Birth story

Dylan is here!!! I was scheduled to be induced at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 26 (one day before my due date). We arrived at St. Mary's hospital right at 6:00. Michael dropped me off at the ER, made sure I was in the right spot, and then parked the car. I sat and registered (which I did online several weeks before, but apparently that did not matter). Michael was back within just minutes. We walked up to the Birthing Center and right into our room. Immediately the nurses got me ready. They started the I.V., got me a "huge" ugly hospital gown, hooked me up to the monitors to listen to baby Dylan and measure my contractions (which I was already having before the induction and did not realize it).

Once I was settled they said they would be back every 30 minutes to increase the pitocin. I thought it would be the perfect time to get some rest. I tried to nap but was so excited and anxious. The doctor came around 9:00 to check me and break my water. I was still at 3 centimeters dialated and 80% effaced. He broke my water and that's when the fun began :-)!!

Prior to breaking my water I could not feel the contractions. I could tell my stomach was getting hard but the contractions were not accompanied by any pain. After breaking my water, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and the pain was in my back. I've heard that back labor hurts really bad and it does. Luckily, my mom was right by my side with cold hands. Everytime I had a contraction I had to lean forward on the bed and she put her cold hands on my lower back...it felt great!! I think I froze everyone to death in my room. I was so hot I kept having them turn the air lower and lower.

The doctor came around lunch time and I was at 6 centimeters. I asked how long I could go without having any pain meds/epidural. He said I could go up to 8 or 9 centimeters since it was my first child. Well, he was gone about 30 minutes and the contractions were just becoming unbearable. I asked my nurse to give me something for pain through my I.V. She gave me something that made me really drunk feeling and the pictures on the wall started jumping. She checked me again and I was at almost 7 centimeters, so she recommended we go ahead and order the epidural.

The epidural went in easy and did not hurt at all. From then on, being in labor wasn't bad at all. I couldn't feel a thing. My contractions were right on top of each other. At 3:00 the nurse checked me again, I was ready to push!! She called the doctor and we started pushing. He arrived, checked me and said it could be anywhere from an hour to three hours. I had been pushing for about 15 minutes and knew there was noway I could go 3 hours. He left and we continued to push. The epidural had weakened enough for me to be able to lift my legs on my own and feel contractions enough to know when to push. At a little after 4 my nurse, who I have to say was amazing, decided to call the doctor. She said it would be less than 15 minutes. She could see Dylan's head. She was right, at 4:27 p.m. our precious little Dylan came into the world. The doctor was great coaching me through the last few contractions. The plan was for Michael to cut the cord and then for Dylan to lay up on my chest so that I could see him. Plans change. Dylan came out with the cord around his neck and not responding. The doctory told Michael he was going to cut the cord and then Dylan would need to be stimulated some. He assured me Dylan was fine. Within minutes Dylan let out the most beautiful cry. The tears started flowing from my eyes!! It was the most amazing thing in the world.

They worked with Dylan for a little longer and then took his weight. He weighed 7 lbs 15 ounces. The doctor was shocked, he thought he would weigh about 6 1/2 pounds.

We got to hold Dylan for a few minutes. They had to take him to the nursery to monitor him because he was breathing a little faster than he should have been. I did not realize that he would be gone for almost 3 hours. I was getting so impatient and nervous. I kept asking them when he would be back in my room. I was told 15 minutes and nearly an hour later he arrived.

He was having problems eating and seemed to gag everytime he was fed. We opted to let the nursery keep him the first night. Thank goodness. The nursery nurse came in the next morning to explain that his stomach was a bit swollen and that they were concerned. They were going to do an x-ray. It showed that he was extremely bloated and his intestines were full and not "moving."

He was taken up to the NICU to be placed on an IV. They were hoping that his digestive system would start working on its own with the help of an IV and the lack of feeding. It didn't and he was given a suppository. It worked and 3 days later, a lot of encouragement from the nurses, teaching Dylan to eat, and many many tears Dylan was better.

I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday but given the room as a "guest." We stayed all day Friday and worked with Dylan. They offered the room another night, assuring us that Dylan would be going home on Saturday. Both Michael and I were sick of being in the hospital. Michael was going crazy and I was getting depressed. We opted to go home for the night and return on Saturday to take our sweet boy home. We arrived just as he was ready to go. Shortly after lunch on Saturday October 30, we were a family together at home!!!