Part 1
This last week was really tough! Not only was I having contractions off and on, but I also started getting sick. It started last weekend. I just felt like I was trying to fight off a head cold but by Wednesday, I was totally congested. It really made sleep impossible. I had my weekly checkup on Wednesday and was a little encouraged by the doctor who said I was at 2 1/2 cm. Progression is always good. I was just praying that the baby would hold off until after Friday morning so I wouldn't have to miss a very important meeting. I woke up Friday and barely had a voice. All the sinus drainage started the cough. After we finished up our meeting, I had this feeling that I was going to have the baby that day. I even mentioned in my FB status that I was "willing" the baby out that day, LOL. I guess I got my wish. I was in the middle of doing laundry (because I had this feeling) and went out to the garage to get the clothes out of the dryer when I felt like I might have sprung a leak. I was already wearing a pad because I had been spotting so I wasn't quite sure. While I was walking back to the bathroom, it became pretty apparent that it was still leaking so I called Don and my parents and started getting some things together because no, I did not have a bag packed yet, LOL. When my parents got there, my mom really wanted to drive me to the hospital but I wanted to wait for Don to get home. There were several things about this delivery that didn't go as planned and this was the first one...my water springing a leak and I wasn't having contractions to go along with it. I knew they would end up inducing me and that would screw up my plans for trying to deliver without an epidural. So while I was waiting for Don to get home, I was sitting at the dining room table when I thought of something else I needed to pack. I went to stand up and as soon as I did, whoosh...my water came gushing out. Yuck...that's all I have to say about that, LOL. At least it happened at home and not in the car and at least my parents were there to bring me towels and to answer Joshua's questions. I had to bring towels with us because I kept leaking every time I tried to walk.
Part 2
We had to stop at triage when we first got to the hospital. They treated me like I had the swine flu because of the way I sounded. They kept asking if I had been in contact with anyone with HN1, etc. Then they had to put masks on their faces just in case. Thankfully, that was just in triage. They made me wear a mask while they were transporting me to Labor and Delivery but I was able to take it off as soon as we got in our room. None of the nurses in labor and delivery wore "the" mask. They get me hooked up to everything and then started the pitocin. After they upped the dose the second time, I went ahead and asked for the epidural. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the pain. I think they checked me again around 11:30 or so and I was at 4-5 cm dilated. Then we played the waiting game. They kept upping the pitocin. I started shaking uncontrollably. I thought it was because of the epidural since I've had problems with the shakes with each of my pregnancies but later found out it was just because I was cold...really cold. I was also running a fever so that's probably why I was so cold. I had the room temperature at 85 degrees, LOL. The nurse kept asking me if I was starting to get hot. I think I was sweating them out, LOL. I started wondering when they were going to check me again around 1:30pm. I was curious to see how dilated I was and how much longer this was going to take. It was past my bedtime, LOL. They finally checked me a little after two and said I was fully dilated. They started getting stuff together and notified my doctor. They had to set up the stirups because the epidural made my legs totally numb and I couldn't move them at all. After they got everything together, got my legs in the stirups, took half of the bed apart, then they finally started having me start pushing. There were just the two nurses in the room with us. I probably pushed for maybe 6 or 7 contractions when they could see the head and told me not to push anymore. Even during pushing, the nurse asked me if I was getting hot and I kept telling them no. Then the nurse went to get the doctor. After the doctor came in, I think I pushed through 2 more contractions and John Paul Taylor was born at 3:22am. He was perfect and I was able to feed him fairly quickly after giving birth. He latched on right away and we had no feeding problems! The hospital was really crowded and they didn't have any rooms available in the post pardom section so I had to stay in Labor and Delivery overnight. Don and my mom went home to get some sleep after they took the baby to the nursery for his bath and assesments, etc.
I dozed off for a little while but the nurse came back in to check on me...blood pressure, temp, etc. It was around 6am and I asked the nurse if they were going to bring the baby back to me or if I had to request him because I thought I needed to feed him soon. This is where everything got screwy. Of course in my defense I was really tired and really hungry (the last time I ate was at lunch on Friday). The nurse told me that I would have to feed the baby by 7:45am and that shift change was at 7am so they would bring him over after shift change unless I wanted him now. I said that it would be ok for them to bring him over after shift change so I could maybe sleep another hour first. 7:45 comes and they still hadn't brought the baby to me so I called the nursery. Of course I have no voice so it was pretty difficult. After I asked for them to bring me the baby, they told me they were just getting ready to do the assement on him and they would bring him over after he's done. About 30 minutes later, the phone in my room rings. It's the nursery telling me that when they did his assesment, his temperature was low so they had to stick him under the heat lamp to get his temperature back up. Then they checked his blood sugar and it was low so they wanted my permission to give him some formula to bring it back up. I was really upset about this because I didn't feel like I had any choice but to let them do it. The nurse said that if they didn't get his blood sugar back up, he would have to go to the NICU. The part that I was angry about was I think the whole thing could have been avoided if they would have just brought him to me to let me feed him instead of waiting so long. He ended up spitting up the formula a little later after they brought him to my room...good for him, LOL. He was spitting up a little the rest of the day and I swear it was formula and not colostrum that was coming back up. As long as he was awake, he did great eating. However, there were at least two times that I just couldn't wake him for nothing. I was thinking to myself that if we were home, I would be getting some good sleep right now, LOL. But we were not home; we were in the hospital where they pester and bug you for all kinds of things and if you go over that 4-5 hr. max for feeding, they take the baby away to check his blood sugar. They had to check his blood sugar two other times but he was fine thank goodness. So I was awake; trying to wake the baby. I felt like crap from being sick. They started me on anti-biotics and by Sunday I was blowing all kinds of "stuff" out of my nose. I probably had a sinus infection. It's now Monday and I have my voice back (most of the way) so I sound much better. Now if I could just get some sleep...yeah right, LOL.
So that's the birth story. Here's a few pictures of John Paul:
Part 3
I dozed off for a little while but the nurse came back in to check on me...blood pressure, temp, etc. It was around 6am and I asked the nurse if they were going to bring the baby back to me or if I had to request him because I thought I needed to feed him soon. This is where everything got screwy. Of course in my defense I was really tired and really hungry (the last time I ate was at lunch on Friday). The nurse told me that I would have to feed the baby by 7:45am and that shift change was at 7am so they would bring him over after shift change unless I wanted him now. I said that it would be ok for them to bring him over after shift change so I could maybe sleep another hour first. 7:45 comes and they still hadn't brought the baby to me so I called the nursery. Of course I have no voice so it was pretty difficult. After I asked for them to bring me the baby, they told me they were just getting ready to do the assement on him and they would bring him over after he's done. About 30 minutes later, the phone in my room rings. It's the nursery telling me that when they did his assesment, his temperature was low so they had to stick him under the heat lamp to get his temperature back up. Then they checked his blood sugar and it was low so they wanted my permission to give him some formula to bring it back up. I was really upset about this because I didn't feel like I had any choice but to let them do it. The nurse said that if they didn't get his blood sugar back up, he would have to go to the NICU. The part that I was angry about was I think the whole thing could have been avoided if they would have just brought him to me to let me feed him instead of waiting so long. He ended up spitting up the formula a little later after they brought him to my room...good for him, LOL. He was spitting up a little the rest of the day and I swear it was formula and not colostrum that was coming back up. As long as he was awake, he did great eating. However, there were at least two times that I just couldn't wake him for nothing. I was thinking to myself that if we were home, I would be getting some good sleep right now, LOL. But we were not home; we were in the hospital where they pester and bug you for all kinds of things and if you go over that 4-5 hr. max for feeding, they take the baby away to check his blood sugar. They had to check his blood sugar two other times but he was fine thank goodness. So I was awake; trying to wake the baby. I felt like crap from being sick. They started me on anti-biotics and by Sunday I was blowing all kinds of "stuff" out of my nose. I probably had a sinus infection. It's now Monday and I have my voice back (most of the way) so I sound much better. Now if I could just get some sleep...yeah right, LOL.
So that's the birth story. Here's a few pictures of John Paul:
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