My overall labor and delivery with Dominic reminded me a lot of my experience with Gianna. Both labors began with my water breaking (but this time Andy was home instead of at work when it all began!), were followed by contractions that never progressed to active labor, involved Pitocin, an epidural, and finally some time pushing before the sweet little miracle of life could finally been seen and touched for the first time!! It was not my best labor experience, and a few parts left me a little traumatized, but like always, the end result was completely worth it!
Friday had been a pretty non-eventful day; I really had no idea labor would be coming any time soon. I decided to take the kids to mass that day. After mass, one of the older ladies at church asked when I was due and then told me after she had lunch she would, "take up the rosary and pray that baby out." (One thing I will remember from my pregnancy is all the prayers that were offered for me and baby!) I had also packed a picnic lunch so the kids and I headed to a local park for some playtime after church. It was a nice afternoon, but I remember feeling tired and a little irritable... I was ready for the pregnancy part to be done;)
Later that night, Andy and I waited up for the papers to be delivered for our route, and I bagged the papers like normal. We went to bed that night expecting to attend to our Saturday duties like usual... however, that would prove not to be the case!
After my water broke early the next morning, I took a nice shower before we decided to call the birth center and my mom to give them both a heads up. The nurse at the birth center said it was okay to hang tight at home since the few contractions I was having were not indicating active labor yet. Andy and I joked about the fact that we still had the paper route to do, and so once my mom got to our house, he decided to go out at about 3:45am to drive the route and deliver the papers. During this time I was still having some contractions, but they were not long or very painful.
The rest of that early morning, Andy and I both tried to get a little rest, although I never fully fell asleep again. The contractions continued to come and go and increased in frequency and length, but continued to stay very manageable. Nathan came into our bed later that morning, and I just laid next to him while he slept a little longer... it was a peaceful time. At about 7:45am Andy called the birth center again and the nurse said she would like me to come in since it had been almost 6 hours since my water broke. We woke up the girls, and Nathan told Ella my water bottle had broke;)
After saying goodbye to the kids and my mom, we left for the hospital and got there some time between 8 and 8:30am. I was in good spirits at that point and was enjoying the fact that the pregnancy part was coming to an end and the labor, up until that point, had stayed pretty mild... although I knew things would have to pick up at some point for real progress to be made, I felt pretty confident that would eventually happen.
When we got to our room the nurse asked if I had a birth plan, and I said I didn't have one. My only plan was not to go back home. She told me once the water breaks they want to deliver within 18 hours so I would most certainly not be going back home. This was a relief because that was one of the worst parts of Nathan's labor for me. The nurse then tested the leaking fluid to make sure my water had indeed broke (I guess the big pool of water in our bed, we told her about, wasn't evidence enough;). I was also hooked up to the monitor to see how the baby's heartbeat was doing and how strong and long the contractions were. The baby seemed to be doing well so I was left to rest and see if my contractions would start to pick up soon.
At some point, the on call doctor arrived at the hospital, and they checked me to see where I was at; I was only 3 cm dilated. We talked about trying Pitocin to get things going a bit more. I decided, however, I wanted to wait until after lunch to see if things would start to pick up on their own. She said that would be fine and she would just put in an order for Pitocin, just incase.
I ate some lunch around noon and tried alternating between walking around the room and lying in bed for quite some time, but nothing seemed to help my labor progress. Some contractions felt stronger and longer, but they were always still workable. The doctor ordered an ultrasound to check the baby's position to see if there was a reason he was not descending down like he should be, but he seemed to be in a good position. The nurse checked me again, and I was 5 cm dilated. The doctor said with this being my 4th labor and delivery, the labor was not progressing like she thought it should be. I decided to start the Pitocin at about 2pm.
From that point on, the contractions slowly increased in intensity and frequency as they administered the medicine and upped the dose a few times. As the dose and contractions increased, my energy and enthusiasm for it all began to decrease. They upped the dosage a third time and that's when the tears started to come and wouldn't stop. I was checked for a third time and I was 7 cm. At that point I said I needed something. The nurse said I was too far along for IV pain medicine because there was a risk all the medicine would just go straight to the baby if I delivered soon. I opted for a spinal and an epidural.
Waiting for the on call anesthesiologist to arrive at the hospital and administer the epidural was by far the most grueling. It seemed to take FOREVER! I kept saying I needed it to be all done and this is so stupid; I was so stupid for waiting too long. The anesthesiologist finally came and after more tortuous paperwork (at that point I was willing to say yes to any risk he told me about) and set up, he gave me an epidural... that didn't work! The tears were flowing and Andy's shirt around his neck was getting squeezed tighter and tighter. At one point I even tried to hold onto the hair on his head (which was too short to even grasp). The anesthesiologist tried a second time with a stronger medicine and finally, relief. The tears kept coming, however, and although I never had a "plan," I felt like none of this was part of my "plan."
At that point, I was kind of out of it as the room filled with more nurses and they gave me oxygen to start the pushing stage. I was completely numb. Although I couldn't really feel anything, the pushing didn't last too long and soon enough, a sweet little boy was born!! It was at this point that the tears I was crying turned to those of complete JOY and Andy had tears in his eyes as well... he was so relieved it was all over and so happy to meet his son. One of the things I will remember the most from the first few moments of seeing his sweet little face is seeing his cute, chubby little cheeks!... (albeit, a little swollen and bruised from birth). I loved all his rolls too and his little double chin;)
Dominic Andrew was born at 6:26pm and weighed in at 8 lbs 14.9 ozs. He is my biggest baby! He completely captured my heart!! It felt so wonderful to finally hold him in my arms!
Moments to Remember
Dominic is birthday buddies with his Uncle Matt!! (And apparently a lot of other people too... seems everyone we share the news with was born, or knows someone who was born, on July 1st;) We all thought it would be a lot of fun if Dominic was born on his uncle's birthday and apparently he thought that would be great too! Uncle Matt is very happy to share his birthday with him:)
The doctor held up his umbilical cord after he was born and showed us he had a true knot in his cord. She said that meant he will be "lucky for life";) About 1 in 100 babies are born with a true knot. It can happen early in pregnancy when the baby can still move around a lot in the womb or it can also happen during delivery. Only in about 1 of 2000 births does it pose any risk to the baby during delivery. Most of the time, the make up of the cord itself prevents it from getting too tight and posing any risk.
His blood sugar tested low after his birth but, luckily, he was able to bring it back up after nursing and never had to have any more intervention.
Remember the girl (aka Ella) who cried when she found out the baby was a boy? Well, she would also be the girl who stayed longer at the hospital and cried when she had to leave, not because she had to leave mom, but because she was sad to leave her new little brother!:)
The pediatrician told us a few days after his birth, during his follow-up appointment, that she was pretty sure he had a broken left clavicle. She said it was quite common in bigger babies but babies' bones are pretty limber and heal fairly quickly so it wasn't a major concern. He was moving his arm well, so she said the only thing we should try and do is dress that arm first and remove it last when undressing him. It stressed me out for a few days, but he never seemed in pain because of it and when we went to another follow-up appointment a few weeks later, she said she felt a very minor callus. I asked if she thought that meant if it did break (it was never confirmed with an x-ray), it was a minor break, and she said, yes. This injury did not come as a surprise to Andy as he had commented right after his birth, how hard the doctor had to tug, once his head was out, to get the rest of his body delivered too! Thankfully, he shouldn't have any ill-verse effects from it all.
One of my favorite memories from his whole birth experience was bringing him home for the first time. It was a beautiful summer day and it felt so good to be home with him! We opened the windows, let the sun shine in, and sat and snuggled him all afternoon... A little moment of Heaven on earth:)
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