My birth story and the days that followed..

So I am going to try to get this all out in one post.. lol.. here we go.

Tuesday night around 11pm I started having abdominal pains. I had been getting these throughout my pregnancy but the frequency was increasing. The pain was horrid and I was tired and scared. Around 1am we decided to venture once again to L&D. They checked us in, I wasn't contracting or dilating which I knew but the pain was insane! They called the doctor who decided to keep me overnight for observation and give me morphine for the pain.

Around 8am Wednesday morning the doctor came in. The pain was better but coming back. He checked me and I was a little over 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. He looked at the nurse and asked for the hook to break my water. He said "we're having a baby today". I was so excited. Around 9am they started the pitocin and the contractions were almost immediate. By 11am I had enough and asked for the epidural. I had been hurting for 12 hours and was over it. The epi went in fairly easy and allowed me to rest and chat with the husband and my mom.

They checked me around 4pm and I was only at 5cm. They had me roll to my side hoping that would help. It did. Within 30 minutes I was at 7cm. They lowered the epi just a bit and then all of a sudden it felt like I needed to push. They rolled me back and checked me again. Within 15 minutes I went from 7cm to 10cm. Wow! They started prepping for delivery. Around 5pm I was ready to go. The pain just kept increasing, come to find out 3 pushes in the epi ran out.. great. Apparently the cord was wrapped around his neck but the doctor was great. She kept it under control and I pushed through. Though, I think I heard "His head is right there, only a few more pushes" for 45 minutes. I pushed for just over an hour and managed to keep from tearing, till the end. Once his head was out his shoulder got stuck and on the next contraction I tore. A 2nd degree tear, so not horrid but recovery is no fun. The doctor clamped the cord, looked at my husband (who stayed near my head) and said "I have a job for you" He tried to say no but I growled "Just cut it" so they would give me my baby.

They put him on my chest and I was so in love. He got a 9 on his apgars and is simply perfect.

We had some issues in the beginning with BF'ing. He would latch but his suck was off. He struggled throughout the night and into the next day. Finally I found a great nurse who made it her goal to get it working. With the help of a nipple shield we were doing better, unfortunatly it was too late. On Friday after his circumcision they told us he had jaundice and we needed to stay another day, put him under the bili light and supplement with formula. I was crushed. Tired, hormonal and very upset that my baby had to stay under the lights.

With supplementation and support we got through the night. His levels dropped great and they sent us home Saturday morning. We have the at home bili blanket for now but are hoping to be done with it by tomorrow.

He is perfect. My milk is in and he is eating like a champ. Supplementing is really no longer needed but they want us to at least supplement a little till tomorrow. He is big on sleeping which thrills us. Being home, a little more rested and having this perfect baby is making life perfect!!