Elliott's Birth (LONG)

tamarar5 · February 2013

So last week was a crazy, whirlwind of decision changes. At Tuesday's weekly appointment last week my Regular OB told me that I could be up and about within reason, despite of my high BP's. On Wednesday, after being super excited about getting to tidy up my living room, I felt like crap all morning and I didn't get up off the couch anyway. Late Wednesday I started having SUPER high BP readings, despite having been bedridden all day-- and I called my OB (The lowest reading in a three hour period was 179/99). The Nurse (NOT work with my OB) on call said to just keep resting and not get up for anything other than to use the restroom.

That evening, I feinted on the way to the bathroom. Thursday AM, my regular OB was very upset that no one had me come into the office the day before. She had me in by 10am, and decided that enough was enough. She scheduled me for a biophysical ultrasound and an NST-- but unfortunately she was not going to be able to deliver my baby this weekend, OR make the decision to schedule an induction, so she made an apt for me with the OB on Call for Friday Morning to discuss induction.

Biophysical U/S was super cool, got to see my FT baby, complete with incredibly chubby cheeks and HAIR!!! He scored 6/8 on the u/s, only not taking any "practice breaths" in the allotted time . US techs and the OB who delivered both said that wasn't a big deal because practice breathing was so completely random, it really was only chance to catch it on u/s. NST went excellent as well, baby passed the test within the first five minutes. So, with baby passing both tests with flying colors, that left me believing they would not schedule the induction, even though I was overdue, simply because my health was not affecting him.

Friday morning at the OB on call appointment, she (Thank GOD) decided that enough was enough and it was just time to get this baby out. She scheduled me to be induced at 7:30 Monday Morning. YAY!!!!!! Unfortunately, until then I was back on strict bedrest-- not allowed up except to pee. Bummer.

DH and I spent the weekend alone. My parents volunteered to pick DD up early (and actually DID!) and so it was just us at home. Sunday, DH surprised me with coffee from my favorite shop (decaf, of course), and with our brand new stroller! I was so thrilled Big Smile

I didn't sleep well Sunday night, but didn't really figure out why until I checked into the hospital on Monday am... (duh) I feel dumb even as I am writing this but, I totally did not realize I was having regular, timeable contractions. Oops. So I was scheduled to be induced with cytotec, but the L&D nurse said I was contracting too much for that, so they hooked me up to the Pitocin. Started the meds at 8am and was only 2 cm. At noon, the contractions were getting pretty intense, and they were stacking right on top of each other, so they hadn't upped the pit dose in over an hour. The OB on call came in to check me and I was only at 3-4cm. I seriously wanted to cry because the contractions were so painful and I had previously been told that I could not get the epi before 5cm. Thankfully, she disagreed! She approved the epi right away, but it still took over an hour to get it. In the interum, they gave me Fentinol (sp?) which made me REALLLY loopy-- think drunk, without the hangover.

Epi went in by 3pm, and by 4:30 I told the L&D Nurse that I was feeling a ton of pressure. She checked and I had gone from 3cm to 9cm in an hour and a half! Surprise Unfortunately, I was stuck at 9 for a little over two hours. An hour+ of pushing later, Elliot Virgil arrived at 8:07 pm! He had a little trouble breathing at first, just wheezing, but they called the NICU down to evaluate him, and I didn't get to BF for several hours.

We struggled with feeding a little yesterday, but everything seems to be on track today! Thank you to everyone who was sending thoughts and prayers my direction! I think it really helped Big Smile So I am FINALLY on cloud 9! I can honestly say that in the 14 years that I have known DH, I have never seen him cry-- but he did when Elliott was born. That is a memory that I will treasure forever... that and him kissing the baby before he ducked out to run home and let our dogs outside.