Our baby Andrew was born on September 5th, 2015 at 2:33am - and he shares his birthday with our wedding anniversary! It wasn't quite what I had in mind for our anniversary date, but it definitely made for a festive celebration.
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| 42 weeks! Ready to go. |
We arrived at the hospital around 5pm, arms loaded with bags and pillows... and lots of snacks, a music player, a yoga mat... And a big blue exercise ball! We were calm, collected, and prepared. What a weird way to have a baby!
After getting settled in our room and finishing some paperwork, the nurse put a saline lock into my arm. However, she stabbed the catheter under my skin and totally missed the vein... she had to switch to my other arm! Oops. The bruising was very attractive in days to come.
Finally around 7pm, the doctor inserted Cervidil (it looks kind of like a tampon) - a drug used to soften the cervix. Usually it works overnight, and by morning induction continues by breaking waters and starting an IV of Pitocin to get contractions strong enough to dilate the cervix. Luckily, Cervidil was all my 42-week-pregnant body needed to kick-start contractions!
A little after midnight, my contractions went from calm and annoying to wild and painful. The nurse removed the Cervidil as soon as things were getting crazy, because it can be dangerous if the contractions are stacked (almost no rest between them) like mine were.
After Cervidil is removed, it typically takes 30 minutes for its effects to wear off. The stacked contractions I was experiencing were so intensely painful and exhausting that I finally accepted some pain relief - Flexeril. I didn't even know what it was at the time (which goes against everything I believe in, I research everything that goes into my body!), but it helped me to feel brief comfort between contractions. Turns out, it's a muscle relaxant!
My contractions kept getting bigger and stronger. Things were happening so quickly! The nurse checked me, and I was already dilated to 7cm. My body took the reigns once Cervidil wore off, so at least my contractions were spaced out a normal amount.
Before we knew it, we were in transition! This is when your cervix finally dilates to 10cm. Some women throw up, and I actually felt really nauseous. I can't even describe how intense this stage of labor felt - your brain goes into a very primal place. I could literally feel my baby descending and getting ready to be born! There was plenty of screaming and yelling... it hurt like hell! I'm glad the rooms were soundproof. Well, I guess we left the windows open... but I'm sure no one was outside at 2am. Right...?
Anyways, the nurse scrambled to get the doctor ready and everything prepared. I remember thinking, "Why are they rushing around? It's not like the baby is going to be born right this second!"And then they told me I could push. I wasn't prepared! I didn't even have the urge to push. I was afraid to start pushing, because I've heard of so many women pushing for an exhausting number of hours.
But nonetheless, I pushed. To my surprise, Andrew's head popped halfway out! I couldn't exactly stop there (his poor little face!), though I really felt like taking a break. It was so uncomfortable. Everyone shouted "push!" - so a few more pushes and Andrew was completely born. Whew!
Birth was a beautiful emotional event, but physically, it felt like a warm watery alien slithered out of me. It was such a weird feeling. Our lovely blue-ish baby was placed on my chest right away, and James got to cut the cord. It was over! We made it.
We're now a family of four. It's been an exciting few weeks adjusting to having a toddler and a newborn! Never a dull moment. Zoie is such a good big sister - her empathy and concern for Andrew is amazing! She has such motherly instincts. Poor Andrew might grow up having two mamas!
More updates to come on the adventures of Zoie and Andrew.
Cheers,
Martha
