Saturday, August 16, 2008

Where did that week go?

Man, days are blending together recently! Could be the middle of the night feedings...I can't complain...so far I've had to wake the little guy up to eat in the middle of the night. Not a big deal. We're struggling with breastfeeding though, as the little guy is a "lazy eater" so he usually doesn't want to put the effort into breastfeeding. I'm seeing a Lactation Consultant tomorrow, and hopefully she can give me some tips.



Anyway, I think in my last post I promised some details about Alexander's delivery....





On August 3rd, my water broke at just before 2am, so I put in a phone call to the good doctor. Twenty minutes later contractions started, but no call from the doctor as of yet. I waited until 3am and called again. Still no call back. At about 4am my contractions were one minute long, five minutes apart for one hour so another phone call went in....apparently the phone operator had been paging the wrong person....he thought another doctor was on call. No wonder no one was calling me back. The right doctor did call and sent me to the hospital.



Chris and I got to the hospital around 5am. Shortly after our arrival, my mom showed up. Then a ton of people started trickling in. My father, Darth Bruce, my in-laws, a couple of my brothers (I can not remember what order they came in). They all came and went as they pleased from my labor room. It was fairly entertaining. Little did they know what they were in for....



At 8am, the doctor offered me a little something so I could get some sleep. I was about 4cm dilated and exhausted. They hooked me up to oxytocin to help me dilate and the contractions to regulate, plus a little something so I could take a nap. Whatever they gave me made me tell Chris bizarre things. I vaguely remember asking his questions about things I had been thinking about and of course he had not one clue what I was talking about. Poor guy. Doc came to check me after and I was about 7.5 cm dilated, -1 station.



At about 10 am (this is 8 hours of labor so far, mind you) I was offered the labor pool. Awesome idea. Loved it. Alexander, however, decided to start rolling around during each contraction. Fabulous. After 2 hours of that I had it. Doc came in once again to check me and I was at about 8cm dilated, 0 station. So here I am, 10 hours of contractions, no real progress, and the contractions have become incredibly painful. I decided to ask for an epi...and thank goodness I had, but I'll get to that later. Doc checked me on and off for hours and still no progress. My family was still in and out of my labor room and the waiting room...where my brother Brendan convinced them all to play Uno for money and he was cleaning up.

Hours go by...and I'm still 8cm and 0 dilation. It's now close to midnight, and the good doc comes and talks to me. She has a theory. The theory is this...my body is not going further along, and the baby is rolling during contractions because he's too big and is trying to progress but can't. It's been almost 22 hours since my water broke
and labor started. It's time to have a C-section.
Let me tell you, I am so glad that I got the epi
hours earlier. It made it much easier to focus
on what the doctor was telling me, and it make
it easier to prep for the C because I was all
hooked up already. Plus, I would have been
beside myself if I had suffered for those extra
10 hours just to wind up with the epi anyway....


So a little while later, plus 9lbs 2oz removed all at
once, we have a sweet little baby boy!

3 comments:

Elephant Steps said...

Awwwww yay! He is so cute!! Thanks for sharing the details! Post more pictures when you have a free moment. :)

Martalu said...

Wow, I thought my labor was long! I'm glad things went swimmingly, though. That's what matters, and omg, is little Alexander worth it! Serious cutie! So, have you considered pumping and doing the bottle thing? Hope the lactation counselor helps out. Love you lots!

Sarah said...

Hi Alanna, thanks for all the details. Hope the nursing gets better. After a few weeks you will hopefully get into a rhythm and it will get way easier. Ian nursed for 14 months and after about 2 it was the easiest thing ever. If however it doesn't work out, formula is a great alternative that comes with its own share of benefits.
If you want to talk shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you my number if you don't have it. I am not a certified lactation consultant, but I had 14 months of experience =)
Hang in there!

Sarah