So, it was decided that December 30 would be induction day! Needless to say, I was less than thrilled. Induction was NOT something I was interested in, but my doctor made a statement like "this baby isn't getting any smaller" that was enough to get me thinking that maybe inducing wasn't such a bad idea. After all, it certainly didn't look like Baby Pom Pom was in any hurry to get here.
I was warned at my 40 week appointment that the hospital was going to be very busy on the 30th and that I shouldn't expect a call too terribly early. This was confirmed by the hospital who called the day before induction day to tell me that I was sixth on the list of 8 and they were hoping to have everyone called in by noon.
So, needless to say, we stayed in bed as long as possible and took our time getting things moving on Weds. And, wouldn't you know, the phone rang at 8:30 letting me know they had a bed ready for me. Neither Jason or I was showered and we had just started a bath for Amelia. I had a little of cleaning and last minute packing I still needed to do. Somehow I remained calm, got everyone ready, ate breakfast, and headed out the door. The drive in was a slow one given that there was a steady snowfall coming down.
Upon our arrival, we checked in, got settled and began our HGTV-watching marathon. Not having cable at home, we were in heaven! I read a bit, facebooked a bit, and enjoyed endless episodes of House Hunters. After lots of paperwork, the Cervidil was inserted right at noon. It was supposed to be in for 12 hours. Then, around midnight, I would start Pitocin--or at least that was the plan.
Surprisingly, by 1:00, I was starting to have steady contractions, cramping, and started feeling uncomfortable. I asked the nurse to check me shortly after that and she said I was "one fingertip and some wiggle room". I knew my contractions weren't as painful (yet) as they had been with Amelia, but I also didn't want to put off the epidural if it was possible to get it earlier. So, more reading, more facebooking, more TV watching. A couple of friends stopped by to check in and the contractions continued. Eventually getting stronger and stronger. They were also one on top of another with no break in between--something I also experienced with Amelia.
Around 3:00 or so, the contractions were pretty painful and still without a break. The cussing under my breath had started, as well as an occasional, "Jason, I don't think I can do this". Jason's reply everytime was "keep breathing, keep breathing". He suggested having the nurse check me again--which I was adamantly against. The last thing I wanted was to be called a "fingertip dilated" again. Needless to say there was no TV watching, no reading, and no facebooking--it was really serious. Finally, against my objections, he rang the nurse who came in the room, checked me and declared me 4 cm.
A very long 20 minutes later, the process of getting the epidural began. Within minutes of receiving it, I felt a million times better (and was back to my earlier activities, including letting all of Facebook know that I had my epidural. I know. Pathetic). When I was checked shortly thereafter, I was told I was at 6 cm and the nurse expected this would all go down before 8 pm. My mom and brother showed up shortly thereafter and my in-laws made plans to come up and bring Amelia since it seemed like things were going to be happening pretty quick. By my next check, I was at 8 cm and my water had broken. The doctor was on his way!
And, that's when things started to get a bit scary. Everything had been so smooth up until that point and then the baby's heartrate started dropping with each contraction (that were still one on top of another). The doctor still wasn't there, so they decided to give me a shot to stop the contractions and even though I wasn't entirely dilated, they wanted me to start pushing to try and get the baby in a better, less dangerous position. That was also the time that I started feeling very, very nauseous and became convinced that I was going to vomit. The doctor finally arrived and they quickly briefed him on the situation. He actually asked if he had TIME TO CHANGE. The nurse made the decision to call in the NICU team because of the heartrate situation with the baby. After only about 10 minutes of pushing, the baby was out and was pronounced a "beautiful baby BOY"! I was very surprised (as I really thought it was a girl). They were quick to whisk him to the NICU team who was concerned because he had meconium in his mouth and they wanted to make sure it hadn't aspirated. His Apgar scores were very low, but they couldn't stimulate him until they checked to make sure whether or not he had swallowed any of the stool.
Much like the delivery of Amelia, things were super stressful at the end and I could not get over to see the baby. Luckily Jason was there watching over things and the nurses and doctors were great about keeping him informed (and they briefed me later as well). It is such a helpless feeling to see a whole team of people working on your baby from across the room. There was some concern that he may need to go to the NICU for awhile, but in the end, he was released to the regular nursery. The downside was that he could only stay in the room with us for about 20 minutes before they needed to take him up.
When they were finally done with him, I got to hold him and decided to try nursing him before they took him away. To my surprise, he latched on right away! (this is wwwaaayyyy different than my nursing experience with Amelia).
Jason went out to the hall to get Amelia and brought her in by herself. The first thing she said was, "Mom! You don't have that baby in your belly anymore! Now you can ride your bike!". This is especially funny because I don't think I've ridden a bike more than a handful of times since college AND definitely haven't ridden it since she was born. We told her that she had a new baby brother and prepped her to tell the rest of the family. Jason went out to get our parents and when they came into the room, Amelia yelled, "Its a Boy!". That moment alone was so worth not finding the gender out in advance! While looking him over, Amelia asked if he had feet (he was swaddled) and when I showed them to her, she said they were dirty. He had been wiped clean after delivery, but hadn't had a bath yet, so he still had some blood spots on him. Right before he left, Amelia said, "he's kind of ugly!".
We got such a short time with him in the delivery room that no one other than Jason and I got a chance to hold him. The nurses were pretty serious about getting him up to the nursery and checked out by the doctor up there. Luckily on the way to our room, we were able to stop by the nursery and see him through the window!
We had a great first night with the little guy. He spent a little time in the nursery, but most of the night with us. Surprisingly, we were all able to get some sleep at the same time in the room together.
And the next day we had lots of visitors come for a chance to meet Henry! Watching Amelia hold him for the first time was priceless. She immediately called him "cute" and was tickled with checking him all over. The pediatrician came to check him out and declared him "the biggest kid in the nursery". Two different nurses commented that he was the "longest baby they had ever seen".
Papa got a turn to hold the little guy.
GG got two for the price of one!
And Grandma too!
Jason's grandparents (Amelia and Henry's great grandparents) came by to get a good look at the little one.
They approved!
Aunt Amy, Uncle Derek, Andrew, and Jacob prolonged their St. Louis visit until Baby Henry decided to come. We were so grateful! Does she look like a proud Aunt or what? Baby Henry is her ONLY nephew!
Andrew and Jacob got Henry his first set of cars--and an official welcome to the "Boys Club".
Thursday was such a busy day full of visitors! We decided to head to bed early that night--again Henry spending part of it in the nursery and part of it with us. It was New Year's Eve and although we were up before the ball dropped and after, we all slept right through midnight. Henry was actually in the nursery at the time and the nurse told me he slept through the festivities down there and assured me he would not be a partier!
We were up and at 'em early on Friday (New Year's Day) hoping to get a ticket out of there early. Henry got a visit from the hospital photographer and did awesome! The pictures turned out really well--expensive, but adorable! But, apparently us and the photographer were the only ones in a hurry on the holiday. The pediatrician didn't show up to release Henry until nearly 1:00 and then we still had to wait around for my OB to come and circumcise our little guy. He finally strolled in around two and did the deed. We had to then wait an hour for them to check and make sure things looked okay. And, they didn't. So when it was all said and done, it was shortly after 5 pm by the time we got home. Amelia met us there and my in-laws brought along some pizza for dinner. It was a great first night together as a family!
And so, our next chapter begins! I cannot think of a better way to start out a New Year!
We were up and at 'em early on Friday (New Year's Day) hoping to get a ticket out of there early. Henry got a visit from the hospital photographer and did awesome! The pictures turned out really well--expensive, but adorable! But, apparently us and the photographer were the only ones in a hurry on the holiday. The pediatrician didn't show up to release Henry until nearly 1:00 and then we still had to wait around for my OB to come and circumcise our little guy. He finally strolled in around two and did the deed. We had to then wait an hour for them to check and make sure things looked okay. And, they didn't. So when it was all said and done, it was shortly after 5 pm by the time we got home. Amelia met us there and my in-laws brought along some pizza for dinner. It was a great first night together as a family!
And so, our next chapter begins! I cannot think of a better way to start out a New Year!
