Baby Bub's Birth Story: Part 2

2:00am- We arrive at the new hospital and are admitted. Upon our arrival, I ask Hubs about the camera situation. He then tells me that our bestest friends in the whole wide world (seriously!) are on their way to the hospital with their digital camera for us. I feel so bad that they are up in the middle of the night driving a camera to us, but in the same breath I am sooo thankful that we will have pictures of our son being born!

2:30-4:00am- These next few hours are a little fuzzy for me. This is when I really REALLY started having lots of contractions that really REALLY hurt. After I was all hooked up to the monitors at the new hospital I began inquiring about pain medication. The nurse then tells me that I am not allowed to have any. WHAT!?!?!? I was shocked. She eventually tells me that I can have an epidural once I am 6cm. At this point I am only 4cm dilated. I made it to 6cm with Bean before I received my epidural but for whatever reason I was in MUCH more pain this time around than I was the first time. Poor sweet Hubs is trying everything he can to help me out. At the new hospital I was only allowed to have ice chips (at the old one I could actually drink water!). My poor mouth is sooo dry from huffing and puffing and panting and breathing...ice chips just weren't cutting it. I also was really really hot. I had Hubs get a wet washcloth and hold it on my face for me, then I could also drink the water out of it! Gross, I know, but I was desperate! Somewhere during this time I made it to 5cm...not 6cm yet! The pain became so intense I started throwing up. I tried explaining to the doctors and nurses that this baby was going to come soon and that I was in desperate need of my epidural (they were still trying to stop labor; therefore, no pain meds allowed). Ugh. I did manage to find a focal point (a small screw next to the bathroom door!) and breathe through contractions as much as possible. Also M & T showed up during this time with the camera!

4:30ish am- Around this time I was checked again and was FINALLY 6cm dilated!! Bring on the epidural! Hubs was told he had to leave the room (I was sooo ticked that he had to leave!!!) but I was far to anxious to have my epidural to fight too much. Hubs left and it was just my nurse, the nurse anesthetist and me. By now my contractions are giving me the sensation to push in order to relieve the pain. The nurse just tells me to hang on and not to push (yeah right!). So finally my epidural is all in place...Hubs is allowed back in...and I am still feeling the contractions. Now let's pause a minute here. Think back to a movie you have seen that has a labor & delivery scene in it. The woman is screaming her head off, sweating profusely and breathing like the Big Bad Wolf while words she would never dream of uttering are spewing out of her mouth....Yes, sad to say, that was me. My epidural was NOT working and I was absolutely out of control.

4:55am- The nurse checks me again and I am still 6cm dilated and my water breaks! Hubs immediately calls my mom (who is 45 minutes away at our house with Bean) and tells her to call a neighbor and head over to the hospital. The nurse panics and runs into the hall and literally screams for a doctor. By now I am pushing HARD with each contraction. They tell us that it will be another hour or 2 before I deliver because I'm still only 6ish cm. By now they are really telling me NOT to push. HA! Pushing was the only form of pain relief I had! So push I did!!

5:10am- The nurse checks me again and can tell that the baby is crowning. She immediately runs to the door and screams for a doctor. Within minutes nurses flood my room with delivery equipment and the doc. strolls in. I am really pushing now and feeling every bit of it. The doc comes over looks at me and says "He's crowning". Then turns and puts on 1 glove, turns back and says "There is his head".

5:19am- Turns away to put on the other glove and then when he turned back around my son was laying on the bed. My sweet little boy could not wait for anyone. He was ready to come out! And PRAISE THE LORD he was crying! He was whisked away to be checked over. I believe he scored an 8 on his APGAR. Finally they weighed him (they hadn't even brought in the scale yet!) and he was 5lb 11oz and was 17 3/4 inches long! Hubs was such a great advocate for me. He kept insisting that I get to hold him before he was taken to the NICU. They did let me hold him for a bit (his eyes were open!) and then Hubs held him then off he went.

Baby Bub spent about 9 hours in the Level 3 NICU. He did not require any breathing assistance. An IV was put in and he was given antibiotics and "food" through his IV. He was closely monitored for any breathing issues. After his brief stay in the Level 3 NICU he was transferred up to the Level 2 nursery (which was on the same floor as my post-partum room!). We spent a total of 6 days there while he was treated for being jaundice (2 rounds of photo therapy) and weaned off of his temperature controlled incubator. He also had to be able to eat from a bottle on his own. He was put on a feeding schedule that started with small feeds and gradually increased. He did great with it and he was discharged on Saturday January 12th. We finally were able to bring him home to meet his big brother!

After delivery I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom (which isn't supposed to happen if you have an epidural!) and received a grand total of 8 stitches! I was taken to my post-partum room then down to visit and hold Bub. My mom arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes after baby Bub arrived. She was able to go down and visit him but was not allowed to hold him because she had on nail polish! They were pretty picky about stuff in the NICU (as they should be!). Everyone had to scrub in up their elbows for 2 minutes before entering. Hubs and I were able to sleep on and off throughout the first day with lots of visits to Bub in between. My brother also showed up to meet his new nephew! I was discharged from the hospital after 48 hours. Thankfully the charge nurse let us squat in my room for a few extra days so we would not have to leave Bub. We did have to spend 1 night in a hotel before we brought him home.

And there you have it. The story of my sweet Baby Bub's arrival. We have been home for a little over a week and I would say things are going really well. I have weaned Bub off of his bottle addiction and have him nursing now :-) Thanks to my grandparents we have a baby scale to monitor his intake and weight gain. He is doing GREAT! Bean has been a great big brother too. He is very eager to share his toys (which he tosses into the cradle with Bub) and to share his Cheerios (which he tries to shove in Bub's mouth while I am holding him). The biggest challenge is that Bean does not understand why I am inaccessible while I am nursing Bub. This part of the day is quite frustrating for all of us, but we get through it! Bub is eating every 3 hours or so which is making for short sleeps at night and looong days. But I do think the transition from zero kids to 1 kid was FAR more challenging than the transition from 1 kid to 2 kids. I know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that all of this "baby stuff" only lasts a matter of months. I can handle that :-)