Brian did such a great job posting pictures while Sam and I were in the hospital. I thought now that I am out and things have settled a bit I can do a little bit of filling in the gaps.
Its probably a little obvious that I wasn't induced, seeing as how the pictures started showing up long before Tuesday night. Saturday night Brian and I went for a nice long walk to Horkley's and back via the park paths, and shortly after we got back I started to have contractions about every half hour, but they really didn't feel that bad. That was probably about 10 or 10:30. We watched a movie and just kind of chilled. After the movie was over we talked for a bit and then tried to go to bed. Of course, as soon as I started trying to sleep the contractions started to hurt fairly badly. So, I didn't sleep, but I started tracking them more closely while Brian slept. I woke Brian up about 1 am and told him that I thought we were at the beginning and about that time they jumped from 10 min to 5 min apart. We decided to wait an hour and see if they stayed that way or if they were going to go away. They didn't. So we headed up to the hospital...albeit a little earlier than they had told us to but I was not enjoying the pain. It ended up being a good thing we did.
When they took my blood pressure upon arrival it was 181/116. Guess who had developed toxemia in the last week of her pregnancy? Lucky, huh? Any way, so I was in the exam room from 2 am to 4:30. I stayed dilated, but my contractions weren't getting any closer together, just stronger and they were lasting a lot longer than they should. They went ahead and admitted me even though I wasn't really progressing just because my contractions were so intense. About six o'clock I had progressed another centimeter, so they gave me the epidural and at 8 the doctor broke my water.
By 10 I was still only a 4, and Sam's heart rate started to get really erratic. I was bleeding a lot and the doctor said that all of it was probably because of the high blood pressure which looked as though it was causing my placenta to shut down. He said if I was even to a 7 he would be willing to just keep and eye on it and let me go further, but if in the next hour things didn't calm down I was looking at a c-section. An hour later his heart rate was still low and I had only dilated half a centimeter. So a cesarean became the best option before things got too bad.
So, Samuel was born by cesarean at 11:49 am, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz (a whole pound shy of his estimated weight which means I was doing a good job controlling the diabetes, yay for me!) and 20 in long. They had warned us that c-section babies have a tendency to need oxygen for a few hours after birth because they just have a hard time breathing on their own, but he came out screaming his head off and turned pink really fast. Brian went to the window between the operating room and the nursery while they cleaned him up and asked how his breathing was doing and the nurse told him very emphatically that he was breathing just fine and wouldn't need any oxygen or any other special care. So while the doctor was finishing up on me, Brian was able to hold him and bring him over for me to see. I had been so afraid of not being able to see my baby for hours after having him that this was a particular blessing.
I've been healing from the c-section pretty well, and Sam is healthy and growing. He's already changed so much. The diabetes has gone away (thank goodness), but the toxemia unfortunately hasn't so I am on medication to help lower my blood pressure. I think its still hanging on because it didn't set in until very late in the pregnancy, and we hope that in a few weeks it goes away. Already the swelling is almost gone in my feet where it had been worse than before I had him. So that is where we are at right now. Just trying to adjust and get this feeding thing down. But all three of us are doing pretty well.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
How Sammy Got Here
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Induction
So we went in for the ultrasound yesterday and they estimate that he is about 8 1/2 lbs. right now. Oh, and it is most assuredly a boy. Fortunately, the placenta looks good and nothing else seems to be out of the ordinary. However, because the placenta is in good shape that means he is still getting bigger. So I go in on Tuesday night to be induced (unless he comes on his own before then). They're going to try something called a foley induction over Tuesday night and that will be without chemicals. If that doesn't work, Wednesday morning they'll plug me into the pitocin. Not my first choice in how to have this little guy, but what can I do? The indications that he'll get too big if we go beyond the due date are definitely there, and there are still the risks of the placenta being cut off. Besides, this means I won't have to buy any more insulin or syringes (which I would have to do otherwise) before he comes. And we have a deadline, which is nice.
As for the chances of me going into labor before then, well, they're not out of the question. We've been doing a lot of walking this week. Yesterday I got brave and did a two mile trek to a store across town with Brian following in the car. It didn't do a whole lot more than just wear me out and make my back hurt really bad. We've also been trying all the other tricks people have told us, including spicy food which I had been having a hankering for anyway but am now done with. The doctor said he is definitely engaged in the birth canal, but not very low...he just doesn't move out when his head is pushed on. I'm 80% effaced and dilated to 1.5 cm. At least my body is doing something, which means the likelihood of this induction turning into a cesarean are lower. He said I was pretty flexible. Who knows, maybe the foley will be enough. Brian's sister-in-law's sister was able to go into labor with just the foley, so here is hoping.
I really do have a more recent picture of the belly, but we've already packed up the cameras and put them in the car so I can't post it right now. It probably won't get posted at all seeing as how once he's born, pictures of our little guy are going to take priority. I can't wait to see what he looks like. We were able to see video of Brian at five months old a few weeks ago, and I had a dream last night that he looked just like that (size and all) at three days old. Somehow I doubt that will happen.
