I keep getting people asking me about my "birth story"(yes, Rebekah, I'm looking at you :)), so I've finally found the time, and sleep, to write it down somewhere besides my journal. If you like long detailed stories, read on! If not, let me summarize: Colban was born on February 22nd by c-section, which was a surprise but turned out good. Yay!
Now, for you more dedicated readers: On to the novel! and I'm seriously warning you, it is long! Oh, and if you want to see any of the pictures bigger, I'm pretty sure you can just click on them and it gives you kind of a slide show view. :)
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| Our first family picture! |
Once I hit 41 weeks without going into labor my doctor had me set an appointment for a "post-dates" check at the hospital. They measure the baby's heartbeat and amniotic fluid levels, and make sure everything looks ok, since I guess things can get a little too squishy at the end sometimes. Anyway, here's me, having the best pregnancy in the world, and I think, meh, let's let him go until he is allllll ready--I was going to fight for at least 42 weeks before induction, because I really really REALLY wanted an all-natural, epidural-free birth. Also his original due date was the 20th, so I figured I probably had some leeway.
I scheduled the appointment for 7:30 am Friday morning, because Miles's work is just a couple blocks away from the hospital, and I figured it would be convenient for him to drop me off on his way in to work. Also, I thought that if everything looked good I'd just take a long walk back to his work...you know, the walking-will-start-your-labor thing? :) The nurse hooked me up to the monitors, and I was having little contractions 8 minutes apart. I'd been having Braxton Hicks for weeks, but I had noticed that they were getting a little stronger and more frequent, and I had my suspicions that our baby was going to make an appearance that weekend. The nurses assured me that I wouldn't make it until Tuesday and induction; I'd have him on my own. Everything looked great with his heartbeat, so they hooked me up to an ultrasound to measure fluid levels.
Those triangle-y ultrasound pictures are never very clear, but as the nurse rolled around the top of my belly I saw a spine, and then something round. I'm thinking, "hmm...where are his legs...I can never read these"...and then the nurse goes,"that's a HEAD! He's breech!" I lay there in shock as she checked a couple more times, hoping she could be wrong--I mean, who can really tell what all those black and white swirls are, right? right? NOOOOO!!! She called in another nurse who looked and said yep, he's definitely breech. They were both asking, "you're HOW far along? You didn't KNOW?" At this point I started to cry, because a)breech=c-section, which was the LAST thing in the world I wanted, and b)I felt so betrayed...how could my doctor have missed that!!!? I'm 99.99% sure he didn't flip, because he felt the same as he always had. There was always a big bump in the front of my belly, which turns out was his head!?
The nurses knew how much I wanted a natural birth, so they called around and found a doctor who was willing to try doing a version(ECV), if I would agree to have an epidural so that if anything went wrong I could be whisked right away into an emergency c-section. So now my options have become c-section or version/induction----->maybe c-section. And either way I was going to have our baby that day.
I called Miles at work and told him, and he came right over to the hospital. I remember I was so upset inside that I was all shaky, and when he put his arms around me I just felt this huge relief and sense of peace, that everything would be okay. Husbands are the best. That's all.
We got the version scheduled for 3:00, and a c-section for 5:00, and they sent us home. I have to say that that was about the weirdest wait ever. You are sitting there thinking how this is your last time EVER being "single" married people, but we couldn't think of what to do. It seemed too weird to watch TV or something, so Miles gave me a blessing and we sort of fiddled around the house until it was time to go. Of course we went a little early so Miles could pick up pizza to bring in afterwards(thanks for the tip, Matthew!).
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The final belly pic...on the way to the hospital.
41 weeks 3 days |
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| Rocking the lunch lady outfit |
Once we got there we ended up waiting for another hour at least for a room, and then things went pretty fast...at least for me they did. They had me suit up, including one of those HOT lunch lady hats, and came in to give me an epidural. I've heard people tell horror stories about the huge needles and how bad they hurt and stuff, but I didn't see the needle and really the only pain I felt was the first little shot they put in to numb your back. THAT one made me jump a little. Otherwise the only painful thing about the whole night was the nurse putting in the IV. Those are so stingy! It was kind of cool, though--I always thought that epidurals made you all numb, like you couldn't feel anything and were paralyzed from the waist down, but I could still feel my legs and toes. I just couldn't feel pain, but I felt like I could have gotten up and walked around. Luckily they didn't let me test that theory, because I don't know if I was right on that one.
Once the epidural was in place they gave me some gross acidic drink to stop the contractions, which also made my legs shake uncontrollably. Seriously, it was like they were having seizures...it was kind of funny, and I kept feeling like I should apologize for my spastic legs. Two doctors came in and put mineral oil all over my belly, and then pushed and massaged to try to get Colban to somersault into a head-down position. They had me hooked up to monitors so they could see if he was in any kind of distress, but he did great. Except that he wouldn't do a thing for them--he was NOT coming out of that pelvis one bit. I was a teeny bit disappointed that it didn't work, but I felt prepared for the c-section, like I'd almost known since that morning that it would happen and be okay. It's kind of comforting to have your worst-case scenario become the only scenario, because then you have nothing looming over you to worry you. At least that's how I felt; just really at peace and happy about everything. Miles was the perfect person to have with me through it all, too, because he was so fascinated with all the medical stuff and wanted to know how everything worked, and it made me really relaxed instead of dwelling on how I wished things would have gone or something.
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| Just hanging out. My doctor's the one on the right. I'm the one lying down. |
Since the version "failed," I got wheeled into the operating room and tied down to a table. Probably because my legs were still all crazy shaky, and my hands were starting to join them. I wanted to watch, so I could see the moment Colban was "born," but they could only lower the sheet so far "to keep things sanitary." Miles, however, was still fascinated and got to watch the whole thing. No fainting here--he was taking pictures of them doing the operation. Don't worry--you can't really tell what anything is. It was cool, though, to have him tell me how it all worked later. And it was crazy to us that I was there totally awake, but couldn't feel any pain at all. The only thing I really felt was some tugging and pulling when they pulled Colban out. That was probably the most surreal moment of my life. I heard him start to cry, and all I could think was, "That was it? I just had a baby?!"
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Born at 6:58 pm
8 lbs 2 oz
21 inches long |
Hopefully this doesn't make me a terrible person, but I really was just kind of shocked at first when I saw him. There was this little teeny guy screaming away, and he was ours. It was kind of hard to wrap my mind around! Nine months of waiting and anticipation, and suddenly there he wasThey cleaned him up and Miles brought him over for me to see, and that was amazing. I was still all strapped down(they were stitching me up), so all I could do was rub my cheek against his tiny one. I couldn't believe how small he was! His little eyes were all squinted up under the bright lights, and he looked so confused and cute! My favorite was the look on Miles's face--he was so awed by this little guy, and had the sweetest look as he held him. :) Note: There's not much that will melt a wife's heart more than seeing her husband adoring his little baby! The big rush of love for me came when I got to hold Colban and nurse him for the first time in the recovery room. He was just so tiny and helpless and trusting!
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He still wanted his legs up for a little bit after he was born.
That, or he was just being modest for the picture :) |
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| I kept this little rolly bassinet so close to my bed all night |
We hadn't decided on a name for him--we went into the hospital with three favorites, and were hoping he'd look like one of them or something. Really we just couldn't make up our minds, and had decided at least three times but never felt like it was just the right name. Our choices were Isaac, Colbin/Colban, and Owen, and we planned to give him Ryan for a middle name after his dad. When I first saw him I wanted to call him Colbin--it was like he'd always had that name, and I was just using it. Of course then once we got into recovery we started to have second thoughts again, and it wasn't until the next day that one of us suggested Colban Isaac and it was that golden "click!" moment that we had been waiting nine months for. Poor Miles--I always would make him talk about names whenever we were in the car and he couldn't escape or fall asleep on me! :) Colban was one we thought up on the car ride to UT for Thanksgiving...I liked the name Cole, but wanted it to be short for something, and Miles invented Colban. Miles liked it a lot, because he has a best friend named Cole that he's known forever, and another one named Ryan, so it kind of is in honor of them. I like that, because they're good men and I wanted our boy to have a name that meant something special. Isaac was the first name we'd agreed on before we knew he was a boy, and I loved that it meant "laughing one" and is in the Bible.
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Until I could get up and walk I had to have these things on
my legs. They would inflate with air every 30 seconds or so
to make sure I wouldn't get blood clots. They were SO itchy! |
The rest of the hospital stay was kind of a blur for me. I didn't sleep for the first two days or so because Colban was all congested and kept spitting up mucus whenever he was asleep on his back(I guess c-section babies don't have it squished out of them in the birth canal), and I was terrified that he would choke and I would be asleep and not hear him! Also I was so not used to all his little noises that even when I tried to sleep I would wake up at the littlest sound and jump up in bed to check on him. By day three we were feeling confident enough with him and I was up and on my feet, and FINALLY they'd taken all the cords and IV out of me and unstuck the lines(curse you, hairy hairy arms!), so we decided to go ahead and skip the fourth day stay and go home. Miles drove SO carefully the whole way home!
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| The cutest daddy |
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Right before going home. We brought three different sized outfits, and
I was so surprised that he fit the one that I thought was ridiculously small! |
Now I can't believe our little baby is almost three weeks old! He's definitely not sleeping through the night yet, but the last two nights have been a lot better with him eating and going down again pretty quickly(knock on wood!). He smiles when he's falling asleep, looks around with huge wide eyes when he's awake(he loves the ribbon and pictures on our bedroom wall), and always wants his hands up by his face...we sometimes have to pin them down so he can nurse, because he'll try to bring them up to his mouth just as he's latching on. :) He also really likes the sound of water. When he's napping I can run a vacuum cleaner, bang dishes and cupboard doors, and listen to Pandora, but if I turn on a faucet in the kitchen he'll hear it and wake up in a snap. We had our first stroller ride yesterday to the library, and he spent the whole time looking around with big eyes and tasting the air, waving his hands around and making excited noises.
