I went to my doctors appointment on June 28th. My doctor knew that I wanted to be induced and due to the fact that I had low amniotic fluid and the baby was measuring a little small she was happy to induce me. So she checked me and I was dilated to a 3. She asked me if the following Monday was ok? I said "To have the baby?" She laughed. I wasn't expecting to be induced that quick and was planning on the following week, after the 4th. But I said yes and she had her nurse call to set things up. She also decided to strip my membranes to see if anything would speed up my dilation. The hospital was booked for that Monday so she put me first on the list for the 3rd. And I left her office excited and scared!
I had contractions that day, Friday and Saturday but nothing happened over the weekend. I had 2 really hard contractions on Friday that about put me into tears! But no baby came over the weekend! I called on Monday to get my time to be at the hospital and they said 7:15am but to call in the morning just to make sure that was still good. I freaked out the rest of Monday! I was excited, anxious to meet this baby and start our new life and scared for the actual labor part. We had Conner spend the night at our neighbors/friends house The Lockes. We knew we didn't want to wake him up that early and we knew he would love having a sleepover there.
Tuesday morning came and I called at 6am and they bumped me back to 8:15am. So we took our time getting ready and then headed to the hospital. We arrived right on time, were taken to our room and I got into my lovely gown! My nurse, Katrina, was supposed to come in and start my medicine but she was busy helping another patient up to their room. So 2 other nurses came in and started everything. About 9am I was hooked up and ready to go!
I progressed really slowly all morning and finally around noon or 1pm they decided to give me the epidural and break my water to speed things up. This is also the time that my dear friend Tracy of Tracy Layne Portraits came to photograph the birth. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and reviewed everything with me, I started crying and then he gave me my first epidural. A minute or so after he gave it to me, I heard him say, "Hmmm." I knew something wasn't right. He had pulled the needle out and blood was on it, which means it went into a vein. So he had to give me a second epidural. He realized that my head was kind of hanging off the side of the bed and said that he felt bad I never said anything and wanted to just pick me up and put me in the middle of the bed. He was really nice and helped me get comfortable again. He said that I should feel the next 3 contractions or so and then it would kick in. My doctor wasn't at the hospital so another doctor came in and broke my water.
Somewhere around this time, Chris, Tracy and I placed our time estimates. Tracy said 4:56, Chris said 5:56 and I said 6:15. My contractions came stronger and quicker and about 20 or 30 minutes after my epidural I could still feel everything. I knew the second epidural didn't work. So we called my nurse and she came in with the anesthesiologist. I knew I was getting a third epidural and freaked out. He injected me with some Fentanyl. It's the same medicine as the epidural but goes right to my spine. As soon as he gave me the medicine I felt better and relaxed. Our anesthesiologist was amazing. He was joking with everyone in the room and made me feel a lot better. I jokingly asked him if we would be charged 3 times!
Soon after my third epidural I felt some pressure change occur but did not feel the contractions happening. I called our nurse in again and told her something was happening but I wasn't sure what. She said she would check me. Chris jokingly said to tell me I was dilated to a 8. And sure enough I was at an 8. My contractions came on really strong and I dilated really fast. She came in and checked me again and said I was at a 9 so we called our family and told them to come to the hospital. Soon after she checked me again and I was fully dilated and ready to go!
I think that I pushed for about 15-20 minutes total. My doctor did use a vacuum to get him out just a little bit easier. And at 6:21pm Braxton was born! She pulled him out and put him on my stomach and let the cord pulsate for a few minutes. Then they cleaned him up and measured him. We had Conner come in first to meet him. He did really well! Chris picked Conner up and let him see Braxton who was wrapped in a blanket in his bassinet under a heat light. Conner then came over to see me and then we gave Conner a gift that Braxton had brought for him, a Cars Airplane Toy. Then Conner climbed onto my bed with me and we took a couple of pictures. Braxton's temperature had dropped so after everyone got to see him they took him to the nursery to go under a heater. They then cleaned me up, I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and fries and was moved up to our room!
We are so excited to have Braxton join our family and we are truly blessed to have 2 healthy boys!
