Okay I know this was 2 months ago but I want to be able to remember what happened. I've already forgotten so many details because the day was such a blur but this is what I do remember!
Michael and I were scheduled to check in at the hospital om Tuesday, May 29th at 5 pm. We were scheduled to be induced because of the gestational diabetes I had. Dr. DiGiorgi ( who is absolutely amazing, best doctor I've ever had) didn't want me going past my due date (June 1st) because she said the placenta stops working as well at 40 weeks, and she didn't want to take any risks since we were already dealing with the gestational diabetes. So we set up the induction for Wednesday morning but checked in Tuesday night so they could insert the cervadil overnight in hope to soften my cervix and prepare it for birth. So Tuesday afternoon Michael and I packed everything up and headed to the hospital!
Last belly shots! At 39 weeks, 4 days :)
In the hospital, before heading in!
We got checked in after waiting in the lobby for about an hour and a half. The night nurse on duty was amazing, and took such good care of me. I got all hooked up to the monitors, got the IVs put in, and the cervadil inserted, and settled in for the night.
Dr. DiGiorgi came by and checked me before the cervadil was inserted to see if I was dilated at all that night. I was not even at 1 cm so she was hopeful overnight the cervadil would help with that.
The next morning they took out the cervadil and I was able to take a shower before we got things going. After I showered they started the pitocin drip around 6 am. Our amazing nurse Leah went off her shift and we got a very formal, not so personable nurse for the day shift :(
Dr. DiGiorgi checked me around 7 am and unfortunately I hadn't made any progress overnight. She said she would be back in few hours to check again. So Michael and I settled in and got comfortable. I think we were both thinking things would move a lot faster than they were. After we realized we were going to be there for a while and baby boy wasn't coming anytime soon, then we had more realistic expectations.
A couple hours later, around 10 am, Dr. DiGiorgi came back to check me again. She wasn't pleased with my progress so she told us she was going to manually break my water to get things going. So she stretched me to about 2 cm (umm ouch!!) and then inserted this really long skinny tube and broke my water. She told us that should get things moving and she would be back later.
I didn't feel many changes over the next 3 hours besides a little water drippage from her breaking my water. Around 1 pm I started to feel the contractions and get uncomfortable. The nurse had already explained that I couldn't get an epidural until I was 4 cm, but she did say that Dr. DiGiorgi was pretty flexible and if I got to 3 cm and wanted one, then she would approve that. The nurse checked and I was still at 2 cm (boo!) so an epidural was going to have to wait a bit. The nurse said she could put painkillers into my IV if the pain got bad. I was okay for a bit and then the contractions were getting stronger so I asked the nurse for the painkillers. She gave me a 1/2 dose in the IV and I felt some relief immediately which was great. She said I could get another dosage in 2 hours but no sooner. About 1 1/2 hours later the pain came back pretty strong so I had to wait another half hour before I got more pain meds. The nurse gave me more and then turned down the pitocin drip a bit. She had upped it a couple times throughout the morning but now she was concerned the contractions were progressing and getting stronger but my cervix was still the same. The pain medicine wore off quicker this time and I was really starting to be in pain from the contractions.
Michael was so great throughout this whole process, either holding my hand or rubbing my back or talking to me to try and distract me- he was so supportive and amazing. The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I was in a lot of pain. The nurse checked and I was far enough dilated to get an epidural. She put in the call to the anesthesiologist but there was a wait and they said it would take about 45 minutes for her to get to me. This was the worst, most excruciating pain of the whole day. The contractions were really close together and really intense. I would get through one contraction and instead of feeling relief that it was over, I would instantly panic that I only had 30 seconds until more pain... this went on for what seemed like forever!
When the anesthesiologist finally arrived, I was crying through every contraction. The anesthesiologist was getting all of her stuff set up and asking me all the medical questions about allergies, and conditions that run in my family. I couldn't even focus on what she was asking, I just remember grunting out "No" over and over to every question she asked. I vaguely remember Dr. DiGiorgi coming in at this point and being there, but that part is so blurry to me haha. She finally gave me the epidural and said it would start to kick in within 30 minutes. I was so mentally and physically exhausted at this point and started to cry again because I thought it would be immediate relief. I didn't realize I would have to wait another half an hour. She did say that I would feel every contraction less and less though throughout the 30 minutes which did happen, so that provided some relief. Within half an hour, I was almost completely numb which was amazing! I had one little spot near my left hip I could still feel which was a little painful. By this time, it was time for the nurse shift change and we got Leah again! Our awesome nurse from last night was back which was just awesome. They checked and I was 6 cm dilated which was great. I was finally progressing. Leah asked if I could still feel anything and I told her about the pain in my left hip. She was so terrific and got the anesthesiologist back up again to take care of it. This time she just inserted the medicine directly into my IV. They also hooked up a button for me to press if I wanted more pain meds. I could do it every 15 minutes they said. Well I took advantage of that and soon I was completely numb from the waist down and couldn't feel anything :)
During the next couple hours, I dozed on and off and finally got some rest. Poor Michael was exhausted by this point as well but didn't get any rest. He had to watch me go through all this pain and labor and couldn't do anything to help so he felt pretty helpless.
Around 8:30, a different nurse came back to check on me and see how I was doing. I still felt great at this point and couldn't feel anything. She checked and immediately jerked her hand back and asked me how I felt. I repeated that I felt fine. She checked my contractions and said that she was going to call Dr. DiGiorgi. Michael and I could tell she kind of wasn't telling us what was going on so we asked if everything was okay. She said that things were great but that she could feel the baby's head already! She said I was fully dilated and couldn't believe how fast I had gone from a 6 to fully ready to go. She put the call in, and Leah came back in to help her start setting things up and getting ready to go. I couldn't believe it was actually time to get things going, it was a crazy feeling!
The nurses got everything set up and they actually had me start pushing before the doctor got there which seemed crazy to me! Dr. Digiorgi got there around 9:30 pm and settled right in. I still couldn't feel anything so it was pretty hard to tell if I was pushing correctly or not since I was so numb. Dr. DiGiorgi was so great and motivating and just kept telling me what a great job I was doing. I still remember the Miami Heat game was on, and in between contractions she would look over at the game and make funny comments to put me and Michael at ease. One time she commented about how hot she thought a soccer player was (don't know how she got that from the basketball game) and how he was on her "list" haha. Another time she said "Oh wow, you have a freckle on the bottom of your foot. Not many people have that. I have a freckle on the bottom of my foot too." She did such an awesome job of being a very un-modest uncomfortable situation really relaxed and comfortable.
Dr. DiGiorgi had me push as hard as I could during a contraction, take a deep breath and push again, and then take another deep breath and push a third time. This was her method and it worked well. Several times I would keep pushing a 4th time just because I was so eager to get him out. After about 30 minutes of pushing, Landon was born at 10:05 pm. Instant love! Michael cut the cord and they put him on my chest. I held him and kissed him over and over and then they took him to do their tests. He was such a calm baby and so cute!
After they did all the tests, the nurses said I could shower but my legs were still completely numb so I knew that wasn't happening. The nurses cleaned me up and then we transferred to a room upstairs where we would stay for the next 2 days. I held Landon in my lap in the wheelchair to get upstairs. Once we got upstairs, a nurse came in and helped me to try to feed Landon and then she took him away for his first real bath. We waited a couple hours for him to get back so we could look at him and cuddle him. By the time he got back it was 3 am and we were all exhausted. I tried to feed Landon again to signal my body that it needed to produce milk. Then we all went to sleep for a couple hours. Nurses were in and out doing stuff so we didn't get much sleep.
The next day we had a few visitors throughout the day. Michael ran home and showered and then came back. We ordered pizza for dinner and tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep. Landon was super fussy and we couldn't settle him down for the longest time. Finally the kind nurses brought him out by their station so we could get a couple hours of sleep. Apparently it was a rough night on our floor because there were a few babies by the nurses' station :)
The next morning Landon got circumcised, we both got a shot and then we got discharged. Michael drove very safely home, and even went through the Dairy Queen drive thru to get me a blizzard since I hand't had sweets in months. It was sooo good!
First car ride home- he slept the whole way :)
