I use blogging as a way to journal our life as parents; it goes by so quickly and I never want to forget these days! As I think back 8 weeks to Elliot's birth, it was exactly what I needed after a very traumatic and stressful delivery with
Gabriella. His delivery was stress-free and wonderful. It is odd to describe labor and delivery as fun and wonderful but the doctor that delivered Elliot was there during Gabriella's birth and knew how tough that had been. She helped me have the delivery that she understood was important to me.
Flashback to late February and I was 35 weeks pregnant and had my final injection of the weekly progesterone I was taking to help prevent preterm labor. My doctor had told me that many women will go into labor a week or so after this final injection as the high levels of progesterone leave your body. On top of that, I had been 1-2cm dilated for weeks so I was prepared to deliver the first week of March. Well, the first week of March came and went. I went in for my next appointment and I was 6cm dilated and baby was head down and low. Again, we were all certain that baby boy was coming any day now. Two days later, nothing had changed and we were getting a massive blizzard. My OB's office called and had me come in the day before the storm to check my progress. Still, 6cm, and no changes. I was convinced that the blizzard was going to bring this baby and Gianni's fellow firefighters were so nervous that they kept the driveway plowed all day. Needless to say, the blizzard came and went and I was still very much pregnant. At my next appointment, my doctor decided that it was time to schedule an induction because I had been dilated for so long. Our induction was scheduled for Monday, March 27 at 2pm. I had big plans that we were going to have a relaxing weekend, a nice date night, and then head in to have a baby. Little did I know that Elliot had his own plans...
On Thursday the 23rd, I decided to bring Gabriella grocery shopping so that I could stock the house with snacks and easy meals for her while we were in the hospital. It was a sunny but chilly morning so I decided to drive to a grocery store about 40 minutes away from home. In retrospect, I probably should have stayed closer to home but it is a really nice store and I was looking for something to do that morning. I had a huge cart full of groceries and as I was paying, I thought my water broke. I realized that I was bleeding so I immediately called my doctor. They told me to head into the hospital because even though I wasn't having any contractions, labor was starting and they didn't know how fast it would go because Gabriella was incredibly fast.
At this point, I called Gianni and it went to his voicemail. Not odd because while his cellphone is work phone, he often keeps it on silent during meetings. So I started texting. Still no reply. This has since become a "one of these days we'll look back and laugh moment". What I didn't know was that his phone had failed to charge the night before so he left it at his desk charging while he went to an hour long meeting that morning. I then called his desk phone which links to his laptop. In the middle of a meeting, he sees on his laptop that I am calling. He quickly realized that something was going on and started calling me from a coworkers phone. Meanwhile, the texts I am sending him started out cute with all the baby emojis and transformed into not-as-cute ones :) But eventually it all was fine, I finally answered the calls from the foreign number after realizing that it was him. I headed home with all the groceries and Gabriella in the back saying, "Mommy is having our baby NOW" over and over (girl knows how to up the drama). All in all it was a pretty comical experience and soon we were on our way to the hospital!
We were admitted right away and the APRN on duty checked me and told me that my water had not broken but the placenta was starting to pull away so it was time to have a baby. Because I still wasn't having contractions, they were going to have to run pitocin but were hopeful that I would deliver quickly because I was already 6cm dilated. The rest of the evening was spent walking the hallway of labor and delivery. The pitocin was causing contractions that were a minute long and coming a minute apart. As the time approached midnight, they were so intense that I wasn't able to keep walking and they had to turn the pitocin down. They checked me and unfortunately all the walking didn't change anything and I was still 6cm. My doctor came in and she was so great; she knew my goal had been to have an epidural-free delivery but she was so afraid that because I wasn't progressing, I was going to get so exhausted that I wouldn't have the energy to push and would need a c-section. I agreed and they gave me an epidural around 1am. I will say that the epidural I got was perfect; it allowed the pitocin to stay at the highest dose but I was still able to feel the contractions and move my legs (they just felt like I had pins and needles!). Just after 3, they checked again and I was finally 10cm! My doctor, her resident, and our nurse were the only ones present. They were so relaxed and made us smile and laugh in between contractions. They were supportive and encouraging of Gianni. They kept me focused so that the pushing was really effective. Just before 5, I realized that my doctor was only on until 7 so I told her I was determined to deliver before 6. She started laughing and said that this baby was coming at 5! And then I will never forget as the three of them started smiling and saying that in just a few minutes I was going to actually get to hold my brand new baby. After not holding Gabriella for a couple of weeks, that was the best thing they could have told me. And then at 5:03am, our sweet boy was born. He had (and still has) a full head of dark hair and was 19" long and 7lbs 5oz.
His delivery was the perfect delivery for us. It was peaceful and simply wonderful. I will never forget the feeling of my baby in my arms and the look of pure joy on Gianni's face. I am forever grateful for this experience.
