Anyone who has been following my blog the past few months (all two of you) knows I've been diligent about posting every day. I missed my postings for the last few days because, as you probably guessed, Baby C decided to make his arrival five days early and I didn't have to wait to be induced.
This past week I've had lots of irregular contractions and have not been sleeping well as a result. I alternated between the bed and the couch all week, trying to find comfortable positions to weather the annoying contractions that didn't seem to be doing much to progress labor. On Tuesday, I went to bed and woke up about an hour later with horrible contractions, but I figured I'd wait them out and see if they got more regular and talk to my doctor about them at my appointment scheduled for Wednesday morning. Between 11:45 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., I was up with strong contractions that I had to breathe through, but they were very irregular in terms of duration and frequency. Sometimes they were two minutes apart and sometimes they were twelve, and I just wasn't sure they were strong enough to be considered real labor, though they were very painful. I managed to catch a few minutes of sleep, but by 5 a.m., the contractions were extremely intense and painful, although still irregular (8-10 minutes apart and then 2-3 minutes apart, and then a fifteen minute break), and there was no sleep to be had. J got up to go to work at 6 and I told him I was in a lot of pain, so J told me to call the doctor who told me to come in to the hospital even though contractions were still irregular.
So we grabbed B and our bags that have been packed for weeks and headed to the hospital. By 6:45, I was in my hospital room dilated to 5 centimeters and had my first round of antibiotics for Group B Strep and an epidural shortly thereafter. Thankfully Grandma Jane was there to take B out to the lobby for the epidural and later the delivery. Contractions really slowed down after the epidural, which was fine with me because it takes four hours for the Strep B antibiotics to take effect and I was able to get some rest. Around noon, after having contractions 6 to 8 minutes apart, I was finally dilated to a 6 and 90% effaced, so the doctor came in and broke my water. My contractions kicked up after that and during a few really strong and long contractions Baby C's heart rate dipped to the 90s which made me very nervous, but the nurse reassured me that Baby C was OK because the dips weren't significant nor consistent. Around 2 PM, I had the nurse check and she discovered I was fully dilated and ready to push, so we sent B and Grandma out of the room.
Having a full term
baby is so much different than our experience with B, our 35 weeker who
had to stay in the NICU. They didn't have to whisk him away from me and
I was able to hold him immediately and establish nursing soon after
birth (though he cried for about twenty minutes and didn't eat for about
an hour after birth likely because, as we found out later, he'd
swallowed so much fluid on his way out). B came in to meet his brother
and has been very loving and gentle. He helps put in C's pacifier when
needed and likes to comb C's hair and hold him occasionally. However, B
doesn't appreciate hearing C cry, especially when we go in to change
him at 3 in the morning. We were in the hospital for two days (it was a
full house with my mom and B in one bed and J, Baby C, and I in the
other) and have been home for two days. Baby C is doing well, though he
is a big spitter and had to have the mucous and fluid build up in his
stomach suctioned out. I am going through all the woes of nursing a
newborn, but this recovery has been way easier than when I had B (though B continues to tell me that I "still look REALLY pregnant"). After
the roller coaster of bed rest, we are so glad Baby C is here and made
it full-term! Bed rest works, and Baby C is our own little bed rest
miracle!
Welcome, Baby C from Jerry G on Vimeo.
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