Gibson Gang

It's about time I finally post the baby story...she's only a month old already!

Before I tell her story, though, I need to back up 4 years for Oakley's birth story. His pregnancy had gone pretty smoothly, except I did get the pregnancy rash ( I think). My OB claimed it wasn't the pregnancy rash and referred me to a dermatologist and/or allergist. They claimed it was the pregnancy rash...

I went in for a regular check up on Monday morning and was at a 3, and my blood pressure had jumped up 10 points. I was still in the normal range, but my doc was worried about preeclampsia with the sudden jump. I was within 2 weeks of being full-term, so he gave me the option to be induced. My mom had already flown in to help with the new baby, so I said, "Why not?!" and scheduled the induction for Monday night. Shawn and I packed up, he gave me a blessing, and we headed to the hospital. When we got there, I was already dilated to a 6 (probably the real reason my blood pressure was higher), and they started me on pitocin. The nurse warned me the contractions are more intense with pitocin, and that they would start a small dose, and gradually work up to the full dose as long as I could handle the pain. Well, I hadn't felt any contractions leading up to our hospital visit, and the nurses were shocked at how quickly they were at the full dose. They kept looking at the contraction peaks on the monitor and asking, "Are you sure you don't feel that??". I went all night without feeling a contraction, but the pitocin had actually slowed my progress. So, the next morning, I was only at a 7 and the aneasthesiologist(?) was scheduled for a C-section later. I was told, if I wanted the epidural, it was now or never. I went ahead and got it and went his entire labor without knowing what a contraction felt like.

Hence the reason I was so terrified about this pregnancy. I was scared that either A: I still wouldn't feel a contraction and be one of the small percentage of women who think they just need to go to the bathroom, when out pops a little more than they were expecting or B: I would actually feel them and I would not be able to bear it.

So, Thursday I had to work a little late and put together office furniture. It was a bit strenuous, and I was up and down off the floor a lot. That night, Shawn and I had a date night for his birthday (Yes, his bday is the day before Taylor's). I felt what I now knew were contractions randomly throughout the night. They were so sporatic and barely noticeable, so I figured they were those Braxton Hicks contractions everyone tells you about. I was woken up by them in the early morning, but still didn't think much of it. I was going to start timing them, but didn't want the light to wake up Shawn because he had to get up early for work. Once his alarm went off, we started timing them and they were about 6-7 minutes apart. A lot closer than I had guessed from just laying there. We made the decision that it was probably baby day and that he didn't need to go to work. We also decided it would probably be a good time to pack our bags ;-)

We dropped Oakley off a Shawn's sister's house, and headed to the hospital. We got checked in and into a room right around 10am. They were so busy that day, that we got the only room open, and it was a little "just checking" room. There was no equipment or anything, just a bed and a monitor. Of course, as soon as I laid in the bed and they hooked up the monitor, my contraction basically stopped. I was at a 5 when they checked me, but the nurse didn't think they would keep me at the hospital. Luckily, my doc was there and he said it was baby day and told them to find me a room. By this time, my contractions had started back up, but still weren't bad...I was still able to talk through them. The nurse got us set up in the last normal room they had that they only used for "emergency walk-ins". That poor room wasn't set up at all. There weren't any supplies stocked, and only half the equipment worked, but oh well. The nurse never did check me again. We sat there and waited and waited for her. She finally came in around 11:30 and said that if I wanted an epidural (which I did), it would be about an hour until they could do it because they had to process bloodwork, get paperwork, etc. I told her I wanted it, so off she went again. Another nurse came in about 10 minutes later to get a blood sample, and my main nurse came back in around 11:45 with the paperwork. At this point, the contractions were pretty much back to back, and she was standing there explaining paperwork and wanting me to sign it. I was half listening, grabbing both sides of the bed breathing through these contractions. My doc walked in and saw me and checked me. I was at an 8+. He asked the nurse why I didn't have the epidural yet (which really would have just been a spinal block at this point). She said she was waiting on the lab, and that the only reason they would ever not wait for the results would be for an emergency. He chewed her out a bit, asked what she thought constituted an emergency, and told her to get me the epidural. The aneasthesiologist said he'd be there in 5 minutes. Everyone left the room except my nurse. The contractions were getting really hard at this point, and I was getting the urge to push. I told her this, and she just told me to breathe. I told her once again that I could not resist the urge to push. She kind of rolled her eyes and called the doc (who had just walked down the hall) and sounded a bit put out when she told him I was getting the urge to push. He walked back in (not 5 minutes after he had just been there), walked past me as he was putting on his gloves and said, "Yup, there's the head. She's ready!". At this point, it was pure chaos. My nurse (who hadn't believed that whole time that I was actually going to deliver that day) said something then 3 more nurses came rushing in with trays. The doc told me to push, and in between talking to me, he was yelling to the nurses that they didn't have the room set up at all! 2 pushes and about a minute later, he was holding our precious little girl.

Apparently I was the talk of the nurses' station that day because each time we had shift change, my new nurse would say something like, "Ooh, you're the one." By no choice of my own, I had delivered without any type of pain med...and SURVIVED!!! I'm also not opposed to the idea of doing it again...maybe. My main nurse won a few brownie points back by appologizing after all was said and done. She said she can usually judge what point people are at in their labor by her "pain reading" on their face and their screams. She said I must have an incredible pain tolerance and gave me a few pointers for next time. She said, "If you have another child, be sure to tell your nurses that you go quickly and quietly.

My recover this time around was sooo much better than the 1st. Shawn and I even left after 24 hours because I felt fine, the baby was cleared to leave, and neither of us could sleep on those beds.
Taylor's been really good to us. I thought Oakley's pregnancy and even him as a newborn were easy...until now. He was good, she's been great to us so far. He didn't have anything major go wrong, it was just a bunch of little things. For example, I got the pregnancy rash, I had preeclampsia, my thyroid decided to quit working, he was posterior (so I tore really badly :-( ), he was tongue-tied and had problems latching, he was jaundiced and had to get his blood checked every day, then eventually had to go under the lights, he was colicky, etc. Taylor was a little tongue tied so she got that clipped, and she also failed her first hearing test because she was crying the whole time...that's it (knock on wood!) She never cries just to cry, it's just my cue that she's hungry, sleepy, or needs her diaper changed...the way it should be! We love her soo much a just can't get enough of her loves! I'll post more pics soon (now that I'm finally learning how to use Picasa!)