Life, Love, and Rockets: Happy Birthday, Declan! (our birth story)

He's finally here!! Baby boy Nunnally decided he wanted his birthday to be on Monday, July 23rd :) The weekend before he arrived Matt and I had planned to do something fun each day to keep our minds off the waiting game. Saturday afternoon we went to go see The Dark Knight Rises, and then went to visit the Hill twinsies that evening. I started having some serious cramping Saturday night while visiting the twins, which ended up being another fake out. It lasted a few hours and then faded by bedtime. Sunday morning when I got up it started again but with some low back pain as well. I assumed this would be another fake out... and I was finally wrong!

We went about our day as planned. Church in the morning, lunch at home, running errands, Tiki Hut Mini Put in the late afternoon, and ice cream (for Matt) and shaved ice (for me) as a little treat. Matt even went to go play his indoor soccer game that night. We ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner since there was a 40% off special that benefited the Children's Mercy Transport Team. I didn't feel well enough at that point for dinner so I stuck with toast instead. The cramping and back pain had been increasing in intensity as the day progressed, and by this time Matt was having to help me out by rubbing my low back and applying counter-pressure with tennis balls and a rolling pin (of all things!). I was also trying as many labor positions as I could think of to help relieve the discomfort, but nothing really helped other than being on my hands and knees. (I would spend the next several hours hanging out like that.)

Yum.... perfect pre-game snack

Lining it up for a hole-in-one!

Last outing with lil' guy all cozy inside. This was early
labor, but I didn't realize at that point. Every now and then
the cramping would get bad enough I would have to squat
down and pretend I was lining up my shot (really, who was
I kidding?)

I had a feeling that this was going to be the real thing but didn't want to say anything to Matt, afraid that I would jinx myself. We finally decided to go to bed at 11:00. Matt kept saying, "Just in case, let's get some sleep so if this happens we've had a good nights' sleep." I couldn't get comfortable in bed because the cramping and back pain was getting so bad. I finally fell asleep but woke up at midnight. I moved around for a bit and made a trip to the bathroom (TMI- I had been having loose stools all day long with the cramping/back pain) and then got back in bed. I woke up again at 12:30 and decided to try my rice sack for some heat therapy on my back. At this point, since I wasn't having any contractions, I was seriously worried about what labor held for me.

While my rice sack was heating up in the microwave, I felt the cramping and low back pain become very concentrated and pick-up in intensity again. Almost like it was centering itself in my body. This brought me to my hands and knees on the kitchen floor for about 1 1/2 minutes. I got up and grabbed my rice sack and headed back upstairs to our bedroom. I barely made it to the stairs before I had to drop to my hands and knees again. During the next 30 second break I made it to our bedroom, where Matt was sleeping, and again dropped to my hands and knees for another round. I felt the need to go to the bathroom again (really?!?) and there was blood this time. That had never happened. This was really it... and I couldn't manage it at home any longer.Things were escalating quickly. I immediately woke Matt up and told him I thought it was time to go to the hospital. To be honest, he looked a little freaked out, but he acted calm and scurried around getting things ready to go.

Unfortunately, I hadn't finished packing my last minute items for the hospital thinking I would do it during my more mild contractions. I had planned some movies to watch, had items on hand to bake Declan's birthday cake, and some other some small things to do while my labor was building. Well, that went out the window! Every since I had woke up at 12:30 my pain was still continuous but my overwhelming centering sensations were lasting 1 1/2 minutes and were only 2 minutes apart. Hence my mere 30 second painful break. I still wasn't feeling any tightening of my abdomen during this point, so I never really thought of them as contractions, but whatever. I managed to call my OB's office to speak with the doctor on-call around 12:45, and after explaining what was going on, Dr. McGee replies "Well, being a first time mom, you might be in labor so I would say you could go to the hospital and get checked." I said "okay" but was thinking "I wasn't calling to ask for your permission, I was calling to let you know that I'm coming you idiot!"

Well, since I was only getting 30 seconds to hobble around and try and grab various items, it took awhile to get out the door. Matt was getting on the floor with me during my 'contractions' to squeeze my hips together, which was the only thing besides being on my hands and knees that would ease the pain a little. It made them bearable. We finally pulled out of the driveway at 1:45am. I had previously told Matt that when we drove to the hospital not to drive like a crazy person. That I needed him to be calm or it would freak me out. Well, it ended up I was feeling A LOT of pressure down there and since my contractions were this close together I was afraid we might have a baby in the car. So I kept repeating "You're gonna have to drive faster than that" very calmly, until we were driving 90mph on the highway with our hazard lights flashing. I was admitted to the hospital at 1:58am! Record driving time for sure (yes, we had previously timed it at 15 minutes door-to-door).

I told Matt to go ahead of me so he could call inside and have them open the doors, which are locked in the middle of the night. I kept telling him the phone he needed to pick up was on his right, to which he looked helplessly everywhere and couldn't find! I kept yelling as I crept up the walkway from the car, "On your RIGHT! On your RIGHT!! Your RIGHT!!" Once I pointed, he finally saw it. We made it into L&D as I started having another contraction. I hung to the railing for fear of accumulating millions of bacteria by being on my hands and knees in the hallway. They called for a wheelchair but I could barely sit for all the pressure down there. The nurse quickly decided that my prepared room was too far and that the room right next to my wheelchair would do just fine!

Once in the room, I stripped and they checked me immediately... 6-7cm and 100%. I quickly resumed the hands and knees position on the bed while Matt kept squeezing away on my hips. I refused any other position and left the nurses to work around me. One holding my monitors, one starting an IV (again, while on my hands and knees- kudos to her!), another asking questions for paperwork, and my nurse typing vigorously at the computer and sending the 5th nurse running for supplies. Then I started vomiting uncontrollably. Vomiting + contractions + continuous other pain = ridiculous! I really felt like I was in a time warp, I had no sense of time once I realized it was time to leave for the hospital. My nurse, Megan, noted that I had specified a natural labor and delivery, and asked me if that was still my plan. I really wish it would have been, but I just couldn't imagine this going on with no breaks. I told her that was my plan, but now I didn't know if I could do it. She then asked if I wanted an epidural, to which I agreed. Again, I wish I would've thought to ask for IV pain meds to see if that would help at all, but I wasn't thinking at this point. I had my epidural in and running a little after 2:30. Whew! What relief. Once I was more myself, I thanked everyone for running around and getting us settled so quickly and gave an emphatic thanks to the anesthesiologist for the epidural (I didn't even feel it, my other pains were overwhelming any other sensations). I was checked again and now 7-8cm.

At that point, I just laid in bed and tried to come to terms with all that was going on. Baby boy was finally on his way! It felt very surreal. My nurse came in to turn me every 30 minutes and to do a cervical check every hour. One time when she turned me, I watched one of my legs fall and crash into the bedside table. Without thinking, I yelped "Oww!" and followed that with "I don't know why I said that, because I can't feel anything." Silly me. (It did sound and look painful though.) With the epidural in, my progress slowed significantly. I finally reached 10cm at 6:30 when Dr. McGee checked in on me for the first time. He was planning on breaking my water at this point, but checking me was all it took. I heard a huge gush and that was that. It was decided to let my body "labor down" (slowly push baby down the birth canal without my extra pushing). Matt made a quick trip to the cafeteria for some breakfast at this point, while my mom hung out in the room with me.

Change of shift happened, and my new nurse, Marci, came in and after checking me said that little guy was only about 1 inch from crowning so we could start pushing. It was actually pretty nice to just have me, Matt, and Marci in the room for the majority of it. We started pushing at 8:15. About 10 minutes into it my contractions really spaced out, so Marci started some Pitocin to speed things back up. At 9am, Marci decided it was time to get Dr. Piquard in the room. Dr. Piquard took a quick look at me when she came in and quickly gowned up. With my next contraction I gave 2 pushes and his head came out. There was questionable meconium when my water broke so he was immediately suctioned at this point. With my 3rd push he was born at 9:05am weighing 8lbs 8oz and 21 inches long :)

He was placed on my belly, dried, and I held him for a few moments while Matt and I stared at him, trying to place this little person in our minds. We had never actually met, but we knew him and loved him. Finally getting to put a face to Little Guy (name to come, we still hadn't decided). Then he was taken to be cleaned off some more, weighed, and assessed more thoroughly. I hadn't noticed everyone in the room until this point. Because of his previous heart issues there were a few extra people in attendance including a NICU nurse and NICU nurse practitioner, as well as a Children's Mercy Transport nurse. These people in addition to the well baby nurse, my nurse, and Dr. Piquard. Luckily, we didn't need the extras!

What an eventful morning! Holding little guy skin-to-skin was the best feeling. Know that he was finally here safe and sound gave us such peace of mind. We enjoyed the next two hours with just the 3 of us enjoying the start of our new life together :)