A Baby Story

Trent and I just finished his first nightly diaper change and feeding. I am not a pro at getting his diapers on tight enough (yet), so we had a wardrobe malfunction that required a new set of pj's as well. Usually he does NOT enjoy changing clothes, but he handled it really well tonight, for which I am so thankful. My FMIL (fabulous mother-in-law) has stayed with us the past 3 nights, but tonight I am trying to do everything on my own, to see if I can manage it, and using her only as needed, so it was wonderful that my little guy didn't scream at me! I get a little antsy with everything, so I couldn't fall back asleep and decided this would be a good time to tell Trent's birth story...

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 AM on June 30, 2009. I was prompty changed into a hospital gown and started on Pitocin.

Last belly bump - 40 weeks and 3 days

A little before 8:00, my doctor came and broke my water. The contractions got SO intense immediately that within 15 minutes I was asking for my epidural. I felt a little bit like a weenie, but when I found out I went from 1 1/2 cm to 4 cm during that time, I felt a little more justified! The nurse asked me which side I wanted to lay on, and I said left so that I could look at and talk to Brent. Bad decision. The baby's heart rate immediately plummeted and the nurse couldn't get it back up. They rolled me to my right side and put me on oxygen, but his heart rate was still hovering around 60 beats per minute (want it around 120-160). The doctor was paged, she came sprinting to the room, and his heart rate jumped back into a good range. Thank goodness. I was pretty upset and crying by this point. The Pitocin was turned off, and I was given a shot to stop contractions to let everything settle down and give Baby Boy a chance to rest (it feels weird calling him Trent when he was still Baby Boy at this point).

Me on oxygen

We moved right along once the Pitocin was turned back on for a few hours...discovered Baby Boy was sunnyside up (facing the wrong way) and I was dilated to 6 cm. Then we tried the left side again and Baby Boy's heart rate dropped again. After another round of oxygen and another hour of Pitocin, my doctor said she I was showing signs that I might need a c-section (since the baby wasn't handling contractions great and was positioned wrong).

Everyone was cold (but me) - thankfully I ruled the room that day and they all got blankets!

Another few hours passed, and I started feeling contractions in my left side but my right side was TOTALLY numb. Because we couldn't put me on my left side or risk more heart rate drops, I'd stayed on my right side the entire day, and the epidural was pooling in the right side. Let's just say those contractions were NOT enjoyable, and we slowly got me turned to my left side. Baby Boy reacted beautifully (meaning he didn't react at all), the medicine got redistributed, and I was dilated to 8-9 cm. This makes for a HAPPY mommy-to-be.
The doctor came and realized I was dilated to 10 cm. I pushed a few times so that she could work on turning Baby Boy. We got him halfway turned, and it turned out that I am an excellent pusher (who knew?), so my doctor decided we'd try to deliver, but she wanted to wait an hour to let him labor down on his own some, since he was still not in an ideal position.

40 minutes later, I couldn't wait ANY longer...it was TIME to PUSH! An hour and 15 minutes later...BABY BOY WAS HERE!!! Brent was so amazing through everything - he knows my personality so well and was so supportive when I needed it. He mostly let the nurses and doctor do their jobs and held on for the wild ride.

Taking in the moment - totally in awe of this little guy

Meeting Dad for the first time

Look at his little tongue (and not my sweaty face)!

Bath time

All clean and ready to hang with Mom and Dad

Ready for his close-up

I am still in a state of shock over how amazing/crazy this experience has been so far. Birth is everything and nothing like I expected. My doctor told me the next morning that she really thought I would need a c-section and that made me feel like such a rock star.
Trent is fussing a bit, so there you go! How he made his grand entrance. :)