Just Like Old Times

While Audrey was down for her nap mama and I went for a walk in our new moby wrap.  I was curled up in the fetal position tucked in snug against mama's belly while she walked me around the cul-de-sac.  Felt like old times and I let myself doze right off.

One Week

My first week was a success!  The weather has been great so I've been able to get outside quite a bit.  I've gotten a million kisses from my parents, my grannie, and my big sister.  I love to lay peacefully and look around.  I'm a little fussy when my stomach is doing it's thing, but that's been getting a little better every day.   I sleep swaddled at night and often nap on my tummy during the day.  I love to lay on the left side of my head, but mommy and daddy keep gently encouraging me to try out the other side.  On our worst night I got mama up every 2.5 hours and on our best night I only woke her up once.  I weighed 7lbs 3oz at my one week check-up... 3oz more than my birth weight.  It seems like I am going to have daddy's nice complexion and mommy's crazy hair line.  The jury is still out on the rest.  

My Birth Story

Since I wasn't there until the last minute I'm going to let mama tell her version of the end of the pregnancy and my entrance into this world.  Here she is:

For as similar as my two pregnancies were for the first 38 weeks... the end could not have been more different.

Week 38 - Lots of contractions and lots of strong kicking/movement.  Feeling like the end is near.  Towards the middle of the week we timed two hours of contractions.  10-12 minutes apart for the first hour and 7-10 minutes apart for the second.  These were the first contractions that really engaged my under belly and felt like actual labor as opposed to braxton hicks.  We were just waiting for them to tip to 5 minutes apart and thought we might be welcoming a baby.  After two hours they went away, we went to sleep, and that was it.

Week 39 - Almost no contractions all week.  Crazy.  Towards the end of the week the contractions returned.  We had been shopping after-Thanksgiving sales at Kohls and I could barely walk to the car on our way out.  I had been pushing it though... carrying Audrey too much and shopping sales all around... so I just attributed the contractions to that.

39 weeks and 2 days - The doctors appointment showed that I was 1 cm, almost 2, 20% effaced, and -2 position.  This pretty much means the arrival of a baby is probably not right around the corner.  Never-the-less I had contractions that night.  7 minutes apart for about 3 hours and then nothing.

39 weeks and 3 days - Contractions in the evening and through the night again... gone by morning.  Roughly 10-12 minutes apart.  Starting to get a little tired of the false alarms.

39 weeks and 4 days - Finally some daytime contractions.  Full moon... could this be it?!!  Contractions have gotten stronger and more painful but never closer than 7 min apart and not for more than 2-3 hours at a time.

39 weeks and 5 days - Contractions started to be continuous around 2:30 in the evening.  Once again, 7-10 minutes apart.  We were pretty sure this would be the night so we had our dear friend Tiffany come over to sleep here so she'd be settled in no matter when we needed to leave.  Around 3am they were finally 5 minutes apart, but oddly quite a bit less painful.  We called the nurse and she determined that I still sounded pretty early in labor and that I should labor at home for another hour and then see.  As soon as we got off of the phone my contractions started to slow to 7, 10, and 12 minutes apart.  What is going on here?!!  At this point I am questioning if I will ever actually have a baby.

39 weeks and 6 days - Contractions are still hanging around this morning so Tiffany did too.  It's obviously happening, right?  Contractions have not gone away since 2:30pm yesterday!  By lunch time I was going stir crazy and really wanted to get out of the house so Tiffany and I went to a consignment sale in Chapel Hill.  We ran into Melissa, Haven, and Titus, as well as our friends Matt and Jennie.  Of course my contractions started getting closer together while we were out and about.

Got home from the consignment sale and sent Tiffany home.  No point in her hanging out any more, and we could always call her if things changed.  Audrey was napping so Matt ran out to get a few things done at the office.  Audrey woke up from her nap at 4 sounding like she was about to throw up.  I ran upstairs, got her out of the crib, took her into the bathroom, and held her while she threw up.  What in the world.  My poor baby!  I got us both undressed and brought her downstairs to get some water.  I held her on the kitchen floor while she threw up some more.  The first time all day I've been by myself and here I am... squatting, contracting, and holding my sick toddler.  I called Matt and he came home.  Audrey continued to throw up... about 6 times between 4pm and 8pm.  She finally fell asleep with Matt on a pallet of blankets on the living room floor while I sat behind them timing contractions.  6 minutes apart.

Meanwhile - my parents had decided if I had not gone into labor by this point in the week, that they would just come when my dad got off of work today since he'd have the next few days off too.  He would leave my mom here for a week and whenever the baby did decide to come she'd already be here.  So, at 8pm my parents were about 2 hours away and my contractions were consistently under 7 min apart for the first time since the night before.  We could always call Tiffany if we needed someone at the house right away, but I felt like we were fine waiting for my parents.

Around 9:30pm I had Matt call the nurse to let her know that my contractions were once again 5 minutes apart but significantly stronger this time.  By the time he got off the phone with her they were 3-4 minutes apart, and my parents were just pulling up.  We got the "ok" to come to the hospital so we said hi and bye to my parents and off we went.  I contracted once from the back bedroom to the living room, again by the time I got to the front door, and again before I got in the car.  They were coming quick; I was no longer bothering to time them.  About halfway to the hospital I looked at Matt, realizing it had been quite a bit since I had had a contraction.  Maybe... 5 or 6 minutes?  Another one came right then though, whew.  We parked at the entrance to the emergency room and once again it had been at least 6 or 7 minutes since a contraction.  We waited for the next one before making the walk to the ER, but I didn't need a wheel chair since they were pretty far apart.  Arrival to the hospital, check in, and arrival to our room probably took from 10:45 to 12.  I wasn't timing my contractions, but they seemed to be 7 or 8 minutes apart.  Pleeeeease tell me this isn't happening again.  I feel like I've been in early labor for a week!

12:00am - I tested positive for group B strep which essentially just means I need to receive an antibiotic ideally 4 hours before giving birth.  As soon as I got settled in the nurse gave me an IV and loaded the antibiotic.

12:30am - The doctor made it by to check me and I was 3cm, 80% effaced.  Ok!  That's not nothing!  That doesn't mean we're well on our way, but it does mean something is happening and we should be able to look forward to a baby today.  His due date of all days!

3:00am - Contractions continue to be far apart giving me plenty of time to rest in between, but when they came they were strong and this was our second night up in the middle of the night with contractions and we were exhausted.  I wasn't going to wear myself out until the end like I did with Audrey, and there was no telling how much longer I would be going through this (another week?! :p) so we called for the epidural.

3:30am - Got the epidural.  A much more enjoyable experience than last time, but I was still pretty scared.

4:00am - With Audrey I got the epidural right before it was time to push and then it was turned off.  I never sat for a while with it and don't really remember what it felt like, so even though I was relieved from the pain of the contractions, I didn't anticipate the discomfort of a numb leg that tingled and felt like it weighed 200lbs, or the constant blood pressure monitoring that had to switch arms every time I wanted to switch sides.  I rested, but I didn't get the quality sleep I had dreamt of when I joked that I was getting the epidural and face-booking my way through labor.  I was pretty itchy and very nauseous.

4:30am - Got the second dose of antibiotic, which has to be given every 4 hours.  Finally threw up from the nausea and got zofran to help with that.

5:00am - Another check - 5cm.  We decided to break my water, because... why not?  My contractions were still 8 minutes apart at this time.  I've had low blood pressure this entire pregnancy and that's no different now.  A few that we recorded: 72/54, 96/48, and 63/46!!  Crazy.  The doctors didn't seem too concerned at any point.  Just kept verifying that low blood pressure is pretty typical for me.

7:00am - The nurse came in and I told her I felt like my contractions were [finally] getting closer and that I was starting to feel the pressure of them high on my belly.  She said, "I know, that's why I came in," and she gave me another check.  7cm!  I got pretty excited and she said, "well, someone else might check and say it's 6, so let's say 6 or 7."  Fine, at least we are going to have a baby today.

7:15am - Called my mom to update them.  Told her that we will be having a baby today, but not before noon.

7:30am - Nurse change.  Nurse A updates nurse B and tells her that pitocin might be a good next option.

7:45am - Called the nurse back in to tell her that the pressure in my upper belly, though not painful, was getting much more intense.  I really just wanted to make sure this was not a sign that the epidural was wearing off and that pain was coming soon.  She assured me that feeling the pressure was normal.  I think the increase in intensity was creating more nausea, and not throwing up again was all I could focus on.

8:00am - Ok, I know I keep calling people back in every 15 minutes, but now I feel the pressure in my bottom like I could push.  The nurse checks, says, "Yep, he's right there.  Let me grab the doctor."  8:00 is the time the doctors change shifts so the doctor we've had all night/morning checks me, confirms that I'm ready to push, encourages me to hold tight and try not to push.  She steps out and Dr. Avery steps in.  I saw Dr. Avery for my 39 week check up this past Monday, so it was fun that she would be doing the delivery.  Her crew of nurses came in with her and they immediately started setting things up for the delivery of the baby.

8:15am - Everyone is ready for me to push!  I pushed through two contractions... maybe 4 minutes... and barely pushed at that.

8:20am - We have a baby boy!!  7lbs 0.7oz and 20.5" long.  Dark/reddish skin (compared to Audrey's very pale skin) and a beautiful head of dark hair.

8:30am to 10:30am - Immediately after the delivery my nausea was still hardly bearable and I began to itch like crazy all over my entire body.  Possibly from the epidural wearing off?  I was scratching my legs, ankles, arms, stomach, everything uncontrollably.  I looked like I needed to be in a padded room wearing a straight jacket.  I felt like a drug addict with some crazy withdrawal symptom.  The nurse recommended benedryl for the itching and the other nausea medicine since the zofran didn't help very much.  Both medicines would make me drowsy so I was really hesitant, because I remember that loopy, foggy state I was in during part of my labor with Audrey.  She encouraged me to have just enough of it to take the edge off... said I would be sleepy anyway... and I reluctantly okayed it while continuing to voice hesitation.  Once all of that kicked in my speech began to slow, to soften, and to slur.  I was clear thinking in my head, but the right words weren't coming out of my mouth... not even close.  Matt couldn't understand me and could barely hear me.  At times I'm not sure any sound came out when I tried to talk.  My vision was blurry and I felt like I was in a dream-like state.  In fact, at one point I remember "waking up" but Matt tells me I never fell asleep.  The best way I can describe it is that I felt poisoned.  I'm guessing this is not the most common reaction to the cocktail of medicines I had received through the night, but obviously something didn't set right with me.

While in this loopy state I overheard the nurse say that mom and baby would need to stay until Monday.  Now, it's currently Saturday at 9am.  Matt and I had a terrible experience with the postpartum nurses with Audrey and this time I also had a sick toddler at home.  We were hoping to leave after one night (which would be two full days) in the hospital, but since I tested positive for group B strep they would need to monitor the baby for that extra 24 hours.  Well... hearing this in my drugged up state, I started bawling uncontrollably.  I cried, bawled, wailed for about 90 minutes and just couldn't stop.  Somewhere in there is where I thought I was "waking up" and thought I had dreamt the whole thing.  I asked Matt if the nurse had in fact said we needed to stay.  He said she had and hysterical crying came again.  I had zero control over my emotions and was just not able to manage this information.  Once the medicine wore off I was able to calmly say that we could/would speak with the pediatrician about our options in the morning.

Aside from the first couple of hours postpartum, our experience this time was exceptional.  I loved that Dr. Avery got to do the delivery after seeing her just five days prior.  Becky, the nurse that was with us for 98% of our time in labor, came to visit us in our recovery room the next morning.  Jan, our favorite nurse when we had Audrey came by to visit us as well.  All of the staff was quiet and respectful of our rest and everyone worked so diligently to help us leave early.  We were out the door and on our way home at 1:30pm the day after he was born.

Here he is:  Bennett Andrew Meitl.  Born December 1, 2012.  Weighed 7lbs 0.7oz and 20.5" long.