Happy Birthday Porter!

We are so happy to have a healthy and happy Baby Porter Dee Speth here at last!  Things definitely went in an odd order from what I anticipated in getting him here.  We went in to the hospital late Sunday night to start the Cervadil to get me ready for Pitocin the next day.  From the time that I had seen my doctor on Monday to going in on Sunday I had been having some very fun contractions but they had all but gone away on Saturday and Sunday.  The doctor had emphasized multiple times how important it was that I sleep that night for when they would start the Pitocin in 12 hours if everything was looking good.  Problem was: I could not sleep. I hated the monitors with a passion.  I had lovely SED's on my legs to keep circulation going and not clot and they were hot, uncomfortable, and sweaty.  My usual night time contractions were already present, and any time I moved they lost the baby's heart rate.  So what was supposed to be a night full of sleep didn't really happen.  I started getting a little concerned about my situation, I was supposed to be sleeping but I wasn't comfortable and I hurt.  I negotiated to not have to wear the SCD's and the nice nurse gave me a half dose of pain medication that I was hoping more for the sleepiness effect so that I could get more rest and ignore the contractions and the monitors.  I was able to sleep, but not for as long as I was hoping.  I woke up to more contractions.  The nurse gave me another half dose to help me fall asleep again, only this time it didn't really do much, she explained that I was having coupled contractions, two different contractions that were back to back with a shorter break in between, and that was probably why I was having a hard time.  So I was just awake. 

The nurses changed shifts around 6 am and I was still just awake wanting to sleep before meeting with my doctor at 10.  I asked if I could have another half dose and the new nurse said I couldn't have one but that she would check to see where I was at.  I was shocked when she did her check and said, "well my dear, you are dilated past a 6, you are ready for an epidural if you want it."  I was kind of shocked, I was just trying to sleep but at the mention of epidural I was thinking that didn't sound like such a bad idea.  So I got the epidural and I was finally able to get in that nap I had been waiting for.

Pretty much the rest of the experience was amazing.  It was a really calm and peaceful morning waiting for Porter to be ready to pop out.  I just kind of went with the flow the rest of the afternoon.  JD and I were able to hang out and talk and watch those contractions come and go on the screen-that was fun.  My nurse came to check my progress after a while and instead of a number we heard a small gasp and were told that he had a lot of hair, she left for a minute and then came back to say that it was time to push and so I pushed.  About 40 minutes later I was told that the baby's heart rate was dropping and that we needed to get him out.  It only took hearing my nurse reserving a spot in the NICU to get me to push like crazy, contraction pressure or not, to get him out.  So 4 pushes, an episiotomy and tear, and vacuum assist later (about 3 minutes) our little guy was here and in my arms and not going anywhere.  He cried a little bit, but it wasn't long before his big eyes were open and he was looking up at me with a look that pretty much said, "what just happened mom?" 

JD and I got to spend about 2 hours with Porter before they even took him away from me to do his check and get him all cleaned up. I was able to cuddle our sweet boy and feed him and hold him while the world went on around me, JD, and Porter. Everyone was guessing around 8 1/2 pounds for weight and they were all very wrong when they put him on the scale and we saw a whopping 9 pounds 4 ounces on the screen.  The assistant nurse measured Porter's length and said he was 23 inches long, my Nurse Candace didn't believe her and remeasured and sure enough he was really 23 inches long.  I wasn't so surprised since I had his feet stuck high up in my diaphragm constantly kicking to the point of discomfort for over the past 3 months.  So we have ourselves a very long and 'skinny' baby. 

Things have been going really well, Porter is a sleepy baby, I'm recovering, and JD is already back in school.  What adventure we have in store!