Sorry this post has taken almost 3 weeks to write. I am sure you all know how crazy things can be with a newborn. First, we are all doing great and are trying to get into a groove...slowly but surely :)
Owen Ellis was born July 16th at 7:04am weighing 8lbs 5ozs and 20.5 inches...WHOA! A bigger baby than we ever thought.
Birth Story
I want to share this with you all because I had such a positive experience and feel like you only hear the bad stories. Wednesday night around 9:45pm I started having cramps but didn't think much of it since they didn't have a start and stopping time. Just all over crampy with some more intense than others. Around 11:30pm, after the cramps had not let up we decided to call my doctor, well the doctor on call. I had just been to my doctor earlier that day for my 40 week checkup and during the appt I lost my "MP" so she said that he should come any day now but not that night because she wasn't on call. My luck he decided to come the one night that she wasn't on call :)
Dr. Wolf was on call and after talking with her about the crampy feeling and if we had to time them we would say they were 5-6mins apart but again, nothing that hurt too bad that I thought they were labor contractions. She thought that maybe I was having contractions from my doctor's appt because sometimes that can bring them on. So she decided that she would call the hospital and let them know that I may come in. Chris and I decided that if they didn't go away in the next 30mins that we would head in. I of course didn't want to go AT ALL because I was for sure that it would be false labor because, in my opinion they were not strong enough to be labor contractions. Needless to say after 20mins I still felt crampy and the only thing that felt good was to walk around. So we headed to the hospital.
When we arrived we were sent to triage where they check you to see if you are going to be admitted. I was so sure that I wasn't in labor I apologized to all the staff for having to do a ton of paper work for my false labor. They all laughed and said it happens all the time but they would be able to tell when I was checked. I even made Chris park in the garage and I walked in with him...no way if this was false labor I would be seen being wheeled in a wheelchair...ha!
I was checked and found out that my contractions were indeed real and were 1-1.5mins apart and I was 5cm dilated. So I was admitted to Labor and Delivery and waited for the doctor. This was close to 2am. Dr. Wolf asked if I wanted my epidural and I decided that since I was breathing through the contractions easily that I would wait a bit. I thought for sure that I would be there forever and wanted to be able to walk around for a little longer and not stuck in my bed. Next Dr. Wolf decided to break my water to see if the contractions were still strong and every few minutes. She said most people need pictocin to keep them constant and we would be able to tell after my water broke how I was progressing. Note to self with the next child MAKE SURE TO GET THE EPIDURAL BEFORE THEY BREAK YOUR WATER!! Needless to say contractions are 100x's stronger after your water has broken so within 30mins of these contractions I was getting my epidural :) I was very scared to get the epidural because I have heard stories of how women lose feeling completely and can't move their legs after. Those of you know know me well know that I have a HUGE fear/anxiety of my legs and arms being held down and not being able to move them. I freak out! I talked to my good friend Jennifer Conde about what should happen with the epidural done correctly and she assured me that I should be able to feel and move my legs. If not, there is a problem. I talked to the doctor and told her my fears and she assured me also that I would be able to feel my legs. I also talked to her about turning down the epidural close to time so that I could feel the contractions and know when to push. She was great and listened to all my fears and requests and the epidural was a breeze! Didn't hurt one bit and I was able to feel and move freely. This was around 2:30am-2:45am and Dr. Wolf said she would be back in a few hours to check my progress for me to get some rest. Yeah right! Rest when I am so excited that Owen would be here soon...rest when the nurses were coming in every 30mins to check my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Needless to say, Chris slept for a few hours and I just watched the monitor and chatted with the nurses when they came in. My contractions held strong and I didn't need pictocin to keep the contractions steady so that was good news for us.
Dr. Wolf came in and checked me around 6:45am and told us that I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. OMG, we had no clue it would happen so fast. Less than 20mins later and just a few pushes, Owen was born. One thing about pushing that helped a lot, although was somewhat traumatizing at the time is that Dr. Wolf had me watch when I pushed in a mirror at the end of the table. It freaked me out a bit but I was really able to see when I was pushing correctly. So, I saw Owen's birth from the minute I started pushing until he was completely out (sorry a little too much info). I am thankful and think that this is one big reason that I had a great experience and didn't have any tearing.
One thing the nurses said and Dr. Wolf said was that with my second child that when I first felt contractions that I needed to run to the hospital! I guess since I had less than 9 hours of labor from the first contraction to his birth, that was pretty quick and with the second child, things tend to go a lot faster. So, note to self, next child it's probably not false labor...get to the hospital ASAP :) Can you imagine if I didn't listen to Chris and tried to make it through the night until I could talk to my doctor the next day??? Gosh, Owen would probably be born at our house.
That's the story of Owen's birth and we are loving every minute we have with him!
Owen will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and it's amazing how much he has grown and changed in such a short time. Just in the past few days we can tell he has grown. He weighed 8lbs 5ozs when he was born, left the hospital weighing 7lbs 12ozs and by the time he was 2 weeks old, he was already past his birth weight...he's a chunky monkey :) I can't wait to see how much he weighs tomorrow at my breastfeeding support class.
Breastfeeding...this has been our biggest challenge. Let's just say that mastitis is the WORST infection ever! I think we have gotten past the hard parts but I can honestly see why women give up on breastfeeding. It's a test to your patients to stick with it. I was determined and still am to breastfeed, even though I am still working through some challenges. I met with a lactation consultant last week and she assured me that he was latching on correctly and encouraged me to stick with it. Our hospital offers a weekly support class that's free and the lactation nurse that I met with runs it, so I am going to go weekly with my long list of questions to make sure I get it and correctly! Also, they do weight checks so I will be able to tell how much Owen is taking in when he nurses. They weigh him before feeding and after and we can monitor this weekly. Makes me feel better because my biggest fear is that he's not getting enough to eat since I have no way to measure how much he is taking in. Wish us luck that we make it the next week or so with success!
I will post updates weekly on Owen...promise not to go this long without an update :)
