Aiden James is here! Kinda long...PIP

LSquared3960 · February 2012

Hey everyone! I thought I'd take a minute (since that's all I have these days!) to share AJ's birth story!

On Valentine's Day, DH and I decided to get a hotel room in the city as kind of a "last night away from home" celebration since DS was due on the 26th. Boy did we cut it close! On the 15th, I went to my regularly scheduled visit. I've been having problems with swelling for the last month, but my BP has always been normal and I haven't had any protein in my urine. That wasn't the case on the 15th. My blood pressure started to spike, so the midwife I saw sent my directly to the hospital for some further tests and to monitor my BP. Luckily we had the car packed just incase! I was disappointed that they wanted to send me to a different branch of the hospital than where I had planned to give birth, but tried to keep an open mind and remain flexible.

When we got to the hospital I was monitored for a couple hours before they decided it was best to induce since I was 38w 4d. I was hard and closed, so they inserted cervidil that night and started pitocin at 6am on the 16th. My mom showed up at 6am as well since we'd decided we wanted her in the delivery room. I've always been a bit modest, esp around my mother...boy did that go out the window fast! at 7am the midwife came in to say she was going to check to see how I was progressing. What she didn't tell me was she was also going to break my water. HOLY JEEZ...that was one of the most painful experiences of my life. She dug around for a few minutes before finally giving up because I in tears...it was awful! Fortunately...whatever she did helped, because about 45 minutes later my water did break. They inserted an internal monitor to get a better idea of my contractions and the baby's heart rate. I labored for about 5 hours before I couldn't take the pain anymore and decided to get the epidural. Getting the epidural was HEAVEN! And it really wasn't nearly as painful as I've heard some people describe...I honestly think getting an IV hurt more.

After that I slept until about 3:30 when the midwife came to check me again. After 8 and a half hours of labor I hadn't made any progress. We then decided it was best to move forward with a cesarean. I was told it would happen in the next 2 or 3 hours. At a little after 4pm, the baby's heart rate started to drop pretty fast. The last I remember seeing was about 71 bpm and dropping. I've never been so scared! The nurses tried several times to get it back up, but had little success. After that I was rushed to surgery and Aiden James made his appearance!

Our perfect little boy was born at 4:40, weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 20 1/4 inches long. He is such a sweet little boy and I've had so much fun getting to know him these last few days! I could stare at his sweet little face all day. Breastfeeding has really become one of the greatest joys of my day even though I'm not producing enough to keep him full and have to supplement with formula.

Even though my birth story was nothing like I expected, the end result was exactly what I wanted. Our sweet son was delivered safely, and he's perfectly healthy. Here he is, all ready to go home!