Finn Randall
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
7:09 p.m. 6lbs 1 ounce 19.5 inches long
The story really starts on Monday. I had my normal weekly dr's appt. and BPP. Everything looked good, but my blood pressure was really high (130/100). Dr. Hamby increased my meds and wanted me back the next morning to go over my blood work. I asked the nurse what would happen if my BP was still high and she said that it was likely that he would induce. Well, that led to a flurry of activity on Monday to try and get our house and our lives ready for the baby since I was skeptical that my blood pressure would be coming down. I went in Tuesday morning fully expecting to be sent to the hospital (and had even thrown my hospital bag in the truck). My blood pressure was the same as the day before, so when the nurse left me in the exam room, I was getting excited thinking I was going to be having a baby. When the doctor came in the room, he informed me that despite my BP being that high, my blood work was perfect, so there was no need to induce me. I was so happy that everything looked good with the baby, but I was so DONE with being pregnant. I couldn't hold back the tears and I know my poor OB felt horrible for me, but I told him I understood. When I was leaving I called James in tears and then started driving home where I was going to spend the day feeling sorry for myself. I called R, the kids' sitter, and told her and she told me that we were going to the mall to walk this baby out. We loaded up all the kids and did many, many laps around the mall in order to try to get my sporadic contractions to lead to something. No dice- all I was left with was a sore back, sore feet, and I was tired from dragging my kids around. I went home and did the normal dinner/bath/bedtime routine, but I told James that I wasn't feeling very good. Then, my stomach decided to go rogue and I spent around 4 hours in the bathroom (10 p.m.-2 a.m.). I finally fell asleep around 2:30 a.m. and woke around 6:30 a.m. with Gavin and I was feeling pretty rough between my continuing stomach cramps and lack of sleep. I basically let the kids play as the wanted, while I spent my time in my chair trying not to move. Around 8:30 a.m., I felt two really strong back-to-back contractions and I remember thinking to myself "hmm...that was weird". The contractions continued to come on at around 10 minutes apart until around 10:30 a.m., when they moved to 5-6 minutes apart. I knew something was going on because they were definitely hurting and definitely weren't going away, so I called James to come home so that we could go get checked out and then called my mom to come watch the boys. I started getting the kids bag together just in case, and threw the last few things in mine and James' bag. I still didn't think I was in labor, but I wanted to be ready. Around 11:45, my contractions slowed back down to 15 minutes apart, and I contemplated calling James and my mom and telling them not to worry about it, but I figured I may as well get checked and if it was a false alarm, I'll just get some time with my husband. Mom got here around 12 and James got home around 12:30 and was ready to jet out the door, but I explained to him that I would rather not be taken to the hospital by the Orkin man and he could change into regular clothes since the baby wasn't crowning or anything. We didn't take our bags or anything since we figured it wasn't real since I had never gone into labor on my own. Once we got in the truck, I told him my contractions had slowed down, so he needed to hit all the bumps he could and that we were going to walk around the parking garage a few times before we went in. We got to the hospital around 1:15 and we walked around the parking garage multiple times and I even did lunges up the ramp and the stairs. After about the fourth time up and down the stairs 2 at a time (and James telling me that I wasn't in labor and was going to be sent home), I got a really, really strong contraction and I told him that it was time to go into the building. We walked in around 2 p.m. and while I was sent to be monitored (and be asked the multitude of questions which James couldn't be in the room for), I told James to go grab a burger since he hadn't eaten all day. I was having some contractions about 5-6 minutes apart, but the monitor was picking them up as very mild, which they were NOT. I told the nurses that under no circumstances were these mild contractions and I was having to breathe through them. She went ahead and checked me and asked what I had been at my last dr's appt (2 cm) and then informed me that I was at a 4 and was in labor. My blood pressure was also high and I was going to have a baby! After this was established, everything started moving pretty quickly. At 3 p.m., I was moved to my labor and delivery room. I had my IV inserted, my catheter inserted (horrible), and proceeded to start begging for my epidural because my contractions had gone from not comfortable to miserable in about 20 minutes and I was moaning and vocalizing through them. The worst part was that James had to leave to get the boys taken care of and to grab our bag. Right after James left, they started the most horrible drug in the whole world, Magnesium Sulfate. It made me so out of it and feel terrible. They also had to start Pitocin since the Mag would stop my contractions. I was still begging for my epidural, but my blood tests were taking forever to get back. Finally, around 4:45, my blood work was back and my husband walked in the room. I was so glad to see the anesthesiologist, but it took forever to get the epi placed and it didn't feel right from the beginning. I kept having patches of skin that I could feel contractions, but I figured it was ok as long as I didn't feel the actual birth (Ha!). Around 5:15, the doctor came in and broke my water and talked to us for a few minutes. He also checked me at this point and I was at 6 cm. He predicted I would have a baby by 7 p.m., which I laughed at since I was thinking it would be around 11 p.m.. At this point, my best friend, Jenny, showed up to hang out and talk to us. We were just talking, when around 6:30, I started feeling some pain on my left side that I had to stop talking through. At the next contraction, I felt everything and was moaning through it. I also started feeling nauseous and knew I was in transition, but what the hell was wrong with my epidural?!?! At this point, Jenny was still in the room with us and James told her that she was welcome to stay if she wanted, which was fine by me since we had laughingly tossed around the idea at lunch a couple of months earlier. I had the nurse check me and I was at a 9. After the next contraction, I told her to call the doctor because I was ready to get the baby out. In fact, I remember moaning to "get it out" around this point because I was feeling everything and I was never planning on going natural. I finally got to start pushing around 6:55 when the doctor showed up. There was a lull in my contractions at this point, so it only took about 4 *painful* contractions until Finn arrived at 7:09 p.m.. He looked great and I got to hold him immediately after his cord was cut. I did have to spend the rest of the night in L&D rather than being moved up to recovery because I had to stay on the magnesium sulfate and be monitored. I also couldn't get out of bed or eat, so I was pretty cranky. The mag made my recovery very difficult, but after a month, I'm finally feeling like myself again.
Meeting my baby for the first time...
Sorry that was so long, but I am finally remembering a lot of details that I had left off my birth story when I wrote it a week after he was born. :)
