I know this took a while for me to post, but I have been adjusting to life with two little boys in my house in addition to helping with my sister's upcoming wedding...more about all that stuff in another post to follow soon. First, here is Aaron's birth story...
I was due on Monday, August 22, 2005 and according to my doctor's appointment the week before, I was already dilated to 3 cm. My due date came and went and ton Tuesday at my next doctor's appointment we asked the doctor about induction. At that appointment I was still dilated to 3 cm and Dr. Hughes (Dr. Henderson was on vacation) thought induction sounded fine. We set it up for me to be induced on Wednesday, August 24th at 8:00 a.m.
Since we knew we would be leaving for the hospital early the next morning we decided to have Alec sleep at my parent's house on Tuesday night so that they could bring him to the hospital the next day. Adam and I dropped him off and went out for our last date night for a while. Adam took me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and we went and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We had such a pleasant evening and enjoyed a quiet night together.
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and I hopped into the shower. When I was in the shower Adam got a phone call from St. Jude's Labor and Delivery Unit saying that they were very busy and asked us to not come at 8:00 but to call back at 10:00 to see if they were less busy. I of course was disappointed but understood the situation. We called back at 10:00 and they were still busy. They pushed us back to 12:00 and then to 2:00 p.m. We were getting restless sitting at home so we headed over to my parents house which was very close to the hospital to hang out with my parents and Alec. We called in again at 2:00 from my parents house and they said that they just had a room open up and for us to hurry up and come down. We rushed out the door!
We arrived at St. Jude around 2:15 and were shown to our room. They hooked me up to the monitors right away to get a baseline of where I was at. I was having contractions but they were very small and not very regular. They started my IV and my medication for Strep B. They wanted to get one dose of that in before they started the Pitosin. Finally around 5:00 p.m. they started the Pitosin drop on me. I started having stronger contractions but they were not incredibly painful. Around 6:30 my nurse (Nurse Umm) came in and encouraged me to get my epidural then so that she could increase my pitosin and get some good contractions going. I agreed and the anesthesiologist was in the room within a few minutes.
The epidural was more painful than I remember from last time, but then again, I was not in as much pain last time so I think I was able to focus more on what they were doing to me, not the contractions. Adam was holding me and supporting me while they were doing the procedure and he made the mistake of looking up just as the anesthesiologist was pulling out the big needle to stick in my back. He all of the sudden faded a bit and had to walk out of the room to avoid getting sick. Thankfully the nurse was right there and took his place supporting me. Adam still has not lived this down and will not for a while!!
The epidural took right away and my new nurse came in (Nurse Lolly, what is with these names??) for the new shift at 7:00 p.m. She put me on my side and positioned me with pillows to be comfortable. I asked her at this point if they would be breaking my water soon (like my doctor had done with Alec) and she said that they did not want to risk doing it too early. They still had not checked me at this point for dilation since I was just at the doctor the day before. They pretty much let me alone, with the exception of helping me move from side to side and checking my vitals, for a few hours to let the pitosin do its work.
At around 10:00 p.m. they finally checked my cervix and I was still only dilated to a 3!! Nurse Lolly did some work in there and was able to stretch me to a 4 and thought that might get things going for me. Adam went downstairs where all our family was waiting and told them to go home since I was not even close to delivering. All night long nothing really changed. I was uncomfortable as the epidural left one leg completely numb from my hip to my toes and the other with pretty much full feeling. I was not in pain, but my hips were killing me from the positions I was lying in.
At about 4:45 a.m. the nurse came in to check on me and my cervix. I could not believe it when she told me that I was still at 3 to 4 cm. She just made the comment that the baby would come when he was ready. When she left the room I looked at Adam and burst into tears!! I could not believe that I had made no progress the entire night. Just then I shifted my body a little bit and felt my water break. Adam went to track down the nurse to let her know what happened.
Almost immediately after my water broke I started to feel some pressure. The nurse came back in and checked me around 5:20 and I was already dilated to 6. By 5:50 I was feeling incredible pressure so the nurse checked me again. I was fully dilated and the head was right there. They quickly got the room ready and called the doctor to tell her to hurry. I pushed for about 15 minutes with the support of my wonderful hubby coaching me, and Aaron Michael Hawley entered the world at 6:11 a.m.
The thing that I found most surprising about this birthing experience, compared to when I had Alec, was the difference in emotions with both Adam and I. When we had Alec we both just stared at him in wonderment when he came out and were not sure what to do. When Aaron was placed on my chest we were both bawling our eyes out. I think that this time meant so much more because we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We were not just having a baby, we were having a child. A child that will need nighttime feedings, scream at the top of his lungs, throw up all over the place, test us countless times and much more. But we also know what he will add so much joy and love to our already family. I feel so blessed by the entire experience and can't wait to see what the future holds for this little boy.
