I cannot believe we're nearing in on six months since our sweet girl was born! Seriously, half of her first year is almost behind us. Makes me so sad at how fast time truly goes. If you think time flies with out kids, wait until you have a baby and you can literally watch them growing before your eyes. Slow down time, slow down.
Regardless, now is the perfect time to sit down and collect my thoughts on welcoming our darling baby girl into this world before the details fade. So, here we go!
I remember from when I was first pregnant, I told myself a few things: 1. I will be OK with being pregnant until December 1st. 2. I will have a c-section.
Reasonings: I wanted to be prepared for going past my due date. They say that with your first baby, most mothers end up going past their due date. Therefore, I told myself that I was going to be late as well, and I was allowing myself to be calm and pregnant until December 1st, 1 week after my due date. I just had a gut feeling, from the first moments of thinking of labor and delivery, that I would have a c-section. So I watched a video or two (VERY interesting if you ask me) to get myself familiar with what they do. And that was that!
Let's go back to Wednesday November 25th. 40+1. I had my 40 week appointment. My doctor checked and said I wasn't dilated at all, and the baby was very high. Just by feeling, she estimated that Baby Hobson was roughly 7.5lbs. We set up two appointments for the following week with ultrasounds and non-stress tests, gave me an induction date of December 7th and sent me on my merry way to enjoy Thanksgiving.
I was thinking maybe I would have a Thanksgiving baby. What a great gift and reason to be thankful... nope. All I got was a nice slice of chocolate cream pie... Baby Hobson wasn't done cooking.
So that following weekend I decided it was time to prep for the Holidays. We went out and got our Christmas tree and put out all our decorations. It was a bit early for us, but I didn't want to be waiting until December 24th to start feeling festive, so decorating it was. It helped keep me busy! We got some shopping done also. There wasn't anyway I was going to be Christmas shopping with a newborn, so we had to be sure to get it done early.
So now we're at Monday, November 30th. I had a few episodes of contractions, nothing timable, nothing consistent. My ultrasound showed that baby looked and sounded great and I had a great deal of amniotic fluid still, a really good amount. It was measured at a 25, whatever the unit fluid is measured in. Sent on my merry way again, with an appointment on Friday, for another non-stress test, with my induction still scheduled for Monday the 7th.
I woke up Wednesday morning, December 2, at 5am and didn't feel any kicks or movement from our little munchkin for a while. I would typically get some movement, and I couldn't feel anything. I laid so still - analyzing everything thinking was that a finger or a light brush? I decided I needed to get some sugary juice. That usually gets baby moving in situations where you want a clear movement. So I drank an apple juice box and started poking and proding. It took a while but I was able to get a few movements. Not near the normal "kick counts", so I called the on call doctor. She told me to take a shower and wait for her return call on if I would be going into the office to see a Dr., or down to the hospital. She called back about a half hour later and said to go down to the hospital as there was no room in the schedule for me at the office. So, down to the hospital we went. We didn't call anyone because we weren't sure what was going on. We were hooked up to the monitors for quite a while, which picked up baby's heart beating beautifully. We were just waiting to be taken for an ultrasound with a perinatologist. It was about our 5th or 6th hour of being at the hospital before we got taken for the ultrasound, which showed that the baby was swimming in amniotic fluid. My fluid was measured at an average of 29. It had increased since Monday. Since there was so much fluid, it was likely that baby was just suspended, and this masked the movements. We saw baby moving on the monitor but I couldn't feel all of the kicks. The perinatologist also said it looked like baby was about 8lbs 13oz. (insert surprised emoji here). I'm supposed to have a nice little 7lb baby. I was roughly 6lbs 8oz, or somewhere arund there. So I was expecting a little 7-7.5 pounder.. not a high 8 pounder! Maybe it's wrong?
The midwife and I both agreed that I would go home from the hospital and come back into the office the next morning to see how I was. I was OK with going home not feeling much as I had heard and saw baby on the monitor moving and breathing beautifully. I wasn't sure how long I would feel OK with that though. It's hard after feeling your baby for so long, to not feeling anything. We went home, I relaxed and I think we got take out for dinner. We packed up our bags in case our appointment ended us back at the hospital. We went to bed and got up the next morning taking our showers and making sure if this was our last time home everything was done and ready. Sheets were changed, toilets scrubbed, dishes done, etc. We kissed Mr. Mack and headed out for our appointment.
Again, baby seemed to be doing just perfect in there. But still suspended. I was starting to get a faint headache on my way to the appointment. I was chugging water hoping that would help it subside. The midwife took my blood pressure and immediately had a surprised response. My blood pressure was perfect through out my whole pregnancy. I don't remember what it was, but it was a high blood pressure reading. She waited a few minutes, had my lie down, and took it again. Still high. She explained the headache was likely due to my pressure being up. So at that moment, she said those magic words, "It's time to be induced." She called the hospital and informed them we were coming in. We were finally on our way to have our baby!
We got to the hospital, got checked in and settled into our room, hooked up to monitors and waited for the plan. We got there at about 10am, and it wasn't until about 1:30-2 that we finally had our plan. We were going to start with a 6 hour pill inserted to soften my cervix, Cytotec. 6 hours came and went. Minimal progress. Now we're looking at something overnight, so I had a 12 hour gel, Cervidil, that also aims to soften and ripen the cervix. 12 hours came and went and I was only dilated to a 1.5 at the end of this. Next step was a balloon. It goes on either side of your cervix, so with every contraction they try to push together, resulting in dilation. This is also a 12 hour step, unless it just falls out sooner. This was uncomfortable, but not terrible. I think it's called a foley balloon catheter. Thankfully I was able to walk around the hospital with this. Walking totally helped me. The nurses said 27 laps around the floor was a mile, so Wayne and I got to walking making pit stops for potty breaks.
I'm not even sure of the time, but towards the end of the time limit on the Foley balloon I was checked again and had progressed to a 4! My doctor was very impressed that I was up and walking the halls on this. Most women get the epidural with the balloon as it is that uncomfortable. I didn't want to be confined to the bed yet, so I knew I had to push through! I was then started on pitocin to increase contractions. I'm not sure what time of day I was started on pitocin, I think around midnight of Friday, the 4th. At 5 am on the 5th, my doctor came in and we agreed it was time to break my water and try to speed things up. I opted for the epidural at this point. I believe I was around 5 cm, and felt like things would be kicked into high gear once they broke my water.
About an hour later I had my epidural placed which wasn't that bad at all. I had a great anesthesiologist. Once the epidural was placed and working, my doctor came back to break my water. Let's just say, they were spot on with the polyhydramnos. The water just kept coming and coming. My doctor and the nurse were both laughing, which made me laugh, which made even more water come out. They had said a few times how much water it was. They were expecting a lot, but this was A LOT!
I'm not sure if it was the epidural, or just the length of time I had been in the hospital by now, roughly 48 hours, but I was exhausted. I napped on an off while Wayne watched TV. I was check around 10:30am, and was at a 7. We called our parents and told them don't rush, but start to make your way down, thinking that baby would finally be making an appearance soon. We were thinking around 1-2pm maybe. Well, 2pm came and went and I was probably only up to an 8 by then. Around 5pm, I was about a 9. 7 pm I had increased to a 9.5, and then we just waited.
I was starting to get anxious. And starting to really feel these contractions through the epidural. Bridesmaids came on TV and I think it was fate because it totally helped me through the contractions and pressure! I was getting so uncomfortable around 9:30, feeling a TON of pressure. The bed was in a sitting position at this point, and I was still watching Bridesmaids. I think it was the airplane scene. My doctor came in somepoint soon after, and checked me, I was still at a 9.5. She said there was a lip of my cervix that was around the baby's head. She was going to try to move it out of the way and we were going to try a practice push. So my doctor and nurse got a few things ready and instructed me on a practice push. Before I really knew anything my doctor told me to stop, and she and the nurse started rotating me back and forth on the bed. From left to right and back. Somehow I ended up with an oxygen mask on my face and some sort of medicine was called in. A minute later I had a shot in the back of my arm. A few minutes later things settled and my doctor sat down on the bed, explaining that during the practice push I had multiple contractions that didn't stop, and this caused the baby's heart rate to drop. So they called in a medicine to stop my contractions all together. She informed me of what I knew from the beginning, it was time to go into the OR for a c-section.
I was fine with it. I was just honestly so excited to meet this baby. I had prepared myself and gotten the epidural because I felt like I was going to end up in this situation and I wanted to be awake. I'm SO happy I followed my intuition with the epidural. The anesthesiology team came in an increased my epidural. About 20-30 minutes later, about 10:20pm, I was wheeled into the OR and ready to have this baby!
The c-section experience was interesting. The procedure before Riley was born was pretty quick. They pinched me a bunch of times to see if I still had feeling. Wayne came in dressed in his white sterile suit. I had two anesthesiologists above my head and from what I could tell, my doctor, a resident, two nurses, and a team from the nicu since there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. We were having regular conversations about the Holidays, and our pets! I told the room our name choices, for boy and girl. My doctor informed me of a ton of pressure coming up as they were going to be taking the baby out. At 10:52pm, my doctor declared, "It's a GIRL! It's Riley!" She was taken over to the warming station and given a once over by the NICU team. She was deemed perfect at 8lbs 15 oz, and 21.5 inches long. And the NICU team soon exited. Wayne got to go over and take her first pictures. She was cleaned up, bundled up, and brought over to Wayne.
As soon as my doctor declared she was born, I immediately started crying and shaking like crazy. Hormones are an amazing thing, let me tell you. I was absolutely still and fine before hand, and BAM, crying shaking mess. So I passed on holding her first. I was honestly afraid I was going to drop her! So Wayne got to sit right behind me and we just stared at her. She had these huge puffy cheeks, and was just so perfect. It took about 40 minutes to get me sewn back up. This was the hardest part of the c-section. I had lost a lot of blood so that was a bit time consuming. I was so cold too. One of my anesthesiologists kept asking for warm blankets for my arms and chest. Once I was all stitched up, Wayne left the OR first to degown. They handed me my baby girl for the first time, and covered us both in warm blankets. I literally had blankets draped all over my body and even over my head. I must have looked rediculous! I warmed up quickly and was just so happy to finally meet this little munchkin who had been kicking around inside for the last 9, basically 10 months!
Once we were out of the OR, and into our Triage room, Wayne went out to tell our parents the good news. I told him from the beginning that he was walking out and telling our parents "it's a Blank!", so out he went, and I heard the yelling and screaming and clapping from Triage. (: Word is they had a few celebratory drinks. Soon after they were allowed to sneak back and meet her quickly. It was well after midnight at this point and everyone needed sleep!
And that, is the birth story of Riley Jane and how we became a family of three! Well, four including Mr. Mack.
