Birth Anniversary

I opted to not post a traditional Saturday Throwback post today, though this post is a bit of a throwback anyway!  Oh - make sure to check out my post yesterday about the Free Wheelchair Mission and consider joining with me and helping this fantastic organization.

Today marks the anniversary of Buggy's birth.  I don't mean his birthday, but rather the point in pregnancy when I went into labor.  I was actually awake last night at 1:30am, the exact time my water broke with him.  I am thrilled to still be pregnant with Baby at this point in pregnancy!  Now for the whole story (I LOVE birth stories).

****************

It all started on a Monday.  Monday morning we went for my weekly OB appointment at 34 weeks and 6 days.  Although I lost my plug at the appointment, the OB assured me that I was not making any progress yet and labor was not imminent.  That Friday, I noticed that I had dropped - I finally got stretch marks (how exciting!).  Hubby and I were at a President's Own concert and Buggy danced like CRAZY the whole time. I joked with friends that I wouldn't be surprised if all that dancing put me into labor.

Over the weekend, we were very busy trying to get things unpacked since we had just moved into our house.  It was a bit stressful.  Come Sunday night, Hubby and I decided that we would make the next weekend be OUR weekend where we took a break from all the unpacking so that we could have one last sleep-in and lazy weekend before Buggy came.  WELL....  I guess the relaxation of that decision really was all my body needed!

I woke up at 1:30am after hearing or feeling a "pop" and thinking that I had had an accident.  It turns out that my water had broken!  After a quick call to the doctor, a quick call to parents, a quick bag-packing extravaganza, and a moment to update Facebook, we made the long 10 minute trek to the hospital.  I was officially 35 weeks and 6 days pregnant and REALLY surprised to be going into labor!

At around 7am, my doctor came in to check my progress.  I wasn't feeling much in the way of contractions and I wasn't dilating much at all, so they started the evil pitocin (along with antibiotics since I was preterm and had ruptured).  After a few hours, my contractions were coming very quickly - I would have 5 very painful contractions right on top of each other without even 30 seconds between and then would have 2-3 minutes to breathe.  At this point, the anesthesiologist was my friend!

After the epidural, I was able to rest.  Talk about a strange sensation.  I felt no pain and not even pressure, but I could feel my body working really hard.  The epidural was too strong.  I could hardly even wiggle my toes.  Turning or changing position was a 3 person job each time. 

By around 1:30pm (which, ironically, was my next OB appointment!), I was completely dilated but Buggy was having some dramatic drops in heart rate.  I was put on oxygen.  I would push through one contraction then have my gang flip me to my side with the oxygen for 15 - 20 minutes for Buggy's heart rate to stabilize.  I pushed like this for about an hour during which my epidural was turned off so I would *hopefully* have some sensation to push. 

I never really regained sensation.  I pushed as best I could until about 3pm.  Buggy's heart rate was staying too low.  At this point, my OB decided she needed to get Buggy out.  To avoid a c-section, she did an episiotomy and used the vacuum to get Buggy out.  At 3:30, I had my little miracle!  It turns out that he had his hand on his cheekbone while I was trying to push which was making it so hard to get him out!  He was 5 lbs 2 oz and 19" long. 

I am so thankful that he was healthy.  Within 45 minutes, I was all stitched up.  The lactation consultant was there and got us nursing.  We needed to use a nipple shield, but he nursed like a champ!  After our 2 night stay, he was still doing great.  He had a little jaundice but was able to come home with me.  When we were discharged, he was a whopping 4 lbs 10 oz!  Our doc watched his bilirubin levels and readmitted us for 22 hours for light treatment.

Ah - what a blessing Buggy is.  I always thought the saying "we don't know what we did before the little one" was a little silly.  It's not - it's totally true!  These last 18 months have been amazing and I can't wait (well, I can wait at least one more week!) to meet our next little blessing!

I would LOVE to hear your birth stories!  Feel free to link up here if you'd like!