On the Monday before William was born, I could tell that something was going to happen very soon. I was scheduled with my doctor to be induced the following Thursday because I would be a week over my due date at that point. I did not want to be induced at all but I was also exhausted from not sleeping well and not feeling well the entire week leading up to Monday. On Monday afternoon, I decided that I was going to call my doctor to see if I could be induced sooner than Thursday. They said they would call us between 10-11pm to let us know if they had a delivery room available.
Around 9:30pm I received the phone call to come to labor and delivery! Michael and I quickly got our things together and headed to the hospital. After waiting in the ER to be admitted for an hour and a half, we finally were able to go up to our room and get settled in. They placed one cyto tech in order to dilate and prepare my cervix around 12:30 am. The plan was to place another cyto tech at 4:30 am. I probably got about 30 minutes total of sleep between when the nurse left and came back. The nurse checked me around 4:15am and told me that I was almost 3cm dilated. Right after she checked me, I felt something pop and I told her that I thought my water had just broke. She said "no way" and then tested it and said "you're right!". The nurse was really surprised that I had gone into labor on my own and that my water broke. It turns out that William was also ready for his big entrance into the world after all!
On our way to the hospital to meet our baby boy!
Right before the nurse placed the cyto tech. We were very excited and nervous!
I called my mom at 4:30am to let her know that I was in labor and they were no longer inducing me. The nurse took off all of the monitors and told us we could walk around. Around this time, Michael was waking up and decided he needed some coffee to prepare himself for our big morning! We walked the halls and went to the family waiting room to get Michael some coffee. I labored until around 7:30am. Labor was extremely difficult because he was sunny side up. He was head down but not in the right position. This made my contractions very intense and close together. I was having contractions right on top of one another and then an occasional minute and a half or minute break. I felt burning pain all the way down my legs. The only thing that made the pain less intense was walking and sitting on an exercise ball.
This is a poor quality picture but this is about half way through labor before I had the epidural
After walking the halls and moving around for 4 hours with no sleep I was spent and completely exhausted. I told Michael that I wanted the epidural. My mom came to the hospital around 7:30 am. For the last 30 minutes that I was in labor without an epidural, my mom and Michael were very comforting. The anesthesiologist came in around 8:00 am to put in my epidural. He administered my epidural and within five minutes I felt comfortable and relaxed. After about two hours of little rest and nurses coming in and out of our room due to shift changes, I started feeling contractions again and they were getting stronger and stronger. I also was regaining feeling in my leg to where I could move them around very easily. My right side had completely regained feeling and my left side was starting to regain feeling also. I asked the nurse if this was normal and she said "no, not at all" and then came over to check my medicine. She said that the epidural was dumping out on the floor because the anesthesiologist had not hooked up my meds after the initial dose of the epidural to my line into my back. They called the anesthesiologist back to our room to fix my meds and he then had to administer another initial dose to completely numb me again. I didn't re dose myself at all after that point because I was then way to numb to feel anything.
Around 12:30pm, my nurse had me do a couple of practice pushes. Michael was my counter and I focused on pushing while he counted sets of 10. Michael and Mom were both amazing and so supportive. William started crowning after only two sets of pushes so the nurse quickly prepared the room and called my doctor to let her know that it was time to have the baby! The doctor came in around 1pm and we started pushing. During this time, the nurse and the doctor were very nervous because William's heart rate kept decelerating and not going back up very quickly. At that point, they had me pushing for 10 second in sets of 4 back to back to hurry and up and deliver him. He turned to the correct position but he had the cord wrapped around his neck and was loosing oxygen. They had me wear an oxygen mask and push as quickly as possible to hurry up and deliver him. The quick delivery caused a much more difficult recovery for me, but we are so thankful that the doctor and nurses were prepared and in control and calm in order to safely deliver William.
I watched as the doctor placed his long body on my chest and he cried for about ten seconds and then stopped as soon as they placed him on my belly. I didn't expect to be as emotional as I was, but I was so in love with him the minute he came into this world. I cried and cried out of happiness and relief that he was finally here with us and healthy! The nursery nurse then checked him over and assessed him, doing the apgar, and wanted to wake him up because he was not crying. He scored a 9-10 (10 being the highest) on his apgar. It turns out, that he was just happy to be with his mama! They let me nurse him for about 30 minutes and he ate like a champ! Then Michael went with the nurse to give him his first bath. My mom, Michael and I then spent three wonderful hours in the delivery room just watching and looking at William. Then we were transferred to the postpartum area and moved into our hospital room for the next two days.
Right after William was born.
We were so proud and so in love!
No one thought that he would be as big as he was!
8lbs 6.9oz and 21.5 inches long with a head circumference of 13 3/4in
First time mom got to hold William! I am so thankful she could be there!
First time daddy held William and he is a pro!
It was the perfect day and perfect birthday for Mr. William
In our hospital room. I foresee many days of daddy and William cuddles :)
William definitely woke up more later that evening and kept us up until around 2am the night after he was born. He was starving and wanted to eat every hour. I was exhausted because I had no sleep for 38 hours. With the help of our amazing night nurse, we were finally able to get him to sleep around 3am and he slept until 7am. The hospital was amazing and all the nurses were wonderful. The food was also surprisingly good! We definitely enjoyed our stay at Rose Medical Center, but we were anxious to get our little boy home. Mom smocked this precious gown for William to go home in. It has green outlining and ducks. It will also be perfect for his first Sunday at church which is also Easter :)
He was absolutely precious in his gown!
William and I headed home!
Daddy met us at home after he went by our new house to oversee the inspection.
Wonderful grandmother cuddles and love
William loves his swing and his bouncy seat!
We are so in love with our precious boy and he is growing fast! At his latest doctor's appointment he had already passed his birth weight. I am very curious to see how much he will have gained by his 2 week appointment.
