Wednesday, August 06, 2008

4 Weeks!

Ok so it's August 5th (I started writing this August 5) and I'm not pregnant anymore. Dylan Williams Harnest was born at 6:29pm on Thursday July 17, 2008. Here's how it went down:

Friday July 11
Doctor B tells me that I'm 1cm and not ready for labour at all. We schedule a gel application for Tuesday to help get the cervix dilated. I go home with the news that we will probably have one last weekend as a couple.

Tuesday July 15, 4pm
Jay and I go to the hospital for the gel, I'm hooked up to a machine that monitors the babies heartbeats and the contractions... or lack of contractions. We half expected something to happen but after an hour of monitoring we were booked for an induction on Thursday and sent home. We decided to stop at the grocery store on the way home because I suddenly realize I haven't had any fudgcicles while pregnant. We picked up more juice because the 6 litres of orange-based juices in the fridge was not enough and we only had 2 litres left that were calcium enriched.

Thursday July 17
7:00Am - I'm up, showered, and Jay has packed the car for our 8am induction. Jay and I are quietly excited, smiling nervously whenever we catch each other's eye.
7:30am - we've checked into admitting at the hospital and Jay picks up a coffee at Tim Horton's
7:45am - Our super nice nurse gets us set up in our birthing room and I get dressed in a hospital gown. Jay is immediately drawn to all the fun things to play with and checks his own blood pressure and temperature.

8:00am - we meet with the doctor and go over the procedure. They are going to start administering oxytocin slowly and break the water. If we are ready before 5pm then she will be back to deliver the baby. I'm in complete anxiety mode now. We chat with the nurse about our dogs.
9:00am - After monitoring the baby for a while and the induction still hasn't started I phone my Mom. The nurse comes in and starts the oxytocin while I'm on the phone. I was expecting something a little more ceremonius but that's it, it's started.
9:10am - The resident comes in with her long crochet hook and breaks the water.

10:00am - There are cramps and I need to hold Jay's hand but hey, this isn't so bad. Our super nice nurse gives an ominous chuckle when I tell her that the contractions have started and they don't hurt so much.

11:30am - Holy crap, that hurts. I am determined to move things along quickly as I've been reading about and ask if I can stand and use a birthing ball (the same thing as an exercise ball except). Our nurse gets us the ball and spends some time talking me through contractions. Jay and I focus on breathing through contractions which are about 1 minute apart.

1:00pm - I'm still dividing my time between standing and sitting on the ball. We try as many of the coping techniques we could remember from our books and classes. Contractions are still about 1 minute long and 1 minute apart.

1:10pm - Our super nice nurse comes in and asks if I think I might want to epidural. I tell her that I want to make things progress faster and to come back at 1:30 to see how I feel then.

1:13pm - I beg Jay to go tell the super nice nurse that I'm ready. When he asks me if I'm sure it's between contractions so I say no, wait until 1:30pm. On the next contraction I tell Jay to go get the nurse but again change my mind.

1:25pm - I can no longer stand up or sit on the ball and I crawl back onto the hospital bed. Jay sits right next to me, holds my hand and helps me breath.

1:31pm - Where the hell is that nurse, she said she'd be back at 1:30! I tell Jay to go find her but I don't let him go for until after a few more contractions.

1:43pm - Jay goes and finds our super nice nurse and tells her that I really want the epidural. She comes into the room and tells us that she's called him and it will take 5-60 minutes for him to arrive. I'm not sure I can do 60 minutes more.

2:10pm - Epidural man arrives! He is talking to the nurse and I plead with Jay that there should be less chatting and more epiduralling. Our super nice nure sends Jay downstairs for lunch since he can't be in the room when I get the epidural.

2:20pm - Whoever tells you a long needle in your back doesn't hurt is lying... but the pain of the contractions starts fading in minutes.

3:00pm - Jay returns and the numb feeling has moved all the way down my arms. We both decide to try and take a nap.

5:45pm - We've been watching the contractions and the heart rate on the monitor for a while and thinking everything is going well when the nurse returns to tell us that the baby's heart rate is doing funky things that we can't see with our untrained eyes and that we may be in need of a C-Section.

6:00pm - From the moment they said C-Section and now there has been a flurry of activity. We've had contact with only our super nice nurse all day but now there are 4 super nice nurses, all introducing themselves to me and Jay and moving around quickly. I hear them give Jay instructions... I yell out for him to remember the camera.

6:10pm - The epidural man is back and I ask my most important question of the day, 'what if he cuts into me and I can still feel it?' to which I received a very obvious answer 'they will make sure you can't feel anything before they cut you'. Right, I am the master of logic, the doctor wouldn't just cut your stomach open before poking you a few times first.
6:11pm - My arms are strapped down to the table.
6:12pm - Jay is here and he's wearing scrubs! This is surreal, I've never been admitted to a hospital nevermind have surgery. This is just like TV.
6:14pm - The assisting Doctor has arrived and they ask me if I can feel that? -Feel what I say? They respond with Good answer. I'm pretty sure the big cut happened right after that.
6:28pm - The doctor says what we've all been waiting for "It's a... conehead... like on Saturday Night Live". He really said that. Does he realize this is one of those days that Jay and I will remember forever?

6:29pm - Then we hear the real thing we've been waiting for, "You have a baby boy". It takes a few seconds for Dylan to start crying and a few more seconds to get him over to the warmer where they clean him off. I look at Jay and we are both speechless. We knew the moment was coming but if I was standing right then I'd probably have fallen over with shock, excitement and happiness. Kudos to Jay for remaining upright.

6:31pm - They nurses put matching hospital bands on all 3 of us. For the next 3 days we can always double check and be sure that we all belong to one another. Jay makes the final cut to the cord.

6:34pm - They put Dylan on my chest. "Happy Birthday,we're excited that you are here" I tell him.

6:44pm - I haven't much noticed that the doctors and nurses are still all gathered round my nether region but they are now taking down the curtain and moving me back over to a hospital bed. I get wheeled over to recovery where our super nice nurse got busy doing things that I don't even pay attention to until she's moving something on my bed and suddenly I realize it's my leg! After Dylan is weighed and poked some more they put him on my chest for a cuddle.

Dylan stayed like that for a while and all three of us spent the time together and started working in that new family feeling. I spent 3 days in the hospital, Jay spent 2 of the nights there and on the 3rd night he went home to get a break from the hospital cot and get ready for us.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home