I can’t believe it’s been a week already. It’s been such a blur. The first few days were rough but I have felt significantly better each day. I’ll try to recap the last week as best as I can remember.
Thursday - Brian posted some updates throughout the day. Here’s a brief timeline of the events:
2:30 – Arrived at triage in immense pain. I wasn’t supposed to get to triage until 6:30 but I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep. I figured I could go early, get the epidural and get some sleep before being induced. I was basically begging for an epidural immediately. Yeah, so much for that all-natural birth plan.
4:00 – The epidural took effect. Ahhh… sweet relief.
5:30 – The doctor started the Pitocin, inducing labor.
9:00ish – The grandmas arrived. I was allowed to have people in the Labor & Delivery room with me so they spent the day hanging out with Brian and me. Not being in pain anymore, it was nice to have people around to pass the time with. We were just waiting for the Pitocin to do its job.
1:00? – The doctor finally came to check my progress. They had a busy morning at the hospital with six c-sections, including two sets of a twins and a set of triplets, so I hadn’t been checked prior to that. 9 cm! Woohoo! If I remember right, they also broke my water then and estimated it’d be time to push by 3:00.
3:00 – Not yet.
5:30 – Finally time to start pushing! Let’s get this “thing” out! Sometime in the afternoon, the contractions got strong enough that I could feel a “hot spot” in my right hip that the epidural missed. So much pain! Pushing actually brought some relief but dang, it’s hard work!
7:00 – Still no baby. His head was so big that it couldn’t get past my pelvic bone. My doctor suggested c-section. WHAT?! I skipped over those chapters in all my pregnancy books because there was no way I was having a c-section. It’s amazing what all those hours of labor and pain can do. I said I just wanted it done with so yeah, let’s do the c-section. Then I looked at Brian and asked him what he thought. That took him by surprise. I was delirious though. I wanted to make sure it was the right decision. It was.
7:15 – I was taken to the operating room where I had to wait nearly an hour for the anesthesiologist to arrive and give me a spinal tap. Because I had a hot spot with the epidural, they wanted to make sure there was no way I would feel the c-section. That was a really weird feeling to not be able to move my legs at all. Poor Brian was stuck outside not knowing what was taking so long.
8:00ish – Brian was allowed into the OR and sat near my head. There was a screen up just below my shoulders so neither of us could see what was actually happening.
8:19 – We heard the doctor exclaim “Wow! What a big baby!” and then we heard Braeden’s first cry. We both cried. It was pretty overwhelming. My doctor brought him around to our side of the curtain and in true movie fashion said “It’s a boy!” Then they took him to get checked and cleaned up.
10:00ish – After suffering through chills, shortness of breath and not being able to swallow, I was finally sewn up and moved to the post-op recovery room where Brian was waiting with Braeden, the grandparents and Aunt Annie. I had been given morphine so I was pretty out of it. I do remember begging for water and being told to sip it. I didn’t listen and chugged it down because I was so thirsty. Sure enough, I vomited. It was so worth it though. I hadn’t had anything other than ice chips in over 20 hours!
Midnight – I think I got to the Mom & Baby room around midnight, where I would stay until Sunday. Braeden and I had nurses coming in all night long to check our vitals.
Friday – I spent the day in bed, in and out of consciousness, after not being able to sleep much the night before. We got lots of visitors and Braeden behaved himself pretty well. Such a little angel.
Saturday - I was forced to get out of bed and move around. Once I was up, it wasn’t so bad but getting in and out of bed was tough. I was happy to have painkillers. More people came to visit and Brian was able to get out for a while. I think he was getting cabin fever being stuck in that hospital room.
Sunday - We got to go home! First I had to have a small mental breakdown though. One of the nurses had insisted on waking Braeden in the middle of the night for a feeding and he didn’t like it. After that he got really fussy and refused to eat in the morning. I was so tired, I was willing to just give him a bottle so he’d get some nutrients and hopefully stop crying for a while. Fortunately, the hospital sent in a lactation consultant who spent a lot of time with us and got him to latch on and eat. He didn’t seem to like the bottle anyway so it’s good we got the breastfeeding thing fixed. I now have a policy that I don’t wake him to eat. He’s got a mind of his own and will only eat when he wants to.
Getting discharged from the hospital took a while. A doctor came in and inspected Braeden pretty early in the morning. He was cleared to leave but I still had to wait for my doctor. As the clock crept closer to noon, I wondered whether we’d get to watch the entire Illini game or if we’d be interrupted. My doctor came in sometime between 11 and 12 to check me and cleared me to leave. It was just a matter of paperwork after that. It took nearly two hours for the hospital to get everything together, reviewed and signed. Naturally, the nurse brought the paperwork right around 2:00… when there was less than 30 seconds left in the Illini game. I hear Chester hit a big shot but I missed it. At least the Illini won!
Coming home was pretty anti-climactic. Some people make a big deal about it but we were just happy to be out of the hospital and back in the comfort of our own home. Ben and Carrie brought Guinness home to meet his little brother and he couldn’t have behaved better. Guinness has been the perfect dog with Braeden. He’s gentle, sweet and protective; watching over Braeden and giving him small kisses. Braeden isn’t phased one bit. I think those two are going to be BFF.
Monday – We took Braeden to the doctor for an introductory visit. It’s a good program they have at the doctor’s office. They have you talk to a psychologist about adjusting to life with a baby, a lactation consultant to make sure everything is going well with the feedings and a doctor to do a quick check of the baby and his weight. Braeden weighed 8 lbs 7 oz. It’s normal to lose some weight after birth but not more than 10% and he should gain it all back by his 2-week checkup. The lactation consultant was a blessing. I’d been given so much conflicting info from the different nurses and consultants in the hospital that I didn’t know what was right and wrong. At this point, I’d figured out what I thought would work for Braeden, like sucking on a pacifier sometimes, and she assured me it would be fine. Since then, things have gone much smoother for Braeden and me. Oh, and the doctor marveled at his size and strength. He’s going to be our little scholarship athlete!
Tuesday – Brian went back to work. Fortunately, he works from home so he was still around to help me because I wasn’t very mobile yet.
Wednesday – I started getting the hang of the night feeding schedule so I felt pretty rested in the morning. My pain had also subsided quite a bit so I spent the morning cleaning things up, putting things away from the hospital and organizing the area around my rocking chair where I spend about 80% of my time. I felt so much better after getting things under control around here.
Today - I finally got out of the house! My mom and grandma came to visit and we met my great-aunt Lois for lunch. I wanted to bring Braeden so I could get used to taking him places but it would have been a lot of effort for a short lunch. I decided to leave him home with Brian and he behaved very well while I was gone. It was so nice to get out and socialize with people.
Now I’m home waiting for the Illini game to start. Braeden has a full belly and is wide awake so he’ll be able to watch the game with me. He’s been awake a lot today. I’m hoping that means he’s going to sleep a lot tonight. I could use some good sleep.
Thank you to everyone who came to visit in the hospital and at home. And thank you to everyone who sent messages on email, Facebook and phone. I appreciate all of the support. Braeden is a lucky kid to have so many people care about him. Thank you everyone who also sent flowers and brought gifts. Your generosity has helped us out tremendously!
