A Whole New Normal

This week has been one miracle after another. I, personally, think one of the best is being able to get up off the couch without help! Of course, the biggest miracle (and I do mean biggest) is the birth of our son. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After months of blogging on here about this new arrival, I plan to subject you to every detail fit to print in a public forum...

Despite having steady contractions for most of Monday, they did indeed taper off and then stop towards late evening. I moaned to my husband that the child I carried just refused to come out of me, and went to bed dreading the amnio test in the morning.

It turns out, the amnio wasn't as bad as my imagination had anticipated it would be, although they didn't get a good "stick" the first time, and had to repeat the needle insertion. Ouch. Afterward, the doctor sent me up to the labor and delivery floor for routine monitoring just to be sure the procedure hadn't caused any problems.

I got hooked up to the monitors and promptly tried to nap. It had pretty much been another sleepless night. After about an hour, the nurse came back in and casually commented "I think you're in labor." Then she left. Five minutes went by, a resident came in, checked my cervix and discovered I had dilated to 4 cm. The nurse returned and told me they were putting in an IV even though they hadn't talked to my doctor yet. "We've decided you're having this baby," she told me. "We see women in and out of here all day," she continued, "but you we feel sorry for!" Ah, beautiful sympathy!

They got the ok from the doctor, and sudenly things were in full swing. Somewhere in the midst of all this, a second resident broke my water and put monitors on the baby. They were going to hook up some pitocin, but I asked them if they really thought I had to have it, since in the 20 minutes or so they had been getting prepped, I had dilated to 6cm. So, we skipped pitocin and moved on to good drugs instead--yeah! I hadn't wanted an epidural, but after two previous "natural" labors (no pain meds at all with the last one) I was ready for some relief. Whatever they gave me worked real nice for about an hour. Then, just about the time the contractions were getting especially intense, it wore off and since I was almost to 10 cm I wasn't getting any more.

It is a good thing I have fast labors, because otherwise I think it would kill me. This time around, the whole ordeal only lasted just over 2 hours, and at 11:19 on Tuesday, January 20th, there was my baby-- all grey and slimy and laying on my belly. They took him from me pretty quickly since he was only whimpering a bit and didn't appear to be breathing well. My husband watched as he stopped breathing entirely, and they had to resucisitate him. They kept me distracted by delivering the placenta and giving me a few uncomfortably placed stitches. (That's what happens when baby has a 14 cm head!)

It was quite a while before I heard the baby cry again, and even longer until I was able to hold him. The serious breathing issues continued throughout his first several hours, so much so that they eventually took him to the Neonatal Unit for monitoring. That was pretty tough on me. We couldn't hold him--he was hooked up to a bunch of machines. I also couldn't nurse him--he didn't have the coordination to breathe and suck at the same time. They were debating whether to give him an IV or tube feeding, since they couldn't get his blood sugar to stay high enough. It was also difficult when the visitors started showing up to see the baby. We could only take one guest at a time into the NICU, and no one could hold him.

I guess my doctor and I will have to share that humble pie I mentioned a few posts ago. Although I never did hear the results of the amnio--by the time they would've come back from the lab, the baby had been born--I assume from his breathing troubles that he might've needed to bake a bit more before being born. On the other hand, since he weighed in at 9 pounds, 14 ounces, had we waited another two weeks, he very well may have had to be delivered by c-section. The good news is that he only spent 2 days in the NICU and has been doing well ever since.

We've had a few issues since he came home, and of course the monumental chaos that having a new baby brings to your life has been magnified by the existing 3 kids and a dog. We're tired, and stressed, and overjoyed. I am loving being able to reach my own feet. I no longer have to take pills to keep from throwing up. And I can actually get comfortable in bed--not that I get to spend any time there! Things are slowly adjusting to a whole new "normal" and we wouldn't trade it for the world.