Delivery (Caleb's Birth Part 2)

After a night of about 5 hours of sleep, the day that we would meet Caleb arrived.  I woke up and had to go to the bathroom.  Yeah, going without waking up David probably wasn't the smartest idea I had.  Little did I know but that stadol and phenergan had made me quite woozy.  I didn't fall or hurt myself but I did stumble quite a bit.  That was fun.  I seriously had to concentrate on that trip to the bathroom.  A little bit later the nurse coming in to take out the balloon.  Goal with the balloon is to dilate to between 4-6 cm.  She felt like I was about 6cm.  And of the whole procedure, taking the balloon out was the worst part.  I'd probably do it again if my doctor recommended it.  They said that frequently after the balloon comes out, the contractions get less intense.  I'm not really sure if I experienced this lessening of contractions or not because soon after, the doctor came in to break my water and start pitocin.  At that point, I was about 8 cm dilated. 

Y'all as SOON as she started the pitocin, my contractions got closer together and more intense.  My AWESOME nurse said that I could get the epidural whenever I wanted it.  I asked David what he thought and he basically said to get it whenever.  I waited about 10 minutes and asked for it.  I knew that I would just tense up whenever I got a contraction and that wouldn't help anything.  The anesthesiologist came is so quickly.  Now, an epidural was one of my biggest fears but so shouldn't have been.  I'm not sure if it was the anesthesiologist (apparently I had the chosen team as my nurse and anesthesiologist were the ones my OB chose for her deliveries with her kids) but it didn't hurt.  The worst part was the last little dose of lidocaine.  He numbed the area with three little "shots" of lidocaine.  Then he put the epidural needle and catheter in, gave me a bolus of meds (which just gave a sense of pressure but no pain), and taped it in place.  Then I was good to go.  I think I felt two more contractions after that. 

By that time I was 9 cm and we were just waiting.  I spent some time on my right side and then she turned me to the left.  Caleb wasn't a big fan of that as his HR dropped a little.  I was aware of this but was still super drowsy from the phenergan and almost fell asleep.  As soon as I turned on my back, that little beep indicating his HR bumped right back up to a good range.  Less than an hour after getting my epidural I was ready to push - without ever having to turn up the pitocin!  Again, my nurse was fabulous!  By the time the doctor got there, she didn't have time to put on her protective shoe covers.  I pushed once with her and our sweet Caleb was born.  Oddly enough, the only thing I actually felt was his shoulders. 

He had the cord around his neck once and was a little blue.  He started crying within a few seconds and was none too happy to be out of his little cocoon. 

He apparently had some retractions at first and needed a little positive pressure to help clear out his little lungs.  He also grunted a little bit.  The pediatrician in me just kept saying "none of that.  Stop that!" because it could make him end up in the NICU.  Thankfully, he listened.  He was given APGARs of 9 and 9, but David and I both agree that he should probably have been 8 and 9 due to his slightly blue color. 

I finally got to hold my sweet baby.  What an awesome feeling!  I didn't want to let him go.  Our family came to meet him and Kate got to hold him. 

Then they left and we got to feed.  He did a great job.  Then he had to go to the nursery for bath, shots, exam, etc.  I got all situated and once the epidural wore off, we moved over to the suites.  I got to eat, we saw Kate and then waited on Caleb to be brought back.  Such a sweet day.  At the time, I didn't think I could be more in love...but I think I love him more each day.

(He did this in utero EVERY sonogram we had.  Turns out, he's trying to find his thumb.  Sometimes he actually gets it into his mouth!)