Mom of Boys

I’ve been writting this now for 2 days…   Haha!

Saturday was a day of determination.   Caleb was with my mom and step dad for the weekend and Marcus and I walked ALL day long (and I really mean all day…) so that we could maybe jump start some things, but contractions never even started.   (not even BH…)   I was kind of dissapointed…   I went to lay down in bed that night around 11:30 and not too long after that, I felt my underwear get a little wet.   Not a lot… just a little.   I’ve been leaking a lot of mucus though, so I didn’t think too much of it.   I went to the bathroom and there was no mucus.. just a small puddle.   I wasn’t sure if it was my water or not.   It’s funny cause my water slowly leaked and trickled with Caleb and I wasn’t sure at first either…   So, I waited before calling my doctor.   I called my mom though and she headed over.   By the time she got to my house, I was sure that it was my water that was leaking.   I called my doctor around 12:30 and told him that it hadn’t gushed, but it was leaking.   He wasn’t really convinced, and told me to wait at home a couple of hours until labor got started and then head to the hospital.   So while we waited, we made some phone calls and we had some people head over.   (Marcus’s mom, my aunt, my grandmother, and my mom were all planning to be in the delivery room…   I know… crazy…   wasn’t really my idea, but it worked out fine…)

I tried to rest a little but I was too anxious.   Contractions never really started.   I felt some, but nothing painful and nothing too regular either.   We headed to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.   We got all checked into our room and I got hooked up to the monitors.   By 7:30 I was only at 4-5 centimeters but it showed on the monitor that I was having regular contractions even though I couldn’t feel them too much.   Throughout the morning, I started to feel them more and more…

At 11:15, the doctor came in.   He checked me and I was still only 4-5 centimeters dialated and he wantd to start pitocin.   I really didn’t want to, but I was tired, and I didn’t want to be in L&D for an entire day…   So, we started the pitocin drip at 11:35.   It only took 15 minutes for the contractions to start coming fast and HARD!   OMG!!!   I tried to wait as long as I could before asking for the epidural.   They had already hooked me up to the IV that morning, so everything was set to go when I needed it.   I told our family that they better go eat lunch, cause things would speed up soon…   Around 12:30 I was having contractions every minute and a half or so…   I was crying and I told Marcus that I needed the epi… I would have pushed the nurses button, but he ran out to tell her… lol

So, the doctor comes in to check me and I was at a 6-7 and he gave the approval for the epidural.   The anesthesiologist came in and I really didn’t hear anything that he said… I just nodded my head and signed on the line…   I was so scared when he started!!!   I had 5 HARD contractions while he was giving me the epidural and they kept saying to stay completely still…   Which was really hard to do….   (Marcus was the only one in the room with me at this point…   )   So… got my epidural at 1:20 and it did relieve SOME of the pain, but I still felt a lot of pressure below and with every contraction, the pressure got worse and the pain was minimal, but also got slowly worse with every contraction.   I heard the doctor say, that the reason why was that the babies head was turned and he was stuck… but once I got my epidural, his head turned and he dropped right down.  

Around 2:20, everyone who should have been there was back… (Marcus, mom, Marcus’s mom, my aunt, and my grandmother…)   I felt like I had to pee REALLY bad and I told the nurse… “I think I have to push!!”   She ran to get the doc and I sat through two contractions… trying not to push… until he came in ready to go.   I pushed for 15 minutes and he was born at 2:40.   7 lbs 14 oz, 20 and 7/8 inches long.   His apgars were 8 and 9…   I cried until they brought him to me… Not from the pain, but just the overwelming feeling of Love that I all of a sudden had!   It was just wonderful to be able to share the experience with everyone there.  

We came home after the first day because I thought I’d be able to sleep better in my own bed.   I was wrong…   Haha!   Alec slept fine in the hospital.   I think he would actually sleep through the night if I let him.   I’ve waken him up after 4 hours of sleep so that I could feed him.   Last night we came home and he would NOT sleep in the pack n play that we had set up next to our bed.   Everytime I brought him to bed with me to feed him, he fell asleep, and I would move him back over… and he would wake up and cry… so… He just slept with me and I did not sleep much…   I just watched him….   I’m finding it amazing how some of these things come back to you… I was really worried because Marcus kept asking me things that I didn’t have good answers for… Then he was born and it’s like OH YEAH!!!   LoL!

Caleb is a proud big brother!   He loves Alec and hasn’t stopped talking (bragging) about him.   He stayed with my step dad and mom all weekend and then they dropped him off at Carols last night with his big brother pin and some pictures sot hat he could show everyone.   I called to check on him and she says that he wont put that picture down for a second!   Hehe… we’re on our way to pick him up now…   It’s his last full day at daycare, so we’re going to take some pictures of him and his friends…   He may not even go back if he doesn’t want to.   I’m leaving that decision up to him.   Unless I’m about to loose my nerves.. then I might send him… but Marcus is staying home for 2-3 weeks and he has all sorts of things planned for him and Caleb.   So… That’s my story…  

It all started on Saturday night, September 27th.   Kevin and I went to my aunt’s house that day to wash our cars and BBQ.   I was 2 days over due and we really hoped that something would happen.   My aunt teased me because while we were at her house, I ate a half a jar of pickles, then we had dinner, then I had 3 bowls of ice cream. (I know I’m a pig)   But she thought the whole pickles and ice cream thing was funny.   At around 10:00 pm, we were getting ready to leave and I went to use the bathroom.   Well, I really felt like my water broke while I was on the toilet.   I didn’t pee, but a small amount of fluid came out.   When I looked at it, it was cloudy.   I walked out and told everyone what I thought and no one believed me.   They talked me into thinking it was just pee and we were on our way out the door when more fluid came out.  So, I went to call my Dr. before leaving and she told me to go to L&D.  

Since we wanted my aunt in the delivery room with us, she came along.   We said goodbye to my grandmother and we left.  We actually went home first to drop off our dog and to pick up our hospital bag.   On the way to the hospital I leaked a lot more fluid Kevin and my aunt started to really believe me!   It started to rain and my contractions sort of started.

When we got to the hospital, they confirmed that my water had broken and that my contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart.   We got into our room (big room) and settled in.   We called people to let them know what was going on.  The nurse, Barbara, came in every 45 minutes to hook me up to the monitors for about 15 minutes at a time.   My contractions got worse, but I wanted to go as long as I could without the epidural.   We had gotten to the hospital around 11:00 and at 3:00 am, Barbara came in and I was in so much pain!   The 3 of us had forgotten all about breathing to relax and Barbara had to remind us!   Breathing properly helped and I felt so stupid that we had forgotten!   Kevin helped me get into the shower and that helped relax me too.  

Barbara came in at 5:00 to check me.   I was so sure that I had to be at least 6 or 7 cm since I was already 3 cm before we came into the hospital.   Well, she said that I was just about 4 cm and I started crying right there!   4 cm!!!!   I was in labor for 6 hours and only dilated 1 cm!!!   I was so scared that it would take all day to finally dilate and I was so tired and I didn’t think I could handle the pain any more.   Kevin suggested that we go ahead with the epi so that I could sleep.   So Barbara called my Dr. to come to the hospital. (they couldn’t give it to me until she was there…)   She gave me an IV and my Dr. got there around 5:30.   I got my epidural!   Whew!   I finally got a little sleep.   My mom and Rachele got there around 6:30-7:00.  They couldn’t wait!  From here, things went faster!

I know Barbara came in to introduce me to the nurse who was taking over her shift, but   I was so groggy that I couldn’t remember her name.   She was training someone, so I had 2 girls taking care of me.   Around 8:00 they came in because Caleb’s h/b dropped down to the 80’s!   I got a little scared.   They rushed around, gave me some air and put an internal monitor on him.   They used some sort of vibrating thingy on my tummy to wake him up a little.   His h/b went back up and they watched me carefully.   Every time I had a contraction his h/b dropped.   At around 9:30, they were concerned and called my Dr. up.   She checked me and I was 10 cm dilated! I couldn’t believe that it was already time to push!  

At 9:45 we started some practice pushes, but those practice pushes ended up being all I needed to push him out!   He was born at 9:59 am.   They plopped him up on my belly and I was in such a shock!   I looked at Kevin and he was crying which made me cry too!   Kevin cut the cord and they took him to the other side of the room to clean him up while they stitched me up.   My aunt was crying the whole time (while trying to take pictures for us) and she was so happy that we included her!  

Caleb cried from the moment he arrived, until they placed him back in my arms.   My little man is so adorable and I would definitely do it all over again for him!!   Now I understand why no one could quite explain the feeling!   It’s just something you have to see for yourself!   And I’m so happy I have!

We were moved from the labor and delivery room to our private room and we had so many people visiting us.   I was so tired that I don’t even really remember all of the visitors.  The first night was a little hard since I barely got any rest, but Kevin was a huge help.  He stayed in the hospital with me the entire time.   They offered several classes and I went to 2 of them.   (breast feeding and new parents class)   We stayed int he hospital for 2 nights.  I’m so happy to be home now!