The morning finally rolled around. The morning I was scheduled to start induction to meet our sweet baby boy. I could hardly sleep, we didn't need to be at the hospital until around 7:15 but I was up at 5:30am. I went to the bathroom and when I climbed back into bed Matt told me my phone had rung and that I had a voice mail.
"Oh No!" I thought.
"I bet it's the hospital telling me that they don't have room for us."
Sure enough I was right! I had a voice mail asking us to call back, and the lady that answered said that all the rooms were taken right now, but to call back around 8:00am to see if they had one open by then. I was so upset I was almost in tears. I was so afraid that we would call back and be delayed for the entire day. I was so ready to meet this baby, and I was already so unbelievably anxious I wasn't sure how much waiting I could handle!
Somehow I managed to fall back asleep for about an hour, and then I jumped in the shower. I wanted to take a long hot relaxing shower before we went into the hospital and that's exactly what I did. By the time I finished drying my hair and getting ready it was 8:00 and I called back. It was good news! They told us to come on in!
We let my Mom and Sally know what was going on, they had both spent the night. Mom was watching Case for us, and Sally had driven down the night before so she could head to the hospital that morning. We packed like crazy people, I had already packed a little bit but all the last little details still took up some time. I was so bossy and nervous and anxious.
"Matt, hurry up! Oh my gosh, did you get the camera? Where are our pillows, what are we doing let's go! I'm sorry I'm just so nervous and anxious I can't help it. Here, take my picture, don't forget, did we get everything? I'm sorry I know I'm being crazy!"
My nerves were a hot mess, I could not calm down for the life of me!
Finally, we get out the door, and we ran by Starbucks. (This made me extra anxious too, I was so worried that 10 pregnant women would come in and we would miss our chance because Matt wanted a White Chocolate Mocha and I wanted a Blueberry Muffin and Chocolate Milk)
10 pregnant women didn't come in though, and after Matt parked the car (for what seemed like an ETERNITY) we make our ways upstairs to check in. After the routine questions about insurance the lady handed me my hospital bracelet and it began to sink in a little bit. This was seriously happening, TODAY!
We check in at the desk, and a nurse walks us to our room. The same exact room that I delivered Case in! Although, I didn't remember it because I was in labor when I walked into the room with Case, I didn't even remember what the hospital looked like when I came in with him!
We did a lot of waiting around, I put on my gown and sat on the bed. Then we waited some more. It was such an odd feeling not being in labor but being in the room...just waiting. We had been at the hospital for a couple of hours before anything started happening. Then our delivery nurse came in to let us know she'd be putting in my IV soon...and we knew her! Matt knew her better than I did, she hung out with the guys Matt lived by in college, and I had met her a few times. Her name was Tiffany, and I remember her being SUPER sweet, and it was kind of nice knowing her outside of the hospital! She was so easy to talk to, and made everything so comfortable for me. She said she thought she recognized me when we were at the desk checking in!
I was looking forward to seeing if I had progressed any, I was sure she was going to tell me I was 4 or maybe even 5 cm before they started the pitocin to get things started. (I had a lot of Braxton Hicks the night before, at one point I thought I was going to have to wake Matt up and tell him we had to go a few hours early but they went away.) I hadn't though! I was still 3 cm, but a little bit more effaced. (About 70% instead of the previous 50%) I was shocked!
It didn't matter though, because things started happening soon after that! She put my IV in (hate that part!)
By about noon my contractions were starting. They started coming about every 3 minutes. They were uncomfortable but very bearable for about an hour. Then they started to get very intense. I was absolutely miserable, I couldn't talk through them, I just had to breathe. Matt had just left for lunch before they started getting bad. My sister was there with me, I remember her asking if she could do anything for me but all I could do was shake my head. Dad came in at that point, and felt like he shouldn't stay. Amy told him he was fine, that I was just in pain and couldn't talk. I heard him say that it was too hard for him to watch. Although, I couldn't say anything I remember thinking that that was so sweet.
By this point we were waiting on the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural. When she walked through those doors I was so relieved! It took a while to receive it because they have to wait and do it between contractions and mine were right on top of each other. She also told me something in my shoulders/spine weren't quite symmetrical so it made it a little more difficult to insert the needle. (Which explains why it took so long with Case too!) Finally it was in, but it was taking a long time for my left side to feel the effects. I was so afraid that it would never numb me completely and I was going to have to keep feeling this pain the entire time. It was hard too because since my right side was now numb it seemed 100 times worse in my left. My anesthesiologist was amazing though, and she assured me she was not leaving me until I was one hundred percent comfortable. Just a few minutes later the remaining pain finally drifted away. Everyone ventured back in from lunch, and they told me I was having a huge contraction and I didn't feel a thing. Thank goodness! I finally took a huge long breath and relaxed.
My nurse checked me around 2:00 and told me I was 9 cm. My water still hadn't broken, so she called Dr. Youkilis and he came and broke it about 20 minutes later. She checked me again around 2:30 and told me I was 10 cm!
Dr. Youkilis came in and said "You go girl! Already 10 cm!" I pushed for about 10 minutes, they told me they could see baby's hair but Dr. Youkilis said he would be back later. (I'm assuming he could tell I still had a lot of pushing to do before baby was ready to make his appearance.)
For some crazy reason, my contractions began to lighten up. Apparently after starting the pitocin earlier in the day, my body took over and was doing all the work so she had turned it way down. I would feel one coming, they were watching the monitor and say "Okay, here we go...oh wait it went away." It was so frustrating. She then pushed the pitocin back up in hopes to get things going strongly again.
I pushed for an hour and 45 minutes with Case, and was looking forward to a faster experience this time. My nurse Tiffany had assured me that second babies were usually much much faster! By about 3:30 my contractions were still unpredictable and she told us that his head was turned slightly sideways which was making it difficult. (Case was the same way) She eventually called Dr. Youkilis back in and told him I was exhausted. I was, I was absolutely exhausted by this point.
At around 4:15 Dr. Youkilis came in, told us that he was actually facing down and that we were ready.
"Okay, we can do this, it's going to be very simple" I had asked about using a vacuum to help, and he explained what was going to happen. He told me that I had a "pronounced" tail bone that was making it difficult for baby to move down easily. He said as soon as he got the vacuum on his little head that it was going to be very simple. After getting all set up, after all the explanation, and after it was on his head, one push later he was out.
Rhett Galley Williams
Born November 17, 2010
4:29 pm
4:29 pm
7 lbs 15 oz
21 in
Immediately after I delivered him, he was still curled up and blue... and not crying. As soon as I laid eyes on him and they took him right over to their supplies instead of laying him on my chest like we had discussed I was uncontrollably hysterical. I kept asking if he was okay, everyone quickly assured me that he was going to be just fine but until I heard that sweet newborn cry for myself I didn't believe a word anyone was telling me. It was such a blur, and the scariest minutes of my entire life. I heard the "baby catcher" nurse that was working on him say "Come on baby, come on" I looked over and saw another nurse run into the room. From where I was, I couldn't see Rhett, I could only see the nurses backs as they were leaned over working on him to cry. Dr. Youkilis was still with me, and said, "Look at me" I locked eyes with him for a moment and he said "He is going to be okay, he is just fine"
My nurse Tiffany walked over and said "I promise I would tell you if something was wrong, he's going to be okay I promise"
After the most excruciating moments of my life I heard that sweet, sweet newborn wail. My heart stopped pounding out of my chest and I began crying happy tears instead of terrified ones. Matt was right by my side the whole time, and then they laid him on my chest skin to skin. He was wide eyed and looking at me, he was here. My sweet baby boy was here and okay and absolutely gorgeous. God is so good!
Then I had that moment. The moment of holding my beautiful, perfect newborn next to my amazing husband, as we looked at our new child. Our new gift from God. We kept saying he looked so much like Case, and we knew our family of three was now an amazing family of four.
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