Our little son, Aiden arrived on Thursday, November 20th at 3:37pm. He was 7lbs and 8 oz at 21 inches long. For those of you who are interested, below is Aiden's birth story, and don't worry I left the graphic details out.
After being a week overdue, the Dr brought me in Weds night to ripen my cervix and then to start induction on Thurs. When I came in Weds night they were going to give me Cervidil, but the Aiden's heartbeat was on the high end, so they monitored me for a few hours until it was regulated.
About 4:30am they gave me cervidil to help ripen my cervix, which was 1 cm then. They said it usually takes 12 hours. By 8 am I was up to 3-4 cm, by 10 I was 4-5, so they took the medicine out. The contractions were coming pretty fast (at least it seemed that way) and in my mind were pretty strong (maybe my tolerance for pain is a lot less then I thought). I was very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain. At 11ish, I was able to get my epidural and by then was in heaven. The pain was gone and I think Keith was a lot happier to see me smiling again.
Unfortunately the epidural, made my blood pressure drop lower then it usually is (at one point it was 90/45) and so I was put on oxygen. By 12pm, I was at 9 cm and they broke my water. They were impressed how quickly I progressed, especially because I obviously couldn't do it without help.
They started the pitcin around 1pm and at 2pm, they had me start pushing. The pushing wasn't bad besides of the oxygen mask on my face (although I wasn't really feeling anything thanks to the epidural) but was exhausting. (It's nothing like TV...not that I really thought that) I pushed for about an hour and they baby's heart rate started to go into decels. The Dr (who was my actual Dr in the practice..how lucky was I...not that I would have cared if it was any of the other 3 because they're great too) was growing very concern about the Baby's heartbeat and even though Aiden dropped more, they weren't sure if he was going to get all the way through my pelvis. The Dr started talking about C-section and they even got everything out to prepare me for it. I pushed a few more times, and the Dr came back (the Dr is in and out while your pushing, but I did have a wonderful nurse Karen who was with Keith and I most of the day) in and said he would give me one last time to push, but he wanted to try the forceps because I was growing so tired and Aiden's heartrate was still in decels. He knew I wasn't a forcep fan, but said he would only try it once. I pushed 3 more times and at 3:37pm on Thurs. Nov 20th, Aiden Edward made his appearance.
Although the pushing made me exhausted, I felt great afterwards, but maybe it was just meeting my son. Apparently I tore pretty bad- 4th degree laceration (which is the highest degree), but thanks to the epidural I didn't feel a thing. I
did lose a lot of blood (more then normal) and so my blood pressure was still low. It took them about 45 mins to stitch me up, but for most of that time, Aiden was on my chest and Keith and I just got to bond with him. Due to the tearing, they had kept me on an IV to get fluids, antibiotics, and some pain meds all night and catherized me. So I wasn't
allowed out of bed (till late Fri morning) and I have been treated just like having a C-section patient anyway. I just hope it heals well!
Luckily, I'm feeling great and moving around. All the nurses and Drs are so impressed with how well I'm getting around and moving. They said that my attitude is great and they think that is why I'm healing well. They are making me take pain meds (percocet) to make sure I'm comfortable, even though I didn't want to.
Keith was a great coach, helping me get throught each contraction and trying to get me to breath and relax, which he didn't like seeing me in pain. He was our nurses assistant during the day and even got to take my temperature for her (which enjoyed to much) and with pushing he held my leg and cheered me on and help me to relax between each push. He even got to see more the he bargined for or that I said he was allowed to see- LOL. He cut the cord, which he did want to do. I'm so thankful for having such a great loving husband and we're just so in love with little
Aiden and can't wait to introduce him to everyone.
Pics will come soon, promises!
