It's been a little while since I've posted anything, mainly because nothing much was happening other than waiting around for the baby. Lucky for me, he decided to come early at 39 weeks. A healthy, happy, so far perfect little man with a full head of dark wavy hair. My husband was instantly smitten and has been super wonderful so far, grinning from ear to ear and willing to help out as much as possible. I ended up needing to have him via C-section and therefore haven't been too mobile after the surgery, so the new daddy has been the one to get up in the night to bring me the baby to nurse and to do all the heavy lifting (I'm restricted to no more than the baby's weight).
Stats: Owen Arthur Phillips, born May 1, 2013 at Swedish First Hill, 6 lbs 9oz at I believe 17.5 inches but I don't actually know that for sure.
Details of the labor if you want them:
What was supposed to be a minimal intervention labor and delivery turned into a C-section after labor stalled for 6 hours... which turned out to be a good thing in the end because there was a problem with the placenta that would have made a vaginal delivery almost impossible had we kept trying.
The labor itself didn't turn out how I had planned, but rarely do you have any real control over that sort of thing. Last Monday I went to the doctor because I had been seeing spots and had a headache. This resulted in some labs being drawn and me getting put on bed rest for the rest of the week, which bummed me out. It was supposed to be my last week at work and I didn't want to waste the PTO sitting at home watching tv. We went back to the doctor on Tuesday to go over the labs and to recheck my blood pressure, which was better but still high for me. I went home, put my feet up, and waited thinking it could be a long week ahead or more if the baby was late. Luckily I didn't have to wait that long. At about 6pm that night contractions started, getting to one ever 5 minutes or so by 10:30, and me vomiting with them by 11pm. That was our sign to head to the hospital. Our boy was on his way. We arrived by 11:30-11:45ish and prepared ourselves for the upcoming task.
The vomiting at home should have been a sign that it wouldn't be the last. I threw up multiple times the first few hours until they had given me enough anti-nausea meds to make it stop and even then I felt on edge. Labor hastened for the next 3-4 hours, until it just seemed to stop progressing. We arrived at triage dilated to a 4/10, and at about 4 am had only made it to a 7/10. I was getting this intense burning sensation in my lower back and hips. I've been describing it as having to red hot pokers twisting in on either side. It just wouldn't relent, so I "gave in" at about 7 am and asked for an epidural, as the IV pain meds (fentanyl) was not doing the trick. Despite my reservations about it, in the end it was the right decision as it allowed us to see that there was another issue at work.
The epidural worked pretty quickly and completely for the first 2 hours; I could hardly tell I was even having contractions anymore. Things seemed to be working out better, that is until my blood pressure and the baby's blood pressure dropped. The time it took for them to stabilize the both of us used up the initial bolus of meds that was working so well. When that wore off and it was down to the pump, only half of me was numb. They had to readjust the catheter to fix it, but that only solved the problem of my pain - labor was still not progressing. They tried to hasten it by giving me some Pitocin to make the contractions stronger, but instead it just made baby's heart blood pressure and heart rate drop resulting me resting for two hours on my side with an oxygen mask to stabilize him. Each time they tried again, or tried changing my position by rolling, baby's vitals would drop again. I was really hoping to avoid C-section but even I could see that it was necessary. So after being in labor for almost 18 hours, I was wheeled into the OR and 15 minutes later had a crying baby boy. It is surprising how fast the procedure is; it took longer to stitch me up than it did to release him.
The next 48 hours were spent confined to a hospital post partum recovery room - the first 24 of those confined to bed entirely. We had a steady stream of family visitors all coming to see our little cutie while I was all drugged out and disheveled in bed. Friday mid afternoon we were able to go home, which my husband was anxious to do. I, on the other hand, was not in as big of a rush. We made it home and through our first few nights alone as a new little family. Little Owen is now almost 6 days old and just as cute as can be. I'm slowing healing. The first day home I felt like someone had beaten me up on top of the surgical pain. Now most of the soreness has retreated but I'm still moving more than I should, which is resulting in the occasional abdominal twinge and grimace of pain. I just need to remind myself to rest and to not get so involved in trying to help out that I over do it.
