Patrick Dean is here!

Patrick Dean was born on August 25th at 3:37pm via c-section....let's start from the beginning!! I woke up with contractions around 1am on Tuesday. I wasn't sure they were contractions or just stomach pains (i.e. they didn't hurt that much). But after waking up every half hour until 2:30 I realized this might be it. I couldn't sleep anyway so I got up and tried to read anything I could about what was happening. I hadn't had any other 'pre labor signs' up until now, so I didn't really believe it. But the pains kept coming about 20 minutes apart. As the night progressed they did get closer together. By 6am I decided I was waking Dean up to tell him that I was pretty sure this was it. I had started spotting and the contractions were closer together. He was excited and quickly got up. Not that there was any hurry, but we both showered and got ready just to be on the safe side. By about 9:30 they were 5 minutes apart and for the most part uncomfortable. I called the office and they told me to come in. We got there around 10:30 and after being checked was 5 cm dilated already (woohoo!!) They sent me straight to labor and delivery. They knew I wanted an epidural so they were ready and waiting since I was already so far along. They didn't waste any time. I had one nurse doing the IV's and one asking all the questions. This process took a few hours (labs, IV's, fluids etc). The epidural was fine. It didn't hurt and went quickly. The only small issue was the nurse anaesthetist did it with the doctor telling her what to do....a little scary for me! The doctor came in about 2 and checked again, I was barely to 6 and my contractions went from every 2-4 minutes to every 5-6 minutes. Not the direction we want to be going. So they started me on pitocin. With the medication, I couldn't feel the contractions (yay!) but apparently they weren't progressing like the wanted. Shortly after that we noticed the baby's heart rate (now being monitored from the inside) had dropped to about 50. We called the nurse and they all came flying in. I changed positions and it came back up but then proceeded to drop after every contraction. Not that low, but low enough to be concerned. At 3 the doctor came in and said he suggested a c-section. We could wait it out but with the heart rate issue he wouldn't. So I agreed and by 3:20 I was in the OR getting my stomach scrubbed. I couldn't feel anything except pushing and pulling. Which I'm not going to lie, it hurt. I was scared and crying. I didn't really get enough time to process everything and I was scared! All the talking and directions was scary and it sounded like they had a hard time getting him out. I kept hearing 'push harder'....not pleasant!! Until I finally heard that little cry. My sweet baby boy! They whisked him over to the cart to measure and weigh him. Dean took pictures and they brought him to me as soon as they were done. He was beautiful. They finished stapling me up (yeah, real metal staples....yuck!) and I was in recovery by 4. All in all it was a quick ride. I had to stay there for 2 hours. It went by quick and had just a few bumps in the road. The anaesthesia made me sick and throwing up with an incision across my belly was not fun. Especially on an empty stomach. But holding that little baby made everything better! We were moved to our room about 6....both in shock that we are finally parents!!! The best feeling in the world!!!

So the delivery went great. My baby boy was 8 pounds 12.6 oz., 20 inches long. His head was 14 cm which lead everyone to believe I would have needed a c-section anyway to get him out! He is a healthy little boy!! We were planning on going home on Friday....but nothing is ever easy! I'll update the rest of our stay later. Right now baby Patrick is just waking up!