Calvin's Birth Story
Since Calvin is almost 10 weeks old and life with 3 kids this summer has been crazy, I decided I better write down Calvin's birth story before I forget all the details! Life gets a little blurry sometimes...
So on Friday June 2nd, I went in for my 38 week appt (I was 38 weeks 2 days) and everything checked out great. I was weighing in at 151 pounds (the heaviest I've ever been) making my total weight gain 38 pounds. I gained 30 with Jaelyn and 28 with Evelyn so I was not very happy with the extra weight gain this time around. But it is what it is! The dr checked me out and said I was already dilated to a 3-4. I told her that I thought I'd been losing my mucus plug the last couple days and felt like he'd be coming really soon and she confirmed that by pulling her finger out and showing me a pea sized amount of my mucus plug and saying, "I'd say, that's all that's left!" LOL My doctor is very laid back and does funny things like that and calling girl parts a vajayjay.. anyways you just have to know her I guess. Anyways, after that she said, "I'm on call tonight so let's have this baby! I don't think you'll make it through the weekend." And then she offered to strip my membranes (which she did with Evelyn at my 38 week appt too) and I gladly accepted. I was ready for Calvin to come!
Nothing earth shattering happened after that. No bleeding, cramps, or contractions on any kind. So I went about my day and all that and went to sleep for the night not thinking anything of it. Well around 3 am I woke up to some really bad cramping. Uncomfortable enough to wake me from sleep. I thought well ok and went back to sleep and woke up 10 minutes later with another "cramp." This happened a couple more times each 10 minutes apart and I thought hmmm... maybe these are contractions? (With Evelyn I woke up at 5 am, stood up and my water broke, and I never had a single contraction with Jaelyn since she was an emergency c-section, so contractions first was a new thing for me. So for the next 3 hours I stayed in bed and bore the contractions every ten minutes and tried to rest a little in between each one. I had the feeling that once I stood up and got moving they were going to get more frequent and intense. So around 6am when my girls woke up and then came into our room, I decided to get up and get ready for the day. I told Kevin that I thought I was having contractions and I'd been timing them at 10 minutes apart. I then called my mom to let her know I needed her on call just in case. As I suspected once I got up and moving within an hour my contractions were already every 7 minutes. By 9 am they were every 3 and I decided to call and make sure it was okay to come in. We dropped the girls off at my moms who had plans to take the kids to wild waves so the girls got to go along. (They loved it) And Kevin and I headed to the hospital. Once at the hospital they took me in at triage and check to see how far dilated I was and I was at a 4 having contractions 3 minutes apart. They monitored me for an hour and because I didn't dilate any further they wanted to send me home and have me come back. Which, I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous! This is my 3rd child, I'm at a 4 with contractions every 3 minutes! Textbook when they say to come in... but whatever! The triage dr was so cold and really awful. She had terrible people skills and I just was not a fan. Anyways, I told the dr that I wasn't leaving and we were having this baby today! So she said I was welcome to go walk around for an hour and come back.
By this point it was nearly noon and Kevin and I were starving so we went upstairs to the cafeteria and got some sub sandwiches, chips and apple juice. I ate as much as I could while dealing with painful contractions every 3 minutes. And when we were finished, I told Kevin we were going to walk. It was a really nice sunny day so we went outside. We walked up and down the street in front of Valley with me timing and recording every contraction in my pregnancy app. They started getting closer and closer together and I had to stop walking every time a contraction came and just breathe. We decided to go back inside and walk some more in there. We decided to really get things going because we did not want to get checked out again just to be sent home. So in the middle of the hospital where the fountain is, we would walk up the stairs go around to the other side and walk down the stairs and we did that over and over again for about 1/2 an hour until the contractions were like 2 minutes apart and I could hardly stand the pain of them anymore. At that point I did 2 more rounds of the stairs for good measure and we went back into the birth center triage to get checked out. It was about 1:30. Once in there they said I was now at a 6 and that they were admitting me!! YAY!
Dr. Price, one of Dr. Jolly's associates, was the one on call for Saturday so she came in and walked me to my room and asked if I was ready for an epidural to which I of course said, "YES!" So at the point the contractions are still every couple minutes and the anesthesiologist comes in to give me the epidural. He had a really hard time placing it and had to stab me with a needle a couple times. Which sucked, but I honestly don't think getting the epidurals are that painful. So anyways he finally got it placed and I started to slowly feel better. The epidural causes my contractions to slow down a bit, but I was still progressing so the dr wasn't too worried about it. I had a really wonderful nurse named Callie. She was so patient and encouraging while I labored and she ended up being there from start to finish with the labor and delivery! But just barely, her shift ended at 7pm and he was born at 6:58.
Anyways the time from 1:30 until he was born is kind of a blur. The dr came in and checked me and I was at a 7 and she wanted me to use a peanut ball to help reposition Calvin, because his head was sideways and needed to get in a better position for delivery. So I used the ball on the left side and then the right for about 45 minutes each. As I progressed farther I had this excruciating pain in my left thigh. It was like the worst charlie horse/cramp/contraction in my thigh. It was really weird and super painful! I told the nurse and she got the okay to get me more epidural meds and had me lay on my left side so all the meds would go to that leg. Well the epidural effectively numbed my whole leg except where I needed it numb! So that was a bummer. At that point I was nearly at a 9 and the dr wanted to to bare down about an hour and then we'd start pushing. After just a half hour, I had the nurse call her back in because I was just in so much pain I couldn't bare it anymore. So the dr came back in and checked me and said yep you're at a 10, do you feel ready to push? I said I don't really know I'm so numb, but I ready to get this baby out! So she said, ok lets do a trial push and see. So I did, and she quickly said, "ok stop stop stop!! He's going to come fast. Let me get all gloved up." So she got everything all ready and then she had me push again. In one breath and 3 pushes later, Calvin was here! It was amazing! I pushed for nearly 3 hours with Evelyn so I was so relieved to only have to push for a minute! He was born at 6:58pm and weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20.25 inches long.
When they brought Calvin up to my chest I was in shock! Here was this fair skinned and white haired baby boy! He was not at all what I had pictured in my head! Proof: Here is the doll I made for him while I was pregnant with my best guess at his hair and eye color...
HAHAHA It still makes me laugh! I tried! In my defense, both girls came out with dark hair and their eyes started off blue and Jaelyn's turned hazel and Evelyn's turned brown. And here at almost 10 weeks old, Calvin's hair is still really blonde and he eyes keep getting lighter blue. I'll have to fix his doll or just make him a new one at some point... or just leave it as is because I don't forsee when I'll have time to do that in the near future.
Anyways I held Calvin for a good hour or so while Kevin cut the cord and I got stitched back up. I tore again which I figured I would. A second degree tear, just like with Evelyn. And the dr had to work away at my stomach for what seemed like forever to get the placenta out. My stomach was bruised after all that. While she was still getting the placenta out, Kevin noticed the bin with the amniotic sac and all that and was examining it. The dr noticed and told Kevin to go get some gloves if he wanted to touch it and get a better look at it. So HE DID! LOL He kept saying things like, "Wow, this is really thick and well made." "No wonder they say the baby is so protected in here." And a bunch of stuff like that. It was a little bizarre, but that's my hubby for ya! He'll do that, but he was not wanting to cut the umbilical cord...
Anyways after that we just fell right back into the baby routine. Calvin took to nursing right away and ate every 2ish hours and had the proper amount of wet and poopy diapers that they want you to track. By the time all of the stitching was taken care of the cafeteria was closed and I was super hungry so the nurse gabbed me another sandwich and some juice. Which was alright, nothing special. The food during the whole stay was pretty awful. They had very limited choices and nothing on the menu even sounded good. I kept thinking they gave me the menu for the restricted diet because for breakfast the next morning there was like no main meals. No pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, eggs or any of that. It was like toast, muffin, yogurt parfait, cereal, fruit... so I was pretty disappointed. The lunch and dinner menu were the same so I ended up getting a sandwich for both of those meals.
Anyways they did the hearing tests, the blood draw for the bilirubin check and all that good stuff on Sunday and said if he passed the bilirubin we could be discharged that night. Which I was all for! Those beds are rock hard and I felt like my butt had been asleep since I first sat in it. So the idea of my own bed sounded amazing! Somehow the pediatricians clearance got misplaced or something so they had to get a hold of her at her home and get her to fax it over so we could be discharged. So finally at 11pm we were discharged and able to go home! Since it was so late and the girls were already asleep at my parents house we decided to go pick them up in the morning.
And the rest is history! Here are some pictures:
So on Friday June 2nd, I went in for my 38 week appt (I was 38 weeks 2 days) and everything checked out great. I was weighing in at 151 pounds (the heaviest I've ever been) making my total weight gain 38 pounds. I gained 30 with Jaelyn and 28 with Evelyn so I was not very happy with the extra weight gain this time around. But it is what it is! The dr checked me out and said I was already dilated to a 3-4. I told her that I thought I'd been losing my mucus plug the last couple days and felt like he'd be coming really soon and she confirmed that by pulling her finger out and showing me a pea sized amount of my mucus plug and saying, "I'd say, that's all that's left!" LOL My doctor is very laid back and does funny things like that and calling girl parts a vajayjay.. anyways you just have to know her I guess. Anyways, after that she said, "I'm on call tonight so let's have this baby! I don't think you'll make it through the weekend." And then she offered to strip my membranes (which she did with Evelyn at my 38 week appt too) and I gladly accepted. I was ready for Calvin to come!
Nothing earth shattering happened after that. No bleeding, cramps, or contractions on any kind. So I went about my day and all that and went to sleep for the night not thinking anything of it. Well around 3 am I woke up to some really bad cramping. Uncomfortable enough to wake me from sleep. I thought well ok and went back to sleep and woke up 10 minutes later with another "cramp." This happened a couple more times each 10 minutes apart and I thought hmmm... maybe these are contractions? (With Evelyn I woke up at 5 am, stood up and my water broke, and I never had a single contraction with Jaelyn since she was an emergency c-section, so contractions first was a new thing for me. So for the next 3 hours I stayed in bed and bore the contractions every ten minutes and tried to rest a little in between each one. I had the feeling that once I stood up and got moving they were going to get more frequent and intense. So around 6am when my girls woke up and then came into our room, I decided to get up and get ready for the day. I told Kevin that I thought I was having contractions and I'd been timing them at 10 minutes apart. I then called my mom to let her know I needed her on call just in case. As I suspected once I got up and moving within an hour my contractions were already every 7 minutes. By 9 am they were every 3 and I decided to call and make sure it was okay to come in. We dropped the girls off at my moms who had plans to take the kids to wild waves so the girls got to go along. (They loved it) And Kevin and I headed to the hospital. Once at the hospital they took me in at triage and check to see how far dilated I was and I was at a 4 having contractions 3 minutes apart. They monitored me for an hour and because I didn't dilate any further they wanted to send me home and have me come back. Which, I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous! This is my 3rd child, I'm at a 4 with contractions every 3 minutes! Textbook when they say to come in... but whatever! The triage dr was so cold and really awful. She had terrible people skills and I just was not a fan. Anyways, I told the dr that I wasn't leaving and we were having this baby today! So she said I was welcome to go walk around for an hour and come back.
By this point it was nearly noon and Kevin and I were starving so we went upstairs to the cafeteria and got some sub sandwiches, chips and apple juice. I ate as much as I could while dealing with painful contractions every 3 minutes. And when we were finished, I told Kevin we were going to walk. It was a really nice sunny day so we went outside. We walked up and down the street in front of Valley with me timing and recording every contraction in my pregnancy app. They started getting closer and closer together and I had to stop walking every time a contraction came and just breathe. We decided to go back inside and walk some more in there. We decided to really get things going because we did not want to get checked out again just to be sent home. So in the middle of the hospital where the fountain is, we would walk up the stairs go around to the other side and walk down the stairs and we did that over and over again for about 1/2 an hour until the contractions were like 2 minutes apart and I could hardly stand the pain of them anymore. At that point I did 2 more rounds of the stairs for good measure and we went back into the birth center triage to get checked out. It was about 1:30. Once in there they said I was now at a 6 and that they were admitting me!! YAY!
Dr. Price, one of Dr. Jolly's associates, was the one on call for Saturday so she came in and walked me to my room and asked if I was ready for an epidural to which I of course said, "YES!" So at the point the contractions are still every couple minutes and the anesthesiologist comes in to give me the epidural. He had a really hard time placing it and had to stab me with a needle a couple times. Which sucked, but I honestly don't think getting the epidurals are that painful. So anyways he finally got it placed and I started to slowly feel better. The epidural causes my contractions to slow down a bit, but I was still progressing so the dr wasn't too worried about it. I had a really wonderful nurse named Callie. She was so patient and encouraging while I labored and she ended up being there from start to finish with the labor and delivery! But just barely, her shift ended at 7pm and he was born at 6:58.
Anyways the time from 1:30 until he was born is kind of a blur. The dr came in and checked me and I was at a 7 and she wanted me to use a peanut ball to help reposition Calvin, because his head was sideways and needed to get in a better position for delivery. So I used the ball on the left side and then the right for about 45 minutes each. As I progressed farther I had this excruciating pain in my left thigh. It was like the worst charlie horse/cramp/contraction in my thigh. It was really weird and super painful! I told the nurse and she got the okay to get me more epidural meds and had me lay on my left side so all the meds would go to that leg. Well the epidural effectively numbed my whole leg except where I needed it numb! So that was a bummer. At that point I was nearly at a 9 and the dr wanted to to bare down about an hour and then we'd start pushing. After just a half hour, I had the nurse call her back in because I was just in so much pain I couldn't bare it anymore. So the dr came back in and checked me and said yep you're at a 10, do you feel ready to push? I said I don't really know I'm so numb, but I ready to get this baby out! So she said, ok lets do a trial push and see. So I did, and she quickly said, "ok stop stop stop!! He's going to come fast. Let me get all gloved up." So she got everything all ready and then she had me push again. In one breath and 3 pushes later, Calvin was here! It was amazing! I pushed for nearly 3 hours with Evelyn so I was so relieved to only have to push for a minute! He was born at 6:58pm and weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20.25 inches long.
When they brought Calvin up to my chest I was in shock! Here was this fair skinned and white haired baby boy! He was not at all what I had pictured in my head! Proof: Here is the doll I made for him while I was pregnant with my best guess at his hair and eye color...
Anyways I held Calvin for a good hour or so while Kevin cut the cord and I got stitched back up. I tore again which I figured I would. A second degree tear, just like with Evelyn. And the dr had to work away at my stomach for what seemed like forever to get the placenta out. My stomach was bruised after all that. While she was still getting the placenta out, Kevin noticed the bin with the amniotic sac and all that and was examining it. The dr noticed and told Kevin to go get some gloves if he wanted to touch it and get a better look at it. So HE DID! LOL He kept saying things like, "Wow, this is really thick and well made." "No wonder they say the baby is so protected in here." And a bunch of stuff like that. It was a little bizarre, but that's my hubby for ya! He'll do that, but he was not wanting to cut the umbilical cord...
Anyways after that we just fell right back into the baby routine. Calvin took to nursing right away and ate every 2ish hours and had the proper amount of wet and poopy diapers that they want you to track. By the time all of the stitching was taken care of the cafeteria was closed and I was super hungry so the nurse gabbed me another sandwich and some juice. Which was alright, nothing special. The food during the whole stay was pretty awful. They had very limited choices and nothing on the menu even sounded good. I kept thinking they gave me the menu for the restricted diet because for breakfast the next morning there was like no main meals. No pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, eggs or any of that. It was like toast, muffin, yogurt parfait, cereal, fruit... so I was pretty disappointed. The lunch and dinner menu were the same so I ended up getting a sandwich for both of those meals.
Anyways they did the hearing tests, the blood draw for the bilirubin check and all that good stuff on Sunday and said if he passed the bilirubin we could be discharged that night. Which I was all for! Those beds are rock hard and I felt like my butt had been asleep since I first sat in it. So the idea of my own bed sounded amazing! Somehow the pediatricians clearance got misplaced or something so they had to get a hold of her at her home and get her to fax it over so we could be discharged. So finally at 11pm we were discharged and able to go home! Since it was so late and the girls were already asleep at my parents house we decided to go pick them up in the morning.
And the rest is history! Here are some pictures:
Calvin's first picture
The morning after he was born and so happy he came 11 days early and that the labor and delivery went so smooth.
His first photo once we finally got him home. Granted this was Monday morning, we didn't take any at midnight Sunday night when we finally got home.
We are loving having Calvin in our family. It's been a complete whirlwind so far. He eats all the time, does not nap during the day, but sleeps amazing at night. Typically a good 6-7 hour stretch initially and then every 2 hours after that. Although last night he slept for 11.5 hours straight! I'm sure its a fluke so I'm not getting my hopes up. But I definitely enjoyed it until 5 am when I was woken up by my boobs hurting so bad from being engorged. Luckily he woke up at 6:30 and was really hungry. He ate from both sides and relieved my pain. (Typically he only eats from one side in a feeding.)
He goes in to the dr for his 2 month check on Monday and I'm curious to see what his stats are. He's getting chubbier everyday so I know he's been packing on some weight. The girls have enjoyed having a baby brother in the house so far and are often fighting over who gets to hold him. :)
Comments
Post a Comment