Happy Birthday Seth!
The day is finally here! Seth Aiden was born today at 1:45pm at a whopping 7lbs 11oz. 20” in length! What a big strong healthy little boy!
It’s so funny because this week we had our appointments and there were no changes. By Wednesday evening after yet another appointment of no change, we had the ultrasound and induction set for the 13th and 14th of August.
Now I was not looking at being induced so we decided to try some of the wives tales and I ended up actually adding hot sauce to my food for the first time EVER! And it actually created a result!
I ended up losing my mucus plug that night which gave us a scare because we weren’t sure what that meant- called the hospital and were in Thursday morning only to find out that I had just starred to dilate. We got sent home (boo) but that’s when things started to change.
My contractions now seemed to have more pressure - sort of like I had period cramps. But we were still a long way from 10cm so we decided to try more wives tales. Over the weekend I ate more spicy foods and went for walks in the mall- Saturday night being the most painful as I had to stop very frequently to just sit and endure the contraction pressure. Over night they were so strong I would grip the bed frame- but they were only 15 minutes apart.
Sunday morning we went to church - contractions every 10 minutes or so (still not 5 mins apart as we were directed to go to the hospital when it was 5 minutes) and we decided to go to my moms house and stay there because of our ultrasound appointment in the morning.
Needless to say as the night came the contractions got more frequent and stronger as they had the night before and I got concerned seeing as how I was gripping the bed frame Saturday night how would I be able to make it through the night at my moms.
We ended up calling the hospital letting them know my contractions were 6-8 mins apart and asked if we needed to come in. They immediately called back and said to head on over. Great! I thought this is it! But honestly I was just experiencing a lot of strong pressure that I almost couldn’t get myself to breathe through them all anymore.
Andy was being funny and wheeled me into the labor and delivery section where we had to wait for a room and when they were finally able to examine me it turns out I was already at 5cm! Halfway there all on my own! The staff was a tad bit impressed actually..
Finally now that I was admitted I could get the epidural. I had an amazing nurse who helped me breathe and concentrate through 3 contractions as they were working on my back and 10 long minutes later I was able to relax.
2:00am now on Monday August 13, I was lying in bed with Andy next to me- my mom comes in and sets herself up in the room to spend the night. Time to sleep.
5:00am they come in to check on me- some things have changed and I have to change positions for the baby- but they check to see that I’m at 8cm. Only 2 more to go!
This is where the waiting comes in though.
I’m relaxed from the epidural, it’s also now morning so my body and baby are not as active as they usually are through the night. My mom goes in to work and my brother comes to stay with us and we notice my contractions aren’t as strong as they were throughout the night.
So the day goes by and I get checked and nothings changed... with each hour I’m getting more impatient and we try to make my contractions more frequent by moving around but to no avail. It’s now noon and they decide to add some pitocin to increase the contractions. Almost instantly they shoot up in intensity and I’m feeling the pressure all over again. I go on like this for about an hour until they decide to check on me and see my discomfort.
Now after my examination I’m 10cm 2+ and ready to go! I don’t think they expected it that soon but it’s after 1:00 and people are swarming to get to my room as the doctor is prepping me to push. I had contractions every 5 minutes and had to breathe through at least three while waiting for everyone to get there.
At around 1:30 was when we started- for every contraction I got to push three times for 10 seconds and then had to stop to breathe and prep for the next.
I tried and pushed for the first contraction, then had to stop to breathe. Was really determined during the second one, but still no baby. By this time I just wanted him out so I’m on the third contraction- I gave it my all on all three pushes and got him out for a total of 15 minutes pushing since the doctors got there.
It was such a relief to hear him cry as soon as he was out and I saw them carry him over to Andy to cut the umbilical cord. Saw he had a full head of hair and heard his cry as they were cleaning him up. But I wasn’t done yet- we had to get the placenta out and then the doctors had to work on me.
I never asked but I know I did tear and needed stitches, and Andy held my hand as they continued to do what they needed to do. I don’t recall how many doctors were there or who did what- Andy was more alert for that. I just felt relieved that we were done and that I would be able to eat soon.
We celebrated with some sushi and I got to hold my boy for the very first time before they brought him to the nursery for his bath and taking care of him, but it was definitely an experience that I think my body is trying to forget.
We will have more to tell as we continue our stay here at the hospital but for now we are just happy that our boy is now here and we’re ready for what’s next!
