So, take us back to New Years weekend, Matt and I knew I was going to be induced on Sunday night so we had a wonderful New Years Eve celebrating with some friends and then spent the next couple days doing some last minute pick up around the house, preparing for the little man and trying not to go insane. Sunday was a little scary waiting around for the inevitable. I took a nice long nap, Matt was supposed to join me but he was so anxious, his nesting instinct was in high gear and he spent 4 hours vacuuming every room, dusting, mopping etc. It was pretty hilarious that I was sound asleep, no instinct here but Matt was working like a mad man. Yes, I realize he is pretty amazing. We will keep him :) So after I woke from my nap, we went for a long walk, I had officially given up on inducing laboring naturally since I literally tried every single thing, minus Castor oil ( sorry, that's just gross!) and Brock was just not ready to make this easy. Matt and I went to North Florida around 7:45 pm on Sunday, January 1st. We checked into our suite, it was pretty much like checking into any normal hotel room and then we got ready to get things rolling. I was started with a cervical insert gel that is a more natural medication that slowly starts the induction. Throughout the night I started having pretty significant contractions and by morning I was started on Pitocin. They started me at the normal 10mL of Pitocin then worked its way up to 20 mL. They told me within a half hour I would be in intense pain and I could have an epidural at any point. Well... that's when things got really interesting, hours into Pitocin and I barely felt anything. I was having strong contractions on the monitor but really felt barely any pain. This sounds awesome but they wanted me to start experiencing pretty intense active labor and I was far from it. I was laughing with my parents, watching football and having out. Finally after hours of 20mL they authorized me to go up to 30 mL which I guess they rarely do but they couldn't figure out what was going on. So I went up to 30mL and hours went by and still barely any major pain. After internal exam after exam and rupturing my membranes I was getting into a very uncomfortable place. That's when they decided to go ahead and break my water and I decided pain or no pain I was getting an epidural for that process and boy, oh boy, I made the right decision. The first ( yes, first epidural) was uneventful and really wasn't very painful. Breaking my water was another thing. WOW is all I can say, it was quite the process. After the water broke, they expected Brock to slow down some but heck no, he was like a crazy person kicking and flipping around. He kept kicking his monitor off my tummy and that would sent off an alarm and the nurses would come in to fix it. This happened about 10,000 times. I also started developing a slight fever at this point which worried everyone to death and they started me on antibiotics for precautionary measures.
Its funny how much time past with me in labor but it went by fairly quickly considering it was two days. After my water was broken my progression was going really well. I went from 2cm to 4 then 7 then 8.5 then 9.5. Progression was great but the pain was unbearable. Everyone speaks of the epidural like its this miracle drug that takes away all the pain. Well.... I defiantly did not get the miracle drop. Similar to Pitocin my body started metabolizing the epidural in around an hour. In one hour, I would go from being okay, some pain to severe all out pain, with no relief. On top of that they kept me on 30mL of Pitocin for two days. The combination was pretty awful. They said this was a VERY strange reaction but had a lot to do with the fact that I work out pretty heavily and my body just metabolizing drugs like they are nothing. The doctors started to worry that they would reach a toxic level of the medication so they started making me 'special concoctions' of other drugs. Some worked, some did absolutely nothing. After around 40 hours, my doctor came in and checked me and I was almost 10 cm dilated ( yah!). Problem was Brock just would not drop down into my birth canal, we tried everything but they started to worry that his head and shoulders were going to be too big. They were afraid if they were able to get his head out they would have to break his collar bone and my pelvis bone ( say what?!)... so at that point they recommended a c-section. I was really upset about working so hard for so long at delivering him naturally only to end in a c-section. It really just didn't seem fair at all.
After the decision was made, it was like a whirlwind, I was prepped for surgery in about 15 minutes. I was pretty upset about the whole thing mixed with complete exhaustion, oh and the epidural didn't work at all so I was having horrible contractions. I had defiantly hit my limit. Matt was sweet enough to see this and decided it was time to brighten the day with my beautiful 'push present', gorgeous David Yurman diamond and stone earrings. They are so pretty and a great little gem to remember Brock's birth. This gave me enough motivation to pull myself together and even put some lip stick on.
About this time, I received my second epidural since they thought maybe the first wasn't put in correctly. This really didn't make any difference but was worth a try. Around 12:15 I was wheeled into the OR and prepped for surgery. It was a crazy experience and one that I had not mentally prepared myself for. The staff was absolutely amazing. They knew this was not what I wanted and they respected me a lot for trying so hard so they did their very best to make it a good experience. I will never forget the kindness that I felt from everyone around me. I will never forget Julie, the wonderful nurse practitioner who held my hand until Matt came back or Phyllis the British woman who rubbed my head and sang to me, or my angel of a nurse Ginny, who stood by my side through everything or Dr Marichal who walked in and said 'well, looked who got all dolled up'. I told him I may feel like shit but I was not looking like shit in all my pictures. He thought this was hilarious so everyone preceded to create red lipsticks on their masks in the operating room. It made for a great laugh. Dr Marichal was amazing. My doctor, Dr. Botha, had just worked 26 hours straight and supported me until the bitter end. I absolutely love my doctor, she is so kind and down to earth and I was sad that she wasn't the one that delivered Brock but she was there through all of it and I am so happy to have had her as a doctor. I am actually sad in a way to not see her every week. You get so close to someone when you go through this journey together.
Ok, back to the timeline...
When Matt came into the OR they played our Jack Johnson mix and at 1:29 pm our beautiful baby born entered the world to the tune of Jack Johnson's song, "If I had eyes in the back of my head". It was such an amazing experience to hear his little cry for the first time. I will never forget it. Realizing that he was ours. Matt said he looked down at me and saw one little tear strolling down my check and he said it was the sweetest moment of his life.
Brock was wrapped up and weighed in at 8.8 pds, 22 inches with a head circumference of 15 inches aka the equivalent of a baby over 10 pounds. I will be hopeful and attribute this to his large, smart brain :) Brock was so sweet from the moment they handed him to us.
He kept looking around and was so incredibly loving. Because of my fever during labor he had to be taken to the NICU to stand a preventative treatment of antibiotics until his cultures could clear, and they did, 48 hours labor with my infection. I was given a sedative to relax and was sent back to my room for recovery. I was really out of it and kept calling out for him because all I could remember was that I was suppose to be bonding with him and feeding him. Ginny, my amazing nurse sat with me for hours, reassuring me that everything was okay and he would be there very soon. A couple hours later Brock arrived and It was amazing. I loved him so much from the moment I saw him. I love his spiky strawberry blonde hair, his button nose that looks like his daddy's, his long skinny legs and his chubby cheeks. He was so laid back from day one, just like Matt, and would just sit with me and look around at everything around him.
Labor and delivery was not easy, it was hard, really hard, but it was so worth it and I would do it over and over again to have him.
He is such a perfect combination of Matt and I and its really amazing to just sit and look at all his little features to see which parts are 'us'. After delivery, we stayed in the hospital for 2 more days. Recovery was rough. My body had been through so much and it showed. My legs and feet swelled really bad but I bounced back pretty quickly. By the next day, I was able to start walking around and this helped with recovering.
On Thursday, my mom, Matt and I made the venture home and had a great time introducing Brock to our fur baby Zeke. Zeke took to Brock really easily and still doesn't seem to mind him at all. Zeke just wants to be right in the middle of anything that involves the baby. Sometimes it makes me sad that I haven't been able to give him as much attention but he gets so much love from everyone that I quickly forget about it.
Things that I will try in always remember from Brock's birth is the kindness of the nurses and doctors at North Florida, Brock's first cry, the song that was playing when he was born, Dr Marichal's sweet blessing he gave Brock, Brock's spiky hair, inquisitive eyes, Matt's partnership and sensitivity through everything, my mom's unfaltering support through every moment, sleep deprived or not, who never left us through everything and all the love and friendship of our friends and families who called, sent texts, prayed, brought food, sent cards/flowers/cookies and support. We are forever grateful to you. You have made the experience so much more than we every thought it would be. We hope to share in Brock's life with each of you.
More to come on Brock's first week home... stay tuned!
Love,
Christy
A few more pictures...
Lovely post Christy! Much love to you all!
ReplyDeleteAlex
Thank you so much!
DeleteWhat a beautiful story, I love birth stories :-) Congratualtions on your beautiful miracle!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThis is so sweet! Definitely made me tear up, and brought back memories. You'll be glad you wrote all of this down because time will fly and before you know it, the details will start to blur. I'm sorry you had such a rough go at it, but you were definitely a trooper!! He's ADORABLE! Enjoy every second---even the sleep-deprived, exhausted ones! =)
ReplyDeleteThanks, AA. I want to cry every time I sad it also :) I am glad I sat down to write it also. It will be nice to have for the future.
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