Hi everyone. It has been a wonderful 12 days since the birth of my darling baby boy, and I am finally getting a chance to share his birth story with you all.
I did not mention this on PT, but late in my pregnancy, around the 29th week, I developed itching all over my body. I brought this to the attention of my doctor, who immediately had me go in for a blood test to check my bile acid level. It was slightly elevated, and indicated that I had a mild case of cholestasis of pregnancy. This happens to some people in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, and is caused by the pregnancy hormones interfering with the normal bile flow of the body. There is a slight increase in the risk of stillbirth with this condition after 37 or 38 weeks, and because of that, most doctors schedule an induction at 37 weeks for pregnant women who are dealing with it. Because of that risk, my doctor had scheduled my induction for the 26th of December, which was the day I completed 37 weeks.
Anyhow...the story begins...
On the 25th, Friday afternoon, I had to go to the hospital for some gel application which would soften my cervix and prepare my body for induction the next day. I was supposed to be sent home that evening, and had to return the next day for the induction. God had other plans...
When I went in, the nurse came in to check me and said, "Wait a minute...you don't need the gel..." When I asked her what she meant, she said, "You are already in labor, nearly 4cm dialated, almost in active labor, and having contractions every 4 minutes." "WHAT?!?"
I seriously had no idea. I never felt the contractions, and had no idea I was already close to 4 cm. She also mentioned that they might not even have to induce me at all. I was already on my way to having our little boy.
I was not allowed to go home that night. The nurse came back to check me after 2 hours, and I was 5 cm, and the contractions had increased to every 3 minutes. Things were going pretty well. I still didn't feel a thing. My husband was with me, and called my family to let them know I was going to have the baby that night. My parents and brother came immediately. I was in active labor, yet sitting and chit chatting with my family, laughing, feeling nothing at all. It was truly such a blessing from God to get through that much of the labor without feeling a thing. The nurse was monitoring my contractions and had to keep telling me when I was having one because I couldn't feel it.
Then, my blood pressure began to creep up. It got pretty bad and they had to put me on some blood pressure medication through the IV. Because of my high blood pressure, they felt it was important to speed up my labor, so at 6cm, the doctor broke my water, and gave me a very small dose of pitocin to get things moving. It was an hour after the pitocin that my contractions started to get stronger, and I started to feel them. Initially, I JUST felt them, but slowly, it began to get somewhat painful. By the time I was 7cm dialated, the contractions were very painful, and just a minute - 2 apart. I didn't want to go through too much pain, so after an hour of feeling uncomfortable, I requested the epidural. The moment they gave me the epidural, it was lovely again. The pain was gone. I went from 7cm to 10cm without feeling any additional pain. After reaching 10cm, they waited about an hour or so for the baby to drop. Finally, it was time to push. I had my family leave the room, and just had my husband, a nurse, and the doctor with me at that time. It took about 1.5 hours after that for our baby to arrive. By then, it was nearly 3am, on the 26th.
I will never forget how I felt the first moment I heard my child cry as he entered this world. I will never forget looking up at the doctor holding him, and then seeing him quiet down the moment she put him on my chest. I looked into his eyes, and he looked into mine. I couldn't stop the tears of joy from flowing out of my eyes. I won't ever forget looking at my husband and seeing the tears of joy in his eyes. It was such an emotional moment, one that I know we will cherish in our memories for life.
We stayed two days at the hospital before we were sent home. Baby was 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and in our eyes, the cutest baby in the world. He has been such a joy the past 12 days. We had a few difficult nights at the beginning, but he is already sleeping 4-5 hours straight in the night now. We feel so blessed to have him.
My husband had taken 2 weeks off from work and will be going back this Monday. My heart is already breaking thinking about him going back to work. It has been great with him at home, and he's been helping out so much. My parents have also been such a big help. This baby stuff is all so new to us, and we would've been lost without them the first few days.
My mom is playing with her grandbaby now, so I got a moment for the computer, but I'm going to go off again. I need to go play with the tiels before the baby needs my attention again. Poor babies have been feeling a little neglected, because I can't devote ALL my time to them right now while I'm trying to adjust with a child, but I'm doing my best, and know it will get better once we settle down. Muffin seems to 'know' what the baby is, and keeps coming out of her cage to look at him. Popcorn is a carefree bird and while he may have noticed, as always, he doesn't show that he cares there's someone new in the house. He just continues to go about his business, singing and dancing all day long. :)
