Mommy's Moments: February 2010

It dawned on me today, that I have not posted Eli's birth story. I have it saved to the computer, but for fear of my computer dying on me one day, I am going to post it to the internet gods where it will live on forever. I wrote this at the end of the first week home with Eli, so everything was fresh in my mind. Enjoy!

Eli’s Birth Story

On October 2, 2009, We had our 38 week doctors appointment , and our fabulous doctor; Dr. Van Den Heuvel, informed us that they would not be inducing me and that we would let nature run its course.

I had the Non Stress Test (NST) done and the baby was moving around, kicking the microphone. It was so great to hear his heart beating. It’s such a beautiful sound. After the NST, I had a growth ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid and the baby’s weight. Amniotic fluid was measuring perfect, and the baby was weighing 6lbs 12 oz – Give or take a pound.

Shay and I left the doctor’s office and I went back to work and so did he. After work, Shay picked me up to bring me home and we started talking about ways to induce labor. We were interested in getting things going the next weekend, so we were looking into options. Shay had been holding the sex card for the past few weeks, as in not wanting to have any, for fear of inducing me early. We decided that since we were now in the clear to deliver a healthy, full term baby, then we would give it a shot. The plan was to spend Saturday morning in bed with a little football watching thrown in!

At 2:30am on October 3, 2009, Shay finally got into bed for the night. I felt him crawl under the covers and I rolled over to my left side since that is the side that was easiest for me to sleep on. At 2:46am, I felt like I was about to pee myself, so I catapulted myself out of bed and made it to the bathroom where I peed…. And then never stopped. I sat on the toilet for about 10 minutes contemplating what the hell was going on. I finally called out to Shay who was still awake.

I told him that I thought my water just broke, and then I started laughing hysterically. Shay got out of bed and came into the bathroom where he had the What to Expect When Expecting book in his hand. We looked at the chapter that had to do with labor, and it basically told us to call our doctor… Duh.

We called the after hours line and the woman who answered the phone told us that Dr. Schonbrun was the doctor on call, and that he would call us in the next 10 minutes. During this time, I stayed on the toilet for fear of leaking whatever it was I was leaking all over the bathroom/house. As Dr. Schonbrun called us back, he asked if I was having any contractions. I was not. He told us to go ahead and head to the hospital and have the nurses check us out. I could have very well, just had a lot of pee in my bladder, but better to be safe than sorry.

Shay and I decided to take this time to shower, clean up the house, and take Sprocket potty, and feed him. I had most of my hospital bag put together already, so we grabbed what we needed and headed out the door for our 5 minute car ride to the hospital.

We arrived to labor and delivery at 4:30am and were ushered into an exam room. I was hooked up to the monitor to see baby’s heartbeat, and if I was having any contractions. Our fabulous labor and delivery nurse pushed on my stomach to see if I was still leaking, and I gushed. She was pretty convinced that it was my water breaking and did a quick test to confirm that it was positive for amniotic fluid. She did a quick internal and I was dilated 2.5 cm and was 75% effaced. I was being admitted to the hospital to deliver!! Yay!

I was put into the birthing suite next door in preparation for the big moment. All the rooms had flat panel TV’s, and Shay and I decided to watch some ESPN. Yes, I am an awesome wife. We watched football all morning.

I started having contractions that were manageable, albeit a little strong. The labor and delivery nurse told me that I could have my epidural at anytime, that it was a slow night, and the anesthesiologist was on the floor for when I wanted it. I labored through maybe 5 hard core contractions, and then told Shay that I wanted the Epi. He went and got the nurse who in turn came in with the anesthesiologist. I got the epi (AMAZING!), and instantly started to feel no pain.

Shay and I watched the monitor that showed the contractions that I never felt. Some were huge! It was great that I was able to lay there and not feel them. I have no pain tolerance. Shay and I both fell asleep for a while. About an hour an half later, the nurse came in to do an internal to see if I was progressing. They were pretty positive that they would have to administer Pitocin to help move me along. I did not want Pitocin. The use of Pitocin raises your chances of having to have a c-section, which I did not want. The nurse checked me and I was at 7cm! NO Pitocin for me!!! I was doing this all by myself!

Shay and I hung out for about another hour, watching football and texting updates to our family. Shay was so excited he never sat down from that point on. He had this goofy grin on his face and you could just tell that he was filling with excitement.

At this point, I was starting to feel some pressure so I asked Shay to get the nurse so she could check me. The labor nurse came in again to check my progress and I had gone from 7cm to 9.5cm. They called Dr. Schonbrun who was 10 minutes from the hospital, and told me that when she came back in the room we were going to start practicing pushing. At this point, I looked at Shay and started to cry. He asked me why I was crying, and I told him that this was the part that I was scared of! Mind you, I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down.

The actual delivery was quick. I was put on oxygen because the baby’s heart rate had dipped a few times to 60bpm and that was too low. They wanted the baby out. I did about 9 practice pushes through 3 contractions and then Dr. Schonbrun entered the room as well as about 5-6 other doctors. I was told that we were going to be using the vacuum to get the baby out and worse come to worse, we will have to use the forceps. I did not want the forceps! I had heard that they tear you apart and was scared of them!

We waited for my next contraction, and I was told to push and count to 10! I pushed 3 times during that contraction, and out came this beautiful screaming baby. Shay watched the entire thing! Dr. Schonbrun told Shay that he would be cutting the umbilical cord, and Shay did it with a grin on his face!

Eli Ryan Goldenberg was born at 10:53am on October 3, 2009. He weighed 5lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck once, but Shay said that when he came out, it was super loose so it wasn’t hurting him. The doctors in the room did the APGAR test which tests the baby's lungs. We were told Eli was perfect and if they could give a perfect "10" Eli would have received it! We have never felt undying love like this before. He is so absolutely beautiful, and expressive, that neither of us can stop staring at him.