A Baby Story

Waiting three weeks to write down the story of your child's birth is NOT a good idea. Details are fading already. Man, I'm getting old. Things were different this time. We went to the hospital on Wednesday morning instead of the night before, like we've done with all the others. It was nice to get that last night's sleep in my own bed. After we checked in and I changed into that gorgeous hospital gown, we settled in to wait for the nurses to start the induction.

I usually go pretty fast once things get started, so I figured we'd have our new little bundle of joy by early afternoon. They started the pitocin at about 9 am, and contractions started in just minutes. I reminded the nurse that my doctor allows me to get my epidural as soon as I am 3 cm dilated. I told her (nicely) that I was not okay with waiting to get my beloved drugs. I gave a brief background of what happened with my last delivery, and told her I seriously could not live through that again. She assured me everything would be fine. But I was not about to leave that up to her.

I asked who the anesthesiologist was while silently praying it was not the same one I had with Mini Man. I didn't recognize the name, so my nerves calmed a little. Then I checked with the nurse about his schedule for the day. "How many C-sections does he have today? What time are they scheduled? How long does each one take?" I was willing to do whatever it took to get that doctor in my room as early as possible, and MAKE him stay there until I could no longer feel my legs. He had one at noon and one at five. With about 45 minutes for each one, things were looking perfect. That left plenty of time for him to spend some quality time with us.

Things progressed a little slower than usual, but I was at a 3 within a couple of hours. It was getting close to his midday C-section, so I started to get a little worried. And then the nurse came in with some news. Dr. No-pain now had two emergency C-sections along with his two scheduled ones. Crap. I started to panic. The nurse figured he could come in and give me my epidural between his two emergency C-sections and then go to the other ones. That sounded okay to me. He was already doing one and should be out soon. He'd have some time while they were preping the next mom in line. But when the nurse came back in a little while later and told us that we'd missed his break in between, and that he was already in the next C-section, I was about to lose it. I could NOT have another natural childbirth, I was sure of it. I told her to stop the pitocin and do whatever she needed to to slow everything down. I told her we would just wait it out until he was out of that operating room.

For some reason the nurses all found it humorous that I was running my own little schedule of when we should have this baby, and when the anesthesiologist should be here or there. I didn't think it was funny. I was totally serious. So they did what I asked and we waited for a little while until the doctor finally came to my room. The stars must have been aligned against me. Lo and behold, in walked the very same anesthesiologist that I had last time. Yes, the one that put that ginormous needle in and out of my back FOUR TIMES before finding a spot to leave it, only to have it COMPLETELY FAIL!!! I wanted to die. I told him my last epidural didn't work; that the last anesthesiologist tried over and over, but in the end it didn't work. He claimed there was "no space" between my vertebrae. Whatever. I mentioned that I had two very successful epidurals before. I knew there was space, and I told the doctor he HAD to find it. He just reassured me that everything would be fine; that it would work this time, and that I had nothing to worry about. And I prayed that he had gotten better at his job in the last two years.

After one shot, the needle was in and I was lying back in my bed waiting. I told him not to go, to just wait until I could feel it kicking in. And he did. It only took a couple of minutes and I could feel my legs getting very heavy. I was suddenly very happy and calm and peaceful. And the doctor had my blessing to go to his next surgery. When he finished with that one, he even came back again to check on me and make sure it was working. I thanked him politely, and never told him that HE was the one who failed me last time.

So there I was, no feeling in my legs, drugs fully kicked in, and in and out of sleep as the contractions rolled on. And soon it was time. My doctor had come, the nurses were preping the room, and I started feeling some pressure. I told them that I could feel the baby coming and that I thought I needed to push. The doctor took one look and said, "Yep! There he is!" Two pushes later I was holding what seemed to me the biggest baby ever. I was so used to teeny tiny infants that when they announced our little man was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long, I just laughed. "He's SO BIG!!!" He didn't look a thing like the other three, but he was absolutely beautiful and completely perfect. Lots of dark hair, pink skin, puffy face. I was in love ... again.

I wasn't the only one in love ...

We came home on Saturday to a house full of sick kids. For about two weeks Miss Priss, DC and Mini Man weren't allowed to hold the baby, kiss the baby, touch the baby, or breathe on the baby. I did everything I could to keep them away from him. And it was nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment, if you ask them. But they all love him to death, especially big brother.


Although he was a little unsure of him in the hospital ...

He warmed up after a minute or two ...

Despite all my efforts, he still got sick. Earlier this week he started coughing just like the rest of them. It's a little nerve wracking listening to such a little guy struggle with such a big cough. Poor thing. He's been coughing and choking and gasping for air. So I took him back to the doctor on Friday for fear of the dreaded RSV virus. He's in the beginning stages of it, so we're supposed to keep him close to home for another couple weeks. If he ends up with a fever we'll have to take him back to the hospital for breathing treatments.

Cole was our biggest baby by over a pound and almost 3 inches! He's nursing like a champ, and to date has already gained almost two pounds!!! Miss Priss didn't weigh this much until she was 3 or 4 months old!!! I'm finally over the swelling and out of maternity clothes. All is well in Zion.