Last Monday, I had my last baby doctor appointment. Makes me sad in some ways. Allen, his mom, and I went in at 10:30 that morning, and we had our bags packed in the excursion, because I was not coming back home without a baby in my arms. At the appointment, I lost 2 pounds- so I came in at gaining 18 pounds- beat Hayleigh by 2 whole pounds. My blood pressure was high again, and Anita was taking some time to get into my room. I just knew she was sending us over to the hospital- and I was right. She came into the room, checked me- I was dilated at 4cm, and she said we had waited long enough for Reid. Anita then gave us a possible run down of what could happen delivering a big baby- nurses on top of me pushing my hips, and that sort of thing. So, from there, I scheduled my post delivery appointment for 6 wks out, and headed over to the hospital.
We made the short jog over to the hospital, called my mom who was home putting up the Christmas tree with Hayleigh, and parked the excursion in the parking garage. We walked across the breezeway, and I felt those same jitters again that I had felt when I made it to the hospital when I was having Hayleigh. Just feeling numb, like I was in a dream again, in denial. We made our way upstairs to the 6th floor, and checked into room 621.
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| Last of the Belly Pictures! |
So, we were checked in, and they wanted to start me Cytotec but, after hooking me up to the monitors, they found I was already contracting on my own, and apparently had been pretty good on my own at home, so on to Pitocin we went! We sat there monitoring my contractions- they were getting harder and harder, and the mountains on the graph were going up and down.
Anita came in to check on me at 6:30, and broke my water- I was only dilated to 5 1/2 - 6 by then, and disappointed in my progress. I only wish I would have known that even though Reid was my second baby, my labor would only be a few hours less than what it was with Hayleigh. I ended up taking all the pain I desired to take, and told them to just cut to the chase, and get me the epidural. We decided to do this after discussing that if I did get a drug in my IV, that it might last an hour, and I would then have to wait for more pain relief. I decided to just cut to the chase, skip the hot tub I was looking forward to, and just get the epidural. I ended up having to wait about 40 minutes to get it after I had to get I forget what it even was down in my IV. My IV hurt me most of the time- they used a big gauge, and my mom being the paramedic said that they only give those to a select few people, and usually use a smaller gauge. What was funny was that this time my arm kept getting cold from the fluid coming down out of my IV, it was soo cold! At least the blood pressure cuff did not give me fits this time.
My first nurse, Heather, was great the whole time, until we switched nurses when shift change came along. Of course, I got the 8 months pregnant, grouchy blonde nurse with the sweet student nurse on the change. I really did not care for the second nurse, and for some reason, made sure I could not remember her name. She was snippy, and just not very nice. I'll come back to her later...
Anyway, epidural... I love epidural! I know some of you have went without, good for you! I would be the only one impressed by me making it without an epidural, and decided that I did not want to suffer any more. Why sit in pain for hours, feeling like you are dying, instead of getting relief so you can rest, and be comfortable? Anyway, the drug Dr.- LOVED him too! He was younger, and very nice. Allen stayed in the room with me while I got the whole deal done, but just watched from across the room, while the student nurse stayed next to me, holding the baby monitor on my belly. The Drug Dr.- that's what I called him, was really nice, and told me it was okay to swear, or yell when he went to numb my back. I told him I would be okay, and after he put the needle in my back, and I didn't flinch, or say anything, he asked me if I grew up on a ranch or a farm. I told him kind of, and asked why. He responded with only people he has had handle needles well like that majority of them come from a farm or ranch. Made me a little proud to not be a baby about it. We talked and chatted away until he was done- took maybe 10 minutes to get me into Happy Land. I told him that my last epidural did not work correctly, and he told me he was sure this one would work.... Boy, was he ever right. My legs up to my ribs were completely N.U.M.B. NUMB! My legs, when I would touch them, tingled, and felt like I had a pair of my leggings on. I could not move anything bellow my waist, and this drove me crazy, especially when Ms. Cranky butt nurse came in to turn me from side to side, and prop me. I could not move myself, and her and the student nurse had to pull me back and forth. She even got so tired of me not being able to move, she told me to quit pushing the epidural button. I hadn't touched it, and told her that- I be she loved Drug Dr. after that even more.
Well, 10 pm came and went- I was sure when we went in, that Reid would be born by then... wrong. My mom finally showed up with Hayleigh at 8pm, and they stayed the whole night. Everyone laid down around 11pm. Mom and Hayleigh went to the waiting area, and settled down, and Allen and his mom stayed in my room- Allen on the couch, and his mom in the recliner. After midnight, I started getting pressure in my butt. It hurt! It would come and go with the contractions, and I was then ever so grateful for the epidural. I tried to sleep, but the pain in my butt pressure just hurt too much to get comfortable. Finally I had the nurse check me again around 2:20am, and I was 9 3/4 dilated. They called Anita in, and started getting everything ready. Meanwhile, everyone else was asleep. I called for Allen across the room over and over, but he was out. I ended up just texting him a message with just a letter so his phone would quack, and he would wake up. It worked! Got him and his mom up, and sent Allen out to get Hayleigh and my mom. Hayleigh and mom came back in, Hayleigh was zonked out, so they put her on the couch, and covered her up. I got to start pushing quarter after 3am. My mom, and Allen's mom were holding my legs that were complete dead weight. I told them how sorry I was that I could not move them at all. This worried me on how much I was going to be able to feel to push.
I pushed maybe 6 times total, and out Reid's head came, with the rest of him really quickly. I ended up throwing up, with Allen there to catch it all. It ended up coming back out of the bag he was holding, and went into my hair. Allen was catching it all with his hands. As gross as that was, I cannot believe he did that without getting sick himself. They put Reid on my belly for 1 second. I was too tired and out of it to get a good look at him, then the put him on the heating table, and everyone was going on they wanted him to cry. I had no idea that the NICU had been called and what was going on. The cord was wrapped around Reid's neck and was around it so tightly that Anita tried to loosen it, and it snapped. She clamped the cord quickly, and threw Reid up on my belly. I didn't know any of that had happened, or noticed that he was blue/purple looking. They said that the cord must have went around his neck when I pushed him out, since there was no sign of it being there before. Allen never did get to cut the cord- still bums me out a little bit. Hayleigh slept throught the entire thing, and only woke up when we got to the elevator to go up to the 7th floor to recovery. After all of the scare, and Reid being alright, they started cleaning me up. I still could not move my legs at all. I ended up only getting one stitch- just to tighten me up, and that was it. I then fed Reid for the first time- after a little coaxing, he did great! My fears were settled. They cleaned me up, moved me into a wheel chair, and off we went. I still was in complete denial that this had all just happened. We did manage to get the cord blood and the cord sent off to Viacord- something I had been worrying about from day one.
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| Hayleigh sleeping on the couch |
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| Allen holding Reid for first time |
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| Anita with Reid |
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| my mom with Reid |
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| Hayleigh and Reid together for the first time |
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| Nana with Reid |
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| Add caption |
When we got up to the 7th floor, to my room, they wanted me to get into the bed. Of course cranky pants nurse come with. They got me stood up, and she then tells me she can't catch me if I go down. I wish they would have just had Allen help... Anyway, I got up, and thought, I got this! WRONG... I started to slump down with my legs, but made it on the bed. Hayleigh then woke up, and I had to hold her. She saw Reid, and cried, mainly from still being tired. I ended up holding Hayleigh while she went back to sleep, so my mom could sleep, and Reid was sleeping in his cart next to my bed. Allen and his mom went home to catch up on sleep too. After all, it was 6 am by now.
A few hours later, I got breakfast ordered, and got feeling back in my legs enough to attempt to go to the bathroom. I found out I had to go 2 times with a CNA before they would take my IV out- so I was on a mission to get that pain in the butt off of my hand. I made it to the bathroom just fine- a little weak, but good. I managed to walk back to my bed by myself. After that, about a half hour later, I was up, walking around, and dressed in clothes, instead of those dreadful hospital gowns. Hayleigh woke up, and I gave her her gift from Reid- her new baby doll. Shel LOVED him! We named him baby Rich, after one of my first baby dolls I had. Mom wanted to name him Dick because his has a penis. So, we compromised- Rich- short for Dick or Richard. Hayleigh then met Reid. She did great. "Baby Broder!" she said. She did just fine with him, until he cried from being hungry. I got breakfast down, and flowers started coming up, along with the Viacord pick up person, and a volunteer for the church who gave mom communion, and gave Reid a rosery. They took Reid back before I fed him to check his sugar levels, and brought him back to me with the cutest blue and white knitted hat on his head, for him to take home. While holding him and feeding him there, I still couldn't believe I was holding him then. Allen and his mom came back, and brought me lunch from McDonald's. I had ordered lunch from the cafeteria too, so I had a double lunch, to catch up from the day before I had nothing while laboring with Reid all day and night.
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| 7 hours old |
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| Our first family picture |
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| Getting Reid in his car seat for the first time |
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| Going home |
The food was great there, and the tv had lots of good channels and movies on demand. I was too tired to watch most of the tv though. This time, instead of feeling like I was jacked up on speed after delivering, I felt completely drained. Mom and Hayleigh went home around 1pm, and Allen and his mom followed after 4pm. Allen tried to stay, but I told him to go ahead home, and enjoy sleeping in our bed. Reid was up all night, and fussy. Later, we found out he was colicky. I had my boob in his mouth constantly, and finally broke down and asked for a pacifier, because I couldn't take it anymore. He was sensitive to lights in the room, so I had a weird combo of lights on and off. I did manage to take a quick shower, and the nurse came in and got Reid to do his tests- hearing, and give him his shots. She felt bad, and promised to drag it out a few hours, so I could get a nap in. At the hospital, you could not send the baby to the nursery- the baby stayed in your room. I got a nice nap in, and was up and down until 6 am. Allen, Hayleigh, and his mom came up around 8 am, and by then Reid was getting sent back to get circumcised, and we were in the middle of being discharged. Anita came in, and gave us our silver spoon, and checked me out, giving me the green light. We took several pictures while getting everything packed, and left the hospital at 10:30 am. Funny thing about leaving... Hayleigh came home from the hospital in our green excursion, Reid came home in our new excursion. I get a laugh out of that.
We made it home, and this time I made sure Reid was fed and woke up every few hours. We all held him, kissed and loved on him. Hayleigh didn't want to hold him, but was interested in him. Our first night, Reid was screaming with colic. My mom took first watch with him until 2am, and I took over. Poor guy- he is a very gassy baby. The next few days flew by. We celebrated an early Thanksgiving, and said bye to my mom. Still makes me cry thinking back to when she left. We had a lot of fun, and I was glad she was here to share Reid with us. A week later, Allen's mom ended up leaving too, then Allen followed 2 days later. We did manage to get to celebrate our 9 year wedding anniversary by going out on 2 dates by ourselves- a first since moving out here.
It's sad to me that Reid is our last baby. I cherished this last pregnancy just as much as I had with Hayleigh. I miss it, but I love having our happy family of four now, that is complete. Baby fever will come and go, as I can imagine, but for now, I'll enjoy snuggling with Reid while he is still small, since he won't stay that way forever.
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