This birth story is so amazingly similar to Madeleine's.
On Sunday night I could not sleep at all, even with taking a whole Ambien. I was up at least every half hour. I was just so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep and I kept going to the bathroom. Then around 5:30 I started having pretty regular contractions, about every 5 minutes. After several hours they were getting stronger and closer together. I had a feeling that today would be the day! I had my doctor's appointment at 11am, so I just decided to go to that and see what she said. So I just walked around and had some cereal and watched Dora with Madeleine a few times. About 10:30 we dropped her off at Grandma's house. Ken had stayed home so he took me to the doctor. We had both of our bags in the car because we figured we would be staying.
We got in and the doc checked me. She said I was at 4 cm and could go on upstairs if I wanted to! She said they might have to break my water later to make sure things got going. So I was excited! Unfortunately, every bed in Labor and Delivery was occupied, so we had to wait in triage in the most uncomfortable bed EVER. I got an iv and got hooked up to the monitors for the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. I think we were there until about 2 before they moved us to a room. When we got there, the bed was much better and they checked me again. I was at 5 cm. They said they could either have my doctor come and break my water then or I could get in the tub for a while. Since that was my favorite part of labor with Madeleine, I decided to get in the tub. This helped with the pain quite a bit, but by this time it was getting pretty intense so Ken and I decided to get out our list of intentions and start praying. Ken sat next to the tub and when I'd get a contraction, we would pray for an intention on our list. Then he'd say Hail Marys until it was over. This definitely helped and we made it through every intention on our LONG list.
Side note. While I was in the tub, naked and having contractions, an IT guy walked in to fix the computer!! Yeah. Ken sat on the edge of the tub to kind of block his view, but still. Come ON people!
So I stayed in the tub for about 3 hours. Around 5pm I decided I would get out and let the doctor come and break my water. The nurse checked me again and I was STILL at 5 cm. I have long, slow labors. Then they called my doctor, who had just gone home to feed her kids supper. She didn't come in until 6:30. When she came in, she checked me and I was at a 7 cm and "very stretchy cervix." Her checking me and then breaking my water was probably the most painful thing of the whole process. It hurt SO bad my eyes filled with tears and I was ready for it to be over! Pretty much immediately the contractions started getting SO strong I couldn't think of anything else. I just had to try to relax and get in the "zone." Ken was a great coach. Around 7:30 I decided I was ready for an epidural. The guy came in around 8. The first epidural did not take AT ALL. After 20 minutes I could still feel my feet, and everything else that was going on. He said he'd have to redo it. The second time he gave me the numbing shot again (which burns and stings) and then tried to thread the catheter and could not do it at all! So he had to do it a 3rd time. At this point I was seriously thinking of telling him to forget it. But he said he would have to move up a bone in my spine. This time he was able to thread it 5 cm, which is 1 cm longer than normal I think. Within a few minutes I couldn't feel my legs and in a few more minutes I wasn't feeling contractions. However, my legs and feet were uncomfortably numb and tingly. I kept trying to get Ken to move me because I couldn't move my legs at all. At one point I kept trying to get him to bend my leg. He kept telling me that it was alredy bent. But I just KNEW it was straight. He had to take a picture with my phone to show me it was bent at more than a 90 degree angle! Then I kept telling him to move the pillow under my leg. I was touching it with my hand and telling him to move it because it was uncomfortable. He said, "Uh, that IS your leg!"
Anyway, they checked me again at close to 10pm and said I was at a 9. My doctor said that she could just give me a tiny bit of pitocin to get me to 10 more quickly. I told her to go for it! They left the room and said to call them back when I started feeling a lot of pressure. It wasn't too long after that when we called them back in, maybe 10:30 or so. She checked me and said I was fully dilated and his head was right there. The doctor came in and got everything ready. They said to push with the next contraction. I asked if I could have a mirror to see what was going on, and they put one down at the end of the bed. With the first contraction I could see his head! The second contraction he was born! His head came out, he had lots of hair! The doc was playing with his hair. Then on the next push he was born! They put him right on my chest. I thought he felt a lot bigger than Madeleine! He was so beautiful and such a sweet boy! He peed all over the doctor and nurse immediately :) I got to hold him for a while while I delivered the placenta and she sewed me up. She said I wouldn't have torn this time except his hand came out right next to his face. Then they asked if I was ready for them to weigh him. I said sure, so they weighed him at 8 lbs 8 oz, and he was 21 inches! Ken went with him (in the room) and took pictures. They wrapped him up and brought him back to me. He finally opened one eye and looked at me.
After a little while, they came over and said that he charted out as large for his gestational age (which I thought was weird!) and they had to test his blood sugar. They pricked his heel and it was 37. They said it was supposed to be above 45 so they'd have to give him formula. I hadn't even tried to feed him yet! So I asked if that was the only option? They said I could refuse the formula and try to breastfeed him for 30 minutes and they'd test it again. If it wasn't above 45 they would have to give him formula. I told them I didn't want him to have any since his sister was allergic to dairy - I didn't want to take any chances with him. So I fed him for a half hour, and he did great. They tested it again and it was 53! I'm so glad I didn't consent to the formula.
They brought me a boxed lunch to eat after that while Ken held John Paul. I was SO hungry after not eating anything all day. They gave him a bath and we got to move up to our room. They said since his blood sugar was low I'd have to feed him every 2-3 hours and call the nurse to check his sugar before every feeding. I tried to feed him again when we got up there but he was too tired to wake up and eat. So they said I could sleep for an hour and feed him at 3:30. His sugar before that was 55. He ate like a champ for an hour and went back to sleep in the bassinet. I got to sleep on my stomach for the first time in months and I was in heaven! I fed him again at 6:30 and his sugar was 60. They said he was maintaining fine and they didn't have to check him anymore. Yay!
The next morning my mom brought Madeleine over to meet her new baby brother. She got a big smile on her face when Ken carried her in and she saw me. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the bed with me. Then when she saw John Paul she said "Baby Brother!" I told her she could touch him and she was really fascinated. She gave him a kiss and was really sweet! He had gotten her a present - two little magnet boards - they were a farm scene and a classroom scene with a bunch of magnets. She opened that and played, then gave him her present, which was a little photo album of family members that she and Grandma had made together.
He pretty much slept the entire first day. He was too tired to eat too much. I had to call the lactation consultant several times because I couldn't get him to latch on. Those people don't mess around, let me tell ya! They just grabbed my boob and shoved it in his mouth. So since he slept so well I figured I would get a good night sleep the next night. OH I was wrong.
Just when I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open even while I was sitting up, he decided to wake up. And he decided this was a good time to eat for about 8 hours straight. The nurse kept coming in all night because he'd latch on, eat, doze off, then wake up and want to be latched on again. Over and over. She kept coming in and asking me if I wanted her to take him to the nursery for a while so I could get some sleep. Well I didn't want him to just be in there crying! So finally she asked if she could try a pacifier with him. It was 4:30 am at this point and I hadn't slept in 3 nights, so I decided to let her try it. He was not interested. And whenever she'd take him away from me he would start crying. So finally she told me to scoot over in the bed. She laid him down next to me and put a pillow on the other side of him. I was shocked that she did this! Usually you have to hide it from the nurses if you put the baby in bed :) But it worked! He slept next to me for about 3 hours. He's a mama's boy already :)
The next day we decided we wanted to leave early (well, earlier than waiting until 48 hours after he was born, which would have been 10:41 at night.) They told us we could just bring him back for the newborn screening the next day. So Madeleine came over after her nap, we packed everyone up, and she got to bring her baby brother home! It was a wonderful 3 days and I am so grateful that we have these two beautiful, amazing children!
John Paul went for his one week (and two day) weigh in at the pediatrician yesterday. He got down to 8 lbs in the hospital and now is up to 8 lbs 10 oz. The doc says he looks great and we don't have to come back until his 2 month checkup. They have a new nurse practicioner in the office who is also a lactation consultant. I made an appointment with her for Monday. He's gaining weight and doing fine, but REALLY hurting me. I am sure she'll be able to help.
