delivery. He wanted to make sure I could still move and have control over my legs so I could feel what was going on when the time came. Everyone there was super supportive of natural childbirth and mom’s wishes. It was great.

I’m going to pause to give you a break. The next part is the most exciting! But, I’ll leave you with a picture taken one day before their 3 week birthday.