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Friday, August 30, 2013

Henry- baby number 6 birth story

It's 7 am on Wednesday August 28, 2013. I am at st Luke's hospital with iv in and monitors on. Getting the iv in and blood drawn are one of the worst parts of delivery for me. I get very lightheaded and hot and feel miserable for a few minutes. 
We came in bright and early at 5 am. They got the iv in and started antibiotics a bit after 6 am. Now I'm just sitting around waiting for it to be 8 am when we will get things going with pitocin and epidural. I'm already 4 cm dilated and having minor contractions. 
 

Jeremy came with me and a few minutes ago he got called down to do a case. He should be back by 8, I guess we will see. 


I slept very badly last night. Because I also slept badly the night before I was hoping to go to bed early last night and sleep well until 4:30 when I had to get up. No such luck. Until the past two nights I have slept really well. Last night I was exhausted, but after 3 hours in bed I still hadn't fallen asleep. Finally I fell asleep for 3 hours, then woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. I got up at 3:30 and ate a bowl of cereal because I was hungry and hoped I could then fall to sleep for an hour. No such luck. So I opened a book on my iPhone and read for 30 min until it was time to get up and go. 


Jeremy's parents got in late last night so they are there with the kids this morning. I am very thankful for that. Definitely one advantage to being induced is knowing when everything is going to take place, rather than spur of the moment trying to figure out what to do with the kids and trying to get to the hospital on time. 


I am very much looking forward to an epidural. Out of 5 previous deliveries I've only had an epidural one other time. I wanted natural births with no medical interventions but the last two were so intense and painful that I really didn't want to go through that again.


Epidural in at 8 am, Jeremy was still in the case. Mike did the epidural and was awesome. I got light headed and didnt love it, but overall it went well. He warned me i might get itchy, but was surprised at how extremely itchy i became, all over my torso and face. Its been an hour and its almost subsided. 

Doc came in at 8:30, I was at a 4. He broke my water, but not much fluid came out. By 9 it started leaking and then really gushing.

Started pitocin at a 1 sometime after 9:30 and 2nd round of antibiotics at 10 am.
Somewhere around 11 pitocin was upped to a 2. Just before 1 pm I was dilated to 9 and shortly after a 10. I wasn't ready to push yet, I was nervous to do the whole pushing bit because I don't like that part. The doctor came back after about 10 minutes and said it was time to push. 7 minutes later, at 1:23 pm Henry William was born. 


For being two weeks early he was bigger than I thought he would be-- 8 lbs 4 oz and 22 inches long. 

I am so happy that everything with labor and delivery went so well. I am so thankful I had an epidural and didn't haven to feel the contractions. Jeremy was loving it too- no wife in pain, no screaming. It was a quiet peaceful 4 hours of labor. 
I didn't love that my legs were so numb, couldn't even lift my left leg or sit up without help. Also didn't like how drowsy I felt, but absolutely loved not feeling the contractions and the pushing part was not bad at all. 


As soon as Henry was born they laid
him on my chest, all purple and white. Jeremy cut the cord and the placenta was delivered easily. No tearing, so healing should go really well. 

After we got him a little wiped off I put him to nursing and he latched right on and nursed for an hour and a half. After an hour they took him for a few minutes to weigh and measure him, but then he came right back to nurse more. 


An hour and a half after delivery I was still so numb I couldn't walk, so they wheelchaired me to our room. Henry still wants to nurse, so he is happily sucking away while I'm updating this. He is so stinking cute, and little and floppy. 

Now that it is all over I can't believe how nervous and worried I've been about the delivery. I think because Matthews delivery was so traumatic I was having a hard time getting my mind past that. I am so happy it worked out for me to be induced. They started the epidural before they even broke my water.

It's now 7 pm. The epidural has finally worn off all the way. My left leg took a long time. Henry is eating like a champ. Around 6 pm they took him and bathed up. After delivery they just wiped him off a little, So this was his first real cleanup. 



So far, even with the epidural worn off I have no after pains, which is awesome, because with Matthew and Lydia in particular I had horrible after pains. Also bleeding has been very minimal. Here's to hoping that both those things stay that way. 

I have been super hungry and thankfully they have been feeding me well and often. I ate a Philly sandwich around 2, meatloaf and fruit around 5, eggs and hash browns at 6:30 and have a turkey sandwich set aside to eat. I have also been drinking a lot of fluids and its a good thing my legs are back to working so I can get myself to the bathroom. 


Welcome baby Henry, so glad you are here. 

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

I LOVE reading birth stories! I'm glad yours went so well and wasn't traumatic or drawn-out. I'm worried that you're going to talk me into an epidural, though! We're planning another home birth, and I am dreading that second stage of labor--pushing. I've got some major mental preparation to do so that I'm ready when it's time! I'm just so glad that your travail is over. Isn't it a great feeling to have that behind you and to finally be able to meet and love your little baby?! Congrats, again!

Bonita said...

Congratulations!!! What a wonderful story!!