It’s a Boy!
Greyson Luke Young has arrived
Born: June 17, 2006
Weight: 5 lb 12 oz (and growing)
Length: 19 ½ in
Despite his delivery date of June 17th, I would say that it all started about a week earlier. I had “pre-labor” or early labor off and on the entire week before he was born. When I say this I am referring to bouts of contractions that lasted for 5-7 hours at a time, increasing in intensity and duration, AND that were 3-5 minutes apart. (All the qualities that you would think of with the real deal) So each night, I would hold off calling the doctor waiting to see what would happen. Would they stop, would they continue?
On Thursday, June 15, the back labor set in along with the front labor. It was unbearable. I had contractions regularly from 10pm until I went to the hospital at 5:30 am. I had an induction date of June 16th, with my doctor, but I really wanted to go on my own. They said that I was dilated to 1-2 and the cervix was still firm, so I told them I was going home to walk or any other natural labor inducer.
The contractions continued through the day on Thursday, but not as regular as they had been. But at 7pm they were back in full force. I dealt with them until about 1:30am, when I called my sister, who was my other birth support person. She said that I probably had a few hours before I needed to go to the hospital. My hubby helped me through 2 more hours of agonizing pain. Sunny made it to our house to help. We all worked through the contractions together. Brian called the hospital to see if we came in and it wasn’t the real thing if I could stay till my induction appointment. With them saying yes, plus if it’s pre-labor we’ll give her a little something to sleep, we headed in.
We checked in at about 5:00am. Disappointingly enough, I was still only dilated to 1-2 and the cervix was still firm. All the pain of the last 48 hours meant nothing! They gave me something to help me sleep. I was out until about 9am, went down to my prenatal massage appointment at 10:30 am and then was out again. They started the induction at noon. My doctor was scheduled to be on call at 7pm. I was so happy she would be delivering my baby.
I had 3 doses (2-3 hours apart) of the induction agent. By about 10pm my doctor came in and checked me, I was at about 6. Yeah, things are finally working. The pain was getting awful. They gave me a little stadol to take the edge off the contractions.
They had me on a fetal and maternal monitor, but the sound was down. We had no way of knowing what the fetal heart rate was doing. That is until a nurse came in and told us we couldn’t use the birthing ball the way we were, which was how we were instructed in birthing class. Apparently, the baby’s heart rate was dropping with each contraction as well as with different positions that I was laboring in.
When it came time to give me pitocin (which I was very against) at about 11:30 pm they said I was at 7-8. I cried with joy! BUT, BUT the head was not at all engaged in the birth canal! What!?!? How can that be?
My dear sweet husband saw how rattled I was with the nurse who freaked out on us as well as the increasingly medical birth that I was having. I had been catherderized, they had started an internal fetal monitor (which I could hear the fetal heart rate from and heard it drop so low, it made me a wreck), and then they put me on oxygen. At this point, I had decided to get an epidural, more for my nerves than for the pain. Again, hadn’t planned on this, but then again nothing was going according to what I planned. Sunny leaned over and hugged me and told me it would all be alright. I was scared, but ready to do whatever to have a healthy baby.
During this time, my husband took the nurse outside and asked her point blank what was happening and what we needed to do to deliver a healthy baby. She confirmed his suspicions that things weren’t going well. My sister at this time was holding my legs in position, because I couldn’t really feel them, so that the baby’s heart rate stayed at a normal rate. Moving me if the heart rate dropped. Brian told the nurse that if something needed to be done, that my doctor would have to come in and explain what was going on and what our choices were, because he knew that I trusted her and she made me feel at ease.
Dr. came in at about 12am and told me that we could go for the pitocin, but since I was at 7-8 and the head was not engaged, I would be in store for another 5 hours of labor and then probably 3 hours of pushing, all of which would be challenging my baby. She said it’s normal to have fluctuation in the heart beat during contractions and I knew that, but for another 8 hours might be too much. I told my husband that I didn’t think that I could do that after the week that I had. She also said that we could do a c-section, which if we did it now as opposed to later, the baby would fare much better and it wouldn’t be a rushed job.
We decided that we wanted to go the planned last minute c-section route as opposed to challenging the baby and then going that way. Brian dressed in his scrubs and I got prepped for surgery. I was really out of it, but awake for the entire thing. I couldn’t feel pain, just a lot of pressure, especially right at my pubic bone. Brian talked to me the whole time, keeping my mind off the procedure. I jokingly told him that the blue scrubs brought out his blue eyes.
I kept talking, trying to ignore comments that scared the heck out of me, like “oh my” and “merconium”. Suddenly, they said look dad, and when Brian did, he told me that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck twice. I immediately was relieved and broke down in tears. We smiled at each other knowing we made the only decision we could have. Shortly after that, Brian told me, “It’s a boy!”
During my pregnancy, I had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so I was always worried that the baby would be really big. At 38 weeks, my ultrasound showed the baby at 5 lb 11 oz. I was instructed to eat whatever I wanted to, but just gain weight. Ten days later I had another ultrasound, they said the baby had gained weight and was at 6lb 13oz. So when Brian told me the baby weighed in at 5lb 12 oz, I was shocked. He was so tiny!
The nurses cleaned my little boy off, handed him to dad, and then I fell in love at first sight. During the first few days, I was drugged and in pain, and Brian was amazing. I could barely walk, talk, or do anything. He did it all. He monitored the baby’s feeding schedule, changed diapers, took care of me (took me to the bathroom, helped me shower, etc.)! He truly is super dad! Now, a week later, he still has changed more diapers than I have! It truly made me realize how much I love him as well as how good of a dad he will be. I am truly amazed with our little family.
Here is his first gift....
