We were scheduled for a Pitocin induction on Thursday,
July 23rd, at 7:30am. We arrived at the hospital
around 7am in hopes of getting settled a little early. I was nervous,
and excited for the way our lives were about to change, but also uncertain as
to how quickly they would change. We were told that the average Pitocin induced
labor for first time moms could take about 18 hours – so while we were excited
to get things going on Thursday, we knew not to get our hopes up that Graham
would make his appearance Thursday, but rather we planned to meet him on
Friday.
The birthing center doors opened and we were walked to our room, which
was decorated just for us by our cousin Jennifer! She has also handpicked some
of our nursing staff to guarantee us the best experience possible! I slipped on
my gown and the Pitocin drip started around 9am. It was a real hoot having to use
the bathroom being hooked up to fetal heart monitors and IV’s – Andrew had
to unplug me and escort me to the bathroom every 20 minutes! Andrew and I talked
and watched some TV until around 1pm when my doctor payed us a visit and broke
my water. Can I just take a moment to be appreciative that my water didn't break in public! Holy cow! I immediately began feeling contractions and my labor began progressing much faster than they wanted so they eased off on the Pitocin. I
got my epidural around 2:30pm and at about 4cm. All of the medication made me very drowsy,
so I slept off and on most of the day. Mom and Dad even came in to visit me but
I was pretty groggy and didn’t say much.
I was checked again around 4pm and I
had progressed to 7cm. Our nurse, Lisa (Jennifer’s friend), was so awesome and
had been hoping to be there when Graham was born but didn’t think she would get
to meet him since her shift ended at 7:30pm. Around 6pm I was about 9cm
and I asked her for advice on pushing, since she wouldn’t be there for our
delivery (or so we thought). Lisa sat down for about 10 minutes and gave me a
great pep talk on how to push and other helpful tidbits. She left my room only
for me to call her about 5 minutes later telling her I thought I needed to
push. She came back in and sure enough it was time! We got the camera rolling
and I started pushing every time I felt pressure (which was a contraction). My “pushes”
felt more like I was just holding my breath but Andrew and Lisa said I was
doing great. As Graham’s head descended, Lisa said she thought Graham had red
hair, and I kept saying, “are you sure?”, because I couldn’t believe he would
be a ginger! Andrew was so encouraging by my side as I pushed and Lisa hopped
up to call our doctor in. I was so focused on my pushes and was even asked to
get 4 pushes in with every contraction. My eyes were closed as each push came
and went and I opened my eyes to see my doctor there.
Pushing lasted about 45
minutes before Graham made his grand entrance into the world. He was born on
July 23rd, 2015 at 7:08pm, 8lbs 4oz and 20.5” long. They placed him
on my chest and Andrew and I were just amazed. My whole labor, from 9am to
7:08pm was 10 hours! We were so excited to have our little boy.
Graham was a good sleeper from the beginning and the
nursing staff prodded us to wake him to eat every 2-3 hours, but that was very
challenging! We would have to strip him down to his diaper and mess with him a
bit before he would open his eyes to eat. We had so many visitors waiting to
meet him. I will never forget the look on my mom’s face when she turned the
corner to see me holding my son. She had happy tears in her eyes and the look
of pure joy and amazement.
My recovery wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated it might
be, but it also was much more unusual than I thought it would be. The day after
delivery, I got TERRIBLE pains in my hips and lower back and they were comparable
to labor pains, in my opinion, I was in tears, rolling around my hospital bed
in pain, so I was given Hydrocodone for the until I was discharged. I weaned
myself off of the medicine by the time we went home but was given a prescription
of it just in case I needed it. I was very tired, obviously, and we had our
first cluster feeds our first night home. I sat for two hours trying to feed Graham
– my milk was there, but keeping him awake and making sure he got the amount he
needed was challenging and exhausting. I planned to strictly
breastfeed but a few days home with him I learned that my milk wasn’t enough,
which was a tough blow. Graham was born on Thursday, and mom stayed until
Monday evening.My in-laws came to visit Tuesday evening and told Andrew and
I to get some rest. I woke up in agonizing pain in my left kidney, again in
tears, I woke Andrew and he called his mom into our room to talk about the
pain. She texted our cousin Jennifer (who works at my OB's office) and she texted our doctor. They determined that
if it was a kidney stone, there was nothing they could do for me so I was
instructed to take a Hydrocodone and a hot shower before trying to go to sleep.
I had the pain throughout the night and was miserable. At this point, I knew I
didn’t want to try to nurse Graham due to having heavy medicine in my system and
feeling so lousy, that we decided to let Jennifer bring us some supplemental formula
to give Graham throughout the night. I was devastated. I had hoped to strictly
breastfeed and not give him bottles until about 6 weeks old, but I knew I
physically couldn’t feed him that night. I was saddened by my shattered plans
and cried until I fell asleep. Andrew was wonderful and supportive as always,
trying to comfort me in my time of heartache.
We went to the doctor the next morning to find out that
the pain was normal and that when a uterus shrinks back down to size it can
bump other organs, such as the kidneys, irritating them. At this point, Graham
was 6 days old and spent the morning with my mother-in-law while I went to the doctor. She
put him down on a blanket for tummy time and he miraculously lifted his head
off the ground! From day one Graham has been physically strong! He lifts his
head off of your shoulder if you try to burp him, lifts his head, pushes his
feet against you when you change his diaper, he’s a strong little guy! Did I
also mention that he has shown signs of rolling over since about 6 days old
too? He’s also been in size 1 diapers since about 4 days old and hardly fits in
newborn size clothes! My little man is growing up so fast!
After my kidney debacle,
I started having anxiety attacks at night. When I layed down to sleep
I felt like I was being choked by fluid or swelling in my chest and neck,
making it hard to sleep on top of my sleep deprivation. My mother-in-law stayed with us
for 3 nights to help with Graham and we had Graham’s 1 week pediatric visit on Thursday. We LOVE
our pediatrician and Graham had a good appointment overall. The doctor said Graham
had broken his left collar bone during delivery (which was shocking and
heartbreaking!), but it would heal on its own and that we had to watch out
for ingrown toenails. Graham had maintained his hospital discharge weight of 7lbs 15oz
and the doctor seemed pleased with that.
Graham had his first bath at 8 days old and later that
evening, my Mom and brother came down to visit. My brother was only able to stay the weekend
since he was going to start his first batch of hospital rotations the following Monday,
ironically in OBGYN, and he wanted the first baby he ever held to be his Godson! How
sweet! He did great with Graham and we loved having him visit (he hadn’t seen
our house yet either!). When I told my brother about my panic attacks, he said it
made him think of Postpartum Thyroiditis – and when we looked that up, all of
the symptoms seemed to match mine! I planned to go into the doctor the next day
to have my thyroid levels checked, and then miraculously, my nightly anxiety
attacks stopped. My mom was able to stay through Andrew’s whole first week of
school and thank goodness for her! She kept up with all of our chores around
the house, helped with the baby, made sure I was taken care of and even got me
back to feeling like myself again! It’s been hard on Andrew to be away from
Graham but we’re working on making him feel extra special while he’s gone! We’ve
left little notes on the bathroom mirror and made lunch for him a few times
with little notes on his sandwich baggies!
At 13 days postpartum I finally got my energy back!
I’m still attempting to pump every few hours and give it to Graham in a bottle
along with his supplemental formula. He is still sleeping and eating about
every 4 hours, and we’ve had to up his bottle intake a few times already! At a
few days old he was drinking 2oz at a time, and now at 14 days old he easily
drinks 2.5oz at each feeding. He’s been sleeping in the Rock’N’Play that my mother-in-law bought from Jennifer and it has been awesome! I had hoped to put him in his
crib from day one, but with him almost rolling over, it made me super nervous. Then we tried to put him in his Pack’N’Play, but he was not a fan of that either. We
also gave him a pacifier much earlier than I intended, but he found his fingers
pretty quickly and I know it’s easier to take away a pacifier in a few years
than it is to take away his fingers. Graham is such a good baby! He really only
cries when he’s cold or hungry – we’re so blessed to have him in our lives! He’s
so loved by so many!
Happy Living & God's Blessings!
J.M.
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