Baby Bean's Birthday

We have been a family of three two leggers and one four legger for almost two weeks now, and wow does time fly. I can't believe that about two weeks week ago, this squirmy, snorty, poopy, snuggly little boy was a baby bump that we affectionately called "it". Even though I have no idea what I'm doing, I feel like I already know him, after spending so much time together before his arrival. My brain has shifted from "have I felt him kick recently?" to "when was the last time he ate and what boob was on the menu?"

Now that he's here, I really understand and appreciate Riverside Hospital's tagline; A Birth of a Mom. As soon as he was placed on my chest, it happened. I transformed from a selfish pregnant lady to a mommy. It happened so fast, I almost missed it, but the feeling was unmistakable. All of the sudden, I forgot about my swollen ankles, my sleepless nights and my craving for lunch meat because I was holding my son. "It" had a face and a name and a GENDER! He was here and it was love at first sight. Before I move forward into what I've learned in this week, I want to back up to the day he decided to enter this world.

I woke up when my alarm went off at 6:30am, with every intention of heading into work, since Baby Bean wasn't due for another week. I was still hoping for an early arrival, especially since my Dr. gave me the impression that I wouldn't be making it to my scheduled appointment on Monday. When I woke up, I noticed that I was having some cramping - nothing major, nothing to call home about - but definite cramps. Then they stopped. Then they started again. That's when I said to Nick, "I think I'm having contractions."

Being the newbies that we are, we still weren't sure, so he proceeded to get dressed and ready for work, and I decided that I'd be working from home, just in case this was the real thing. I made my way downstairs and the cramps continued - stop, start, stop, start - in irregular intervals. At this point, I knew that this was IT. I was going to have a baby. They still weren't bad, so Nick went to work to get his laptop so he could work from the kitchen table while keeping a close eye on me. We started timing the contractions, using an app of course. They were pretty irregular in duration and in the time in between. Because we are Mr. and Mrs. Directions Followers, we were waiting for that magic time that they taught us about in class - the 5-1-1 rule. Contractions that are five minutes apart, lasting at least one minute for an hour.

As the day went on, the contractions (cramps) continued. I was able to walk around, eat (popcorn, cereal and mac & cheese), talk and watch TV. Somewhere around 5pm, they started to intensify to the point that I had to sit and bounce on an exercise ball in order to get through them. At this point, we were realizing that this was really real, so Nick loaded our hospital bags, packed a bag for Chino and then made a call to his Aunt to arrange a mutt drop-off before we went to the hospital. In the back of my mind, I was still in shock that this was actually happening. I was afraid to go to the hospital too soon because I didn't want to get sent home. All through this process, we had been keeping my parents updated, promising that we'd call when we decided to head to the hospital, so they could start making the trip to Ohio from PA.

Finally, around 6:30pm - the contractions were around 6 minutes apart. We decided that we should go to the hospital NOW versus waiting for them to be 5 minutes so we had some time for traffic and to drop Chino off. We got in the car and headed to the hospital. We pulled up to the valet at the hospital, met Nick's aunt, and handed Chino off. She seemed more nervous than we did. I was still walking and talking and wondering if this was it, as we headed through the doors.

Once we got to the maternity floor and into triage, the nurses asked a ton of questions, including how long I'd been having pain and what my current pain level was. They eluded to the fact that we may not get admitted. Maybe it was because I wasn't screaming and swearing? I don't know. They finally checked me and found that I was already at 7cm, which meant that it really was time for Baby Bean to make his arrival! Aside from high blood pressure, everything looked good and it was time to get admitted and to get to the labor and delivery room.

Because laying in bed made the contractions more painful, I stood while the paperwork was completed and then walked to the room where Baby Bean would be born. After our class, I was expecting to be able to use the shower and the birthing ball to help ease my labor pains, but as soon as we got there, I was hooked up to an IV, which limited my mobility. Although I had yet to have THE contraction that made me want an epidural, I asked for one as a preventative measure, and was put on the list. Even though I couldn't move too far from the bed, I went through labor by standing and pacing and leaning on Nick. I had a short leash, but moving made labor bearable.

As we waited for the anesthesiologist, the contractions started to get more and more intense, making me glad that I had asked for and signed the papers for an epidural. Finally, just as the anesthesiologist was walking into the room, I had THE contractions that made me so glad that I got on the list. I was breathing through them as they were placing the epidural in my back. Nick said that between getting into the room and the epidural, I went through around 12 REALLY intense contractions. I think that I was having an out of body experience because I remember the pain, but not the duration.

Once the epidural was placed and I was laying down, the pain just stopped. It was pretty freaky how fast it worked. My legs were heavy and felt like they were asleep, and I was able to feel a teeny bit of pressure "down there", but that was it. Now that I was comfortable, they checked me again and I was 9cm, and almost ready to go! The timing was perfect, because at this point, my parents had made it to Ohio and were waiting in the waiting room. I gave the OK for them to come back and say hello before the pushing started.

Before I knew it, it was time to push. The stirrups came up and these nifty little handles popped up on the bed for me to pull against. The nurse gave me instructions, deep breath in, blow it out, deep breath in and PUSH. She counted to 10 and I repeated this 3 times. Nick held one of my legs and looked down and saw our baby's head starting to show. The Dr. was on his way! I continued pushing on and off until he got there - a couple of times she asked me to stop pushing so the baby wouldn't arrive before the doctor. The competitive lunatic in me was patting myself on the back for being an awesome pusher, which is a totally irrational thought to be having under such circumstances.

The doctor walked in, got himself prepared and situated and told me to push and before I knew it, there was a baby on my chest and it was a boy. A boy. A baby. What just happened?! Nick cut the cord in one cut, making him a championship cutter, which was fitting, considering my self-proclaimed status as championship pusher and the baby was taken to be weighed and measured.

Keeping the suspense going, we texted the grandparents to come in to "meet their new grandchild". When they walked in the door, Nick and I both announced that it was a boy and their tears started flowing. Because of the epidural, I still felt fantastic and even said "that wasn't so bad, I could do that again." My mom still cracks up about that because it was about 1/2 hour after I gave birth.

Once I was cleaned up and able to move a little bit, they bundled Baby Bean up, put me in a wheel chair, handed him to me and off we went to our postpartum room to recover.