Wednesday, June 4, I was supposed to go to work but stayed home as they were collecting the garbage from the construction. Every time they have collected the garbage in the past, we have ended up losing something, so we thought it might be best if I just sat there and watched them take out the pile. Gideon was sleeping as he had an overnight shift the night before and I wanted to make sure they didn't disturb him either. I went out to Bailey's fenced in area and started cleaning the yard. I had been pretty active through my pregnancy, so this didn't seem like a big 'energy surge'. I still needed breaks and I was exhausted by the end of the day.
I went to bed at 11 pm and woke up again with cramps at 12 am. I had also had cramping/contractions before, so I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. I woke up in pain again at 1 am and ended up getting out of bed at 1:30. Gideon was at another night shift, so I started timing my contractions. They started about 6 minutes apart and after 2 or 3, moved to 3-4 minutes apart lasting 30-1:15 each. I did not remember how often they were supposed to be before heading to the hospital, so I started pulling out books to see what it said. My Kaiser book said that I was already in active labor and I thought, "Well that can't be right, what about my first phase of labor? I couldn't have just skipped that part..." Gideon was supposed to be home around 3:30, so I rode out the (increasingly painful) contractions until then. In the meantime, I packed our bag in case we needed to go to the hospital.
Gideon pulled up at 3:10 am and came in with a panicked look on his face. "Why are you still up?" I told him I thought I was in labor and that I had been timing my contractions. I got in the shower (which helped the pain alot) and shouted to Gideon every time a contraction started. We were trying to convince ourselves that we were in false labor, but decided we should go to the hospital anyway. Having contractions in the car was definitely the worst! It was horrible not being able to walk or move or do anything to help with that pain.
Belly pic before we left
We got to labor and delivery triage at 4:20 am and checked in 20 minutes later. They asked me if it was my first baby and it was pretty obvious the nurse thought I was not really in labor. When she checked me out (at 5 am) though, I was 4-5 cm dilated! She said, "Wow...4, almost 5 cm. Ok, you get to stay," and I said, "I'm having a baby today?!?!?" I was a little panicked and Gideon just kind of shook his head...he was one night off from finishing his overnight shifts!
They put us in our room and asked if I wanted an epidural. I did eventually, but I felt like I could still handle the contractions, so I said that I could wait. They said that we should order it now though because we didn't know how long it would take. At 5:30 am, they came back in and wanted to give me phenergan with nuvain through my IV because they said the epidural was going to be a really long time. They gave me the IV meds and, in hindsight, this was the only thing I wouldn't do again. You know that feeling that you have when you have drank too much and one more drink is going to send you to the toilet? The room is all tweaked out, your vision is slower, etc....that is what this drug made me feel like and it was the start of my contractions getting further apart and weaker. And the epidural came only 30 minutes later.
I got comments later that my anesthesiologist was excellent and the epidural I received was almost ideal. All afternoon I felt nothing. In fact, for most of the afternoon I couldn't feel my right leg and I had to have someone physically move it for me. I slept most of the afternoon and found I couldn't stay awake even if I wanted to--I would just drift off. This allowed me to be incredibly calm though and I was able to joke and visit with my family and the nurses while I was awake. I know some people talk about not getting the epidural so they can really 'experience' labor, but I loved that the drugs allowed me to enjoy labor. I was clear headed for my decisions, able to spend time with loved ones for the process, and awake and able to immediately enjoy my baby when he was born. It also allowed me to mentally prepare that, yes, I really was having a baby...something I hadn't done yet with all our construction woes. So that's my two cents on the epidural...
So now I am set up with my epidural and a little button where I can increase it any time I like. I feel great. My contractions had been at the top of the monitoring thing since I came in, but I don't feel them at all anymore. I start drifting in and out of sleep, which I do for the rest of my labor. At around 7 am, Gideon calls my mom, his mom, his dad, my dad, and Nate to tell them I'm in labor. Bobby, Shirley, and Nate come by in the morning and hang out with us for pretty much the rest of the day. Gideon's parents are both doctors and it was great having all those medical minds in one room to help us make decisions!
By 1 pm, I had not made hardly any progress and my contractions had slowed and gotten less intense. They wanted to break my water, but we decided (with all those great medical minds in our room) that we would try pitosin first. We were worried about the risk of infection if they broke my water and the contractions didn't pick up on their own. By 4:20 pm, I was 7-8 cm dilated, 100% efaced, finally had some bloody show, and was at -1 station. At this point, they really pushed breaking my water and we agreed. Risk of infection was very low since I had progressed so much.
At 5:40 we try one push and it works pretty well. The nurse goes out to check with the doctor and he wants me to labor down for awhile. We joke that it is because the Lakers game is on (Game #1) and he wants to wait for half-time. This seems to be less of a joke though as he continues to want me to labor down. I finally get official permission to start pushing at around 7:30 pm. Doc comes in at the end and says I need an episiotomy as I am starting to tear upwards. Apparently, tearing down is not a big deal, but up would not have been good, so we give the go ahead and the doc snips twice. Joaquin was born about an hour and a half later--officially at 8:58 pm, but Gideon said his watch said 9 pm exactly. Gideon was also able to cut the cord (twice!). It was Thursday, June 5, 2008.
We had requested that the baby be put on my chest immediately, but he had spiked a fever during delivery, so they took him to be cooled down and checked out. He turned over on the exam table by himself weighed 7 lbs. 2 ozs., and was 19 3/4 inches long. They gave him 8-9 for his APGAR score and his gestational age was 38 weeks 5 days. While they were checking him out, the doc stitched me back up from my 2nd degree tear and then they brought him back to me. I can not possibly explain my emotions at the time. Nate asked me and the closest I could come up with was 'elated'. I laughed and cried and smiled and experienced a whole flood of things in those moments. It was the most amazing experience of my life.
Joaquin turned 2 weeks old on Thursday and had his first doctor's appointment on Friday. He now weighs 8 lbs., but it doesn't appear that he's grown much...maybe 1/4 inch, but it was hard to tell because he was so squirmy. He is a little below average for height and weight for boys his age, but the doctor said he looked perfect. Great pediatrician, she is definitely a keeper.
Today was Gideon's first father's day. He spent it working super hard in the yard fixing the sprinkler system. Water saving sprinklers as we try to save the world for our son : )...so the tired look on his face is from hard labor, not Joaquin!
Some things about Joaquin:
Belly pic before we left
