Admittedly, I am writing this up early. It's not that I really want to get on top of things to make up for my latest cold weather-induced paucity in that area. No, it's more like because Tony had plans of his own. That's right, little mister man is sleeping in his Moses basket right next to me as I write this!
Everything was going as normal. I blogged a little Wednesday while my MIL was over for her weekly play date. She gave us some money for dinner and Honey picked up some handmade burgers from a local restaurant on the way home. We decided to have a family picnic in the living room and watched Gilmore Girl DVDs.
Auds was playing on the rug, Honey was watching her adoringly and I was laying on the couch coz my back was hurting. Nothing was out of the ordinary. That was until 820 when my water broke! I darted off to our newly curtained bathroom, certain of what happened but trying to convince myself that it was
something else. ANYTHING else... I was only 35 weeks! I had another month! I had every.last.minute planned before he came. I had a client meeting this Saturday, Sunday School lesson to teach on Sunday, choir activities this week, Auds' birthday party the next Saturday, more preparing, play dates and church stuff during the week, client meetings across the state the weekend after that, church BBQ fundraiser the weekend after that, a rehearsal dinner on my due date and a wedding the day after. I had things to buy, nesting to finish, quality time to spend with Auds... I wanted to buy a homecoming outfit, a present for Auds from Tony, and about a million other things.
So, I decided to wait around to see how much more would come until I decided to call in. When it wasn't showing signs of stopping (like it would, I was just giving myself false hope), I called my doctor. I wanted to let her know about it and find out where I was supposed to be going. I had no idea. I had never been to the hospital before, no tours, no preregistration, nada...I was going to do that after my next appointment. So, once she gave me directions, we packed up our little family and headed out.
Audrey was so nervous she had to give herself pep talks. The entire time we were packing and driving over she kept repeating "Tony brother coming out. Baby coming. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Mommy's gonna be okay." It was the cutest thing. She kept up her positive mantra through the emergency room exit, around the hospital, and up to our room. She stayed with us until about 1:30am when my mom arrived from across the state. Poor baby was so nervous. Anytime they came in to do monitoring (I had it done intermittently since I wanted to move around in labor), she would crawl on the bed, cuddle with me, and start repeating that it was going to be okay. Nothing happened super quickly, so my husband slept. I watched infomercials and prayed.
My doctor came in the next morning and told me that I had 36 hours of labor on my own to get him out. If it didn't work, we would talk interventions. So I walked, I bounced, I had my husband rub my special amazingly good smelling labor oil on me. My doctor let me eat since she knew I was going to sit there the entire 36 hours and however long after to deliver without meds or a section; she let me keep my strength up. But, nothing happened. I was having contractions, but they weren't doing anything and I couldn't feel them at all. Starting at 24 hours, I had to get penicilin shots to ward off infection. I'm not going to lie, those things hurt. And they stuck me in the lower back which caused big hard lumps that BURNED. I did the stairs up and down the floors just trying to focus on something else other than that pain.
Probably around the 35 hour mark, I started getting nervous about what could go wrong. Was I making the right decision in keeping him in as long as he wanted? Should I go ahead and agree to be drugged even though I knew in my heart it wasn't what needed to be done? What else could I do? Was I going to hurt my baby? So, I hired a doula. Yeah, I'm that last minute. haha. But, she is the owner of the cloth diaper company my best friend works for, so she came in quickly. My best friend was also freaking out, so she drove with the baby June despite my protests. I was hoping that they would arrive before my doctor got in so I could have some help processing what was going to be given to me for options, but that didn't happen.
I told my doctor I had hired a doula and she said that at this stage in the game, I couldn't do any of the homeopathic stuff. If I wanted to, I could leave the hospital and deal with the risk of infection at home if it took a while. But that she had to make an intervention to protect the baby. She offered me cytotec and pitocin, knewing that the word "cesarean" was not to be spoken. I have heard horrible things about cytotec, so I opted for the pit. Because of that, I had to be hooked up to the IV and the monitors and had my food and drink priviledges taken away. My doula arrived first, then my friend and baby June and then my mother brought Auds by.
We all hung out the entire time. I would bounce, stand, kneel, walk around in my little 6 foot radius that the cords gave. Audrey would take the birthing balls from me so she could play with them and she stole diapers from June so she could diaper her elephant she brought. All the wires made her nervous, but she was a trooper. The entire time my husband worked on cases, I conducted emails with clients, and just hung out. The nurse kept upping my pitocin, waiting for me to cry uncle.
It started at 3 m/u per minute then 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24... and I didn't really feel a thing. I told her that my pain was a 2 on a scale of 1-10 just because I could feel them. My contractions weren't looking like they wanted to, with big peaks and valleys, 2-3 minutes apart, lasting 6o seconds each. Nope, they were all close together. She didn't think that anything was going to happen. Neither did I, neither did the doctor. Heck, even my doula said it'd likely be a few more hours before I delivered. She picked 9pm, this was at 4pm. My crazy friend though called it at before dark - and dark was a little over an hour away.
Around this point, my little girl started to get hungry, so I said long good-byes and she and Grannie left to go get dinner and head home at 4:30pm. The nurse came in and bumped me up to 27 m/u/m, and that's when I just started to feel uncomfortable. It wasn't unbearable, but it was the first time in 44 hours of labor that I started thinking, okay, maybe he'll come in a few hours. Really, it made my injection sites hurt the most. Those shots were the most painful thing out of the whole time.
So, my doula got out her TENS unit and placed in on my back to help manage the pain. It was once the TENS unit was in place that my injection spots stopped hurting the most, but then I started to feel it in my belly. For the first time I could feel what I thought were supposed to be what contractions felt like. The rest of everything was all in my back - and most of that was from those shots.
This lasted just a few minutes when I felt like I had to use the restroom. So, they unhooked me and I went in and closed the door. I could hear everyone talking outside about what things would be like in the next few hours since it finally seemed like the ball was rolling. It was no big deal.
Well... that ball sure started rolling. I called out "Um... help!?" It took a few times for anyone to hear me through the door, but soon my husband came rushing in. That baby was crowning! I told him that, and he told the doula who called the nurse. No one believed that it was the big moment. The nurse just said, "Okay, we'll check you." I had been at 1cm, 50% effaced just a little while ago. That statement quickly went into one about how much hair he had!
They rushed around getting everything ready... well as ready as they could with such short notice. My sweet friend and her little one got kicked out to the hall and out he came. Well, rather, I kicked them out. I love her, but I didn't want her to see all my business. Within a few minutes, out he came. It really was not as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently, I barely made a noise as I pushed him out. (Skip this next part if you're squeamish... but my husband said it just sounded like I had to use the restroom, and that's exactly what it felt like).
At 5:10pm, little Tony came out weighing 5 lbs, 8 oz and measuring 19 in long! They placed him on my chest and he wasn't screaming. Don't freak out! He wasn't screaming, he was just chattering away. He's a very quiet baby. They did all his tests while I was holding him, and my doctor came in to sew up. As soon as she was done, we nursed again, and I was up and walking around. They moved us over to the mommy/baby ward and we started our little family bonding.
I completely shocked the nurses and the doctor who really didn't think I was going to birth that baby - especially that soon.
He defied all odds, this little man. They were thinking he was going to end up in NICU, not be able to nurse, the whole gamut. He never left my side (except for the bath, which they had to do in a warmer because he's a premie), nurses like he's been doing it forever, and passed all of his bloodwork and cultures. He did, however, fail his hearing test. But the administrator of it said that he had a lot of blockage in his ears - common for premies - and once that cleared he'd likely be good. We go in week after next to check him again. He does have some issues with reflux due to the prematurity. But, he's nursing so well that he only lost 3 ounces and we just have to work on making him comfortable. We've been praying, our church has been praying, his godparents have been praying and - this will jinx it - it seems to be working! Tonight, he's not having nearly the issues he was in the hospital!! Praise God!
Audrey came the next day to meet him and loved him. She brought him a balloon and a teddy bear, which she kept. We're working on her being gentle with him, but it's amazing to see her. And she was so calm. She wasn't nearly as worried as she was when I was in labor. She kept saying "It's okay. It's okay. " She just knew it was. Apparently, according to my mother, those were the first words out of her mouth when she woke up that morning. Awwwww. That little girl is amazing.
We had to stay long enough to get all of his blood work back and they released us. The drive home with a premie is the most nerve wrecking thing EVER! He barely fit in the carseat on the smallest setting. He looks like a baby doll! But we're home now and adjusting to our new life as a family of four! Praise God for His mercy, provision and blessing upon my baby! Tony defied all the odds and is just amazing us all!
