Just a word of warning: From this point on there may be some information that could be considered TMI...you've been warned!
So as many people know I had been having contractions on and off for most of my 37th and 38th weeks. They would get real regular for an hour or two and then completely stop. Thursday March 29th was really no different. Neither was Friday. I had Clara by myself for part of the day since Adam had a 2-hour class. I woke up early with some contractions, but ultimately decided that Adam should still go to school since I didn't think they'd amount to much (I was slightly discouraged at this point that I'd go into labor on my own before our scheduled induction). While he was gone we went about our regular day. At some point while he was gone I had gone to the bathroom and noticed that I had lost a good chunk of my mucus plug. Sidenote: It's very weird to get excited about finding hunks of bloody mucus, but if you've ever been pregnant you understand. I warned Adam about it via text and just decided to wait and see what happened.
Well, what happened wasn't much of anything. He came home, we did a little shopping, I had some more contractions. At one point I had them every 8-10 minutes for 3 hours before I gave up and went to bed, fully expecting to have nothing to show for it in the morning. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. I had gone to bed about 11pm. At 1:30am I woke up to use the bathroom after a rather strong and painful contraction. I went back to bed and had another. And another. So I decided to start timing them. At that point they were coming about every 3-5 minutes and they had definitely ramped up in intensity. These weren't anything like the ones I had been having. I finally woke Adam up about 45 minutes into this and told him we should think about calling the hospital. Eventually I did call labor & delivery and they told me that I should go ahead and come in.
I called my mom to come stay at the house so we didn't have to wake up Clara. Interesting side note: The first time I tried calling my mom no one answered the phone so I immediately called back and got my Dad. Turns out my mom had gotten up to use the bathroom and had JUST missed my call! Guess she knew something would be happening! We waited what seemed like forever for her to get there and then headed to the hospital. I had 2 contractions in the car on the way to the hospital-and let me tell you that when people say contractions in the car suck, they aren't kidding!
We got to the hospital and checked in. My wonderful nurse Vicki got us all situated and checked me at that point. I was 2cm and 80% effaced. I had been at 2cm my last appointment so I was sort of disappointed that I hadn't made more progress. She also informed me that my own doctor was on call this weekend...Awesome! She left to check in with him and I got settled in to ride out the contractions. I REALLY wanted the epidural but was pretty sure they weren't going to let me have one being only 2 cm. I also didn't want to stall out my labor (though no one was under the impression that it would happen). When she got back she let us know that I was given 2 options: go home and labor some more and then come back later, or stay and get an IM shot of morphine and some benadryl to better organize my labor and kick me into active labor. I DID NOT want to go home so I elected to stay. She went to put in the order and I continued to work through some not very fun contractions. In the meantime, someone from the lab came to draw my blood. Soon Vicki came back and before she gave me the morphine, checked me again. I was still a 2 and 80%. I asked AGAIN about getting the epi and she went to check with Dr. V.
Before I knew it, my other nurse (I think Connie) came in with a bag of IV fluid and said that I could go ahead and get the epi. I was so happy! Though I was less happy to find out that the anesthesiologist wasn't at the hospital and I had to wait what seemed like an eternity for him to get here.
So Al the Anesthesiologist came and got me all hooked up. By this point the contractions were getting really intense and close together. I kept waiting for the numbness to kick in so I could get some sleep (it was probably around 4 or 4:30am at this point), but they never completely went away. Some of them were less noticeable, but they definitely still hurt. Vicki checked me again and this time I was a 3.
Shortly after that Dr. V came in and checked in with us. I was still having a lot of pain. He checked me again and this time I was a 4. I think that's when he asked me if I wanted him to break my water. He broke it and almost immediately everything got worse. The contractions were coming one on top of the other and were ridiculously intense. I was yelling and crying through most of them and begging for someone to do something to relieve the pain. It took a long time (at least it felt like it) before Al the Anesthesiologist got back up by us and started putting who knows what into my epidural catheter. Before I knew it I was so numb I couldn't feel ANYTHING from the waist down. I felt like a log! Vicki checked me again (about an hour after Dr. V had) and I was now an 8-9cm! I had gone from 4cm to 8-9cm in about an hour.
About 10 minutes later they checked me and I was complete and his head was WAY down...like almost out down. They broke down the bed, got the room all set up and were trying to patiently wait for Dr. V to get there. Long ass story short, I pushed 3 times and little Sam practically came flying out!
He was sooooo tiny! I think everyone was expecting a big baby. Clara was 8lbs 2oz, but I could tell by looking at him he wasn't even that big. Turns out he was 6lbs 15oz. Just a little peanut! He was born at 10:33am on March 31, 2012.
So another short, albeit intense, labor and another beautiful baby. Right now we're still sitting at the hospital. We were supposed to be discharged, but Sam has yet to poop and now we're running into issues with him wanting to eat. So until we resolve both of those things (which hopefully will be before he's 48 hours old) he can't be discharged. Thank God for the electronic age. I've got my Kindle Fire, my phone, and Adam's laptop...along with the TV and DVD player in the room. I'm still bored out of my mind and Adam might be taking his lap top home with him when he goes home tonight.
Here are a few pictures from his first day!
Just minutes old-enjoying a little kangaroo time
Just chillin'
Sam the Sailor Man
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