Part 3

So I gave you as many details of the labor as I wanted to remember. Only thing I left out was the "two for one" deal I got. So I labored for hours on end hoping for vaginal delivery and ended up with a section...so I got the hemorrhoids and episiotomy of a vaginal and the scar/pain of the section. Lucky me :) The way I look at is, more likely than not, this will be my one and only birth experience...so I got to experience it all!

I was so grateful to the nurse I had in recovery...she was one of the nurses I had on L&D the night before. Once I was done in recovery she took me upstairs to the NICU to see M. :) She wheeled my gurney right up to M's isolette.  It was so  nice to be able to see M. I had some time alone with him as J and my Mom were waiting for me in my room. They finally did come up with me...I had no idea I'd be at the NICU for so long. The nurses in the NICU were amazing...they crawled under my bed in order to get to M when they  needed to. My nurse from post-partum was a different story. It took almost 90 minutes for someone to come get me once I had asked a nurse to call down saying I was ready to go.

Once I got to the post-partum floor my care was less than ideal. When the nurse transferred me from the gurney to the bed there was blood spilled on the floor and my bedding. I think I saw some of it, but not all of it. When the aide came in to take my vitals she was pissed to see what a mess the nurse had left. My day nurse that came on in the morning was no better. The aide had cleaned me up before she left around 5am, and I never got cleaned again until my catheter was removed around 4pm. Not once did my nurse mention me trying to get to the NICU and my mom was fuming over this. When I finally did ask the answer I received was "we'll see". Um, really!?!? It was probably around 4:30 or so when I finally did get to get upstairs to see M. His nurse said she wondered if something was wrong with me when she didn't see me earlier in the day. It still makes me sad to realize how long it took.

My nurse the next day was oh, so much better! But she was super chatty!! She used so many words to express one thought. I do have to say, it was great when she said to me that she knew I'd be shuttling back and forth between my room and the NICU. She was beyond shocked when I told her about the day before. She was not happy at all.

Thankfully M did a great job recovering from his experience of not fitting and having a less than ideal entrance into this world. That Friday night he had a "sleepover" with us in my room and the next day we all went home together. :)

I have a really hard time with how all of it went down but I keep trying to remind myself that in the end it all worked out just fine. M is healthy...I am  healthy and J was amazing taking care of both of us!

I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures of me and M.

Part 2 of our Birth Story

So I left you with J playing me "Push It" while I was pushing. It truly was the funniest/best part of the labor. J was able to record all of my time in the Labor and Delivery room even though he wasn't supposed to...thankfully our camera was super tiny and he hid it well. We decided to search the other day for the Push It incident and found it right away. It was really funny to watch. The giggling was great!

Like I said J dj'd my labor for me and it's been kind of funny how over the last couple of weeks I've asked him if he played particular songs. Most of which he did - I think there was one that I asked about and he responded "I should have played that". Of course, now, I have no idea what song I asked about.

So labor...our little guy was not really enjoying it and kept "turtling" on me. Every time I would push during a contraction he'd move down and the moment I stopped he retreated. We definitely were not progressing like we should have been. Dr. G and Dr. W both checked on my during the labor. Dr. G seemed to be a bit more realistic about how things were going. Once we got to the point where exhaustion was taking over and I did not think I could handle much more Dr. G suggested it was time to call it and move to a C-section. A few minutes after he made this suggestion Dr. W checked me out and said we are getting this baby out. So more pushing. I have to admit Dr. W was not my favorite person at this point. I think I ended up pushing with her for about another 45 minutes or so. Then she agreed it was time to move to a section. Well, don't you know the OR was backed up when they called so what did that mean? yup, more pushing! I was absolutely exhausted when it was time to more to the OR. It certainly was not what I wanted but our little guy was not coming out.

The nurses were great when it was time to move me. They paid attention to J and got him ready for what was going to happen. They were really good with explaining to him where he'd be going...I was really happy with this because I feel like I've read too many times where the dads were just left wondering where to go. They even let my Mom come in and see me before I was wheeled out.

OH MY - almost forgot an important detail here about labor and pushing...my epidural! I never pushed the button for more medicine during the process because I had been feeling so good. Well, that was until the end when I started to feel things again...I had gone so long without pushing the button for more meds that the original dose was running out. SO lucky me actually got to feel some of the pain of labor.

Anywhoo...back to the section...I was wheeled into the OR and my nerves started to get to me. I did not like having to get everything set up without J next to me. Again, I have to say my anesthesiologist was amazing. She explained everything that was going on and exactly what she was doing to get me ready. I was so grateful that she was right there with me. Finally, they let J into the room and the party got started. It was the oddest sensation to be able to feel the tugging and pulling but no pain; especially when they had to pull M out of the birth canal. They called J over to take pictures and apparently he almost stepped on something that would have been a disaster. I kept hearing people yelling at him to be careful...not sure if he ever heard them. It took just a minute to hear M cry...it was a long minute.

I was able to see him as they brought him over to the warming tray and started their assessment. After a few minutes (turns out it was the 7 minute mark) I heard him choking...worst sound I have ever heard. I kept asking J why he was choking and making those noises. He had no idea. Unfortunately, this earned M a ticket to the NICU. I was able to kiss him and tell him I loved him before he had to go. M leaving meant J also left. It was hard being alone but it was much more important to me that J was with M at this point.

Wow...I thought I was going to be able to do this in just 2 parts but I think this is enough for now. Hopefully I can write part 3 soon.

Part One of the "The Birth Story"

Where to begin...I guess just like do-ray-mi...I'll start at the very beginning. (I started this on Thursday!) My 11th Hour post starts the story...on October 1st we went in for our induction. We were both super happy with the nurses we had that night. We ended up spending almost an hour talking with Kim about her losses and our losses/journey. It sounded like her last loss has been fairly recent. I was amazed when she said holding a brand new baby really brought her back and made her feel like she could do her job despite all she had been through. J laughed at me though for spending so much time chatting...it was right after I had been given my Amb.ien to help me sleep. Oh well...I think we both knew we weren't getting a lot of sleep that night. Any time I needed to use the restroom J had to get up and unplug me. Plus the baby was not impressed with being monitored. It seemed like each time they got him on the monitor he moved. I think I had a nurse coming in to check the monitor every half hour. They told me they ended up taking turns doing it because it had to be done so often.

When I woke up the next morning the contractions had started. My idea of a natural drug-free labor went out the window after about 2 hours or so of contractions. All I can say is thank goodness for epidurals! The anesthesiologist was great...she was very friendly and did a great job explaining everything. There was a student nurse there as well observing. J had already made a joke with him about why it was better to be a male and I let him know that not having to get an epidural was another good reason to be a guy! Unfortunately, it took 2 tries to get the catheter in the right spot. Once it was in though, I felt oh so much better. My Mom got to the hospital at the same time I was getting the epidural...it was good to have her company again! I think my Mom's visit deserves it's own post. J and I both said multiple times (to each other and to my Mom) that we could not have done all that we did before the birth without her. It was just so good to have her visit for so long...she was with us for 2 full weeks.

Once the epidural had started and I got some relief from the pain I was feeling much better. The contractions were regular and I was dilating at a good rate. I think it was around 9:30am when we were told we most likely would meet our boy in the early afternoon. We did some practice pushing late morning and that went very well. I think it was sometime around 11:30 or noon when the real pushing began. Just before that my Mom left the room...she was fine being there for the practice but when everything started to get real she decided it was time to head to the waiting room. She said it was time for J and I to be alone (with the nurse and the 2 student nurses). Our labor nurse was great - we really lucked out. The nurse that came in at 7am was not exactly friendly and smiley - thankfully she ended up having a delivery and we had Elaine take over for us. Such a nice person!! The student nurses were great too - super friendly to all of us. It was sweet how they checked on my Mom as well while she was in the room with us.

We tried some pushing before things got funky. Things started to get a bit hectic when M did not enjoy my pushing during the contractions. His heart rate was not doing what it was supposed to once I was done pushing, so it was break time and back on the oxygen for me. We took about a 20 minute break. I am pretty sure Dr. W came to see me at this point. Once I had rested for a bit it seemed to help things. We were back to pushing. At this point J started DJ'ing the labor. :) It was good...he picked some great songs that really helped. Then time started to drag so the song selection started to change. We had the Emperor's March from Star Wars, Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline at Fenway after the Marathon bombings, the 1812 overture, Cookie Monster singing C is for Cookie and the absolute BEST song: Push It by Salt n Pepa...no one could keep a straight face during this! Elaine, our nurse laughed while trying to count for me, the student nurses laughed while holding my legs, I was laughing while trying to push and J laughed so hard he cried.

I am going to stop here for now...I leave with the link to my favorite song from my labor :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I am still in awe of the fact that 2 weeks ago today we brought our boy, M, into this world. I promise I am going to share my birth story with you. Hoping to start it tomorrow. It's been a crazy two weeks. We had company until last Saturday. This week has been nice and quiet for us. J  has been home most of the week as well, which has been great.

We went in for M's 2 week check-up today - he did great...gained back enough weight to hit his birth weight and then some! We have 9lb 4oz boy. :) I leave you with a pic of him from the other morning.

"Cinco"

I am really hoping this works. Quick hello while I am hiding from my mil. I've been camped out in the nursery for the last hour. But as a result I finally got some milk while pumping!! 

Please meet "Cinco"...aka M.

Our boy is here

I am very happy to report that we are now the proud parents MJ!  Not sure if I am going to put his actual name out there or not. He was born at 6:53pm on 10/2, weighing 8lbs 5oz, 21.5" (no idea where that length came from!).

It was not an easy time for any of us, but I will save that for later.  J has been amazing for both of us!We both continue to heal and get better. Really hoping we are both discharged tomorrow. I will be sure to add some pics soon.

The 11th Hour - Updated

We are down to the very end...which is just nuts to think about. There are times when it feels like I've been pregnant forever and other times when it feels like it was just yesterday that I found out my beta results.

We saw Dr. W this morning - it was SO good to see her again...she was on vacation last week and of course it was the week I had stuff happen and panicked. We ended up going in for a check-up last Monday and then to be checked out again after I lost my mucus plug on Friday. Dr. W was pretty happy that the boy waited for her. :) She said it was a good vacation but the rain ruined the picture taking opportunities they were hoping for. J told her to never go on vacation during our due date time again. She laughed.

Today we talked induction. :) We have the option of going in tonight or tomorrow night to start the process. Right now I am waiting for a call back from the dr's office about the timing of when we'd go in. If we can go in tonight around 7:30pm, I think we'll go tonight. If we have to be there early evening, I think we may wait until tomorrow. J has had a really long day at work...the re-org after the President's passing is being announced today and it's an emotional day for everyone. BUT J did tell me ultimately it's my decision if we go in tonight or tomorrow night. I am on the fence. There are pros to both.

One of the silly things I am looking forward to is dressing the boy in his Red Sox clothes on Friday night! We are pretty excited the Sox are in the playoffs and we can dress the boy up for it. :)

J's mom and husband fly in on Saturday and my Mom flies home on Sunday - it's going to be an interesting weekend to say the very least!

I've rambled enough for now...just wanted to let you know where we were at right now.

Update:  I am at the hospital for my induction. It is surreal to say the very least. Our nurse for tonight is amazing. Unfortunately, she is part of the club no one asked to join. She has suffered two early losses and is a patient of Dr. A's. She mentioned that is going in for karyotyping next week. So nice to have a nurse who understands some of the feelings I might be having. 

Hoping to update again tomorrow.