It's a BOY!!!
I could go in to great lengths about my labor and delivery with my new little baby BUT I will try and keep it short.
On Tuesday, October 9, I began feeling some back pain at bed time. I didn't think much of it because for the last eight months I had been feeling back pain. I of course didn't really pay attention to the fact that these pains would come and go about every ten minutes or so. At around midnight/one I couldn't "sleep" any longer so I decided to wake up and do a little Facebook stalking. My husband was the voice of reason and said, "maybe they're contractions...perhaps you should start timing them." Contractions? Really? I hadn't actually thought about it. So, bring on the trusty App Store. They actually make apps that will calculate your contractions, time between, length, etc. Awesome! Sure enough they were coming at regular intervals...about every five minutes apart. About two hours later we decide we should probably make the 40 minute trek to the hospital. We didn't want to wait too long and find ourselves delivering a baby on the side of the Interstate.
We finally made it to the hospital around 4:15a on October 10. I was nervous because I didn't want to think that these contractions weren't actually doing anything. I didn't want them to check me and say, "well, you are only at one centimeter..." However, that wasn't the case. Yay! I was at five centimeters and could be admitted. Three blown veins later...I had my IV in and was waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in and do the epidural. I couldn't handle it. My husband said I probably could have. I was at seven centimeters and was doing...okay-ish. I wanted the drugs though. (Don't judge me.)
Two movies later (Date Night and Napoleon Dynamite) we were ready to push. Three contractions later and we had a little boy! We were both shocked. We swore it was going to be a girl, but God surprised us with another boy.
After our little boy was born there was excessive bleeding. The doctor was called back in and I was put immediately on some drugs to help slow the bleeding down. I'm so thankful that the nurses and doctor were on top of things. Unfortunately I had some sort of allergic reaction to one of the drugs. Nothing terribly serious but I broke out in a rash and my entire body itched. A small price to pay though...I'll take it! A few hours to recover and our whole family was moved to a new wing in the hospital.
This hospital room would be our new home for the next four days. If I had known that we would be staying so long, I would have brought more magazines to read :) Our first night stay was pretty uneventful. Our second day we were hoping to be discharged but after a meeting with the lactation consultant we decided we should get our baby's tongue clipped to help with feeding. Unfortunately the surgeon wouldn't be available to do that until the following morning. So we waited another night in the hospital. My husband had to take care of our other son, so I spent the night alone. A bit depressing, but what a great time to bond with my new boy!
The next morning the surgeon came and clipped the tongue. The whole process took maybe 15 seconds. We were ready to go when we found out that my son's bilirubin count was high. That meant another night in the hospital. He spent the entire day hanging out on the table. Now I know that this happens to a large percentage of newborns. However, the part I was most frustrated with came down to the table itself. We were supposed to have an additional light that goes over the baby as well. Of course none of the lights worked so they came up with just the lower light. I knew that it wouldn't work but there isn't much you can say to the nursing staff. I wasn't surprised when they checked his blood the next morning and it hadn't changed at all. Somehow, though, they were able to come up with a working overhead light the next morning. Another day at the hospital.
Finally the lights were doing there job. Another blood test showed that the number was getting a bit lower. He was moved off the lights and if he could maintain or decrease his number over the next eight hours he could be discharged. Much later that night we were given the green light! Numbers went down by a half point or so and we were allowed to leave! We couldn't pack up fast enough! We left the hospital and made the trek back home (but first we had to stop at Panda Express to appease the older son...well, and mommy too).
Now we are back home and enjoying the newness of everything again. I am completely blessed to have a wonderful husband and two amazing boys. I can't believe I'm outnumbered though.
On Tuesday, October 9, I began feeling some back pain at bed time. I didn't think much of it because for the last eight months I had been feeling back pain. I of course didn't really pay attention to the fact that these pains would come and go about every ten minutes or so. At around midnight/one I couldn't "sleep" any longer so I decided to wake up and do a little Facebook stalking. My husband was the voice of reason and said, "maybe they're contractions...perhaps you should start timing them." Contractions? Really? I hadn't actually thought about it. So, bring on the trusty App Store. They actually make apps that will calculate your contractions, time between, length, etc. Awesome! Sure enough they were coming at regular intervals...about every five minutes apart. About two hours later we decide we should probably make the 40 minute trek to the hospital. We didn't want to wait too long and find ourselves delivering a baby on the side of the Interstate.
We finally made it to the hospital around 4:15a on October 10. I was nervous because I didn't want to think that these contractions weren't actually doing anything. I didn't want them to check me and say, "well, you are only at one centimeter..." However, that wasn't the case. Yay! I was at five centimeters and could be admitted. Three blown veins later...I had my IV in and was waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in and do the epidural. I couldn't handle it. My husband said I probably could have. I was at seven centimeters and was doing...okay-ish. I wanted the drugs though. (Don't judge me.)
Two movies later (Date Night and Napoleon Dynamite) we were ready to push. Three contractions later and we had a little boy! We were both shocked. We swore it was going to be a girl, but God surprised us with another boy.
After our little boy was born there was excessive bleeding. The doctor was called back in and I was put immediately on some drugs to help slow the bleeding down. I'm so thankful that the nurses and doctor were on top of things. Unfortunately I had some sort of allergic reaction to one of the drugs. Nothing terribly serious but I broke out in a rash and my entire body itched. A small price to pay though...I'll take it! A few hours to recover and our whole family was moved to a new wing in the hospital.
This hospital room would be our new home for the next four days. If I had known that we would be staying so long, I would have brought more magazines to read :) Our first night stay was pretty uneventful. Our second day we were hoping to be discharged but after a meeting with the lactation consultant we decided we should get our baby's tongue clipped to help with feeding. Unfortunately the surgeon wouldn't be available to do that until the following morning. So we waited another night in the hospital. My husband had to take care of our other son, so I spent the night alone. A bit depressing, but what a great time to bond with my new boy!
The next morning the surgeon came and clipped the tongue. The whole process took maybe 15 seconds. We were ready to go when we found out that my son's bilirubin count was high. That meant another night in the hospital. He spent the entire day hanging out on the table. Now I know that this happens to a large percentage of newborns. However, the part I was most frustrated with came down to the table itself. We were supposed to have an additional light that goes over the baby as well. Of course none of the lights worked so they came up with just the lower light. I knew that it wouldn't work but there isn't much you can say to the nursing staff. I wasn't surprised when they checked his blood the next morning and it hadn't changed at all. Somehow, though, they were able to come up with a working overhead light the next morning. Another day at the hospital.
Finally the lights were doing there job. Another blood test showed that the number was getting a bit lower. He was moved off the lights and if he could maintain or decrease his number over the next eight hours he could be discharged. Much later that night we were given the green light! Numbers went down by a half point or so and we were allowed to leave! We couldn't pack up fast enough! We left the hospital and made the trek back home (but first we had to stop at Panda Express to appease the older son...well, and mommy too).
Now we are back home and enjoying the newness of everything again. I am completely blessed to have a wonderful husband and two amazing boys. I can't believe I'm outnumbered though.
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