Nathan's Birth Story

My orginal due date was March 7, 2011. I had a very easy pregnancy with no complications and few complaints. At 35 weeks I did have to go into the hospital for decreased fetal movements, which were nothing and everything was fine. At that time they did a sono and estimated his weight was 6lbs 2oz and I still had 5 weeks to go!! Of course I was sure I was going to have a 8 0r 9 pound baby at this point.
My weekly appointments then started,
At 36 weeks I was not dilated or effaced and he was high. I figured this normal as I still have 4 weeks left to go.
At 37 weeks I was not dilated or effaced and he was high, so I continued to walk a ton each day in hopes of bringing him down or dilating.
At 38 weeks I was dilated to 1cm, not effaced and he was high, so I began to jog (wth my Dr's permission) for a few minutes at a time during my walks to convince him to make his way downward. Did'nt work. I just had a gut feeling he was going to be an overdue baby.
I went into my 39 week appt. ( on Wednesday) expecting just another exam and for her to tell me I was not dilated or effaced and that he was still high, of course I was secretly hoping I had made SOME progress. Well, the nurse took my blood pressure and it was much higher than normal for me. My whole pregnancy I had been 110-120/70's. Today it was 130's/90's. The nurse told me my Dr. would not like that. However, I knew I was'nt pre-eclamtic because I was not spilling any protien in my urine.
My Dr. came in with a frown and took my BP herself, 3 times, where she said the lowest she got was 148/94. Now granted thatt is not horrible in a non-pregnant person but un pregnancy can be dangerous for mother and baby. It can cause decreased blood flow to baby and stroke in the mother. She then said we are going to induce and have a baby on Friday. I was kinda in shock! What! This is not how I had in planned in my head. I planned on going into natural labor at home, walking around until I could not bear the pain any more, going to the hospital were I would already be dilated to 7, be in labor another 2 hours or so, give a few pushes and "poof" have a baby...................Yes, keep laughing, that was my dream!!
Sadly my dream would not be a reality this time. My Dr. (who I totaly respect and adore) was going to be out of town for the next day(Thursday). I really wanted her to deliver my baby. She made me promise to go right home and do nothing but finish packing and relax. I also had to take my BP every 3 hours and if my diastolic got into the 100's, I had to go to hospital right away. She was going to have me come in to hospital on Thursday night and be admitted so I could recieve Cervidil. Cervidil is supposed to help soften your cervix as I was still not effaced, he was high and I was only 1cm dilated. Not ideal numbers for an induction.

Here is my last pregnancy picture at our house. We were on our way to the hospital! Nervous and excited!

My mom and cousins came up to hospital Thursday night to keep me company and play games. It was a bummer becasue I had to be laying pretty flat in order for the Cervidil to do it's job. It was really hard ot eat my "last meal" on my back!

We were admited at 5pm. I took some Ambien to help me sleep, but it did no good! I was up all night with my brain spinning. It was so weird to think I was going to have a baby tommorow! This is our last night as a childless couple!

They wheeled us down to L&D at 0530 Friday morning. My Pitocin, for the induction, was started at 0600. The first few hours were not bad. I was more worried about the fact I was not going to be able to eat AT ALL today, however I turned out to be nauseated and never wanted food anyways.

They kept turning up the pitocin and my contractions got stronger. At 10:30 my Dr. came in and broke my water. At that point I was dilated ot a 2 but my cervix was softer. I figured this was going to be a LONG labor. My biggest coping mechanism to pain is walking or exercise, but since I was on pitocin they had to monitor the baby constantly, so I only had a 6x6 ft area I could walk around in. after she broke my water, my contractions got really strong! I wanted to try and do this without an epidural so I asked for some Stadol ( which is a narcotic). It was horrible. It made me so sleepy but it changed my contractions to a much more intense burning pain. So, I woud fall dead asleep for 2 minutes, have a contractio and be in awful pain, then fall back dead asleep. Not much fun. Dan finally convinced me to get an epidural. I am glad Idid. However, I stayed fuzzy brained the rest of the day from the Stadol. It also caused me to throw up multiple times. Can you believe I went through my entire pregnanc without ever throwing up and then I am retcing my guts during delivery? Go figure.

After the epidural, it dropped my blood pressure (irony!) pretty low so I got 4 liters of fluid and a dose of ephedrine. The baby also started having decels (drops in his heart rate) so they had to put me on oxygen to make sure baby was getting enough oxygen. Around 2pm she checked me and I was only dialted 4 cm. Argg...this is going to be rough.

I tried to get a little rest since I felt foggy and nauseated, but I never did. My family and husband kept me company and entertained me. At 4:45pm I began to feel presure and the baby began to have decels agian. She decided to check me. She asked me what I thought Iwas dialted too. I was hoping for anything more than a 5! Turns out Iwas fully dilated and ready to push!! Yea!

The pushing was hard work, but not painful, so I was so glad I had the epidural at that point. It made it more enjoyable. I pushed for 30 minutes and then had a sweet little boy! When he came out I realized he was not hte 8-9 pound baby I had been epecting. My doctor said he looked kinda scrawny and guessed his weight was 6pounds. Well, she was right! He was 6pounds 1 oz. She said my placenta was failing and that had casued him to lose some weight and for me to have the hypertension. Tha made me feel better, knowing we had made the right decsion to induce, reagardless of the unpleasantness of it.

Here he is !! Nathan Bradley Hill! Pretty cute, I think!

They moved us to post partum about 2 hours later. Dan is such a good dad! He is very loving towards Nathan and loves to hold him!

ok, not hte best picture of me, I was a smidge fluid overloaded in my defense!! A very proud Grandma!

Here we are about to be dischargedfrom the hospital! I can't believe the whole pregnancy and birth experience are over! It makes me sad, I like being pregnant and I miss feeling him kick and squirm in my tummy. But, a whole new adventure is about ot begin!

On the way home from the hospital, Nathan and I fell sound asleep, at least I know he is my child! He naps as good as I do! W econitnued our nap when we got home!

Nathan has been a good baby so far. We have had feeding issues, I have a hormonal imbalance so I am not making no where near enough milk for him, but are giving him formula and supplementing with breast milk that I pump. He will hopefully start gaining weight now! He sleeps good at night, and all day, and we have fun "entertaining" him during his short awake periods.

I love this cuddly newborn stage but I am also looking forward to him becoming more interactive too.