Monday, May 16, 2011

Its a BOY!

If you read one of my previous posts, you would know that our basement flooded 9 days before I was due.  I was definitely big an uncomfortable, and felt sicker this pregnancy than any other to date (even threw up the night before the flood).  But that notwithstanding, I really enjoyed this pregnancy and wasn't ready for it to end.  I also wanted to get our house back in order before the baby came!

 The water in the field by our house got so high it looked like a mini pond.  There were even ducks on it for a week or so.

I had a doctor appointment the Friday before I was due, and the doctor was really pressuring me to get induced.  My platelet count had dropped (normal is 130-400,000) to 97,000, which seemed to make her nervous, though I've had this problem with all my pregnancies and its never been a problem.  For the abovementioned reasons I wasn't ready, but I was also terrified of being induced.  I had heard so many stories about induced labors that lasted really long, were really painful, or had complications.  I also had a secret reason of my own:  I really wanted to try to have this baby without an epidural.  I tried to go without an epidural with Kaedon, but his labor lasted 28 hours, and I only lasted 24.  I tried again with Isa to no avail.  I was afraid if I got induced, they would make me lie down to monitor me and my chances of dealing with the pain without the epidural would be very low.

I told her I wanted to wait, even though I was excited to have this baby and to find out if it was a girl or boy.  On Sunday we got a call from her right when we got home from church, and she basically gave me an ultimatum: get induced when I tell you to, or choose another doctor.  She said she had been worried about my platelets suddenly plummeting and then dealing with a postpartum hemmorhage.

So for the first time I walked into a hospital to have a baby and I wasn't in labor!  It was a strange feeling.  It was actually pretty nice.  Before we left, Kaedon wanted to take some pictures with me as if I were in labor already-- we had fun with this.


One thing on my to-do list that I never got to  was take some maternity pictures.  I got some really cute maternity clothes this time and don't have a picture in any of them!  I also wanted to document this special time, as it is my last.  So, I was kind of embarrassed, but I asked Miguel to take some pictures of me in the hospital before they actually hooked me up to anything.  Still feeling a bit wistful about being done with this special era of my life.


They tested my platelets and they had gone down to 87,000-- they had dropped almost 10,000 in just 16 hours.  In order to get an epidural, they have to be 90,000 or higher or the risk is paralysis.  After a few minutes, the nurse did come in and hooked me up to Pitocin and to the monitors.  They also broke my water.  She and the doctor wanted to know how long my shortest labor had been, and I told them 10 hours.  I wondered if it would go longer than this with the induction.

It wasn't too bad at first, and I hadn't slept very well that night, so I tried to rest/sleep for the first couple of hours I was on the Pitocin.  By then I started having to do some things to deal with the contractions, but they still weren't too bad.   Miguel went to get some lunch at noon since we figured this was his chance to go before I really needed his help.

The nurse let me walk around, which really helped me deal with my labor with Maia but hurt worse since my water was broken and there was no cushioning there anymore.  I also tried the medicine ball, and my sweet nurse would rub my back during contractions.  It really helped.  She said she could stay with me for 30 minutes, the most I've ever had a nurse stay with me.  She told me about transition, which she said is the hardest part of labor, but said she would help me through it, then she explained the birth and said she'd help me through that too. She asked if I would like to get in the tub and I thought I might like to try that, so she filled it up for me.  When I got in the tub I was only a 7 and normally my body takes a few hours to progress from that point to a 10.  It helped for about a minute and then the contractions got really hard to take.  About this time I heard the nurse call the doctor and I thought she was calling her way too soon.

About this time Miguel showed up and I was in a lot of pain.  I thought it was because I was lying down in the tub and thought I'd do better if I could get out and sit on the ball again.  So I waited for a break in the contractions but they just seemed to be coming right on top of eachother and were really painful.   I told him I needed something to bite, so he got me the spoon out of the ice chips they had given me earlier.  It didn't help a whole lot, so I asked if I could just squeeze his hand.  He was so patient while I squoze the heck out of his hand and constantly changed positions because I was so uncomfortable.  At one point Miguel said I almost bit his hand but this point is still under debate. :)
My sister-in-law sent me some texts with encouragement in them, and it helped by taking my mind off things a bit.   She said "you can do hard things" and I thought "no I can't!"  In another she said "its just like running a race" and I told Miguel "this is WAY harder than running a race!"  (see-- took my mind off things)  I started thinking "other women can do this, I can't." I just thought if I either got out of the tub or begged for the epidural all would be ok-- but I thought I still had 3 hours left with the worst still to come.

Then she said "soon it will be over, and then it will be over."  This may sound kind of silly, but it made me feel really emotional as I realized she was right.  Even in my moment of greatest distress, I realized what a great blessing it is to have children and for a moment, I didn't want it to be over!  I guess this is one of the challenges of parenthood as well-- sometimes the hard things can remind us of the really great things we have that won't last forever. 

I had only been in the tub 20-30 minutes when I had this crazy urge to push.  It was so strong its as if my body was going to push that baby out without my consent!

We waited until the contraction ended then the nurse and Miguel helped me out of the tub and hustled me over to the bed-- just in time.  The minute I got the bed that baby was coming out!  The nurse and Miguel delivered him right then and there.  The nurse hit a button with her elbow to call for help.  Another nurse came in and said she thought she had heard a baby cry.  The first nurse said she needed help and the second one said "but I'm not sterile!" to which she answered "I just delivered this baby with my bare hands!"

They put him on my chest and I thought they said "she" but that didn't seem right to me for some reason, so I looked-- and sure enough, we had a boy!  Its been a month now and I still can't believe it some days.


He was so cute-- and eight pounds, 21.5 inches!  My biggest baby until now has been seven and a half.  

It took 30 minutes to recover from the trauma of having him, but ever since then I have felt great!  I still can't believe I did that!  I feel like if I can do that, I can do anything.  And in the end it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The after-birth high lasted a couple days but I have recovered physically so much quicker and felt so great I have been tempted to do too much right from the start.

We made everyone wait to find out the gender till they came to the hospital (I asked our kids beforehand, and this is what they chose to do-- thought it would be fun).  The look of shock on Kaedon's face was priceless.  (he was convinced it was a girl)





Since then we have been enjoying him to bits!  He has been such a good baby.  Its fun to have so many helpers-- it has been so much easier than last time.  I forgot how sweet and soft and miraculous these new littles ones are.



Before I had kids, I loved to do adventurous things. Since then I have mostly given up kayaking, backpacking, travelling, soccer, and other assorted activities.  I'm sure I'll get a chance to do those things again some day.  The funny thing is one does sacrifice a lot to become a parent, but it is so worth it!  Having kids has been the greatest adventure of all.  I know soon it will be over, and I don't want to take a single minute for granted.

4 comments:

Jolayne said...

So, does he have a name?

Becky said...

So glad to see pictures of little Gavin! J/k :). I saw Zane the other day and thought an A to Z would be cool.

You are amazing and can do/ have done very hard things!

Marie said...

I can't believe how crazy strong of a woman you are my dear! He's completely adorable! Congratulations! ...... how's having 5? I'll be calling for tips!

Jen said...

I'm happy to hear that all is well, you little boy is adorable. Hooray for team boy!