Welcome, Baby Dylan!

Phew! What a crazy day Saturday was!! Considering life with a newborn and a 5 year old, and still healing....consider this post a "work in progress" I will work on it as I can til the story is complete!


Friday night we tied up all lose ends. My mom came up to stay for a few days. I was still having contractions...but so nerved up, that they really weren't too bad. Mike, myself and my Mom stayed up watching tv & talking til about midnight...then we all headed to bed for the pending "big day". I made comments about things I got to experience with Paige's delivery...like all the contractions, getting her on my belly immediately after birth, Mike helping deliver her, etc... and how lucky I was to have experienced all that with her, since I wasn't going to experience ANY labor stuff this time. Oh well. Oh, and I never even had the experience of my water breaking with either kid.... oh well.

So Saturday morning I woke at 6am. Yes, I actually SLEPT Friday night, despite nerves concerning the sudden c-section. I woke, peed, and climbed back into bed....I still had an hour til we all had to get up. But THEN my mind started going like crazy..and I started to get nerved up. So I sat up in bed and watched Tv. Felt fine....giant, huge, sore and VERY much pregnant....but generally OK.

Mike got up, Paige woke, my mom was up....the day began around 6:30am. I got up to pee....and when I wiped..it was ...mucousy. And there was a bit of pink to it. Hrmmmmm....interesting.

I climbed back into bed to watch some more Tv to calm my nerves...when I felt a tiny little gush. "Did I just pee myself? Seriously? WTF?".....I leaned forward and felt another tiny gush. "Huh?"...I went back into the bathroom.... didnt even have to pee....and I wiped again...and now there was some red blood on the paper.

Ummmm... wow. Are you serious? Labor was beginning. ON IT'S OWN.

I told Mike and my Mom.... we all sort of chuckled in disbelief. Well, I guess today is THE DAY, NO MATTER WHAT!!! How IRONIC is that?

Then the contractions began. They were somewhat more painful then they had been the prior few days. I got dressed, finished packing up my bag, Mike loaded up the car....my mom got all concerned, telling me we should go to L&D NOW.... Ummm...we're heading there in 30 minutes anyhow for the scheduled c-section, whats the point?! Anyhow, It took OVER 24 hours from the beginning of my bloody show & contractions before Paige was born.

The contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes. But I was in TOTAL disbelief.

I kissed and hugged my baby girl immensely...as my heart welled up.... she was about to become my "oldest" and no longer the only-child. Then Mike and I headed out around 7:30am for the 8am check-in at the hospital.

In the car.... the contractions continued....every 3-5 minutes...and they were gaining in intensity. I still was in denial that labor was progressing like this... and refused to panic. Instead we kept commenting on the irony of how Dylan was gonna come today, no matter what we had "planned". They contractions were on top of each other a few times....and were painful...but I was still able to talk through them.....so we continued on to the hospital for the planned surgery.

We were told to check-in through the ER, since the front desk of the clinic is closed on the weekends. We checked in.... I had a mega contraction in the hallway and had to stop dead in my tracks. Ok...it passed....we headed upstairs to L&D.

I got to the nurses desk and immediatly spotted my OB. We chuckled, telling him "Guess what?! Im actually IN labor already!"... Hah! All the nurses chuckled....we all then talked about how happy we were that the Doc pushed to have this taken care of TODAY, rather than Monday. Phew!!

I felt a MAJOR contraction come on, and leaned forward over the nurses desk to brace myself for it. Thats when I felt it.

GUSH!

Yep. My water broke. And it poured and poured and poured.

I started shouting "OH MY GOD! MY WATER BROKE! MY WATER BROKE!!". The nurses were chill... Mike jumped back a mile away....then I hear...."Oh, and its got meconium".

I looked down...and yep. It wasn't the lovely "water" break you see in movies and such. Noooo... instead, it looked like I just had massive diarrhea all over the floor. So....sooo....digusting. LOL. Mike was gagging. LOL.

The nurse helped me waddle to the L&D room to change. She was so sweet and calmed me as I began to panic about the meconium,. She said its really pretty common, especially for post-term babies, and rarely ever causes any issues.

Every step I took, i'd continue to gush. She sat me on the toliet and helped me peel my pants off...which I promptly THREW AWAY (lol)...as well as my undies and flip flops. They got me into a hospital gown, and into a bed so they could monitor the baby and my contractions. When I climbed into the hospital bed...I gushed again. That was getting annoying at that point. LOL.

Monitors on, Dylan was sounding great and handling my contractions just fine! My contractions continued to come every few minutes....but weren't TOO bad. I'd brace for them, but could still talk through them. They just hurt a little and were annoying. My water continued to gush out EVERY time I'd change positions. The OB came in and checked me....I was STILL just 3cm and VERY VERY high....just like I was a week prior. So no worries at this point.

The operating room had been booked for us for 9am for the delivery...however, someone came in prior for an emergency gallbladder removal...so we got bumped back. No big deal, and totally understandable. So we waited in L&D.

Except Dylan didn't want to wait. By 9:30am...my contractions were suddenly getting MUCH stronger. The nurse & OB had me change my position cause it was making my heart rate & his dip a bit...so I was rolled onto my side.

This made my contractions 500x worse, instantly. I began crying with every one....and they were coming every 1-2 minutes. I then began yelling that I didnt want to lie in this position anymore...I NEEDED to get up. I NEEDED to. Plus, with every contraction, I kept getting the urge to have a bowel movement, badly. I was sobbing with every contraction at this point...and it was about 10am.

OB checked me again. I was suddenly 6 cm dilated, and he had finally dropped. Oh my. He was COMING. I was offered the chance to TRY to deliver vaginally at this point...since it was inevitable that Dylan was going to be born soon....but agreed to stick with the c-sec, for sheer fear of his size. Plus, the pain was soooo incredibly intolerable and 100x worse than I ever remembered it being. I just wanted him OUT. NOW.

They did let me get up to use the bathroom, finally. And I passed some nastiness and was bleeding. OB in again...I was now almost 8 cm. Mind you, it was 10:30am at this point. All of this started at like 8am. It was going so ridicuously fast, and I couldnt believe any of it.

At this point, I had hit "transition" and began shaking uncontrollably from head to toe with every contraction. They were every 1-2 minutes and the pain and pressure was now ALL in my lower pelvis. It was if my pelvic bone was being ripped into two. I sobbed and cried and asked for drugs, but they COULDNT give me ANYTHING because of the spinal I was about to receive for the c-section. I couldnt even drink water....but the nurse brought me a cup of cold water to swish in my mouth cause it was so dry. I stood and rocked my hips and held onto Mike's shoulders for a few minutes during every contraction...because laying in that bed just made them 10x worse.

At this point, my OB was in high-gear and kicking ass. The OR was still in use, and he KNEW we didn't have much longer before D was going to be descending his way out.....which was our biggest fear.....of him getting STUCK.

My OB got on the phone and demanded a back up OR room be prepped NOW...and a team assembled ASAP. The anesthesiologist was finally available and had me signing paperwork between contractions. I think at that point, I would have signed ANYTHING. Around 10:45am.... the second OR was ready, a new team assembled...and they helped me hobble my tired, and painful ass over there.

Mike couldnt come in for the spinal. They had me climb up onto this really skinny table....which took 2 attempts, cause I got a mega contraction during the first attempt. Finally they got me up on the table and had me stradle it, while the anesthesiologist prepped my back for the spinal. We had to keep waiting again.....contractions were rolling in every 1-2 minutes...and what made them even worse, was that my husband couldnt even be there to help me through them.

Spinal was finally done....and I slowly felt my toes....feet...ankles... calves.... thighs ..and upward turn into putty. I had one more contraction that I felt.... then ....they all went away.

The OR team laid me down, and up went the sheet. I started to panic that Mike still wasnt in the room (he was getting scrubbed up)...but they kept reassuring me, they'd get him in there in time for everything.

Doc and anesthesiologist did some tests to ensure the spinal working 100%....it took a few minutes to FULLY kick in. At this point, I thanked the anesthesiologist IMMENSELY for making all my pain go away.

I felt a few tugs and pulls as they began working...and Mike showed up by my bedside. We heard the suction hose a few times....the docs commenting...Mike looked over the sheet a few times and gave me some of the play by play...but he didnt want to "see" my insides.. so he tried not to look too much. LOL.

At this point, I felt Dylan's feet wedge up into each side of my ribcage, and commented about it.... the docs all laughed that he was trying to run away.

Then I felt a LOT of tugging and pulling (no pain!).....and suddenly those little feet in my ribs disappeared.

With a LOT of pulling and squishing and tugging....my beautiful baby boy was born at 11:21am on Saturday, October 9, 2010! I immediately heard lil baby grunts and The doctors and surgeons all began commenting and laughing on how HUGE he was! Mike looked over the sheet just in time to see Dylan being pulled out...:-)

He was brought over to the table to be cleaned up. He was covered in blood, fluid and meconium and had ingested a bit of it. They stuck a lil tube down his throat to suction it out...then gave him a little bit of oxygen....and he began to SCREAM this awesome baby boy scream. My eyes welled up in tears as I heard my baby boy's first cries.

Mike went over to meet him and get pictures.....They checked him out , and quickly wrapped him up...and brought him over to my head for us to meet. :-) Mike held him while we looked at his super chubby face and sucked in bottom lip. Wow. He's finally here...and its finally all over.

I was still feeling really shaky, which the doc told me was normal due to the spinal, hormones and having just been thru labor as well...and I started to get a bit nauseas, so I quickly told the anesthesiologist so..... he put some meds into my IV bag right away...and the nausea quickly subsided. Phew!

Mike went with the nurses to get Dylan weighed and measured..while I was being stitched and stapled back together.

12 lbs, 8.8 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. 15 in head. WOW!!! Mike held D for a few minutes by my head while I continued to be cleaned up and put back together.

So glad I stuck with that c-section.

They wheeled me out of the OR ...where I had to leave Mike and Dylan together so I could go to recovery. We all kissed...and Daddy and son went off to finish all the baby testing, etc...while Mommy recovered from her spinal.

In recovery, I had the best nurse. She seriously rocked. And rocked even more when she brought me ice to chew on (remember how thirsty I was like 2 hours prior?!)...she gave me some morphine in my IV line..... and just made everything alright. ;-)

My friend Wendy was getting off her shift at the hospital and saw in the log book that I had been checked in...so she came and visited me in recovery. Was nice to have someone to chit chat with while I waited for all the feeling to come back in my feet & legs. I finally gained control of my legs and was wheeled out of recovery, still in bed, around 1pm. (I think? Time was so lost on me that day!).

They wheeled me right back up to maternity...where Mike and Dylan were anxiously awaiting Mommy. D apparently was VERY hungry...and they were waiting for me so I could nurse him first. The doc team transferred me a new bed....and Mike brought my son to me so I could hold him in my own arms for the very first time. Much like his sister, Dylan screamed in my face the first time I held him. ;-) A nurse helped me get him to latch on...and his first feeding began.

I felt surprisingly decent once the spinal fully wore off. They had to put these pain in the ass compression boots on my legs to ensure blood flow (and I had them on for 24 hours)....and of course I had a catheter, and an IV in my arm. So...despite being all hooked up to shit....I was feeling good (and not drugged good!)....just obviously REALLY sore in my belly. I held D while Mike went to call all our family to finally alert them of Dylan's arrival....and to tell my Mom it was OK to bring Paige by now to meet her baby brother. :-)