It's been a whirlwind of a week! This is the first chance I've had to sit down and try to update everyone on Walker's arrival. Really I should be paying bills or getting something else done while he sleeps in his bassinet by the window.
I went into labor Sunday night Sept 23 and labored at home all night with Cliff's unending support. Monday morning about 6:00 we decided it was time to go to the hospital. I just knew they weren't going to keep me and it wasn't the real thing.
When we got there, they quickly told us it was the real thing. I was having strong and intense contractions that were only a few minutes apart. We waited on Patti to do her rounds and tell us if we'd be staying or if they'd send us home a couple more hours. When we got there, she informed me we'd be staying. I was having labor contractions, but wasn't dilating the way they would have thought, so they moved me to a bigger room and started a pitocin drip. We started making our phone calls. We were so excited! Not long after they moved us into the new room my contractions picked up with major intensity before they even turned on the drip. Knowing it going to get much worse really quickly once the pitocin drip started, we made sure I got my epidural pretty early on. Once I'd made it to a 3, I got my epidural and actually went from a 3-5 in just a few minutes. The epi was the MOST wonderful thing ever! My contractions were really picking up, but I had once again stopped dilating. Walker's head had been engaged for some time and was at plus 1 station which means he was very close to coming out but couldn't because I wasn't making the cervical progress needed. They told us around 3:15 we'd have a baby around 6:00. I'd noticed a few times before that the nurse and Patti were giving one another "looks" from time to time and got really concerned when they ran in and threw me on my left side and slapped oxygen on my face. I knew enough from reading that this meant they were having trouble with Walker's heartrate. I was very scared. After 3 realy strong dips in his heartrate and them not being able to get it back up to an acceptable rate the 3rd time, they decided an emergency c-section had to be performed. After deciding this, they did get it back up to a decent number but felt it was out of the question to continue with my labor. (I didn't know this until after my surgery). There were a few people in my room when they made this decision-my Dad, Cory, Josh and Ashley. Everyone else was out in the waiting room. It was 3:30. Patti told everyone they had to get to the waiting room and then before I knew it things were being said like "get the pre-op meds, page Dr. Larrimore, we need a c-section STAT!" It was very chaotic and tense in my room and I was scared to death. Cliff was right beside me holding my hand and all I could say was "pray for our baby, pray for our baby..." I knew he was doing just that. He was terrified as well, I could see it all over his face. But, he stayed strong for me. I felt like I was going to hyperventilate but I knew I had to be strong for Walker because if I wasn't breathing he wasn't breathing. That's literally what kept me going in that moment was focusing on breathing life into my child. Before I knew it, they were wheeling me into the operating room. It took about 10 minutes for them to prep me and then they let Cliff in the room. Once Cliff was there I knew they were starting the surgery. It was not even 5 minutes before I heard the most amazing sound in the world, the sound I will never forget as long as I live. The sound of our precious son crying as he entered this world. We both started crying as well. He was born at 3:53 pm and weighed 7 lbs and 5 oz. He was 19 inches long. Then they brought the baby over to let me see him. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on and knew immeditely he looked like his Daddy. Cliff kissed me goodbye and told me how much he loved me. Then was able to go with the baby to the nursery while I was being sown up and sent to recovery. He thought enough to video tape everything they did while I was in recovery so that I wouldn't miss a thing. The nurse took lots of pics for us as well. Cliff got to give him his first bath with everyone we love watching through the nursery windows. During this point, Cliff had my brother film because he knew how much I'd want to see all that went on in Walker's first few minutes of life. I was only in recovery a little while and they wheeled me back to my new and much smaller room. Cliff and Walker came in and we had our special family time, which was also recorded, before anyone else came in and then the masses joined us. This was such a special moment for us. I'm so thankful for all the video recordings because after my complete spinal block injected into my epidural and all the other pain meds they quickly flushed into my system before the surgery I was left a little groggy and drugged. There were certain things about that afternoon/evening that I only remember because of Cliff's tape.
When we got there, they quickly told us it was the real thing. I was having strong and intense contractions that were only a few minutes apart. We waited on Patti to do her rounds and tell us if we'd be staying or if they'd send us home a couple more hours. When we got there, she informed me we'd be staying. I was having labor contractions, but wasn't dilating the way they would have thought, so they moved me to a bigger room and started a pitocin drip. We started making our phone calls. We were so excited! Not long after they moved us into the new room my contractions picked up with major intensity before they even turned on the drip. Knowing it going to get much worse really quickly once the pitocin drip started, we made sure I got my epidural pretty early on. Once I'd made it to a 3, I got my epidural and actually went from a 3-5 in just a few minutes. The epi was the MOST wonderful thing ever! My contractions were really picking up, but I had once again stopped dilating. Walker's head had been engaged for some time and was at plus 1 station which means he was very close to coming out but couldn't because I wasn't making the cervical progress needed. They told us around 3:15 we'd have a baby around 6:00. I'd noticed a few times before that the nurse and Patti were giving one another "looks" from time to time and got really concerned when they ran in and threw me on my left side and slapped oxygen on my face. I knew enough from reading that this meant they were having trouble with Walker's heartrate. I was very scared. After 3 realy strong dips in his heartrate and them not being able to get it back up to an acceptable rate the 3rd time, they decided an emergency c-section had to be performed. After deciding this, they did get it back up to a decent number but felt it was out of the question to continue with my labor. (I didn't know this until after my surgery). There were a few people in my room when they made this decision-my Dad, Cory, Josh and Ashley. Everyone else was out in the waiting room. It was 3:30. Patti told everyone they had to get to the waiting room and then before I knew it things were being said like "get the pre-op meds, page Dr. Larrimore, we need a c-section STAT!" It was very chaotic and tense in my room and I was scared to death. Cliff was right beside me holding my hand and all I could say was "pray for our baby, pray for our baby..." I knew he was doing just that. He was terrified as well, I could see it all over his face. But, he stayed strong for me. I felt like I was going to hyperventilate but I knew I had to be strong for Walker because if I wasn't breathing he wasn't breathing. That's literally what kept me going in that moment was focusing on breathing life into my child. Before I knew it, they were wheeling me into the operating room. It took about 10 minutes for them to prep me and then they let Cliff in the room. Once Cliff was there I knew they were starting the surgery. It was not even 5 minutes before I heard the most amazing sound in the world, the sound I will never forget as long as I live. The sound of our precious son crying as he entered this world. We both started crying as well. He was born at 3:53 pm and weighed 7 lbs and 5 oz. He was 19 inches long. Then they brought the baby over to let me see him. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on and knew immeditely he looked like his Daddy. Cliff kissed me goodbye and told me how much he loved me. Then was able to go with the baby to the nursery while I was being sown up and sent to recovery. He thought enough to video tape everything they did while I was in recovery so that I wouldn't miss a thing. The nurse took lots of pics for us as well. Cliff got to give him his first bath with everyone we love watching through the nursery windows. During this point, Cliff had my brother film because he knew how much I'd want to see all that went on in Walker's first few minutes of life. I was only in recovery a little while and they wheeled me back to my new and much smaller room. Cliff and Walker came in and we had our special family time, which was also recorded, before anyone else came in and then the masses joined us. This was such a special moment for us. I'm so thankful for all the video recordings because after my complete spinal block injected into my epidural and all the other pain meds they quickly flushed into my system before the surgery I was left a little groggy and drugged. There were certain things about that afternoon/evening that I only remember because of Cliff's tape.
Since the birth, things have gone great. Cliff has been an enormous help and I wish that you could all see firsthand how much he loves this baby. We shared so many special moments together throughout our 4 night stay at the hospital...most of those occuring when we were alone in the middle of the night. We've talked about how we now share a completely new level of love for one another. It's amazing what we have created. We never knew this sort of love existed because we'd never had a child before but not only do we get to experience the joy and excitment of loving our baby, we get to experience a newer and the most exciting love (yet) that we've shared as a married couple.
Cliff's been 100% perfect. He joked that he never thought he'd be washing bottles, hooking me up to the breast pump and doing other things that are way too personal to publish. But, all of it feels and comes so natural to him. I couldn't ask for more.
Cliff's been 100% perfect. He joked that he never thought he'd be washing bottles, hooking me up to the breast pump and doing other things that are way too personal to publish. But, all of it feels and comes so natural to him. I couldn't ask for more.
Here are just some other random facts that I'm going to list out b/c I've spend way too much time on here already and I need to pay bills before Walker wakes up from his nap.
*Melissa was our nurse the night Walker was born and then again on Wednesday night and Thursday night while we were still at the hospital. She took great care of him...and us!
*Walker developed jaundice while we were at the hospital. His bilirubin level was 14 so he had to spend about a day and a half under the bilirubin lamp. This also resulted in staying in the hospital on Thursday night and not coming home until Friday.
*Cliff slept (or didn't sleep) on that fold out chair in the hospital room all week and didn't complain once. He was up with me everytime I was up, got up to help me to the bathroom at all hours, helped me out of bed when I just wanted to check on the baby a little closer, got me the baby when I couldn't get out of bed because I was sore from my surgery, etc...the list goes on and on...
*I got a nasty fever blister before or during my surgery from stress. It's in all my pictures. :( I am on prescription drugs for it now and can't kiss my sweet child until it heals. Patti told me it was brought on by stress since I didn't have it before the surgery and came out of surgery with it. Seeing as that was only about a 10-15 time period, it came up fast!
*We've had a hard time nursing. We've resorted to pumping his bottles to keep him on breastmilk. I know that this spoils him but he wasn't eating at all before. From time to time, he will nurse but we normally have to trick him by pumping a little to get things going, or putting some already extracted milk on me so that he thinks it is immediate. He's a lazy eater and doesn't like to have to work for his food. So, he'd rather drink a bottle that's immediate. I never knew just how hard breastfeeding was until now.
*My mom cleaned my house from top to bottom while we were gone. She got stuff ready for baby, including setting up a mock nursery in our bedroom with all the things we needed.
*All our parents were so supportive and helpful this week and really helped us survive. So, were our siblings, friends and other family members.
*When we were rushed into surgery we were in the middle of making our phone calls to let people know we were in labor. We didn't get to finish the calls but thankfully everyone we wanted to contact eventually got contacted.
*I'm sure there is much more but I'm typing from a sleep deprived mindset and am going to end this for now.
More soon...
3 comments:
Wow...I don't know if it's my pregnancy or what but i'm crying after reading this. Having been through it before it's really amazing to hear all of the emotions put into words by someone else. We are so happy for you both and Jeff and I would love to come and meet Walker some time! Congratulations Nicole...you guys deserve this amazing blessing that you've been praying for and waiting on for so long!
Rebekah
Congrats Nicole! you made me want a baby even more as you expressed how it's brought you and cliff even closer together. I've never heard it captured so well. Congratualtions!
Congratulations to both of you! I know how happy you must be. He looks just like Cliff! Enjoy him and try to get some rest. He is too precious!
Love,
Kim Brooks
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