Meeting Seth

Getting to finally meet Seth was quite the adventure for us!  After weeks of feeling miserable and experiencing the most self doubt I've ever felt in my entire life, I was anticipating that my last doctor's appointment on Tuesday, Feb 1st would be "the one" where she'd tell me that I'd progressed enough to schedule an induction.  Well, I had only progressed 1/2 cm.  To say that I was bummed out would be an understatement.  She performed a procedure to hopefully induce me naturally and said that if it worked, I should see results within 48 hours.  

I started having some stronger contractions later that evening and all the next day, but then they started tapering off.  By Thursday, I wasn't having any contractions.  When I woke up Friday morning, I still wasn't having contractions, but started feeling increased pain in my back,  which didn't really alarm me because I've had constant back pain since Thanksgiving.  I also started feeling a little crampy, so I thought some walking would do me some good.  My sister and her kids arrived on Thursday to visit my parents, so I called my mom to see if they'd like to meet us at the mall to walk around and let the kids play in the play area.  My contractions picked up a little bit, but tapered off again by the time I drove home.  Talk about frustrating!  

Then my mom called a few hours later to say that my brothers and their families were coming over for dinner, and she wanted to know if we'd like to come, too.  Since my desire to cook was ultra-low, we said sure.  When we got over there at 3:30 ish, I was talking to my mom and sister and was telling them that my back was hurting more and that I was feeling quite crampy.  Then I started to time these cramps and back aches and was amazed to find them coming 5 minutes apart.  After dinner, I called the physician on call from my OB office, and she told me that if my contractions came back or if I was in more pain to call her back.  We went home and Brandon went to work at the airport for his night shift (10 PM - 6 AM).

I didn't sleep very well that night because those aches weren't going away, and I was just uncomfortable.  When Brandon got home from work, he took a nap.  I had a sudden desire to bake some wheat bread and clean.  By the time I got to cleaning, I was done.  I didn't want to do anything else.  Brandon woke up long enough to say that he'd clean after his nap...then he went back to sleep.  I showered, dressed, and got the kids dressed.  Then I thought I should probably call the OB back.  She was busy so I left a message saying how uncomfortable I was and that I'd like to come to the hospital to be checked out and was very willing to be sent home if there was no reason to keep me.  That was at 10:40 ish.  Then the doctor called me back and said that it sounded like I was transitioning into active labor and to come to the hospital.  So, I called my parents and asked them to meet us at the hospital to pick up our kids.  They got there before we did, so we were able to quickly transfer the kids over to their van and head up to the maternity floor.

When the nurse checked me, she said I was at 5 cm, so they hooked me up to a monitor to track my contractions.  I still wasn't feeling any regular contractions...just the cramping and back aches.  I was hopeful, though, that since I was officially 39 weeks that day (Feb 5th), they might just keep me around and induce me.  When the nurse came back 40 minutes later, she discovered that I was having contractions about 3 minutes apart and that I was then at 7 cm.  Not bad!  I was thrilled that they were going to admit me.  They asked if I wanted an epidural, and I said that I didn't want anything slowing down this labor (I had an epidural with Nicholas and Renae and was in labor for 13-19 hours with both of them!).  

So, when I got to my room, it was almost 1:00.  On USA they had an NCIS marathon, so Brandon and I watched an episode, during which I had progressed to 8 cm and my water was broken.  Brandon was content to just rub my feet as we watched, and I was just happy to be there.  By 2:00, I started having some serious cramping (contractions) that on a scale of 1-10 were at about a 10.1!  I had 2 of those, and I called the nurse in and said that I really was wanting to push.  She tried to help me find a comfortable position, which didn't work, so she checked me, and I was at 10 cm!  They quickly called the doctor in there.

Delivering without an epidural may not have been the smartest thing I've ever done, and if we have another one, I'm going to go ahead and get the epidural!  I'm pretty sure it's the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, but it was over quickly!  (I'm pretty proud of the fact that I didn't cry or complain...my nurse said that in the 11 years she'd been working there, she never saw anything like it...she said that most of her epidural patients at least cry or make some noise!)  Seth was born at 2:34...just three hours after arriving at the hospital!  He was a whopping 8 lb 14 oz baby...bigger than both of my other kids by almost a pound!  And he was a week early (though I still have my doubts about the accuracy of my due date).  He was pretty quiet, and because of his large size, they tested his blood sugar levels.  Anything below 40 isn't good, and he was testing at 22.  If his levels didn't go up quickly, they would have had to take him to the nursery to get his levels up.  Luckily after feeding him and supplementing with a little formula, his numbers climbed over the next two hours.

He was also born with a slight heart murmur.  Renae was born with one, too, so we weren't too worried. However, because Seth also has a bright spot on his heart, I was a little concerned that the two were connected.  (Brandon's dad was also born with heart issues and has an artificial valve, so that's always been a concern for me with our kids, too.)  But, by the next day his murmur had corrected itself and the pediatrician said that there was no reason to be worried there.  During the time we were in the hospital, I got to just enjoy my little guy!  My parents brought our kids to meet their brother that evening, and they were both in love with him just as much as we are.  Renae was a little concerned about seeing me in a hospital and asked me how I felt (she likes to make sure everyone is feeling well, so we get asked this a lot).  When I reassured her that I was fine, she was happy to just cuddle with me.  When Nicholas saw me, he asked, "are you going to have another one soon???"  Um, no.  Not soon.

Brandon got to enjoy a lot of snuggle time with the little guy in the hospital, too.  He even got a root beer to celebrate our latest addition.

We had bought a different outfit to bring him home in, but when our doctor guessed that our boy would be more than 8 lbs, I went out and bought a larger outfit a few days before we went to the hospital.  I'm glad we did!

Seth really didn't cry too much at the hospital...until we were getting him ready to go home.  It was in the 20's outside, and he hates being cold at all, so he wasn't a fan of having to be taken away from his cozy hospital room.

When Nicholas and Renae finally came home later Sunday evening, Nicholas wanted to hold Seth.  My mom said that he'd been saying how he wanted to sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" to Seth.  It was really cute.  Renae was a little afraid of Seth because he cried once when she tried to hold him.

For the most part, we are all settling in just fine.  Seth doesn't like to sleep without being held, but we're trying to cure him of that.  Because of all the pain I had while I was pregnant, I'm still feeling a lot of back and hip pain when I stand up, especially in the evenings.  We are quickly getting to the point where we can't remember what it was like before him, though!  He's such a sweet little boy who has us all wrapped around his fingers...I wouldn't change a thing about him!