This is MY baby story... after many summer afternoons of watching the show on TLC, hoping little James would take a hint, I finally get to tell my baby story. :)
Friday, June 26- I had my weekly check up late in the afternoon. My doctor told me that I was already dialated 2 cm and 90% effaced. The nurses gave me a list of the doctors on-call that weekend... just in case. I went home, and, as I was driving, contractions began. I felt contractions for 7 hours, starting at about 10-15 minutes apart and eventually reaching 6 minutes apart. I called the doctor on call because we live 45 minutes from the hospital, but he told me to wait until they were 5 minutes apart. Then they stopped an hour after I got off the phone with him.
Saturday, June 27 (evening)- Contractions start up again, but are all over the place. We don't think too much of them.
Sunday, June 28- I had a small suspicion that my water had broken. I say slight suspicion because it wasn't anything dramatic. I wasn't sure, and I really didn't want to worry over it to the point of going to the hospital just to be sent back home. I decided that if I still felt that way Monday morning, I would call my doctor's office and make an appointment.
Monday, June 29: 10:40am- I called the doctor's office because I still felt like my water was broken. I set up an appointment for 1:30pm, showered, re-packed our hospital bag, ate some lunch, and headed out to the doctor!
Monday, June 29:
2:15pm- I got called back and met with the doctor. He conducted a nitrozine (spelling???) test to see if my water had broken, but it was negative. He then took a sample and looked at it under the microscope... and found that my water had maybe not broken, but was leaking from a tear. No matter what had happened, he found amniotic fluid. He sent me immediately to the hospital because my water could have been leaking for over 24 hours, which could increase chances of infection for the baby.
2:30pm- I made the super quick drive across Athens to St. Mary's, parked the car, walked on in, and admitted myself, much to the amusement of everyone who registered me. I then walked myself up to labor and delivery, handed my paperwork to the nurse at the desk, and walked back to my room! (Chris, at this point, was already in Madison, either waiting for me to come home, upset and disappointed, or for a phone call for him to meet me in Athens!)
3:30pm- I was all settled in. Once I walked into my room, I changed into the glamorous hospital gown, settled in the bed, and immediately met the doctor on call. He wanted to get the labor going, so he rushed right on in, ran another nitrozine test (which was inconclusive in his opinion), then broke my water! He told me that I was having the baby by midnight, and I told him I was all for it! My nurse then hooked me up to an IV, running antibiotics, fluids, and pitocin through me. At this point, I was just hanging out, making phone calls, and waiting for labor to really start.
5:30pm- Labor had really kicked in, and the contractions were pretty painful and coming rather closely together. I was only at 4cm, but the nurse asked me if I wanted to start some pain management meds. I really wasn't sure, and she assured me that the time would come where I would really want pain meds. She said she would administer them when I wanted them.
6:30pm-ish- I kinda started to loose track of time here due to extreme pain. I had indeed reached the point where contractions were strong and close, providing little time for relief, and I was begging for my first round of pain meds, which was Staedal. This medicine was supposed to take the edge off and knock me out for about an hour, so they administered the meds and upped the level of pitocin at the same time. My dcotor wanted me further along in labor before I had an epideral because sometimes an epideral will slow down the labor.
7:00-8:00pm- A half an hour after the meds were administered, I realized they were NOT WORKING. I had about an hour straight of contraction after contraction with little relief in between. I requested an epideral, but both my doctor and the anesthesiologist were in an emergency c-section operation, and I had to go through another bag of fluid before they could give me an epideral.
8:00pm- The anesthesiologist arrived! I had never been more excited! Chris signed consent for my epideral (I was in too much pain!), and the anesthesiologist rambled on about all the side effects and what not, and began to prep me for the procedure.
8:30pm- Mere seconds after the epideral was administered, I felt relief. It came just in time. At this point, I was at 6cm.
9:00pm- They checked me, and I was at 9cm! Things were rocking right along, and the nurses and my dcotor began getting everything prepared for delivery as we all hung out in the waiting room.
9:45ish-10:00pm- I was ready! My bed was broken, though, so they had to track down another one, transfer me to it, hook it all back up, and begin!
10:49pm- James Randolph Edwards was born, and he hollered pretty much immediately. Chris announced his arrival with a simple text message: "He's hollering!"
The nurses set right to work, cleaning him and measuring him. Before they checked his weight, they asked me what I thought he weighed. I guessed around 8.5 pounds. They placed him on the scale, and, much to my surprise, he weighed a whopping 9 pounds, 8 ounces! I never would have guessed! Goodness! :)
Tonight, one week later, we are back in the hospital. Sweet James is jaundiced. He's hanging out under a phototherapy lamp while Chris and I are hanging out, patiently waiting for his billi levels to go back down. It breaks my heart to watch him just lying there, fussy because he can't be held, with little sunglasses covering up his pretty eyes. He will hopefully get better soon so we can all be home together.
What a blessing he is to Chris and me! :) A new chapter of our family's life has begun!
