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October 2014 Moms
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Solomon's Birth Story (applegrapemstk)

AppleGrapeMSTKAppleGrapeMSTK member
in October 2014 Moms
TL;DR Version:
Solomon Bradley M. was born at 1:51 pm on Sunday, Oct 12 after 13 hours of labor.  He weighed 8lb 5.4oz and is 21.75 in long.  I pushed through four contractions to get him out and have had an amazing recovery thus far.  We are all, especially Big Brother DS1, absolutely smitten by him.  

Andplusalso I pooped.  NO SHAME.

Long Version:
My folks were in town Friday through Sunday for a work conference.  They live out of state, so there was a lot of pressure from my mom to have the baby while she was visiting.  Saturday involved a couple of laps around the mall, a trip to IKEA, spicy curry for dinner, and some late night sex.  

In the middle of the night, I woke up to some stomach cramps that were unusual.  I was still mostly asleep, so it didn't register that they might be contractions.  By the time I realized that they weren't going away, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 12:55 am.  I started timing the contractions, but I was unsure as if I should be timing from the beginning of the discomfort all the way through until I felt better, or if I should just time the surges of pain.  The contractions were about 12 minutes apart, and I had no idea how long it would take to get to 5 minutes.  I got up to pee a few times, tried to go back to sleep, checked on my kids, and paced the living room just trying to kill time until the contractions got closer or stronger.  I woke up DH when things got to about 7 min apart, and I jumped in the shower.  

Once we were all ready to go and let DD and my sister know that we were headed out, my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart.  That was when we discovered that the car keys were missing.  DD had opened the front door when we came home from dinner with my parents the night before, and she hadn't left the keys on the front table.  DH tore the living room and kitchen apart looking for them while I said bad words leaning on the counter.  DH eventually found the keys on DD's dresser, and we rushed to the hospital.  I'm sure we were speeding, but I kept my eyes closed most of the trip, so who knows.  Thankfully the hospital is close, and it was early enough that there was zero traffic.

I got checked at 4am and they found that I was 5-6cm and 80% effaced, confirmed that I was having contractions and was in active labor.  The contractions were so strong that I thought I was going to vomit and they gave me one of those barf bags that look like horse condoms.  I told them I wanted the epidural ASAP, and I threatened to punch DH in the nose if I didn't get one.  You know.  As motivation for him to have my back. I sent my LB and parents a text that I was being admitted and got settled in my room.  The anesthesiologist came right away and got set up to give me the epi. 

The room was warm, I had my face stuffed in a pillow, still felt ill from the contractions, and hadn't eaten yet.  So I'm shaking and think I'm about to pass out while the epi is getting placed- and that's when DH fainted.  Straight up- eyes in the back of his head, slid out of the chair- fainted.  I'm holding his head up while my own head is between my knees, the anesthesiologist is trying to shaking him awake with her elbows because she is gloved up, and my nurse is waving alcohol wipes under DH's nose while paging for assistance.  I know he doesn't like needles, but way to steal my thunder, Dude.  Once the room calmed down again, it took four tries to get the epi placed, and the dr wasn't sure if it would even work for me.  That was a scary thought.  NOT interested in delivering pain-med free.  I started to cry.

Thankfully the epi DID work, and once I had relaxed, I called my mom to tell her that I was going to try to sleep, and she could come by for a visit in an hour or so (I had been awake and having contractions for 7 hours at this point), but apparently my parents got dressed and went to the hospital when I sent them a text at 5:30 that morning.  They had been in the waiting room this whole time.  So they came up, and I went to sleep anyway.  Sorrynotsorry.  When I woke, my folks left to take my kids to lunch.  My OB came in shortly after to check me, said I was 8cm and had only a lip of a cervix left.  He broke my water, said he would grab lunch, then check in on me when he got back.

Not ten minutes later, I started feeling the need to push, but I didn't want to interrupt my OB's lunch (so considerate, right?).  I fought the urge until lunch time was over.  My nurse asked me to do a test push, and I totally pooped.  She discretely cleaned it all up just before the OB came in.  Didn't matter because when it came time to push, I just kept pooping.  It was my own fault for having curry for dinner the night before, but knowing that I was taking a dump while several people watched really hindered my willingness to push any harder.  I even refused to push through a contraction or two because I was so embarrassed about the poop.  Once I got over my wounded pride, I was a super effective pusher.  No swelling, no tearing, no stitches.

From being complete to having a baby in my arms was 20 minutes.  With DS1, they took the baby away to get cleaned up and weighed and everything; I didn't get to hold him for the first 10 minutes.  With Solomon, they ripped off my gown and put him directly on me, and essentially left us alone.  That immediate touch was so much more thrilling than I expected.  DH and I both burst into tears.  It is amazing what a difference the little things make.

My parents brought the kids over shortly after.  DD and DS1 are absolutely in love.  DS1 is super protective of Solomon and just wants to love on him constantly.  We were discharged from the hospital just 25 hours after birth and have been doing great.  I haven't had to use the Tucks or Dermaplast even once.  I'm not even sore.  

Thanks to all for the well-wishes while I was in the hospital!

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