Saturday, August 15, 2009

He's Here!

Our son, Aaron, was born on Friday August 14th at 2:31 PM. We are completely in love.



Here's how it all happened:

On Thursday night I checked in at the hospital at 8 PM for my induction. I was there for a few hours, dealing with paperwork and getting settled (blood draws, pick line, etc.) before the nurse inserted the Cervidil. In case you don't know, Cervidil is something like a suppository that makes the cervix thin out and become receptive for labor. That was an overnight deal, so I was also given an Ambien so I could sleep. I honestly didn't get much sleep—kept waking up to pee—but I did a little.

Then it was Friday morning around 7 AM. The nurse checked my cervix and while it hadn't dilated past the 1 cm I was the night before (and at my prior office visits), I was 100% effaced and the baby was at -1 station.

The OB on call (and one I really like) came by at 8 or 8:30 AM and checked me, and started me on the lowest dose of Pitocin (oxytocin, to cause contractions) possible. She also broke my water—that was weird! I was doing OK through them until around 10 AM, when they were beginning to make me nauseous. I was checked and was dilated to 3 and I got my epidural. It was AWESOME! And I progressed quickly after that. I rested, half-slept, and my husband played around on my laptop. When I was next checked—close to noon?—I was dilated to 7 CM!

My husband called my mom (and his mom) to let them know it was moving MUCH faster than we thought. It ended up moving even faster when, at 12:45 PM I was fully dilated to 10 cm and felt urges to push (even with the epidural, but it wasn't too painful). Hubby called the parents again and said COME NOW!!! Then the doctor came in, the nurse had me "practice push" for about an hour. My OB had another induction patient was also close but I apparently won the "race" and was to deliver first.

About 2 PM or so, I was READY. Honestly, I only pushed for about a half hour with brief breaks of Oxygen (baby's heartrate dipped a bit, as did mine, but we both perked up with the oxygen mask). It was tough, I felt like I couldn't get enough air in at a few times, but overall not too terrible. Aaron was born at 2:31 PM to comments from my OB of "Whoa that's a HUGE head" and "That's a BIG baby!!!"

Aaron weighed 9 lb even and was 20.25 (or 20.5) inches long. (Need to double check on length.)

The one BAD part of it all... he was so big that he didn't quite fit and I tore VERY badly. Basically as bad as one CAN tear. I have 4th degree tears to my perineum and rectum. My OB basically had to completely repair my anus. It's pretty painful and will be a tough recovery. I'm on major stool softeners and pain meds. I hope that I won't have any complications from this. But the doctors and nurses are all, apparently, amazed by my pain tolerance and my attitude and how such a "small person" (thanks for saying I'm small, at 5'4") had such a LARGE baby.

I guess that explains the 40 lbs I gained! Nine of it was baby, and about nine or so was blood volume, amniotic fluid, uterus, placenta, etc. I'm not weighing myself for a while—I don't need to know—and I can't exercise or do any heavy lifting for six weeks. So I'm just going to take it easy and get well. And learn to breastfeed. My son and I are learning together but we'll get there.

So there you go... he's here. Aaron. We feel so blessed to have him.

7 comments:

  1. ROBYN! CONGRATS! And Aaron is a total cutie (and he looks a lot like his McDad)

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  2. Oh my gosh, he's so cute!! Congratulations, guys. =)

    And best wishes for a speedy recovery, Robyn. Fingers crossed that you're all settled in at home soon!

    Rox

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  3. He is such a cutie pie!!!! Sorry about the tearing, that sounds awful! I'm always mildly terrified of the thought of birth because of that whole concept of large head small exit thing. Hope you recover well and enjoy Aaron!!!!!!!!

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  4. Congratulations Robyn - he is just too cute.

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  5. Congrats Robyn!! He's beautiful. Take it easy with the tearing.. A friend of mine tore like that and she took awhile to heal but it wasn't bad she said.

    9 lbs though! Wow. I thought Emma was plenty big at 8 lbs 2 oz.

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  6. I said it on Facebook, but I'll say it again. He's beautiful. And Congratulations!

    I'm so sorry that you tore so badly. At least the end result is worth it.

    Take care of yourself and of Aaron, and certainly don't even think about the scale for a while. You have much more important things to deal with.

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