This time Last year....

I am feeling pretty sentimental at this time. 3 more days til my little man turns 1. I’m still so shocked as to how fast this year went. You’d think I wouldn’t be so surprised since I can’t believe Cole is almost 4 ½. It was this time last year the ball got rolling on James entering this world. I went to my 38 week appt on May 22, a Thursday. She checked me and I was about a 2cm by then. She asked if I want a membrane sweep, gritted my teeth and said yes since I knew it worked. Had it with Cole on a Thursday as well. It’s about as painful as it sounds but worth it. I had been contracting on and off the couple of days prior to having this done. As I was leaving the office I was having contractions about every 20 min or so. Went home. Contracted all night. Pretty good ones. I got up and went to work Friday morning! I thought they would stop once I got moving like the other times. No they didn’t. Got to work and everyone was a little surprised. Once lady noticed how I was walking and thought I should go home. I was like no, they’ll pass, I’ll be ok . Guess I was in denial. You are so antsy to have the baby then the time comes and you get into denial. Why is that LOL! I was sitting at my desk when another lady came by and saw me asked how I was. I told her I had been contracting and still am. She took my work off my desk. Funny thing is, this co worker is due any day now! I was due Ma y 31 last year and she is due June 1 this year. Any way. So after being at work for an hour I decide to drive up to the hospital to see what’s going on. It’s maybe a mile from my work, if that. So I drive myself there, contracting all the way. This is when I got introduce to the wonderful staff at the St. Luke’s in Meridian. The gal checking in was so nice. I got into a triage room and met a wonderful nurse also named Erin. Thought that was a good sign. She checked me. I was a 3cm! Had made progress from the day before. She hooked me up to the machines to track my contractions. I felt they were pretty regular at about 5 min apart. She monitored me for an hour. Then has me walk for a bit. Walking the halls is so much fun, not! So I do some laps for almost an hour. She hooks me back up to the machines. Checks me. No more progress in the time I was there. I think I ended up being there for 4 hours. She did say I had a bladder infection and thought they could have been causing my contractions. I thought otherwise. She tells me they are discharging me! What??? I was so upset!. Those contractions HURT! She said I wasn’t really in “active” labor yet and my contractions weren’t regular enough! They felt pretty dam regular to me! And it sure felt like “active” labor! She did say she thought they would be seeing me again soon. She called in a prescription for antibiotics down the street to Wal Mart. So I drive my little contraction self down to wal mart. Turn in my prescription, she tells them it’s a rush one. Thank you! I sit myself down and wait there. Trying to contract and not draw attention to myself. I think I did well. Didn’t get too many looks. I think it took 15 min but felt like forever. Get it, drive myself home. Take one of the pills and try to take a nap. Yea, right, with contractions. I try any way. I finally settle in. almost fall asleep. Had been awake most of the night before contracting. Very tired. Almost asleep. Door bell rings! It’s 2:00 on a Thursday! Who is it!?? I decide I better see. It was David’s boss dropping off the car trailer and letting me know he’s going to use our hose and didn’t want to scare me or something. I tell him I’d been to the hospital and all that. Now I haven’t called or told anyone. I knew as soon as I called everyone and got everyone excited, labor would stop. I lie back down. Lie there and contract. Look at the clock. By 5:00 I decide I better get Cole from daycare. So I call my mother in law to drive. Driving in labor with my kid in the care didn’t sound like a good idea. She’s all excited that I am in labor. Picks me up to get Cole. Riding in a car in labor is not fun. I didn’t have that experience with Cole. Pick him up, everyone at day care is so excited there as well. Go home. It’s almost 5:30. I’m in quite a bit of pain by myself with Cole. I decide to call David and see if he can come home. Call shop. No answer. Figure they closed early since it was Friday and Memorial Day weekend. Figure he’s on his way home and will be there soon. My mom ends up calling. She’s all concerned I am alone with Cole in labor. I reassure her I am ok and David should be home soon. She’s ready to drive there from Homedale which is about an hour away. I am still reassuring her I am ok but not really believing myself. She calls me several times. David finally gets home. My mom is happy now. I decide we are not going back to the hospital til morning. Not getting sent home again! I’ll have this baby at home before I go! I think I eat lightly and putter around the house. Getting things ready. Phone rings often. David appears colm but I know he’s not. Night comes and he sleeps in the couch although I don’t know how much sleep he gets. I know I don’t get any! I contract all night. I pace the bedroom, rock with my feet apart. Trying to do things I’d read about or saw. Not sure how women do natural labor and for all those women that do, I applaud you! The only thing that got me from Thursday til Saturday morning what one word, EPIDURAL! That was my mantra. EPIDURAL, EPIDURAL! Played it over and over in my head. It was a VERY LONG night. Moaning and groaning. Huffing and puffing. Finally morning comes. 6:00 I get up. Contractions were every 3 min or so all night. I take a quick shower. Water felt good. Stood in it for awhile. David called his mom to come get Cole so we could head off and see if we were having a baby. I wasn’t going to leave the hospital without one! Cole spends the day with Grandma. We head off to the hospital. We are about 10 min or so away. Get there. Head up to the 4th floor. See the same nice lady at the desk. She remembers me. Lets me in. I get the same super nice nurse named Erin. She remembers me as well. Get into my triage room. Checks me, I’m a blessed 5 cm!! she congratulates me and admits me! Hallelujah! She asks if I want to walk to my room or a wheel chair. I do the walk of triumph to my nice big room. Get settled in my bed. Still contracting. She tells me I am doing great. I manage to get to get my word of the day out, Epidural! She calls every laboring woman who opts for drugs favorite person, the epidural man. I love this man. I think I had been there about an hour when he came in with his magic tray. I lean over and am more than happy to finally get that needle in my back. Within minutes I am feeling so much better. It worked better on my left side but still NO PAIN!!!! I call my parents. They live about an hour away. They head in. The nurse is watching me very closely. My blood pressure is low. The machine keeps going off. I still had my bladder infection no surprise since I had only had my pills since the day before. Was dehydrated and went through bag after bag if IV fluid. I drank tons of water so not sure how I was dehydrated. I don’t have smooth labors. I make progress. Dilate, efface, and all that stuff. I think we got there between 8-9 in the morning. I labor and we watch tv, visit with my parents. Call people to give updates. I try to snooze but anyone who has had a hospital stay knows that is impossible. But I hadn’t slept for 2 days. My nurse keeps a close eye on me still. They say I am not have a regular labor pattern. So they put me on Pitocin to try and get a more regular labor pattern going. The dr comes in and breaks my waters. I am so thankful I have the Epi. Oh and the dr that’s on call is the one didn’t care far that I saw once on one of my prenatal visits. So of course he’s the one on call. After a while of Pitocin they still don’t like my labor pattern and by this point James isn’t tolerating labor as well. I am starting to run a fever. The dr decides a C Section si the best course of action. I’m ok with it. After Cole’s labor and delivery I believe he should have been on as well. They whip into action and get me prepped and off to the operation room. Seemed like it was in the blink of an eye. The Epidural man is there and ups that. Plus adds Morphine. That makes me so sleepy on top of no sleep for 2 days. Then I have to drink this nasty stuff that makes me dry heave. Finally things get under way. David is there in his scrubs! I think my mom has a picture. It’s all I can do to not fall asleep! In a matter of minutes at 7:49 pm, may 24, 2008, James is out! He’s no name at this point though. I hear his cries! The best sound in the world. He’s just off to the side of me and I can just see him. He’s crying and properly pink. He looks big. They ask me to guess his weight. 8.7 I guess. He’s 8 something they round to 8.7! They were impressed! I say hi to him as they clean him. He stops crying. He knows mommy is there! They get him all bundled and hand him to David since I am not allowed to move my arms and can’t hold him. I sneak and move my arm closest to David and touch him. He’s perfect!! I cry of course. Getting teary eyed typing this. They get me sewed back up. Move me to recovery. The pediatrician on call comes to look at him so James and David go do that. My parents get to watch from the window in the nursery. I go to recovery. Later the dr comes and talks to me. He says James’ head was turned so he would have never dropped into the birth canal no matter how long I stayed in labor. So I was even more ok with the Cesarean. James is doing great and they bring him to me in recovery. He’s so perfect and I can’t stop staring at him. He had a full head of dark hair. They have me breast fed a little there. I’m a supporter of breast feeding but it’s not for me. I did do it with James the 6 weeks I was off. Longer than cole. That lasted about a week. I learned to be ok with it. Got over the guilt. Irritated me now how formula is portrayed so negativly. My boys are happy and healthy. Back to my story. After an hour or so they move me to my room. My parents are there waiting. They visit for a bti then head home. David stayed for a bit too til I got settled then had to go get Cole from Grandma and got get him to bed. It had been a long day. It’s about 9:00 or so at this time. So I was on my own that night. Drugs wore off. They did have some plls for me to take for the pain. The nurses are so nice. I had to stay in bed so had to page them whenever I needed James. I was starving but couldn’t eat anything til I passed gas. I could only have broth and it was nasty!! Super salty. Put some water in it and choked it down. I could have sprite as well. Clear liquids only. Later the nurse asked if I had passed gas. No. Never wanted more in my life! I wanted FOOD! So she snuck me some crackers then order me cream of chicken soup. That was somewhat better. She called the dr and had him change it to any liquid. Morning came, no gas yet. I had a smoothie and I think some eggs. Can’t remember. No gas. Mean snack cart lady came around and offered cheese cake. Couldn’t have any. More cream of chicken soup, apple sauce. Finally later that night I passed gas. Never been so happy to in my life! Sometime after mid night I had a turkey sandwich, apple sauce, and ice cream. I was so happy! That morning I finally got a shower. After 2 days of no shower, I was stinky! One of the girls that come and take vitals helped me shower. It was weird being washed by someone else but she wouldn’t let me be alone. I had fluid in my lungs and had to have respiratory therapy come every few hours and do breathing exercises and cough. That hurt so much! I ended up having to stay an extra day. They had me walk around pushing James in the bassinet thing. My bladder infection finally cleared up, got hydrated. Had to pee in a cup thing on the toilet for a few days til they were happy. Man, nurses to not get paid enough!! Was finally discharged on the 28th. Then started our life as a family of four and my life being out numbered!