Tate's Birthday

         On Monday morning, Ty went to work as usual and I got ready to meet my parents to go to the hospital for my non-stress test.  Just before heading out the door I got a call from a nurse in the maternal/fetal medicine department at the hospital.  She told me my doctor said he would be unavailable that day and thought it would be best to hold off on the non-stress test until tomorrow to guarantee that he would be there for the delivery.  I was a little stunned, it had already been the longest week of my life and I couldn't understand why pushing the test back a day would make any difference.  If the test came back that things were fine, we would wait until Wednesday and induce once I was a week past my due date.  If the test said that the baby wasn't doing well, it didn't matter where the doctor was, I wanted my baby out and safe!  The nurse understood my concern and agreed it was best for me to come in anyway and we could cross the “maybe my doctor won’t be there” bridge if and when we came to it.

            At the hospital the test seemed to take forever but the nurse just kept saying that things looked okay.  Baby didn't move around a ton, so I had to get buzzed with the little “alarm clock” to wake him up.  It made both me and the baby jump and he was pretty active after that, but we still waited and waited.   After 45 minutes or so, the nurse came in to say she wanted to get the okay from the doctor and then we would be good to go home.  My mom was sad that the baby wouldn’t be coming on her birthday and I texted Ty and his mom and told them there wouldn't be a baby today.  We started talking about where we wanted to go to lunch and planned the rest of our day. 

           A few minutes later the nurse came in and said the perinatologist was somewhat concerned with how flat the baby’s heart rate was when he was asleep and that he was on the phone with my doctor deciding if I should be induced right then or if we should wait until tomorrow.  My heart started racing, I couldn’t believe it! I had just gotten used to the idea of being pregnant for two more long days.  I texted Tyler to let him know and we stepped into the hallway to wait for the doctor’s decision.  While we waited, another nurse we had chatted with about how ready I was to have this baby TODAY asked what was going on.  When I told her I might be induced she said she wasn’t surprised after looking at my monitor but couldn’t say anything.  She told me she’d bet money I would be admitted.  Those nurses have some good poker faces!  It wasn’t long before my nurse was back to tell me they decided to admit me and gave me directions to labor and delivery.  I called Tyler and told him to get to the hospital!!! 

               By the time Ty got there, I was checked into my labor and delivery room and my nurse had checked my progress.  Even after all of my walking, raspberry leaf tea drinking, floor scrubbing and pineapple eating, I was still at 1cm and 70% effaced. I could not believe I had made NO progress!  It did help me feel a lot better about being induced because I realized this baby was not going to come any time soon on his own.  They started the Pitocin and I begged my nurse to let me have a little something to eat since I was STARVING.  I forgot to eat breakfast in my panic over the test that morning.  She got the ok from my doctor so my parents left to go get my noodles and gave Tyler and I some alone time. 

       “Alone time” felt a little like the morning right before we got married, we were anxious and excited but had no idea what to do or what to say to each other.  We started a round of monopoly on our iPads but it didn't last long, I was too anxious to focus on anything else.  After my parents got back, and visits from Nana Marcy and Uncle Brad, time seemed to stand still and fly by all at once.  We made sure all of the nurses knew that it was very important that this baby was born before 9:30pm when my dad had to catch a flight to NYC.  There was a meeting there that he couldn't get out of, he promised me he had already tried everything and the Board didn't go for it.  When the nurses said it would be a long shot to get him here by 9:30 we told them at the very least he needed to come before midnight so he could share a birthday with his Grama Julie.   

       
         Unfortunately, I was still progressing painfully slow.  They kept turning up the Pitocin and I eventually got past the dosage that I could be at without doctor supervision. The contractions started coming pretty regularly but they still were still tolerable.  I passed the time by eating the yummy flavored ice chips and tried watching TV or napping.  None of it really helped but while the minutes were dragging on, the hours flew by.

             At 4:30pm the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural before they broke my water.  I felt like I could have held out a little longer but my mom and the nurses assured me that if I was going to get it, I wanted it before my water broke.  Honestly, the epidural was the worst part of the entire thing.  I had been hoping for weeks that my skater’s dad, who is an anesthesiologist, would be on call when I went into labor.  But I am so glad it was a complete stranger!  I was such a wimp, it didn’t hurt at all, but it was insanely uncomfortable. I hate being uncomfortable almost as much as I hate being in pain.  My mom was a good distraction, talking to the nurses about random things and Tyler was an absolute champ holding my hand the entire time and telling me to just keep looking at him.  I bounced between trying to go to my happy place and looking into Tyler’s eyes like we practiced at my prenatal class (cheesy right? But it worked!) and trying to pay attention to what my mom was talking about.  Between the two of them, it was just what I needed to not focus on the fact that a giant needle was going into my back.  Once it was all said and done, it was heaven!  I really liked my little button I got to push whenever I wanted a little more pain relief (I only found out an hour or two before delivery that it only worked every 25 minutes :p). 

The man of the hour- my anesthesiologist

         When they broke my water they realized it was an icky brown/ green color.  This meant that my poor baby had meconium and was essentially swimming in his own poop.  It can be dangerous if the baby inhales it when he first cries so they bring in a NICU team to be on standby in case that happens.  The doctors and nurses assured me that everything would be okay. It was a complication, but an easily managed one.  I felt pretty calm about it and knew he was in good hands.

          Once my water broke, I started to progress much faster.  Not fast compared to most people, but I was at least going a steady centimeter per hour.  If it’s any slower than that they usually do a C-section.  My dad ended up having to leave at about 8:30pm when I was still only at a 6 or so.  I still feel bad he had to sit through the boring part of being stuck at the hospital and didn’t even get the reward of snuggling with his grandson at the end.

 

       

            After hours of laying in the hospital bed, two nurses and midnight (and therefore my mom’s birthday) had come and gone, I was finally at a 10 by about 3:00am.  When my nurse, Autumn told me that I was ready and she was calling my doctor, I couldn’t believe it.  My baby was finally coming!!  My doctor came about 20 minutes later and I was grateful for the time to process everything.  You’d think 15 and a half hours of lying in a hospital bed would have been plenty of time to process!  They brought in the cart for the NICU team which gave me an odd sense of comfort.  It was good to know they were on standby in case there was anything more seriously wrong with the baby.  When Dr Nance got there, he reviewed how to push and told Tyler how to count through the contractions. 

            To my skating friends, you know that couple of seconds when you’re standing in your opening position waiting for your music to start?  Your heart is racing and you’ve got so much energy but you just have to stand there and wait for what seems like forever until you hear that first note.  That’s how I had been feeling for the last half hour while they got everything ready.  And suddenly, the doctor looked up at the monitor, saw a contraction, told me to push, Tyler started counting and it was like the music started.  I pushed for twenty minutes until I heard my baby cry for the first time.  I can see how it would have gotten pretty miserable after much more time but I honestly loved every second of it.  I felt no pain but I still felt like I knew what I was doing.  Tyler was the best cheerleader/coach ever and would get so excited, it kept me happy and motivated.  I was so sure I’d be one of those women screaming “YOU DID THIS TO ME!!” angrily at their husbands but it was honestly just perfect.

            When baby was born, he did cry and inhaled some of the meconium.  The doctor had to cut his umbilical cord fast and pass him off to the NICU team.  I was sad Tyler didn't get to do it but we were both glad he was  being taken care of.  I told Tyler to go stay by our baby and not leave his side until all three of us were together again.  My mom came over to take pictures and Tyler held his hand and talked to him while they pumped his stomach and cleaned him up accross the room. I just laid there for what felt like an eternity and told my sweet baby how much I loved him from across the room, without really knowing what was going on.  I don’t think I would have handled it as well if I realized they were pumping his little tummy.  There was a moment that I’ll never forget where he looked at me, and yes I realize he probably couldn’t have seen me but he looked at me like “Hey! You’re my mom! Don’t worry, we'll be together soon.”  And we really were.  The NICU team worked fast to make sure he was okay and get him to me.  Snuggling him was the most amazing thing, I couldn't believe he was mine, he was too perfect!  It was hard letting him go again when they took him for his bath but I knew his daddy would take good care of him.  We got to FaceTime while Ty was in the nursery with him which made it not so bad.

I was amazed how good I felt afterwards too.  I could feel my feet and amazed the nurses with my walking skills when they helped get me out of my bed.  Everything I had been worried about was really not so bad, I felt amazing!  After what felt like forever, they wheeled me down to our new room in the mother/baby unit and I finally got to see my baby again.  

I'm SO glad my mom was able to be there for everything!

Thanks mom!

nana and tate

tired but so happy