Birth Story (Part 2)

Well, I got my epidural around 3:30 am and felt much better almost instantly. It was great. The nurse said it would probably be at least 4 hours until I would start pushing, and I was at 5 cm. I tried really hard to sleep, and probably did for about 45 minutes total. 

The nurse kept coming in the room and checking my contractions, looking worried each time. My contractions were completely gone. They didn't know how much pitocin to use because the monitor was not picking anything up. I knew I was having contractions because I could feel my stomach tighten up and there was still pressure. They finally figured out the cord was not working that connected the monitor to me. When it picked up again, the nurse was shocked at how strong my contractions were. They upped the pitocin a little and let me be for a while. 

They came back about an hour later and I was 7 cm. Things were really moving fast! They started prepping the room for the baby's arrival and it really started feeling real. At this point, it was probably 8:30 or 9:00 am. 

I had to sit up in the bed because my legs were complete logs from the epidural and the baby's heartbeat was going down with each contraction. Brian and Rachel came back up and were in the room visiting for a little while. The doctor came in to check me, and it was about 9:30 at this point. She said I was just about 10 cm and at 10:00, she'd come back and I would start pushing! 

WHAT?! I really had to do this?! 

Derek was about to go to the waiting room to tell everyone, but I wanted him to stay, I was really nervous. Well I suddenly felt super nauseas. I ended up throwing up a million times and as I was puking, I was telling Derek he can leave if he was grossed out. The nurse was laughing at me because I was more concerned about Derek being grossed out than the fact that I couldn't stop puking.  LOL 

9:55 came and the doctor came in. They took my monitors off that measured the contractions and set the bed up for me to start pushing. I couldn't believe what was about to happen. She told me to push when I feel the urge to push. I had no idea how delivery really went. Between contractions, we would talk and joke around. We were laughing about random things and then I'd push again. Derek was awesome and so supportive. It was such an amazing experience. 

At 10:30 am, the baby came out. They put the blanket up on me and let Derek announce, "It's a boy!" 

I immediately started crying and laughing. Derek said, "It's Declan Matthew!" 

They took him away to clean and measure him and Derek stayed by my side the whole time. I could not stop staring at our baby. Then they gave him back to me. 

We had to give him up so he could get his bath and checked out. Then I went to the mother/baby room with Derek. 

And the visitors started. :o)

Brian, my brother, with Declan

Rachel, sister in law

My mom and Decco

Dad and Declan

My mother in law and Declan 

My father in law and Declan

Derek and his new BFF that his parents brought for Dec

Derek's grandma gave these booties to Derek's mom with flowers in them when he was born and gave them to us for Declan's birthday! 

Four Generations

Our house when we got home. My friends are so cute! 

The first growth progression picture

Declan Matthew on his one week birthday

Birth Story! (Part 1)

Here is the last pregnancy progression picture: 

On March 28, my due date came and passed. I felt a few contractions, but nothing that lasted long enough. It was really sad and I was really bummed. 

So Thursday, I packed my bags and went to work. I had a dr appointment at 3:15, so I'd have to leave work a little early. I went through another day of people asking when the baby was coming and wishing that he or she was already here. All day long, I still felt no contractions and I figured pregnancy was my new way of life. 

I got to the doctor's office and the same old deal- blood pressure check, urine sample, wait, wait, wait for the doctor to come in the room. 

So Dr. Cohn came in the room and checked me. I had only progressed half a centimeter and was still 50% effaced. Bummer. Major bummer. She then said that she didn't like how my blood pressure looked so she checked it again. It was a little high. She wasn't worried because I had no signs of pre-eclampsia the entire pregnancy, but she didn't want it to turn into anything so she would schedule for induction. 

She left the room to talk to the other doctor and said she'd let me know when they'd induce. I was assuming this meant sometime over the weekend or the next week. I just kept hoping she didn't ask what day I wanted because I didn't want the responsibility of picking my baby's birthdate. 

Well.. she came in and said, "Ok! Here's the crazy plan. You're being induced tonight at 9:00." 

WHAT!?! 

I had to go into the hospital at 9:00 that night and they'd start me prepping for induction, but I wouldn't start pitocin until really late/early morning. 

I called Derek excitedly and told him the news. We both freaked out a little and he had to call to ask if he could leave work. 

I cried almost the whole way home because it was our last time with our dog all by ourselves. haha. 

Well by the time I got home, I was having mild contractions. Yikes! (She had stripped my membranes.) Derek got home, we cleaned the house a little, showered, and waited until 8:30 to leave for the hospital. 

Fast forward to us in the hospital room: 

By 9:30ish, Brian and Rachel were already up there to visit us and my parents and Derek's parents were in shortly after. It was hard to believe this was really happening. 

The nurse came in and put the IV in my arm to start me on some fluids and the antibiotics for group B strep. This was what I was most fearing. I almost passed out, but I didn't! I started contracting on my own and they were waiting to see if the contractions slowed down before giving me the pill to get me started or if they'd just start pitocin. 

Well, my contractions didn't slow, so they began pitocin on the lowest drip. I started having contractions about 1-2 minutes apart, so they had to stop it because they were coming to fast. At this point, I was uncomfortable, but fine. 

That feeling of fine sure stopped quickly. Derek fell asleep when the awful contractions started. I went from feeling fine to wanting to throw up from pain quick. I called Derek's name to try to wake him up, but he kept sleeping! I wanted to kill him, but I was hooked up to too many machines. LOL. Thankfully my mom came in to visit me and helped talk me through the contractions, but they got unbarable. So I asked for an epidural. 

When they came in, Derek woke up. While they were prepping the epidural stuff, Derek started to look really pale... then green. He had to sit down because he was about to pass out. So while I was getting the epidural, all I could think about was how no one noticed how green he was and how I was pretty sure he was going to be flat on the floor at any moment. I barely noticed I was getting the epidural, so this was perfect for distracting me LOL. He wasn't even sick over the fact that I was getting a huge needle in my back, he's good about needles, it was because it was so hot in the room and he got up super fast from being sound asleep. 

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I'm going to stop here because this is super long and people are coming over to visit! To be continued! 

Only 1 week left?! I hope!

My due date is officially 5 days away, counting today. I totally thought I'd already have this baby by now. Gunther is waiting until he/she feels ready, I guess! 

Here's what's happening...

At my dr appointment, the dr excitedly announced that I had changed from last week! I was now 1-2 cm. Uhh... that's what I was last week! Needless to say, I was disappointed. I thought for sure I would be more. I guess walking is number 1 on my agenda for the week! 

But he also did an estimate of how big the baby is. He said 7 lbs 9 ounces. That sounds good to me! However, if Gunther stays in any longer, he/she will just get bigger, so I'm perfectly fine with labor starting any moment now! 

We are officially ready, now. For a long time, we could not decide between two boy names. We have our girl name locked down, but we really liked these two boy names and thought we'd wait until we see that cute face to decide.... then we realized it probably won't be that easy since most babies look the same as each other. LOL So we looked up info on both names- meanings, popularity, how people felt about their name that were named the choices we had, we even tried yelling the names like he/she did something wrong haha! ....well we did it! We are ready for a boy or girl to come into this world and have a name. 

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We've now come to birthday week's end. My birthday was Monday, my mom's was Tuesday, and Derek's was Thursday. We had hopes for a March 21 baby so we could link all those birthdays together, but that didn't happen. This little one will have his/her own birthday week, now! 

38 week update

How Far Along: 38 weeks 2 days 

Size of baby: Well.. the doctor scared me and said, "It feels about 9 lbs!" When he was measuring/feeling my belly. Then he said he was kidding and it feels very average, about 7 lbs. Thank God. But, my apps say it's about the length of this leek: 

Total Weight Gain: about 35 lbs. Oye! 

Sleep: Starting to get harder... Just the waking up to pee all the time! 

 Symptoms: Same old Braxton Hicks... nothing more really. They're getting a little stronger I suppose. 

Cravings: Still nothing. Lame! 

Gender- who knows?!

Movement: Moving like crazy! I swear I can feel toes at the top of my belly sometimes. 

Maternity Clothes: Same

Best Moments this week: Writing in the new baby book from my work baby shower! 

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out what this baby is! 

Milestones:  I'm 1-2 cm dilated and 50% thinned! Wahoo!

To Do List: I guess just packing the rest of my bag and deciding what baby outfit to bring him/her home in. We also need to put the car seat in the jeep. 

Getting close to the end!

At this point, I should really be grading papers and making plans for the coming weeks just because this baby could come at any point, really. Instead, I'm on the computer... the best place to procrastinate. 

Last night we had our diaper party. All of Derek's friends, some uncles, cousins, dads, and my brother all came over. I wish I would have taken pictures! It was definitely the most full our little 1,100 square foot house has ever been! We were full to the brim. 

It was so fun and nice to have everyone here, though. We have great family and friends and everyone seemed to have a great time. It's amazing how many diapers we got. 

Don't mind the table- it's exclusively a beer pong table we borrowed from Derek's friends. But holy cow, we got a lot of diapers. Of course, while Derek was at work today, I organized them into piles of sizes. And I loved every minute of it. 

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So today I realized, as I was in church, that I have to actually have this baby. At some point in the coming weeks, I will have to deliver a person out of my body. I'm freaking a little. Then we will have this baby FOREVER. 

Don't get me wrong, I am more excited for this baby than I can even express, but wow, our lives are about to change like crazy! 

Now I know...

Well... I was so excited to find out if I was dilated at all at my appointment on Thursday. I got there, the nurse took my blood pressure, told me to pee in the cup and said the doctor would be with me shortly. I was surprised she didn't bring me a gown or anything, but thought she was the nurse, she knows better than me! 

A few minutes later, the doctor comes in and says, loud and proud, "Oh! Looks like we aren't checking you. I always know if someone wants to be checked when I come in and they have pants on still. Since you do, I guess you don't want to be checked!" Then he talked a mile a minute about all kinds of other stuff and I never got the chance to say that I wanted to be checked. Insert super bummed look here. 

Anyway, he did say that next week for sure I will be checked out, so I suppose I'll just be patient. I had a crew of disappointed coworkers this morning, though, who were eager to find out if I was progressing at all. LOL I love them. 

I am really happy to say that I haven't gained any more weight in about 2 weeks. I thought that was a little weird, but I looked it up on Dr. Google and found that at the end, you might stop gaining all together. The belly sure is getting bigger though. Weird! Gunther must just be eating all my fat. I'm officially 2 lbs over the high point of my goal as of now, but either way, I'm proud of how I ate throughout pregnancy. I think I only had fast food twice the entire nine months. I don't usually eat it, but I wondered if I would more as a pregnant person. 

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On another note, I told my students today that I could actually have this baby any time. They keep updating me on how many days are left until the baby comes. I realized today that they might surprised if I don't come to school one day because I had the baby early. They were really shocked and I had to explain that babies don't always come right on time. They were also in shock that I will be gone for weeks and not days. I felt bad, but I know they'll be in good hands while I'm gone. 

I have to take a picture of the poster they started with baby names and boy/girl guesses. They're hilarious. They know we have names picked out and are so impatient and wanting to know what it is. :o) I want to know, too! 

2 weeks and a lot of change!

HOLY COW! I had to post the comparison. Two weeks sure made a difference! 

I'll post more tomorrow after my 37 week dr appointment where maybe I'll have something interesting to say. :o)