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February 10, 2004
5 days old! (well, he was 5 days ols when I started writing this entry... now he's 12 days old!)
This is long, but I wanted to record as much of the end of my pregnancy as I could... maybe you can bear with me!
The story of Jay's birth...
Let's begin a few weeks ago... I saw the doctor at 35.5 weeks. They did my weight (131), my bp (normal) and urine test (still had blood in it from my kidney stones). I was escorted to my room where I was told that I would have the group B strep test done. So, I undressed and put on "the sheet". (Why do they call this measly piece of paper a sheet? It's pitiful the amount of skin it covers!) Anyway, the Dr. came in, measured my fundus, which was also right on track, then took the culture for the strep test. She told me that she would go ahead and do a cervical exam if I wanted. I did, and she found that I was at 2 cm and only about 10% effaced. Because it was obvious that my cervix was already "ripe", she went ahead and wrote the orders for my induction to occur on Feb. 3rd (as I begin writing today!). I thought it was kinda neat that Jay's birthday would be 2/3/04. Liah's is 3/2 and Dylan's is 3/23, so what more fun than to throw Nana for a major loop and have her all confused on the kids' birthdays? The doctor said that she would be surprised if I made it until induction day. (Yeah, yeah - don't get my hopes up.)
The next week (36.5 weeks) I came back and this time saw one of the midwives. My bp was fine, but I had gained a whopping 6.5 pounds (!!!) from the previous week, my urine still had blood in it, and my iron way lower than in should be, in spite of taking 105 mg of elemental iron daily. The nurse told me I needed to start taking my iron. (*sigh*) I AM taking my iron! So she gave me something different and told me to start taking it twice a day. I was starting to feel a little down... But the baby was still measuring right on target and the heartbeat was strong and healthy. I had another cervical exam. Still 2 cm, and this time about 50% effaced. Not much progress from the previous week. She called the hospital and had it put on the books that I would be induced on the 3rd, and to arrive at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. I called a good friend of mine and asked if she would come to the house to keep Liah and Dylan that day so that Tommy and my parents were not driving all over town trying to drop off/pick up kids. She agreed and all plans were in place. At this point, I was truly miserable. When the midwife came in and asked how I was feeling, I told her "I feel nine months pregnant - and miserable". She told me that I may not have to wait another 2 weeks; she seemed to think things would happen sooner. *Sigh* again, and fast forward another week.
One week later, this time at my 37.5 week appointment, I saw my 2nd midwife. This time bp was good, there was still blood in my urine, and I had lost 2 pounds (go figure...) During my cervical exam this time, I was at a "loose" (that doesn't sound very nice when they have their arm halfway to your tonsils, does it?) 3 cm. I completely forgot to ask about effacement at this visit. She called the hospital to verify my induction date and time and also put in orders that I could have my epidural as soon as I was ready for it. In addition to that, she also changed my orders to include penicillin. Although my Group B strep results had come back negative this time, I tested positive as a carrier when I was pregnant with Liah. This is my favorite midwife/doctor at the practice, and she is the one who was on call for deliveries the day I was to be induced. As I left, I told her I'd see her on Tuesday (the 3rd) and she told me not to get my hopes up. At this point, I felt like I'd heard this song and dance before, but kept showing up for my weekly appointments. Little did I know!
Tommy was off work this day, and I had a wonderful afternoon. He stayed home with Liah and Dylan, unpacking and taking care of the kids, and I had the entire afternoon all to myself! I went and got a haircut, had my eyebrows waxed, and had lunch ALL BY MYSELF! It was soooo relaxing.
I came home and decided it was time to get the car seats arranged in the van for when Jay came. So, we removed a middle seat from the van, moved Liah and Dylan's seats to the very back, and installed Jay's car seat in the other middle seat. This left us plenty of room for stepping into the van and getting everyone settled without having to kill ourselves trying to reach into the back seat by going over the river and through the woods.
All throughout the afternoon and early evening, I was having contractions. I was really very unconcerned though. They were not particularly painful - they were enough to notice, but not enough to hurt. Around 3 o'clock, I decided to start timing them, and they were about 10 minutes apart. I decided to take a nap but was unable to sleep. I timed again for a while, and they began to run about 7-8 minutes apart, but still just didn't hurt much. I got up and took a bath, changed clothes and came downstairs. Tommy and I played on the computer together for a while, then Tommy got up and made hamburgers and fries for dinner (yum!) We sat down to eat, and by this time it was almost 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. As I ate, I began writing down the time when I would have a contraction. And don't you know, it was this little thing which made me decide that maybe I should go ahead and put a call in to the doctor's office. Seeing in black and white that I really was contracting every 7 minutes made me realize that it was very possible that I was in labor. I know, I'm such a moron, you'd think I'd know after having had two kids already. But, Liah and Dylan were both induced, and to be honest, I really didn't know what to expect about going into labor on my own! So, I finished eating and called the doctor. She felt that since I’d already had two babies in a relatively short amount of time and had been having regular contractions throughout the evening that I should probably go on to the hospital to be checked out. Since it was already after 8:00, and I wasn’t really in pain, and the hospital is only a few miles from our house, we decided I’d go in to have things checked out on my own. We don’t have family here that could run on over at a moment’s notice, but we have some good friends that planned on keeping Liah and Dylan. However, they have a five year old and a one year old of their own, and we didn’t want to get the kids’ schedules all mixed up only for me to be sent home an hour later. So we called and put them on alert, and off I went to the hospital.
I walked (okay, waddled) into the hospital less than ten minutes later. Just before me, another man had walked in, and we both stopped at the receptionist’s desk - he to ask for a room number of a patient, and me to get a wristband and be sent up to labor and delivery. The receptionist was on the phone, but quickly ended the call. She looked at the man in front of me, and then at me and asked me “Can I help you, honey?” I told her I thought maybe I was in labor, the paperwork took less than two minutes, and I was sent right up. The man joined me on the elevator., where I felt it necessary to pretty much let him know that I am not a poor single waif, but that my husband was at home with the other kids until we knew for sure and could get our kids to our friend’s house. Why did I care what this stranger thought? Got me, but I felt better saying so. We went up one floor, got off the elevator together and he wished me luck. I went to the nurse’s station, where they escorted me into an observation room, got me hooked up to the monitors, took down a million questions, and did a cervical exam. At this point, I was at 4 cm, and the nurse said I had a “bulging bag of waters”. She called my OB and told her the news, came back in the room, and told me I was a keeper. The show was on the road! In the time I laid in that room while she gathered supplies for my stay, I called Tommy and told him the good news, and all of a sudden began having contractions that were noticeably more painful. What perfect timing I’d had in getting to the hospital! Funny thing, but I was so proud that everything up to this point had gone so well. Tommy called our friends, who headed to our house to pick up the kids, and he packed the last-minute stuff for my bag, in addition to a bag for Liah and Dylan (to which I’d given absolutely no thought all along!) Then he headed on up to the hospital. I was escorted to my room, where I called my mom and dad and told them we were having a baby! My mom had been asleep maybe 10 minutes when I called and sounded fuzzy-headed and a little less than enthused at first about driving the 4 hours to get here starting at after 9:00 p.m. But she said they were on their way and managed a sleepy “I love you” as we were hanging up the phone. I teased her about it sometime after they had arrived in the middle of the night and we laughed over it.
I changed into my hospital gown and my monitors were plugged back in. My IV was started to begin getting fluid in me so that I could try a third time for an epidural - the first two times with Liah and Dylan helped very little. The nurse (who was such a sweetheart, by the way) managed to make me bleed all over my fresh clean bedding AND managed to blow my vein. My wrist still looks like someone took a hammer to it. Ugh. I really HATE IVs. Give me injections, draw my blood, whatever - but get the junk the heck out of my arm so that I can function with it! I know, I know, this is the price I pay for the pain relief. She also started me on my antibiotics and told me that I just had to deliver before her shift ended at 1 a.m. And she was just so sure that I would too. Hah! More on that to come...
Tommy arrived shortly afterwards. I began hurting shortly after he got there, but was doing well breathing through my contractions. At this point, I was about 4-5 cm and things were going smoothly. I was soon filling up with fluid and decided that I was ready for my epidural. The anesthesiologist had already been called up to the floor for me, but on his way up was pulled in to do an emergency c-section. So I had to wait a little bit, but only about 45 minutes. In the meantime I had some Nubain injected into my IV, and it was a great help. All in all it wasn't bad. He came in the room and things moved rather quickly. I have had epidurals with Liah and Dylan, but they did not take affect very well. I told him this, and he told me that I just didn't have an anesthesiologist as good as he was. Vain, yes, but I have to say that the pain relief was WONDERFUL. I had complete and total lack of pain once the epidural was started. I laid back to relax and was soon dozing in and out for a little while.
My mom and dad arrived around 2 a.m. They were surprised that I hadn't yet delivered and was not really further along (I was about 5-6 cm). But, I felt so good with the pain relief that I really didn't care that things were going more slowly than with my previous two. My mom and dad hung out for a while and then decided to go round up some "breakfast" (this was the middle of the night - maybe 3 or 4 a.m.???) They brought back breakfast for Tommy too. Then they hung around for a while longer. It was really pretty ho-hum. After it was determined that things were not as rushed as they had been in the past, we decided to send my parents to the house so that we could all get some rest, and Tommy would call them when the fun began. Tommy and I both settled in, and he got some sleep whereas I got a little bit of rest, but was unable to actually sleep.
I dozed for a while and then began hurting again with my contractions. When I was checked this time, I was completely effaced and about 7-8 cm. Wow! And here I just had the slightest bit of discomfort. How wonderful to be going through transition and not just be dying of pain! (Can you tell I don't like to hurt?) The anesthesiologist came and topped off my epidural before it wore off and I was unable to have anymore. Just a short time later, I began to feel pressure, I was checked once more, and at that point I just had a little bit of a lip left before it was time to push! So Tommy called Mom and Dad, and they were on their way. I guess this was maybe 7 a.m.
My nurse began breaking down my bed, and my OB was awakened (she spent the night at the hospital, afraid that she wouldn't hear the phone when it was time!) All the multitude of people who help with various stages of delivery and postpartum care of the baby and myself began flowing in the room. My nurse had me give a practice push to see how I'd progress, and I guess it looked pretty good, because all of a sudden, everything was in place. My mom and dad showed up, and poor dad was sent to the hall to wait. My legs were put in the supports, my mom was at my left side, and my wonderful hubby was at my right side. I pushed maybe three times and was in the middle of a really good push when Mom looks down there and says "Wow, Cara - this is a big baby!" Thanks, mom. One more big breath and next thing I know the OB is saying "Okay, back off... back off...!" And there he was! She suctioned his nose and mouth and just a little bitty push later and Baby Jay was being laid on my chest! And how perfect can a baby be?!?! He was born at 7:48 a.m., weighed 8 lbs. 11 ozs., and was 20.5 inches long. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9, he has a head full of dark hair, and is just as beautiful as can be! Tommy was absolutely beaming from ear to ear. They took Jay over to the bassinet to be examined and such, and I told Tommy "Go ahead and see him, Daddy." I looked over at Mom and told her to go ahead and let Dad in; just to tell him to watch where his eyes went and pay attention to the baby, lol. He had to be back at the house by 8:30 to meet our friends, who were dropping Liah and Dylan off, and I wanted him to have the opportunity to see the baby for at least a few minutes before having to go.
Jay was cleaned up and passed all around and generally oohed, and aahed over and loved on for some time, then I got him back for a while, where I immediately put him to my breast. He had no trouble in latching on and nursed well right from the start. We had a little rocky time that afternoon when he had low blood sugar problems. His breathing got raspy and he began "pulling" for air and grunting. He was taken to the nursery, where the nurse reported to me that he promptly threw up all over everything. His tummy was suctioned, and she said that there was still a TON of mucus and such that he simply was unable to get up on his own and that they were unable to suction when they cleaned out his airways upon birth. After this, he was brought back to me, his blood sugar stabilized, he was nice and pink and alert, and just looked SO much better. I hadn't realized how lethargic and gray he had gradually become over the previous couple of hours until he came back from the nursery looking better, if that makes any sense. After that, however, all was well.
I did have a 2nd degree tear, but in that, I got what I asked for. I had told the OB that in no uncertain terms did I want an episiotomy; I had one with Liah, and the pain from the healing of that incision was far worse than any of the rest of my recovery. She stitched up the tear fairly quickly and I have had minimal pain from it. It was much better healing this time around. Actually, all aspects of healing and recovery have gone much more quickly this time. I can happily report (although it really tees off some friends, lol) that I weigh less now than I did when I got pregnant with Jay. My belly still has the floppies, but that will require exercise to tone it again, of which I've done none.
I feel so utterly blessed that God chose to bring this baby into our lives. What a sad, sad choice it would have been if Tommy and I had decided not to have any children together. He is such an absolute sweetheart and I count my lucky stars that we have him. Jay, always know that without a doubt, you are loved.
---Cara
p.s. In case you missed it, I've put a couple of quick snapshots of Jay up at www.babiesonline.com/babies/h/hewittfamily
More (and better) pictures to come as soon as time allows - I'd like to get him with his eyes open (and not yellow!)
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