With our midwife's advice, we decided that an induction was in order. Wyatt was measuring rather large (9 lbs. 11 oz. at 38 weeks) on the ultrasounds and they feared that he would have a rather difficult time making his way out naturally. babies only get larger as they approach their due date so praying for his growth to slow or cease was futile. so, we decided that we would go into the hospital at 7:30 pm on wednesday ocotber 28th - 5 days before his due date. cameron and i decided that we would go out to dinner that night for the "last supper" as a couple. i was told to eat a lot of carbs because i wouldn't be eating regular food for quite some time after checking into the hospital. we went to macaroni grill. it was nice, relaxed, and very tasty. i then received a phone call from the hospital at 7 pm telling us not to come in. apparently a lot of women were going into labor that night and they didn't have enough nurses to care for us at that time. we called back at 9pm like they asked us to, and they told us to come in. we got to the hospital and the process began! i had to put on the lovely labor gown and then get hooked up to all the monitors - one to monitor contractions and one to monitor the baby's heartbeat. another nurse then came in to take my blood (never fun). my parents drove in from arizona that night and stopped by to visit us for a while. at around 11pm i was given cervadil. i was told more than likely the cervadil would have to stay in place for 12 hours and may or may not start labor. if the labor didn't come on with the cervadil, then pitocin would be administered (i really didn't want pitocin!). at about 1am my contractions began. at first they weren't that bad. i felt like i had bad mentstrual cramps in my lower abdomen and lower back. cameron and i decided we would move around as much as possible to hopefully help the labor progress. when i went in i had already dilated to a 3 and was 80% effaced. i was pretty excited that i had at least progressed somewhat on my own before going in to be induced because everyone knows that many times inductions fail and then a c-section is the last resort. i did not want a c-section if at all possible. by about 4 in the morning all the "tricks" we were told to help ease contraction pain were failing - walking, massage, breathing, etc. cameron and i decided that we would take an epidural when the pain became too exhasuting, but i TRULY did want to experience labor pains to know what it was like (and i must admit i wanted to know if i could focus enough to power through the pain). by about 6 am i was dilated to a 5 and was ready for some pain relief. they broke my water and i knew there was no turning back! we were having a baby soon! the nurses tried to get me to stick to my birth plan (i.e. wait as long as possible for pain meds) and encouraged me to take a hot shower. i reluctantly agreed and hopped in the shower for about 45 minutes. all i can say is that once the pain reaches a certain point - next to nothing helps ease it. breathing and focusing worked better for me than a hot shower. at 7 am the doctor came in to administer the epidural. i have scoliosis, so i was prepared for it to be tough for him to give it to me. my inkling was correct - he had to stick me 5 different times to get the right spot. it was pretty difficult to concentrate and not move while having painful contractions, but i made it through. once the epidural kicked in i was feeling great! by 8:30 or 9 (i can't really recall) i was dilated to an 8. our midwife, Kathy was great and she was with us since i was dialted to about a 4. she noticed that my contractions were coming rather close together and the baby's heartbeat was behaving a little abnormally from the contractions. she decided we needed to monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions internally. both devices were inserted and were used for a very short time. Kathy came back into the room and told us that my contractions were coming too close together for the baby's heartrate to recover. on top of that there was a little more bloody show than she would have liked. with the combination of those things she thought it best to get the baby out sooner rather than later - this meant a c-section - an emergency c-section. at this point none of our family members knew what was happening. the doctor had already been called and was on his way. no sooner did Kathy deliver the news than our room was flooded with people all ready to fulfill the task of getting me to the ER to have a baby. cameron couldn't come into the ER with my right away. while i was alone in the ER, Kathy was doing her best to console me becuase i was naturally scared as this was NOT how we planned on having our baby. i was so scared that the anesthesia was not going to work and i was going to feel everything. my entire body was numb from my nipples down and from my shoulder to my fingertips. cameron was finally allowed to come into the room and held my hand. he was scared and crying and i was scared and cried because he did. i felt the moment they pulled our baby out - i felt a million times lighter! when the baby finally cried it wasn't very loud. i was praying he was ok. cameron was crying and said he was cute. i asked if he was fat and cameron said, "yes." then i asked, "does he look like a wyatt?" cameron said, "yes." it seemed like a million years before i got to see him. once i finally did, i thought he was the cutest baby i had ever seen. i couldn't hold him so i just looked at him and said "hi!" our first meeting was about 20 seconds long and then they had to take wyatt away to the nursery. cameron had to go with the baby, but didn't want to leave my side. at some point cameron called my parents and told them the surprising news and they drove down to the hospital. i was then cleaned up and wheeled into a recovery room where my temperature, blood pressure, and other things were monitored for about 2 hours! the nursery was right next door and the nurses initially said that cameron couldn't bring the baby in to see me. they then bent the rules a bit and allowed cameron to bring wyatt in. i still couldn't hold him because my hands were numb, but boy was he cute! i used to think newborns were rather ugly looking, but wyatt sure wasn't! perfect head, perfect face, and super long fingers and toes! he was born on 10-29 and weighed in at 8lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long with dark brown hair. once the spinal block wore off and the numbness wore off i finally got to hold our little bundle. he is perfect and we love him so much! i don't even care that our birth was rather rough - we are just thankful that wyatt is here and safe and healthy!
here are some pictures of our babes first few days of life...
