The M's Munchkin

I believe I am finally awake and alert enough to actually sit down and write down the account of what I remember to be the day Hayes was born.  The day didn't end as we envisioned, but we have Sweet Baby Hayes home with us and he is healthy and doing WONDERFUL!


Our induction had been set a few weeks before for June 27th which was a Monday.  We were told to get to the hospital at midnight Sunday night.  My parents came up on Sunday to help clean the house thoroughly and just do some stuff as well as bring some YUMMY grub for lunch.  We then tried to take a nap later that afternoon, but I think both of us got little sleep.  It was strange thinking about how in a few hours we would leave our home as 2 people to arrive back as 3, or so we thought.  We eventually did, it just took a bit longer than expected.  We got up, started to get ready, nerves really starting to flow for sure!  Of course, me being a last minute person was packing as well as getting ready.  I can't describe all of the things going through my head.  I was terrified, anxious, nervous, excited, and I could go on and on.  We loaded up in the dark with the dogs (they had a great extended time with my memaw) and took them to her house.  Once we left there to have our next stop the hospital, I would lie to say I didn't get extremely nervous.  Honestly, I was most terrified of the IV and I knew that was the first thing they would be doing.  


We arrived at the hospital and was fairly quiet walking into the hospital.  Neither of us knew exactly what to think I am pretty sure.  We found our way to labor and delivery, were directed to a room and we waited for a nurse.  She came in, gave me my gown to put on and we started the process.  I will start by saying, the worst part was the IV.  She blew the vein on my right hand SOME KIND OF AWFUL!  It was HUGE swollen (and hurt for about 3 weeks after). She hit the one on my left hand very easily.  They started a medicine called cytotec to get things going.  Let's just say through the night, I didn't sleep.  I laid, on my left side (had one highish blood pressure reading - the only one of the night), very uncomfortable and watched the time tick away on the clock.  During this time, I did hear my wonderful husband snoring most of the time although I am sure on this little "chair" he was on, he was barely sleeping.  Finally, the next morning I got smart.  I started cramping just a bit, so I asked for pain meds.  They gave me some around 7 or so and I should have asked for it sooner.  I went STRAIGHT to sleep!  Finally!  Right before this, I looked at Mitchell and said I could not do this again, it was awful.  Well, this was the low for me of the day.


The next thing I knew, it was around 10 or 10:30 and Dr. P was walking in to check me.  I was 2 cm dilated, so she stretched me to 3 and broke my water.  I should add that I went in 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced but was having contractions although I couldn't feel them.  I also want to add at this time I had the BEST labor and delivery (l&d from now on) nurse there EVER WAS!  She explained everything to me, checked on me ALL of the time and was just amazing!  She even stayed a little after her shift b/c I was delivering right as she was off for the day at 7:00.  My water breaking was interesting, it didn't hurt at all but was literally like a balloon popping and a gush, gushing out.  Dr. P said I could get my epi, she would put me in line for my turn.  I didn't say no.  


Epidural - EASY PEASY!  I was somewhat nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but was told it was easier than the IV - VERY TRUE!  That relaxed me so much I just relaxed the rest of the evening.  People came in and out of course.  Each time they checked, I was progressing nicely, not too fast, not too slow.  The afternoon was very uneventful thank goodness.  Around 6, Dr. P came around to see where I was.  I was 10 cm but they explained the pushing would be easier if he was at +1 station and he was at -1 or 0.  The nurse even said she pushed for 3 hours b/c of this.  I said, sounds good, we wait.  Dr. P had a c section to go do, so she said when she was done, she was sure I would be ready.  Oh, the nurse had informed her the baby was "OP".  I asked what that meant and Dr. P explained that meant the baby was turned face down instead of face up which means delivery could be 'fun'.  Of course, I picked up on the complete sarcasm!  YIKES!


Well, in the time she left and she came back, my epidural on my right side had completely stopped working or the right side had complete feeling back.  Boy oh boy, I realized right then, natural childbirth would NOT have been for me.  I was watching the clock and the way they talked, they would be back to deliver in 30 or so minutes.  Well, 6:30 came and went and I was HURTING.  I finally called the nurses station around 6:50 and the nurse came back in with a new "box" thing for the epi because the booster had stopped working.  She got me turned on my right side to try and get meds over there.  Dr. P walked in around 7 and she came over to me and said if I would push, it would be easier and would not hurt as bad.  She checked me and said I was definitely a +1 if not even a +2.  She got ready, the epi started to work a bit again on the right side and around 7:10, we were ready to go.  I pushed through 2 contractions and Dr. P said if I would push like that for the next 2, we would have a baby.  I do remember after the first pushing, she said, he has a full head of black hair.  I was INSTANTLY relieved.  I wanted my baby to have hair so badly, so this was good news!  Of course, it would have been fine if he would not have.  I did push through 2 more and Timothy Hayes was born at 7:20 pm.  


Before I get to the after, I want to tell how Mitchell did.  There was some concern about how he would do during delivery.  He did set up the chair facing my head and did not look.  The other thing that was interesting . . . as we waited between 6 and 7 and by ourselves in the room, we didn't say much.  I know for me, I was scared, nervous, anxious, and excited to know I was about to meet this little guy who had been inside of me for the entire time.  I am sure for him, there was tons of emotion as well.  He and I are talkers, we talk A LOT, but we didn't.  We said a few things here and there, but for the most part, just silent waiting, well, and wincing a lot in pain.  That was probably tough for him actually.  But, he did great and made it through!


Hayes was just perfect on the outside.  Mitchell did go over with him (they clean them up in the room) but there was one slight problem that was a blessing in disguise.  He was running fever.  To make this part short, Mitchell was able to take him on out to the nursery, making a quick stop by the visitors we had waiting.  The doctor and nurse finished with me which didn't take long.  Probably the most surprising thing - NO STITCHES - NO TEARS!!!!  WOOHOO!!!!  I was told by quite a few people this was SHOCKING given he was OP.  Once they were all done, everyone left and I was by myself.  Thankfully, my dad came looking for everyone and he sat with me while we waited for others to come back.  Mitchell, mom, Dusti, and eventually Katie came on back.  Well, we waited for them to bring Hayes back, expecting him to come back, but after about an hour or so, I told Mitchell to go find out what was going on.  


The second he walked in the room with mom, I knew something was bad.  The look on their faces said it all.  In a second, so much went through my head, but they finally said he had been taken on to the NICU.  I thought something else must have been wrong because initially they indicated they would only take him to the NICU because of the fever if there was another something going on.  Thankfully my cousin is a RN in the NICU and we called her.  She was able to call and get information for us to learn it was really because of the fever.  We later found out it was initially because he had fever and I had gotten antibiotics through labor but he still ended up with a fever so it was prophylactic measures more than anything.  The NICU experience will be another blog post (I have a few to catch up on, but have a few started).  I did run fever during labor.  I will say this, before being induced and all of that a second time, I will be doing my research on a few things.  I am not trying to find a blame (as we were told, these things aren't as uncommon as one would think); however, I have been told a few things and have read enough things, that I am interested in doing a bit of investigation.  When Dr. P found out the next morning he had gone to the unit, she was a bit upset, but when she learned the following day that his blood counts showing infection was very high Tuesday morning, she felt much better about it.  


I could keep on about the NICU experience, but I will stop here and let that be another post as this was the post of the birth story.  No, it didn't happen like we thought.  We didn't get to enjoy our Sweet Baby Hayes in the room with us, I didn't get that "skin on skin" initial contact, we didn't get to show our visitors our new bundle of joy, we were terrified new parents unsure of what was going to happen, but despite all of this, we knew God would prevail in some way.  We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we had to have faith.  At the end of it all, none of that really matters because we have a healthy, sweet baby boy that we absolutely love more than anything!  Sweet Baby Hayes, your pops and me have waited so very long for you and you have no idea how lucky you are.  Well, we hope you feel that way.  We are going to try our hardest to be the best.  So far, I say we are doing a pretty good job.