Pumpkin (now officially Owen Christopher Mayk) arrived on October 8, 2014 at 7:21 am. After reading books, taking labor and delivery classes, etc. I thought I had a good idea of what labor would be like, but it was completely different than I thought it would be.
I called the doctor on Tuesday (October 7th) afternoon because something didn't feel right and I was worried. My stomach was very hard to touch and I didn't think the baby was moving as much as he normally did. I was also experiencing a little bleeding. I thought they would just tell me these were normal signs labor was beginning or maybe have me come into the office to check baby's heartbeat, but they told me to go to the hospital to be check out instead. I left work and met Rich at home. We grabbed our bags just in case we needed to stay at the hospital, but I was pretty sure I would be coming home that evening.
When we got there, things started happening really fast. I got hooked up to the contraction monitor and was told I was having contractions (although not very strong) about 4 minutes apart. The doctor came in and asked if I was ready to have a baby. He said they would get my IV going, break my water to get my body to naturally begin labor and he expected I would have the baby around midnight. A few hours later they started pitocin through my IV to speed up the process. The contractions were so strong… I went from saying I would wait as long as possible to get my epidural to begging for it. Getting the epidural was not as bad as I thought it would be and I was a much happier girl once I had it. That's when things started to go downhill…. the doctor came in and told me that every time I was having a contraction the baby's heart rate was dropping which is a sign that the placenta is deteriorating or the cord could be wrapped around the baby's neck and if things didn't improve I would have to have a c-section. I was so upset and scared. I was supposed to be trying to sleep to rest up for potentially pushing but I couldn't stop looking at the monitor and praying that the baby's heart rate would stop going down. They lowered the amount of pitocin they were giving me because the baby wasn't handling it well and after about an hour things started looking better. We were back on track for a natural delivery! That's when I started feeling all of my contractions again. They were so intense. The nurses kept trying to up the dosage of meds coming through the epidural and nothing was working. Finally they had the anesthesiologist come back and she discovered that the tube in my back had moved out of place. She had to do a whole new epidural. After that I was a happy girl again… for a while. And then it stopped working again! This time they couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. I couldn't feel everything like I had before but I was still feeling more than I should and it was like that for the rest of the delivery. Finally at 5:30 am I was fully dilated and ready to push. The doctor estimated it would take about 30 minutes. However, I ended up pushing for 2 hours! I had never really thought about the pushing part of delivery. I guess I always assumed it was a few pushes and the baby would be out. This was not the case! I was so exhausted and getting more and more discouraged after every round of pushing resulting in no baby. Then we got to a point where the baby was no longer handling it well. The doctor told me if I didn't get the baby out in the new few pushes they would have to push him back in and do a c-section because his heart rate was dropping. That was all the motivation I needed…. he finally came out within the next few pushes. I always thought I would be able to hold my baby right away after delivery… but my body was in so mush shock after I couldn't. There was no way… I was shaking so much and still in pain...Rich just had to hold him next to me so I could see him.
They say you forget labor…. and I sure hope it's true. Owen sure was worth it… I just hope next time things are a little easier. I am very thankful that I didn't need to have a c-section so that I could bring my baby home from the hospital sooner and recover faster.
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| Family of THREE!!! |
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| Don't forget Rex… Family of three plus a dog :) |
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| First picture with my SON! |
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| Nana holding Owen. |
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| Papa holding Owen. |
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| First family photo. |
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| Owen in his hospital bed. |
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| Owen in his going home outfit. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of it before I put him in the car seat. I will have to make sure I get him in it again before he outgrows it and get a picture. Right now it's in the laundry because he already peed on it! |
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| Owen and his Daddy… ready to go home! |
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| Owen in the car on the way home. He was wide awake and quiet the entire time. I think he likes riding in the car, |
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| Owen in his home for the first time. |
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| Introducing Owen to Rex. Rex has pretty much left the baby alone since we've been home. I can tell Rex is upset that we pay this new little person so much attention. Things are definitely different in our house now and Rex doesn't get as much attention :( |
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| Owen asleep in his rock-in-play tonight. He actually slept long enough for me to write this blog and eat dinner :) |
Until next time,
Tressa
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