Welcome LO!

LO is 6 days old today. It has taken me this long to have time to write his birth story. If it sounds a little funny, that's because I've written it for several different places, so it's not the same personal voice I normally have here. I think most of you have heard these details already, but I wanted to post them just in case. This is a long one, so grab a snack! Here's our story...

I awoke at about 4 am having mild cramps in my lower belly. I had had similar cramping for the previous 4-5 night with no evidence of them making way for baby at my last OB visit, so I did not think much of these. However, unlike previous nights, I was unable to go back to sleep and the cramping continued. At about 6 am, the cramps were intense enough that I could not lay in bed any longer. I felt they were becoming true contractions, but they were irregular in both intensity and frequency. When I got up at 6 am, I awoke DH and told him not to worry, but I was having contractions and couldn’t sleep. I encouraged him to go back to sleep saying I was not sure I was in labor and one of us should get some rest. His response was “Contractions? Really?” and “Ok, whatever you need.” Ten minutes later, he came upstairs saying “You REALLY think I can sleep while you’re having contractions?” So, we were up and the day that would change our lives began.

Early on, I was having about 3-4 mild, brief contractions for every one that was intense. I was unsure whether to time all of them or just the strong ones. I opted for the latter and, for several hours, it seemed they were about 10-15 minutes apart.

At this point, I need to give a little background info. First, if you know me well, you know I am a “planner” and very goal-oriented. I also enjoy cooking and feeding others. If you don’t know me well…take my word for it. I realized ahead of time that labor would be unpredictable at best, but wanted to make some plans for it anyway. I had hoped to be at least 3-4 cm dilated before I went to the hospital. I was afraid that I would show up too early and be sent home. I found that prospect especially embarrassing since my profession suggests I should know better. So…I wanted to “do it right.” I also knew I could eat, walk, drink, take warm baths, etc at home, but as soon as I was admitted, I’d have none of that. I wanted to be comfy and at home as long as I could safely stand it.

With those things in mind, I planned to bake cookies during my labor. I made the chocolate chip dough weeks in advance and froze it. My husband thought this was crazy; that there was no way I’d possibly want to bake in labor. He indulged me though, as I reassured him that one batch would only take 12 minutes and I could stop at any point and put the dough away if it wasn’t working out. We also borrowed movies from a friend so I could have amore restful distraction if needed. In addition to those plans, I had no evidence whatsoever that I would deliver soon as of my last OB appointment two days prior. One day prior, I realized I had not planned meals or shopped for the following week because I assumed I wouldn’t need to. At the last minute, I decided to make a lasagna so we could eat half over the weekend and freeze the rest. Among my thoughts between 4 and 6 am on October 10^th, was the logistical conflict of getting the lasagna made AND baking cookies. It occurred to me that I had bought all of the lasagna ingredients except the noodles (brilliant!) and I wondered if I would have time to make all the cookies if I tied up the oven with lasagna for over an hour. Even I don’t make cookies at 4 am, and I wanted to wait until I was sure I was in labor before I started making them anyway. What if the contractions stopped and then I had made all the cookies but didn’t go into real labor for 3 more days? I wanted to take the cookies to the hospital nurses, but I couldn’t take 3-day-old stale cookies! Hmmmm.

So that is how, with 3-4 hrs of contractions at 10-15 minutes apart, I came to try to convince my husband to take me to Publix. I needed lasagna noodles! Has was reluctant to say the least. Ultimately, I got him to agree to one walk around the neighborhood (a ¼ mile loop); if I did ok, maybe he would take me to Publix. So we walked. I ran into my neighbor and her 3 mo old who told me I was insane for wanting to get the noodles. I had 5 contractions, but only one that was very intense, in the loop around the neighborhood. More importantly, I ran into another neighbor who offered to give me her box of noodles.

When we returned to the house, around 10:15 am, my plan was to eat an apple, call my Dad, and help my husband get that lasagna ready to be put in the neighbor’s oven. Twenty minutes later, I had finally finished the apple. It took that long because I was having to “walk off” a contraction every few minutes. Still, some were stronger than others. My husband began to time all of them and just note the strong ones.

I got out the cookie dough to thaw.

My husband made all of the lasagna. I kept walking into the kitchen just long enough for a bite of apple or to do one minor recipe step, then would have to leave. Let me just say that my husband was amazing. He does not cook regularly, though he knows his way around our kitchen just fine. He thought cooking was a bad plan to start with. Still, between coaching me through and timing every contraction, he continued to make this lasagna and indulge my goal of making the cookies.

I never made a single batch.

By 12:30, my husband had put his foot down. I had bargained to wait for the last batch of cookies to come out. By the time they were done, I gave in saying I wasn’t sure I could wait for them to cool. We’d have to leave them on the counter. By this point, the weaker contractions had become stronger such that every one demanded to be counted. I could no longer walk through them, and I was having trouble breathing my way through them. My husband was recording them, so I had no idea how frequent they were or how long they lasted. He would run to the kitchen and wash a dish or rush to the car with a last minute bag, then hurry back to help me breath and time things. I’m certain he was exhausted before we ever left the house.

Fortunately we live about 10 minutes from the hospital. I had at least 3 contractions on the way there. We went through the ER because I no longer thought I could walk from the car to the triage unit and we thought a wheelchair would be easier to come by there on the weekend. The ER triage nurse berated me for not coming by the front door and begrudgingly wheeled me to L&D while hubby parked the car. In triage, the nurses wasted no time admitting me…I was 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. I felt like a rock star!

Hubby arrived in record time and we prepared for my epidural. Let me just say that Mark, my CRNA was FABULOUS and the epidural was more so. Within minutes, I was talking through my contractions without batting an eyelash. We were admitted at about 12:45 pm on Saturday, October 10. After my epidural, my contractions spaced out from being every 2-3 minutes to every 6-7minutes, so my OB started some low-dose Pitocin to help augment labor. Within a few minutes, the contractions were back to every 2-3 minutes. My OB arrived at about 2:45 and broke my water. By 3 pm we were beginning to push at 4 pm my little sister (the only family close enough to make it) arrived, and at 4:40pm Little One was born weighing 7 lb 6 oz and at 21 ¼ inches long. I am, of course, biased, but we think he’s pretty handsome and absolutely perfect!

As an aside, DH made an iPod playlist for me for L&D. Here's what we remember playing while we were there:

Thriller, Michael Jackson

Somewhere over the Rainbow, by the Hawaiian guy

Seasons of Love, Rent

Let my Love open the Door, Pete Townsend

Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam

True Colors, Cyndi Lauper

Running to Stand Still, U2 (as he was being born, we think)

Another Brick in the Wall, Pink Floyd (right after birth)

DH had put Salt n Pepa "Push It" on there, but, to his dismay, it did not play at the moment intended. (Thank goodness!)

Thank you to everyone who has sent flowers, meals, e-mails, well-wishes, prayers and phone calls. We appreciate every one of them and love you all. I hope we'll be able to post more soon. (Even if just pics!) We apologize for being a little out of touch, but LO gets all of our attention right now. Speaking of...it's time for supper part 2.