So, let's start at the beginning.....I had my last doctor's appointment and ultrasound on Wednesday afternoon. At the ultrasound Declan passed all of the biophysical profile requirements and was right on target for his gestational age of 38 weeks and 6 days. We didn't get any ultrasound pics because he was so low in my pelvis and most of the pics would be mostly unidentifiable. The ultrasound tech told us that while we didn't get any pics, we'd see our boy soon enough since I really only had 8 days until my due date. After my ultrasound, I saw my doctor and she did a cervical check and determined I was still 1 cm dilated but I was nearly completely thinned out. My belly was measuring 39 weeks, which was also on track. We talked about my scheduled induction and went over a few things before leaving the office. The last thing my doctor said to me before leaving the room was that if Declan decided to come early, she was on call all weekend at the hospital and would be the one delivering Declan. I just laughed it off and told her I'd see her at my induction.
Thursday started out like any other day and weeknight. We got home from work and D and I went to workout for 30 or so minutes. After our workout we made dinner and sat down to watch the Blues season opening game. We talked about the upcoming weekend and were planning one last date night on Saturday before Declan's arrival. Our date night was going to consist of dinner at Olive Garden because I was craving soup and salad and D wanted the never ending pasta bowl....I know, we're wild and crazy! Around 9:30 pm, as we were watching the 3rd period of the Blues game, I felt a gush of something. I thought I accidentally went to the bathroom on myself and ran down the hall to take care of that. It was a strange feeling but I didn't think my water broke. I spent another 15-20 minutes in both bathrooms dealing with a few more gushes. I just thought it was my mucous plug and decided to just put on a sanitary pad and head to bed for the night.
I got up multiple times during the night and was soaked each time I got up. It was starting worry me some but I wasn't sure what to expect so I tried to research it a bit in the middle of the night. Still not convinced it was my bag of water, I got up the next morning, showered and went to work, still feeling the small gushes every 20-30 minutes.
I had quite a bit to work to finish up and a conference call with our biggest customer but still wasn't feeling 100% right. I thought about coming home in the afternoon and just trying to take it easy but D convinced me to call the doctor to see if I needed to come in, in case it was something major. I called the doctor's office at lunchtime and they told me given the fact I was 39 weeks and 1 day along, I should probably go to Labor and Delivery to be checked out, so I sent a quick email to my boss to let him know I was leaving for the day and off to the hospital I went.
They set me up in Triage, put the monitors on me and started a few tests to determine if I was leaking amniotic fluid or if it was just mucous. After 3 hours in Triage, they determine I had a ruptured amniotic sac and I was going to be admitted into the hospital and I would be having a baby sooner rather than later!
I was moved to a room around 4 pm on Friday where they hooked me back up to monitors and started my IV of fluids. Around 4:30 pm, they started the Pitocin and we were off! I texted all of my family to let them know what was going on and everyone was crazy excited. My mom, step-dad, dad and step-mom all started heading toward the hospital to be there for support.
Each half an hour they increased my Pitocin and I was feeling alright and my contractions were bearable until around 8:30 pm. At that point, I hit a wall and my contractions became super strong. I asked for my epidural and was set to get it when all hell broke loose in Labor and Delivery and the Anesthesiologists headed towards the OR for other emergency C-sections. I was still only dilated to 1 cm but the contractions were extremely intense and the nurses explained that I'd get my epidural as soon as everything slowed down. Unfortunately things did not slow down in Labor and Delivery for quite some time and at 10 pm, I still hadn't received my epidural and I felt like I was dying from the pain of the contractions. At that point, they again checked to see how dilated I was, which was still 1 cm so they offered me an IV pain medication, Stadol. This made me extremely tired when I wasn't in the middle of a contraction but it did help take the edge off and allowed me to rest. Around 10:30 pm, the Anesthesiologist finally arrived to administer my epidural. I was in such pain that it made it difficult to sit still for them to insert the catheter into my back and I had to rely heavily on the nurses as they made my family leave the room. About 10:45 pm, they finally had the epidural set. I was hoping this would be the answers to my laboring prayers but unfortunately it was too little too late for me. I, somehow, went from 1 cm to 10 cm in less than an hour and once I hit 10, it was time for me to push. The epidural did not have time to work through my system and I virtually had to deliver via a natural birth. At 11 pm, I started pushing and began the final descent into motherhood. It was an unbelievable amount of pain and pressure and with each contraction and push, I felt weaker and weaker and just wanted for it all to be over. Between breathing, pushing, resting, breathing, pushing, resting, I was exhausted. I remember yelling at one point, "just get him out of me!"
At 11:40 pm after only 40 minutes of pushing, Declan James arrived weighing 7 lbs 3 ozs and measuring 20 inches long.
I have never felt such happiness and joy and it was an unbelievable miracle! They laid him on my chest as soon as he was born for immediate skin to skin and I couldn't stop crying. I was so overjoyed and couldn't believe that after 9 months, I finally had my baby boy! It truly was the most amazing experience I've ever faced even if it was scary and quite painful.
We spent a good part of Saturday being checked out by the doctors and trying to get acclimated to our new life. The hospital completed his assessments late Saturday night as soon as Declan was 24 hours old and he passed with flying colors. Sunday was much of the same and we were released around 4:30 that afternoon to head home and start our new life together as a family.
We're slowly adjusting to life with a newborn but I can tell you, I have never felt this much love for a human being. He's the most perfect, sweetest little boy and I'm so happy to have him here with us. I pinch myself daily at how lucky I am to be able to be this little guy's mama and I can't wait to see what our future holds.
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