Since Wyatt will be three weeks old on Sunday, I thought that I better get with the program and document his birth before I forgot the details.
From the time that I got pregnant, Joseph and I assumed that Wyatt would come on Saturday, June 26th because that was the day I would be 36 weeks. With the girls, I have had them at 36 weeks to the day since that is when the doctor stops preventing my preterm labor. As it actually got closer to the day, Joseph and I started to wonder if it would really happen that day since this pregnancy went so much better. No bed rest and no month long hospital stay on magnesium sulfate!
The weekend that Wyatt was born was a big family reunion here in town for Joseph's mom's side of the family. Since we were anticipating his birth that weekend, we didn't commit to attend a lot of the reunion events. After being at Eagle Island on Friday and Paige having so much fun on the big slide, we decided that we would try and go for a little while on Saturday - long enough for Paige to get 5 rides on the slide. We got there about 12:30pm and my contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart. About every 2nd or 3rd contraction was strong enough that I was having to breathe through it. I could feel the others and they were uncomfortable but I could still carry on a conversation through them.
At about 2:30pm, Joseph and Paige had finished going down the slide and we had eaten lunch. The contractions weren't letting up so we decided that we would head into the hospital. Even if they sent me home, at least I would have a baseline of where I was at to go off of. After we dropped the girls off, but before we got to the hospital, we walked the greenbelt for about 45 minutes just to make sure that my contractions would stay consistent and that I wouldn't look like a total idiot going into labor and delivery with contractions that had stopped.
We got to the hospital at 5:00pm and they checked me. I wasn't really dilated at all and I was 75% effaced. The nurse told me that she was going to call my doctor but that she was 99% sure that he was just going to send me home. I was a little disappointed at the prospect of going home but Joseph reminded me that our number one goal in coming to the hospital was to get a baseline of where I was at. He also said that he had woken up that morning feeling like Wyatt would not be born until the 27th. Joseph and I decided that we would pick up a movie on the way home and I would just relax in bed for the rest of the evening.
To both the nurse's and my surprise, the doctor wanted me to walk around for an hour to make sure that I didn't go into active labor. My doctor knows how fast my labor goes, especially after my water breaks, so he didn't want to risk me not making it back to the hospital. So, Joseph and I started walking. I was kind of annoyed because I felt that it was just false hope. At this point, I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I felt like walking for an hour was prolonging the inevitable - going home.
At 7:00pm, we got back to triage and my doctor came in to check me. I was shocked when he said that I was 100% effaced and dilated to between a 2 1/2 and 3. I looked at him somewhat confused and asked if this meant that I wasn't going home. He said that we were having a baby that night. I then went into panic mode because in my mind, I was going home and now all of a sudden, I was going to be having a baby within a couple of hours.
We decided that I would go ahead and get an epidural and then the doctor would break my water. With Paige, I went from a 4 to a 10 in about 30 minutes after my water breaking so we figured that everything was going to go really fast. It was about 8:30pm or 9:00pm by the time that I got settled over in labor and delivery.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. He told me to tell him when I started to feel a tingling in my feet. I waited and waited and the tingling never came. An hour to an hour and a half later and still had nothing. I could pinch my legs and feel it. So, he pulled the epidural out and went a vertebrae higher. I was almost in panic mode (again!) that an epidural wasn't going to take. My doctor was wanting to go ahead and break my water but I insisted that I had a good epidural in before he broke my water. I didn't get an epidural until I was dilated to a 10 with Paige so I knew how bad contractions would get. Thankfully, he agreed to wait.
I was relieved when the second epidural kicked in. The doctor came back in at 11:30 and broke my water. I don't remember exactly what I was dilated to when he broke my water but I believe it was a 3 or 4. After that, my contractions pretty much stopped. My nurse said that it was normal for the contractions to slow down or stop for about 45 minutes after the epidural kicked in. However, my doctor decided to start me on pitocin. This really scared me because I was doing a VBAC and I knew that my risk of rupturing my uterus was somewhat higher with pitocin. They ended up having to turn my pitocin up to a 3 to really get my contractions going.
At midnight, Joseph laid down to get some sleep and I attempted to get some sleep. Every time that I would start to drift off to sleep, they would come in and turn up my pitocin which would wake me up and make me more nervous. I tried watching tv to help me relax but there was nothing on (even with cable) that was taking my mind off of my worry.
At 1:45am, my nurse was getting ready to take a half hour lunch and wanted to check me before she went. I was dilated to a 5 1/2 to 6. 5 minutes after she left, I started to feel pain with every contraction on my lower left side. I was laying on my right side so I assumed that I just needed to switch sides so that gravity could help the epidural medicine kick back in on the left side. Switching sides didn't help and the pain was getting increasingly worse. At 2:15am, the nurse came back in and I asked her to call the anesthesiologist to come and boost my epidural. She wanted to check me before she called the anesthesiologist and I was at a 10.
I woke Joseph up and the doctor came in. I started pushing sometime after 2:20am and Wyatt was born at 2:27am. I literally pushed 2 1/2 times for a total of less than 5 minutes. It took me longer to wake up Joseph and longer for the doctor to get prepped than it did for Wyatt to be born. NICU then checked Wyatt out to make sure he was okay since he had been born 4 weeks early. They gave him a thumbs up and then I got to hold my son. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life.
Joseph was right and Wyatt was born on the 27th. His first few weeks have been stressful as he has had some complications but we couldn't be happier to welcome our son into our family!!!
From the time that I got pregnant, Joseph and I assumed that Wyatt would come on Saturday, June 26th because that was the day I would be 36 weeks. With the girls, I have had them at 36 weeks to the day since that is when the doctor stops preventing my preterm labor. As it actually got closer to the day, Joseph and I started to wonder if it would really happen that day since this pregnancy went so much better. No bed rest and no month long hospital stay on magnesium sulfate!
The weekend that Wyatt was born was a big family reunion here in town for Joseph's mom's side of the family. Since we were anticipating his birth that weekend, we didn't commit to attend a lot of the reunion events. After being at Eagle Island on Friday and Paige having so much fun on the big slide, we decided that we would try and go for a little while on Saturday - long enough for Paige to get 5 rides on the slide. We got there about 12:30pm and my contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart. About every 2nd or 3rd contraction was strong enough that I was having to breathe through it. I could feel the others and they were uncomfortable but I could still carry on a conversation through them.
At about 2:30pm, Joseph and Paige had finished going down the slide and we had eaten lunch. The contractions weren't letting up so we decided that we would head into the hospital. Even if they sent me home, at least I would have a baseline of where I was at to go off of. After we dropped the girls off, but before we got to the hospital, we walked the greenbelt for about 45 minutes just to make sure that my contractions would stay consistent and that I wouldn't look like a total idiot going into labor and delivery with contractions that had stopped.
We got to the hospital at 5:00pm and they checked me. I wasn't really dilated at all and I was 75% effaced. The nurse told me that she was going to call my doctor but that she was 99% sure that he was just going to send me home. I was a little disappointed at the prospect of going home but Joseph reminded me that our number one goal in coming to the hospital was to get a baseline of where I was at. He also said that he had woken up that morning feeling like Wyatt would not be born until the 27th. Joseph and I decided that we would pick up a movie on the way home and I would just relax in bed for the rest of the evening.
To both the nurse's and my surprise, the doctor wanted me to walk around for an hour to make sure that I didn't go into active labor. My doctor knows how fast my labor goes, especially after my water breaks, so he didn't want to risk me not making it back to the hospital. So, Joseph and I started walking. I was kind of annoyed because I felt that it was just false hope. At this point, I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I felt like walking for an hour was prolonging the inevitable - going home.
At 7:00pm, we got back to triage and my doctor came in to check me. I was shocked when he said that I was 100% effaced and dilated to between a 2 1/2 and 3. I looked at him somewhat confused and asked if this meant that I wasn't going home. He said that we were having a baby that night. I then went into panic mode because in my mind, I was going home and now all of a sudden, I was going to be having a baby within a couple of hours.
We decided that I would go ahead and get an epidural and then the doctor would break my water. With Paige, I went from a 4 to a 10 in about 30 minutes after my water breaking so we figured that everything was going to go really fast. It was about 8:30pm or 9:00pm by the time that I got settled over in labor and delivery.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. He told me to tell him when I started to feel a tingling in my feet. I waited and waited and the tingling never came. An hour to an hour and a half later and still had nothing. I could pinch my legs and feel it. So, he pulled the epidural out and went a vertebrae higher. I was almost in panic mode (again!) that an epidural wasn't going to take. My doctor was wanting to go ahead and break my water but I insisted that I had a good epidural in before he broke my water. I didn't get an epidural until I was dilated to a 10 with Paige so I knew how bad contractions would get. Thankfully, he agreed to wait.
I was relieved when the second epidural kicked in. The doctor came back in at 11:30 and broke my water. I don't remember exactly what I was dilated to when he broke my water but I believe it was a 3 or 4. After that, my contractions pretty much stopped. My nurse said that it was normal for the contractions to slow down or stop for about 45 minutes after the epidural kicked in. However, my doctor decided to start me on pitocin. This really scared me because I was doing a VBAC and I knew that my risk of rupturing my uterus was somewhat higher with pitocin. They ended up having to turn my pitocin up to a 3 to really get my contractions going.
At midnight, Joseph laid down to get some sleep and I attempted to get some sleep. Every time that I would start to drift off to sleep, they would come in and turn up my pitocin which would wake me up and make me more nervous. I tried watching tv to help me relax but there was nothing on (even with cable) that was taking my mind off of my worry.
At 1:45am, my nurse was getting ready to take a half hour lunch and wanted to check me before she went. I was dilated to a 5 1/2 to 6. 5 minutes after she left, I started to feel pain with every contraction on my lower left side. I was laying on my right side so I assumed that I just needed to switch sides so that gravity could help the epidural medicine kick back in on the left side. Switching sides didn't help and the pain was getting increasingly worse. At 2:15am, the nurse came back in and I asked her to call the anesthesiologist to come and boost my epidural. She wanted to check me before she called the anesthesiologist and I was at a 10.
I woke Joseph up and the doctor came in. I started pushing sometime after 2:20am and Wyatt was born at 2:27am. I literally pushed 2 1/2 times for a total of less than 5 minutes. It took me longer to wake up Joseph and longer for the doctor to get prepped than it did for Wyatt to be born. NICU then checked Wyatt out to make sure he was okay since he had been born 4 weeks early. They gave him a thumbs up and then I got to hold my son. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life.
Joseph was right and Wyatt was born on the 27th. His first few weeks have been stressful as he has had some complications but we couldn't be happier to welcome our son into our family!!!
Here are the first pictures of Wyatt.......
Bright eyed and wide awake.........
Getting ready to head home.....
