Friday, November 16, 2012

Harrison's Arrival into the World...

I'm going to go ahead and write this while we are in the hospital and he's napping so that I remember all the details. God gives us that amazing ability to forget all the birth pains in a short amount of time.

It all started on Monday when I realized I hadn't felt H move all day.. He was always very active and had the hiccups all the time towards the very end so when I realized at 3:00 pm I hadn't felt him all day I got really worried. I did a few of the tricks that always worked to get him active and nothing was working so I called Dr. Haraway. He sent me to L&D to be monitored. His nurse said it was probably no big deal at all. I would probably only have to stay an hour and they would let me go. So, off I went around 4:00 and Corey met me there. Oh, I should also mention it was hurting really bad to walk that day bc of all the pressure and back pain. We get checked in, put in a small room for monitoring, get hooked up, and immediately the nurse asked me if I was feeling those contractions. I didn't even know I was having them.. I had just got use to the back pain - it is very hard to distinguish the difference when you have back labor. She said they were pretty consistent so she checked me. I was between a 3-4 (at my last appointment I was between a 2-3). She said she would check me in an hour and as long as I didn't continue to dilate we could go home for the early laboring process. I had all but begged for that seeing how we didn't have anything at all with us!! You would think we would have learned our lesson from last time but nope! About 30 minutes into the monitoring process my contractions really started to hurt and I was starting to feel them radiate towards the front. She came back to check me after the hour went by and sure enough I has dilated another cm and thinned out. Next thing I knew we were signing the heaps of paperwork and waiting on a new room! I remember Corey and I looked at each other just like we had before... haha! Here we go!!

We finally got moved into the "go time" room... This is what we refer to it as, laugh if you'd like.. And it was time for my most dreaded part - the IV. I HATE needles!!! I ended up having a nurse I knew which made it a little better but she put it in the side of my wrist which felt a little awkward and hurt! I was just glad it was over.. Then it was shift change and the panic set in of missing out on an epidural. I started telling anyone that walked through that door to order me one! When I finally got assigned a nurse she checked me to make sure I was at a 5 and got me hooked me right up with the epidural and I was beyond happy when I saw it was the same lady that did my last one. I have heard bad stories about one of the men that does them and honestly contemplated whether or not to get one if he was the one there. She had to do it twice bc the first one didn't quite work out. I was sitting uneven on the bed and it caused pain to shoot through my left hip. So out that one came and I had to start the whole stinkin process over. It was all good though bc she is amazing at giving them and she talked to me about the housewives of Beverly hills the whole time to take my mind off the giant needle.. Ha! That amazing thing only took about 5 minutes to kick in and all was well in the world. This was about the time people started to show up and it was nothing less than a party going on in the room. I was feeling great and we were all telling stories and laughing our butts off. It was really a fun time! Then.... The nurse checked me a couple times after the epidural and realized I stopped making any progress. Wahh!! The doctor on call said its better to go through labor as natural as possible so he wouldn't break my water or start pitocin. Instead, they decided to let me get a "good night sleep" and talk about things in the morning.

After my "good night sleep" of 30 minutes, the nurse came in at 5:00 to let me know Dr. Haraway would be in around 7:00 and would probably break my water. She started me on pitocin and my contractions got really hard and close together. They went from being 2-3 minutes apart to about 45 seconds apart but I couldn't feel a thing... Not even my legs at this point. Dr. Haraway came in around 7 and checked me and I had started to dilate more at that point.. He said he would wait a bit to break my water in case it might break on its own. He came back in a little later, checked me and I was a 7, broke my water and less than an hour later I could feel EVERYTHING. Suddenly, my epidural failed me... I was freaking out a little bc the contractions were excruciating at that point!! I called to let my nurse know and before we could evaluate the situation, it was time to push! Dr.Haraway had went back to his office in the meantime so she said she would let me start pushing while he made his way back down. They got me all set up and she suddenly goes, oh wait you can not push at all! What??! I'm not sure why they think this is even possible.... When you have to push there is no waiting!!! Thankfully Dr. H made his way down fast and was right there. The nurse timed it bc she said she didn't think it would take long at all and sure enough 2 contractions and 5 minutes later, little Harrison entered the world!! Corey and I were both in shock that it went soooo fast!!

They put him on me and then had to take him away pretty fast... He had to go to the NICU for 3 hours and I was so worried and didn't understand.  He explained to me after all of this that the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck and when they got it unwrapped he took a big deep breath and swallowed some fluid before they could suction it all out.  I am so thankful that he was able to fix this quick enough to where it wasn't more serious and I am BEYOND thankful to God that I pushed him out so fast because I don't know what would have happened if I didn't.  When they brought him in finally after the longest 3 hours of our lives, they said he was doing wonderful and a perfectly healthy baby boy.  I am so grateful to the Lord and knowing that everything is in His hands is such a relief.  I will never understand how people have children and do not believe in God can explain this precious miracle of life.  A baby is God's greatest gift to us... that is for sure!  I feel beyond blessed to have my two little boys!!!

 My first time see him... Born 11/13/12 at 9:05 am
 7 lb 13 oz - 20 1/2"
 My first time to get to hold him when they brought him back in.
 So in love.

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