The Birth and Beyond

As you probably already know by now, our sweet little Ian decided he just couldn't wait to join our family and came nearly 3 weeks early.  It definitely took us by surprise, as Ann was born the night before her due date (so I was expecting something similar), but we have loved having him here.  It's just so funny to think that I just past my due date this weekend, and he's been here for almost 3 weeks now.  I had originally imagined that if he had arrived by now, it would have only been a few days ago.  However, things just don't always go the way we expect, huh?  But without further ado, here's the (long, detailed) story of how our little boy arrived (there is lots of text and pictures ahead...you've been warned):

I had gone in for my 36 week checkup on the 9th.  After the midwife did the swab to check to see if whether I was positive for group B strep, she asked if I wanted her to check my cervix to see if I had started to dilate.  To both of our surprise, I was already dilated to 4cm and was about 75% effaced, though the midwife emphasized that that didn't necessarily mean I would go into labor anytime soon (but did say that it could mean that my labor would go a little more quickly, so if my water were to break at home, I shouldn't take too long to come to the hospital).  The midwife also did say that at the hospital here, if any baby is born before 37 weeks, they automatically have to spend their time at the hospital in their special care nursery (as they are considered premature).  So she told me to try and not go into labor before my 37 week mark.  I responded that I would try my best not to go into labor in the next couple of days (my official 37 week mark was two days later, on the 11th).

Fast forward to Sunday morning, the 13th.  I woke up around 7am feeling a little more wet than I thought I should be.  I got out of bed and felt something trickling down my leg.  As I continued to be wet (and change through about 3 pairs of underwear), I was convinced that my water had indeed broken.  I showered quickly and threw a few things in a bag (I hadn't packed yet...) and headed off to the hospital.

Once I was checked in at the hospital, I was put in a triage room to check to make sure my water had really broken (not that there was much doubt about that).  I wasn't having too many contractions at this point.  The midwife had to go look up to see if I was group B strep positive, which unfortunately I was.  This meant that I needed to be hooked up to an IV to receive antibiotics as well as pitocin (since my water had broken and I was positive for group B strep, they wanted to try and help to baby come quicker to reduce the risk of infection).  I wasn't too thrilled to have to be hooked up to pitocin again like I was with Ann, but I could understand why they wanted me to.

Hanging out in triage (my phone nearby as I was texting people letting them know where I was)

After I was in the delivery room, they got my IVs started.  I just hung out in my bed for awhile waiting for my contractions to pick up.  I was surprised when my nurse told me that I could order some food from the cafeteria to eat while waiting for my body to really get into active labor.  I was very grateful for the chance to eat as I didn't get much before leaving home.

My labor and delivery room.  The heat pack on my hand was to help ease the discomfort that the antibiotics caused in my hand/arm.

The nurses asked me if I wanted to be in a delivery room that had a large soaking tub in it, to which I replied yes.  I had decided that I wanted to try and have this baby without the use of an epidural and I'd heard very positive things about laboring in a tub.  (I had first had the idea to try and go pain-med free with Ann, but due to various reasons, which included essentially no supportive comments from anyone I mentioned that to, I decided to have an epidural.  As this pregnancy progressed, the desire to forgo the epidural started to come back again.  I mentioned it to Tom, and he replied with "sure why not".  Because of all of the negativity from last time, I decided to not mention to anyone (aside from Tom and my midwife) what I was intending to try and do.)  Once my contractions started to pick up and be more uncomfortable, I decided to move into the tub - which, like I was hoping, felt awesome.  I was grateful they let me use the tub even though I was hooked up to an IV (I just couldn't submerge my hand).  And they had cordless monitors that could get wet that they put on me.

I sat in the tub for about an hour or so until I needed to get up and use the bathroom.  I was feeling some downward pressure, so we had the midwife come and check to see how far along I was.  I was super disappointed when she said I was still at 4cm!  The nurse commented saying something like "well, you aren't in active labor yet", to which I replied "I feel like I am!".  I decided to try and sit on a birthing ball for a while instead of getting back in the tub.  I was having a lot of back pain with each contraction so Tom and my nurse were rubbing my back/putting pressure on my back to try and help.  After a while I started to feel light headed from the intensity of the contractions, so I decided to try laying down in bed.  At this point the contractions were starting to feel unbearable and I told Tom how I didn't think I could make it without an epidural if I wasn't progressed that far and still had a few hours to go.  Both Tom and my nurse were so encouraging though, saying that yes I could do it and I could make it.  I also mentioned that I was starting to feel like I needed to push.  My nurse told me to not try and push and when I told her I couldn't NOT push, she rushed out to get the midwife so she could check me again.  And to my great surprise, she said I was fully dilated/complete and it was time to push this baby out!  So I went from 4cm to ready to push in about 30 minutes (so that unbearable pain was from going through transition, which is the point where I've heard that most women feel like "I can't do it anymore" when going natural).  I don't remember exactly how long I pushed, but it was around 15 minutes or so.  At 4:06pm our little Ian was born, and our sweet, screaming baby was placed right on my chest to hold.  I held and nursed him while the midwife delivered the placenta and then stitched me up (yes I did tear).  After all of that was done, my nurse took Ian to go clean him up a bit and weigh/measure him.  I was surprised at how big he was for coming so early - 7lb 9oz and 20.5 inches!  Just one ounce more than what Ann was.  I had expected he would be smaller for being so early - I'm glad he didn't wait any longer to come!

Getting weighed and measured

Proud daddy holding his son!

I loved getting to just hold my little boy so much after he was born.  It just felt amazing.  Unfortunately, the nurse noticed that Ian's temperature was a little low.  He also wasn't being very responsive at this point as well.  When putting him under heat and having me hold him skin-to-skin wasn't helping, she decided to check his blood-sugar levels.  His level was really low so Ian had to be placed in the hospital's special care nursery (an intermediate nursery between the regular nursery and the PICU) so he could get an IV of glucose placed, as well as receive antibiotics in case the sudden drop in blood-sugar was due to an infection.  He ended up staying in the hospital an extra day after I was discharged to make sure he could keep his blood sugar up without the IV.  They weren't ever able to determine why his blood sugar dropped like that, but said that it does happen sometimes and once they get things stable again, everything usually is just fine and it's not an issue anymore.  I'm extremely grateful that we were able to get that taken care of so quickly and that it's all turned out okay.

All hooked up in his private room in the special care nursery

Close up shot of the cute boy.  That big foam thing on his hand was to keep him from moving the hand that had his IV.  It was so nice was he was able to get that off.

Ann getting ready to come visit her baby brother for the first time.  The pink bear she's holding is hers, and the blue one was for Ian (they are from my mom - she gives one to each grandchild when they are born).  We thought Ann would like bringing Ian his bunny-bear at the hospital (which she did).

"Holding" her baby brother for the first time 

Giving Ian his bunny bear (we put it in his bassinet) 

Me in all of my tiredness :)

Ian with a cute hat that one of his nurses grabbed for him.  It sounded like someone had crocheted/knitted several hats and donated them to the hospital.  The hat was a little small for him though (most of the babies in the special care nursery are premies - several doctors and nurses commented about how big he was compared to all the others in the nursery).

Ann greeting Ian after finally getting to come home from the hospital!

Ian's been a happy little boy ever since.  We love having him here!  Ann has done pretty well in terms of adjusting to no longer being an only child.  She loves her little brother and is always asking to hold him, giving him kisses, giving him his bunny-bear, and in general wanting to know where he is at all times ("where's my baby brother??").  She frequently makes comments like "oh what a cute/sweet baby".  She is very interested when I change his diaper and enjoys helping with that too.  The only hard thing has been that we don't leave our apartment very frequently right now, so she does start going a little stir-crazy (and consequently starts to act out).  But overall it hasn't been too bad.  I've felt TONS better during this recovery than I did after Ann was born, both physically and emotionally.  I'm still tired from being up all night long with a hungry baby, but in general we are doing really well.

Ann holding Ian at home

Getting in lots of snuggles with this cutie

Ian visiting Grandma and Grandpa Barrett's house for the first time (and yes, I'm really tired)

Sleeping in his bed

My two sweet babies

And my two handsome boys (if you can't read it, Ian's onesie says "handsome like daddy" :)

And so our life as a family of four has begun!