Okay... I realize this is an extremely long and wordy (big surprise) post... don't feel like you have to read it, or if you do, read it in parts... with chocolate or ice cream. You'll need some reward to make it through the whole thing. ;)
Let me start out by talking about my feelings the previous week or two.
Early on in this pregnancy I had convinced myself to not consider New Years to be my due date. I kept telling myself that my mental due date was January 10th. Even after I found out at 37 weeks that Zak was looking like he'd be a rather large baby (measuring over 9 lbs via ultrasound). All of my friends that were going out of town wished me luck on my delivery and said that I'd more than likely be a new mommy again by the time they got back at the beginning of January. I'd laugh and tell them it would be more like the 10th and they all thought I was crazy.
Well, I was mental ready to go past my due date... until my body decided to do something new this pregnancy and dilate on its own. I went into my appointment a week before my due date and I was dilated to 3cm. I was SO excited! My body never did anything before I was induced with both girls (and Abby was 10 days late!!!). This little piece of info RUINED my mental preparation for going past my due date. I almost wish that I never new I was dilated.
Every little cramp I'd pause and get excited that I was going into labor on my own. There was a couple of times that I really thought I was.
Then, my due date came and went, and my next appointment I begged them to induce me on Friday the 6th of January, but my midwives preferred not to induce any earlier than 41 weeks. *sigh* So we scheduled my induction for January 9th.
The Sunday before (the 8th) I was feeling pretty miserable and was crampy pretty much all day. I thought maybe I'd go into labor then, but no... my body just likes to be induced I guess.
Okay, onto the main event.
Welcoming Baby Zak.
Where are my toes? Haven't seen them in weeks.
For the record (not that anyone does) but I'm not a fan of pregnancy shots... but for lil' Zak, here is what your mommy looked like before you came. HUGE!
Mom and Dad all ready to go in and have this BABY!
I will have to say, one huge perk to be induced is that you can get up, shower and get all purdy'd up before you have your baby. Kind of silly I guess... but I still do it.
The hospital we went to (Magee Women's Hospital) did something kind of different. They gave me a time slot for my induction. So sometime between 8am-Noon I'd receive a phone call letting me know when I could come in for my induction (it was like waiting for a repair man or something). Luckily they called me around 8:20am so I finished getting ready and we headed out.
We got all checked into the hospital... and I thought it would be nice to enjoy some sunshine so we opened the curtains to find this. Our friendly construction worker (lovingly named Bob) right outside my delivery room window. Well... as to not scar him for life, we decided it'd be best to keep the blind shut
(not before snapping a picture or two... that I'll regret posting later...)
They got me hooked up to the pitocin at quarter to 11am and things kicked right into gear. I came into the hospital at 4cm (yay progress) and was excited about how fast this delivery might go.
While I was filling out forms and getting asked a ga-gillion questions they slowly increased my pitocin until things were really moving. I'm not really a fan of epidurals because they make my blood pressure drop so low (and I inevitably get put on oxygen) so I wanted to hold out until things really got painful. When I told my midwife this she suggested I take some laps around the hospital and see if that helped. Boy did it ever. I think I was at about 5-6 cm and when I started walking around my contractions got so painful that I couldn't even walk through them. I decided that it was time for my epidural. I asked for a ball to sit on to see if that helped... I think it was worse trying to roll around on one of them during a contraction. I just wanted them to stop.
So they ordered my epidural and the anesthesiologist showed up in a jiffy.
Here is where the getting up and getting ready before having my baby backfired. The epidural was SO painful this time, not that it wasn't before, but he had to keep adjusting the needle and it hurt SO bad. I cried... yup, I'm a wus. And then because of that lovely mascara I foolishly put on, I had raccoon eyes. Yup, pretty embarrassing.
Because my blood pressure drops so much they slowly increased the dose of the epidural so as to ease my body into it. I immediately felt warm and tingly and was able to relax. It felt so nice...
While I was filling out forms and getting asked a ga-gillion questions they slowly increased my pitocin until things were really moving. I'm not really a fan of epidurals because they make my blood pressure drop so low (and I inevitably get put on oxygen) so I wanted to hold out until things really got painful. When I told my midwife this she suggested I take some laps around the hospital and see if that helped. Boy did it ever. I think I was at about 5-6 cm and when I started walking around my contractions got so painful that I couldn't even walk through them. I decided that it was time for my epidural. I asked for a ball to sit on to see if that helped... I think it was worse trying to roll around on one of them during a contraction. I just wanted them to stop.
So they ordered my epidural and the anesthesiologist showed up in a jiffy.
Here is where the getting up and getting ready before having my baby backfired. The epidural was SO painful this time, not that it wasn't before, but he had to keep adjusting the needle and it hurt SO bad. I cried... yup, I'm a wus. And then because of that lovely mascara I foolishly put on, I had raccoon eyes. Yup, pretty embarrassing.
Because my blood pressure drops so much they slowly increased the dose of the epidural so as to ease my body into it. I immediately felt warm and tingly and was able to relax. It felt so nice...
until I felt like I had to use the bathroom.
Seriously?
I got the epidural at 2pm and shortly after felt like it was time to push.
My midwife checked things out and found that my water was on the verge of exploding, so she helped it out, and then it was go time.
It was a little un-nerving because I got the shakes really bad. Every contraction after this I felt I was fighting to keep him inside while they got things all set up. Their was meconium in my water, so they called in a peds unit to make sure Zak didn't aspirate/swallow any of it.
They also had the attending OB there with his small crew incase Zak got stuck. Because of his estimated large size, they were concerned his little shoulders would get stuck, and if that happened they would need extra help, and the attending there to make the call of an emergency C-section if necessary.
It was a little un-nerving because I got the shakes really bad. Every contraction after this I felt I was fighting to keep him inside while they got things all set up. Their was meconium in my water, so they called in a peds unit to make sure Zak didn't aspirate/swallow any of it.
They also had the attending OB there with his small crew incase Zak got stuck. Because of his estimated large size, they were concerned his little shoulders would get stuck, and if that happened they would need extra help, and the attending there to make the call of an emergency C-section if necessary.
Well, it came time to push. I was feeling great (other than the shakes) until I began to push and learned the my epidural wasn't working down there. I guess it was partially working, but I still felt pretty much the whole thing. You women who have had your babies naturally... props to you! It hurt SO bad. I wanted to sob... but of course, because of my huge audience I was to embarrassed to, so I just, ya know, struggled to breath and whined a little about how much it hurt.
13 minutes of pushing (really 3 good pushes) and little Zak was out, no problems getting the shoulders out at all.
They cut his cord and rushed him over to the peds unit to check him out.
13 minutes of pushing (really 3 good pushes) and little Zak was out, no problems getting the shoulders out at all.
They cut his cord and rushed him over to the peds unit to check him out.
Zachary Ryan Stephenson
Born January 9th, 2012 at 3:43pm
20 inches and 10 lbs. 0 oz.
37 cm head circumference (can't believe I pushed that big head out!)
9.9 Apgar score.
After they checked him out I was finally able to hold my lil' Zak.
He is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I'm in love.
I didn't get to snuggle him as long as I wanted. They whisked him away to test his glucose levels (because he was a big baby they are really concerned about them) and then next time I held him was after he was all poked and bundled up.
Daddy and his new son!
Here is our first picture together... I look exhausted... because I WAS!
It was a lot of work getting this lil' fella out.
Welcome to the world my lil' Zak.
I'm so excited for all of the little adventures that are in store for you in our little family.
So blessed to have you as my son and am so excited to watch you grow day by day.
2 comments:
That sounds like a rough go, but You look Beautiful Lizzie! Congratulations to your whole family! I know you will have so much fun with your little man. :)
My "little" man is getting married this weekend. I'm not gonna lie... I have mixed feelings about it. Happy and sad at the same time.
I am very happy for you though!
First, you do NOT look huge, you look super cute! Second, don't feel stupid that you cried during the epidural! Mine hurt SO bad with June and then Emmy's spinal block was the second worst pain I've ever felt, I literally screamed and cried and sobbed and dug my nails into my nurse. There's no shame in crying when getting a baby out. Third, thanks for sharing your story. I was nervous reading it, it is so hard and scary, but you did a great job and I'm glad everything went smoothly!
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