One week

I can't believe it's been a week already. I'm not sure if I slept most of the week away or if I've been in a sleepless daze. Either way, it's so fun having a newborn! I hate that this stage ends so fast.

So before I forget any details, I'm writing out the birth story. Hope it doesn't gross anyone out.

I went to my weekly doctor appointment on Friday morning at 8:30. (I've already said how tedious I think those weekly checkups are...) I was having a few cramps but, really, one day before my due date, everything feels cramped. Otherwise, I felt fine. I was fully expecting (grudgingly) to be pregnant for a few more days. I'm skipping a few details here...but basically during my appointment, I discovered that my water was broken. It wasn't much to speak of, but it was definitely broken. It could have been that way for days and I had no idea. Hey, he was a big baby. He made a pretty good drain stopper. :)

So anyway, my doctor wanted me at the hospital right away. I protested but she convinced me that it was a bad idea to hang around without any antibiotics, especially since we didn't know how long I had already been that way. I at least needed to go get an IV for awhile. And she meant, I needed to go straight to the hospital. Not stop at home and grab a bag or kiss my kids one more time or wait for Keith to get home so he could drive me there. She meant GO NOW.

I was pretty bugged. But Keith convinced me that I didn't want to get the doctor annoyed with me before any of the hard stuff began. I was really really planning on a totally natural birth this time so it's true, I needed some cooperation with the doc. I had bought a hypnobabies kit and had been studying up on all the techniques and listening to the preparation CD's and getting all psyched up about it. (So what if that makes me a hippie?) I had an epidural with Bennett and had the WORST recovery, which I attribute to the 4 hours of pushing and zero sensation in my body to have any idea what I was doing. With Leah, I started out with meds but they wore off as I hit transition so I did the last part on my own and my recovery was cake compared to the first time. And I really didn't think I could possibly grow a baby bigger than 9 lb 12 oz Leah so I figured it could only get easier.

Anyway, I got to the hospital and they put me on the IV antibiotic. I kinda thought that I would get a bag of IV fluid and then maybe I could go walk around for a couple hours to get things going on my own. I didn't realize how long it was going to take to get the full course of meds. Sheesh. And so I started on the slippery slope away from my natural birth. I finally agreed to let them put me on pitocin at 1:00 pm. I was barely dialated--only a one. But since my water had been broken for who knows how long, I couldn't hang out forever. They were anxious to get the baby out!

Here's where the day gets really boring. I was on pitocin for the rest of the day and into the night. Contractions every 2 minutes. The nurses thought I had a really high pain tolerance because the pitocin was cranked up as high as they dared to go. It wasn't exactly comfortable but I was so in my zone and still determined to avoid an epidural. I thought I was doing AWESOME. They didn't check my progress all that often because of the risk for infection but they finally did again just before midnight. I was maybe, barely, not quite 3 centimeters. Nooooooooo.........!! They thought maybe I could use a break since I'd been working through the contractions all day long without significant progress. So they put a little something in my IV to take the edge off so I could relax for an hour and see if that made a difference. Whew! I relaxed all right. In fact, my contractions stopped altogether. Keith told them that I reliably turn into a pumpkin at midnight and that's probably just my normal body reaction to the clock. Sure enough, the nurse checked the monitor and my contractions went dead at 12:10.

That's when the doctor decided it was time for some change. Without getting into any details, the doctor did a very VERY painful exam to push things along. Oh. my. goodness. When she was done, she said, "ok, you are 5 centimeters now". Oh the agony!!! Immediately I was in very active labor. The baby realized it was getting evicted. And since it was now 2 am, I was TOAST. There was no way on earth I was going to be able to keep up with this labor through the night. I totally don't function without sleep and I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to make it on my own at that point. Maybe if I hadn't already been on pitocin for 12 stupid hours...

So I cried uncle. The anesthesiologist was there in record time (considering that he was at home in bed) and the epidural became my friend. Finally at 2:30 am, I could relax. I was able to sleep for a while which made all the difference in the world. They checked me again sometime in the middle of the night and I wasn't quite a 7. So good that I was progressing, but still, so slow!!! Finally I was wide awake at 6:25 and feeling so uncomfortable. My legs were like tree trunks (such a gross feeling of helplessness) but I felt like I needed to shift around. I had kept myself upright all night long in hopes that gravity would do it's thing and help the baby descend. So after basically being in a sitting position for hours, I just felt like I needed to get some circulation going. Keith was dead asleep on the couch and my nurse told me she was coming back at 6:30 to check on me at the end of her shift. Those 5 minutes of waiting for her to come in were awful. When she came in I made Keith and the nurse roll me around a bit (did I mention that I hate that helpless feeling?) but I still felt so uncomfortable. My nurse didn't want to check me at first because she knew the nurse coming in for the next shift would want to take all those stats again in only a few minutes. But as I started talking about no relief from the pressure, she changed her mind.

Whoa! I was complete and the baby was LOW. And my doctor was sound asleep in the call room (she was so sweet--not even her weekend on call but offered to come in for my delivery. I think she thought I would go really fast since it was my third baby...she probably regretted being so nice once the sun went down). The next few minutes sound so much like the last few minutes of Leah's birth since it all happened so fast. People came rushing in and getting everything ready to go. Over the next couple of minutes, I swear I had a freight train bearing down. The pressure was crazy. I was breathing through each contraction because I could really feel it. It was a weird feeling to have feeling, but at the same time no feeling. (Darn epidural...)

At 7 am I started pushing. At 7:04, I had a baby! I loved hearing "It's a BOY!" I had the entire hospital floor on edge since they say they almost NEVER have "surprises".

I just love that crazy rush of emotion that happens when the wiggling newborn is put in my arms for the first time. Words are totally inadequate.

We love little Bryce so much. He's a great sleeper and he's so loved by Bennett and Leah. I do fear that Leah might smother him with kisses. She is constantly loving on him. She is going to be a great big sister. And Bennett loves having a brother!

First smile?


Is there anything sweeter?


How does that look for comfy? Believe it or not, I heard a lot of snoring come from that couch throughout the night. Add the sleeping baby though, and you could call it bliss.


Big brother and big sister loving on Bryce.