Mama Leaver-part 1

Well, 5 weeks and 2 days ago my world changed. Carter Daniel Leaver entered this world nine days early on 11/12/11 at 9:30am. Here is our story...

After dinner with friends on 11/11/11 my back began hurting while we were sitting around and talking. It continued to hurt as Dan and I made our way back home and relaxed on the couch. Dan tried all the massage tricks that he knew but nothing was helping. I laid in crazy positions on the couch and eventually in bed to try and alleviate the pain. Dan suggested that we call the doctor but I wasn't having any stomach contractions and my back pain wasn't coming in any regular waves. Dan really thought that we would be going to the hospital sometime that night so he decided to take a nap. I couldn't sleep so I took a shower and retired back onto the couch. At this point I started to have stomach contractions 4-5 minutes apart but they stopped after 30 minutes. My back pain was HORRIBLE at this time, with shooting pain every 2 minutes. I rolled around like a beached whale on the floor of our living room with Golden Girls in the background. :) Finally, I woke Dan up and said "maybe we should call the doc"...I was in tears and wanting to throw up because of my back pain. The doctor called us back within 2 minutes of our call (kudos to Dr. Robinson!) and suggested that we wait to see if my stomach contractions continued but Dan pushed a little because of my back pain. Dr. Robinson then decided if I was in that much pain, that I should just come in.

We already had our bags packed but had some last minute items that needed to be packed. The dog needed to go out (I was convinced that we would be returning home so I didn't want to stop at my moms to drop him off and wake them up). I was nervous about "wasting" the nurses/doctor's time. And the special (aka CALM) way of going to the hospital that you always see on Baby Story on TLC was NOT how it was going down in the Leaver household. It seemed to me that Dan was taking his sweet old time getting dressed and checking our packing list. Every two minutes I would yell out in pain, start crying all over again, and double over in pain. Finally I just grabbed our bags and went outside hoping that would make Dan move faster. Looking back on it, he was moving pretty quick but I was just in SO MUCH PAIN.

On the way to the hospital (it was 1 am I think) I cried and timed my back pain (2 minutes) and my stomach contractions (much weaker pain but there). I still didn't think I would be staying at the hospital. We arrived and made our way up to the maternity ward. The nurses told me that I looked uncomfortable and quizzed me about my pain. We went into the "triage" room to find out if I was actually in labor. I went into the little bathroom to get changed and ended up crying because I couldn't figure out how to snap up the ultra cool gown. I had to have the nurse come in and dress me (I'm sure she wondered how I was going to take care of a baby if I couldn't snap up my own gown)-awesome-my first bout of awkward nakedness of the night. They hooked up all the monitors once I got into the bed and checked me for dilation. Surprised, the nurse said "baby girl, I'm impressed! You are 6, almost 7 cm dilated!! You're having a baby today!" Cue total amazement on mine and Dan's faces!

Dan immediately went out to call my mom, his parents, and text my Dad. Side note: at 4:30pm the day before we became an aunt and uncle when my sister in law had her baby boy, Chase. Much to my inlaws surprise, their 2nd grandchild was going to be coming just 17 hours after their first! :) Pretty awesome!

Back to the triage room. Two things came to my mind after I heard how far along I was-1. Could I still get an epidural and 2. Could we get in the antibiotics I needed for the Strep-B? Yes and yes were the answers. We quickly signed some paperwork and then moved to Labor and Delivery Room. I had a mild panic attack when we got settled in there (um, YES, I do have to push out this child). They came in and got my IV started for the antibiotics. When you are Strep-B positive, they want to get two rounds of antibiotics in (4 hours apart) so they do not have to treat the baby after he/she is born. The anesthesiologist came in soon after to do my epidural. I was very nervous about this but our nurse Amy walked us through EVERYTHING that would happen before he got there. She was awesome-just sat down with us for about 20 minutes to help ease my mind. The epidural got in fine (and like my friend Jenny said "epidurals are magical") and my back pain eased and then disappeared. By the time this was in my mom arrived and we found out I was already at 9cm. They did not break my water in hopes that we could finish my IV. I was running on adrenaline and couldn't sleep more than 10 minutes but just sat and talked with my mom as Dan tried to catch some sleep. Around 6 or 6:30 we started the second round of antibiotics. Amy talked to us about the possibility that our baby might be "sunny side up" which means that the face of the baby is facing up toward the stomach instead of toward the back. This would explain my back labor and would probably mean that I would have a little more difficulty delivering. I wasn't having much urge to push at this point but feeling a little more pressure down lower. I was starting to notice that I could feel a "hot spot" near my left hip (a spot where the epidural did not "take") and was feeling dull pain. At 7:00ish Dr. Robinson came in to check me to see if we wanted to break my water and start pushing!

Dr. R walked in with a coffee cup and greeted all of us. Cue awkward naked moment #2. There I was and he just leaned against the cabinets directly across from me to start making small talk with everyone. Hmmm. He then walked over, put on a glove, picked up his coffee again, and checked me for dilation. Then he got the tool used for breaking the water and WITH HIS COFFEE CUP STILL IN HIS HAND, broke my water. (Side note: this was the creepiest feeling ever....and my panic attack #2 because I REALLY had to deliver a baby since the water was broken). Dr. R returned back to cabinet leaning and talked to my mom about doctors/people they both know. My contractions backed off for awhile, making it very awkward for me as I waited to do SOMETHING than just lay there with my legs up in the stirrups! Finally a contraction came and I started pushing. We did a few rounds of that and then Dr. R left for home. His shift was done and Dr. Rowland would be delivering Carter later that day. I continued pushing for two hours (which honestly felt like 30 minutes). The baby was coming down but couldn't get under my pelvic bone. My hot spot was KILLING me and the pain was getting worse every contraction. After two hours of pushing, Dr. Rowland stopped me and gave me a choice to make. I could continue to push for another 30 minutes and she figured the baby would come out (but she was concerned that I was getting too tired) or we could use the suction to help the baby come out and he/she would probably get out in three more contractions. Dan and I never even considered this and I was concerned about using the suction. I asked about the cons of using it and was told that he/she would have a perfectly round bruise on the top of their head and they would be at a slightly higher risk of jaundice. My hot spot was the deciding factor-it was really starting to affect my ability to push and I did not want to get into a situation that I couldn't finish and would have to get a c-section. We decided to use the suction. All of a sudden there were about 7 more people in the room, all moving around preparing things. It was like they just appeared from nowhere! Dr. Rowland inserted the suction and I started to push again with the next contraction. All of a sudden I felt immense pressure and could tell that the head was under the bone. My mom and Dan said that it was very weird to see the doctor working the suction instrument-she even had to put the bed lower so she could pump and pull on it more. I think it was exactly three contractions before he popped out. Before the last push I remember saying "I can't do it" but the nurses urged me to continue on without stating the obvious-you HAVE to do it! :)

The baby's head came out (yes, sunny side up) and then the body. Immediately the pressure was gone and the immense pain in my hot spot disappeared (we think he was laying on a nerve). They said "congratulations, it's a BOY"...my reaction? "REALLY?!?!?" Dan and I both felt that we were having a girl but he was definitely a boy! :) Dan cut the cord (after dropping the scissors because his hands were shaking so bad) and then they laid him on my chest/stomach. It was amazing! Our perfect little boy was finally here.

I will continue this story a little bit later....our little boy is hungry right now! :)

A little overwhelming...

So, it is starting to hit me that I am going to be a mom in 5 months. A MOM. And then in 7-8 months, I am going to be a working mom. A WORKING MOM. Oh my...

I'm realizing that I have been slacking in taking care of the house. I'm not as good as I once was with filing papers/bills/receipts...I let things build up before taking care of them...and that is just not going to fly once this little baby is here. I know that some of this is happening because I've been so tired in my first trimester and so much has been going on with the house and at work. But, I'm going to have to figure something out before this baby arrives or I might go crazy once I return to work!

If anyone has any suggestions on making a transition to mom/working mom PLEASE SHARE!