...so I finally found some time....

Its been a month since I last updated the blog, so I have finally found some time to write about everything that has been going on in our lives - baby, new house, school, etc. So get ready for several blog posts all at once :)

Deakin's Arrival

After having contractions for 10 days and completely neglecting my school work during that time we finally went to the hospital on Sunday October 25. I had contractions all day Saturday that were about 7 minutes apart and Scott and I had been going for long walks trying to get the contractions to hurry up. We walked over 25 miles in less then a week before Deakin's arrival. The contractions would get harder and more frequent during the walks but then lessen in strength when we would stop. On Sunday, I woke up having contractions 5 minutes apart and they stayed that way all day long. Normally they tell you to go into the hospital when you contractions are 5 minutes apart - but my contractions didn't hurt, which I was assured that they would when they were real contractions and not just false labor.

I spent the hours leading up to the hospital calling several people for advice about when to go to the hospital - because I did not want to show up and get told to go back home. That would have been a waste of time and if we weren't about to have the baby then I needed to be doing homework for school on Monday. I called my mom and then I called my cousin Frannie - who had just had a baby 3 months earlier, and her sister Bridget - who has 3 kids and is an RN. They both suggested that I head to the hospital because the worst that could happen was to go home. At about 5:30 pm I finally call the hospital and asked what they thought. I told them that I had been having contractions for 10 days and that they were finally pretty consistent and close together, and that I had been having other symptoms that would indicate that labor was imminent. The only thing that I was missing was painful contractions or having my water break. The hospital said that it was better safe then sorry and to come in - especially since I already knew that I was dilated to at least a 4.

We got to the hospital around 7:30, and when the nurse checked me out she said that I was only a little past a 4. They allowed me to decide whether I wanted to stay and having the kiddo with the aid of pitocin (if things didn't speed up on their own), or head home to wait for things to happen naturally. I opted for the drugs - it was time for Deakin to make his arrival.

They put us into a labor room and since walking around strengthened my contractions they put me on a wireless monitor and had me walking around the room (they had nice big rooms - see picture - thats about half of it). Scott and I had got the first Harry Potter book on audio so we listen to that to pass the time. A couple of hours later I still hadn't made progress so it was time for some drugs. They set up my pitocin drip a little after midnight and told me to get some sleep.

They came back in around 3 am (Monday morning) and decided that I was now up to 6 cm. They were surprised to find out that I was that far dilated and that the contractions were still not painful. In order to get things progressing faster they decided to break my water. They were surprised by how much water there was - I guess we figured out why I wasn't really feeling my contractions - because as soon as they broke my water my contractions were exceedingly painful. Epidural please!

At one point after they broke my water, his heart beat dropped. They were going to try and put fluid back into the uterus to relieve some of the pressure on the umbilical cord. They told us that if that didn't work that we were going to have to do a c-section. Deakin, I believe, is going to be a poop head (and I say that in the nicest way). He wanted until the doctors had the catheter out of its sterile packaging and were about to insert it - and then he flipped over (or something) and his heartbeat went right back up to normal. I think that he just wanted some extra attention :)

Around 7 am they told me that I could start pushing and that they expected it to take about 30 minutes to get Deakin out because he was already sitting so low. Deakin had other ideas - he wanted to come out sideways. No matter how they tried to flip him over he always rolled back to the same sideways position. His head got stuck to the point that he was missing some skin on his head when he came out, and even after his head was out his shoulders got stuck. I guess they were thinking about having to break his collar bone to get him out - but then he finally made his way fully into the world at 10:08 - that's right 3 hours. It really wasn't too bad until the last 45 minutes or so. I also lost the right to say that I never threw up during my pregnancy in that last 45 minutes - oh the joys of labor.

But I guess he is worth it. This is Dr. Bathgate - she has been my OB for my entire pregnancy. I guess that it is uncommon that your normal OB be the one to deliver the baby because they run a group practice and who ever is on call that day is the one to do the delivery. This photo is about 5 minutes after Deakin was born.

The proud dad. Scott told me that there were times in the last remaining minutes of labor that he wanted to say encouraging things - but he was too choked up to talk. I'm so glad that he was there with me.

Our first family picture. Don't you just love my hairdo - it took me forever to get all of the tangles out of my hair the first time that I took a shower after this.

Deakin arrived weighing 7 pounds 13 ozs, and was 19 inches long, more then a full pound heavier then the admitting doctor guessed he would be.

We talked to Dr. Bathgate about the next kiddo that we are hoping to have. She told us that they were going to induce the next one early in hopes of avoiding some of the problems we had this time with the labor and delivery process. That means I get to schedule it - woohoo!!! You have no idea how excited I am about this. It means that I won't have to wait for over a week having contractions and not getting anything done. (Well I guess that could still happen - but at least now I will know that there is a specific end date.) It also means that I get to know the plan ahead of time - and we all know how much I like to make plans - this is going to be awesome!