The Arrival of Archer James Calvert
3/1/10 - 39w6d
8:00am
On monday morning I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, as always, but my back and pelvis and hips and legs and feet and everything was hurting, so I stayed in bed for a while and texted my MIL a bit... I told her I had accepted the fact that this baby was never ever going to come out!
8:30am
So I decided it was time to get up and get my day started... I sat up at the edge of the bed preparing myself to stand up (hey, it's a process that far into pregnancy, haha), and felt a slight leak! I freaked out, grabbed a towel, stuck it between my legs, and quickly waddled to the bathroom... I couldn't believe i was peeing myself! I heard leaking was common later in the pregnancy because the baby moves over the bladder and whatnot, I just couldn't believe it! No one was around yet I was completely embarrassed. I knew I had to pee, but I didn't have to pee that bad!! ...So I went... then I texted Mike at work telling him what I did and how silly it was. While I was standing there leaning on the door frame texting him, it happened again! I'm here thinking "Seriously, I just peed, not again.." So I told Mike what happened and he said I should call my doctor and ask him what to do because he was convinced my water was breaking. so, to appease my hubby, I called the doc and told him. He said because my due date was here, just to go to L&D and get the leaking fluid checked. Told hubs I was goin' to L&D and he said he'd meet me there.
9:00am
I got myself ready, went and got gas in my car, and drove myself to the hospital! I didn't have very intense contractions, but as small as they were, they were relatively close together... 3 in 35 mins. While I was driving to the hospital, I'm thinking to myself "This is silly, I just wet myself, I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm totally not in labor. This is gonna be a false alarm!" And then, the other half of me is responding with "Yeah, but that's what you said when you took the pregnancy test! You didn't think you were pregnant at ALL, then you took it and you were... so you never know!!"
9:45am
I get to the hospital. I met Mike in the parking structure and we went in... while I'm walking in the doors, I leak even more. At this point I'm leaning more towards a slow trickle of amniotic fluid and less towards the possibility of me wetting myself.
10:15am
Got up to L&D, got checked in, and got into my room.
10:45am
A nurse came in to get a sample of my fluid... immediately upon checking, she KNEW it was my water because I was "pooling" inside, but she sent it back to give my doc the results. The first test came back negative, which she called bull on because she knew, so she did it again, and yep, it was my water!
11:45am
My contractions weren't strong enough and I was 1cm dilated... Nothing was progressing, so they had to put me on Pitocin... wasn't so thrilled about it, but I knew I wasn't progressing.
1:45pm
still no progression with the Pitocin. They kept upping the drip, and nothing was happening.
7:00pm
Still only 1cm dilated and my contractions are very steady and very not fun... I couldn't move through the contractions, I couldn't stand up, it was HELL just to get up to go to the bathroom, and I was getting very irritated that it wasn't progressing!
9:30pm
My nurse came in to level with me. Time to talk to me about maybe getting an epidural... she knew I wanted to do it as natural as possible, but she let me know that I went the entire day with Pitocin and stayed at 1cm... I couldn't relax through the contractions so my cervix wouldn't/couldn't dilate. She basically said I either needed to get up and walk, or get an epidural to get the labor progressing. Walking really wasn't an option and I felt a little defeated, but I was literally crying through the contractions, I was so exhausted.
10:00pm
I asked for the pain medications through the IV because I couldn't handle it anymore, I just couldn't. Oooh my goodness, those helped me relax so amazingly well... but it only lasts for about 2 hours, so I had about 2 hours to decide if I wanted an epidural or not.
3/2/10 - 40w
12:00am
As soon as I got the medication, I relaxed and realized I did need the epidural to help me along. So I said ok. It was so difficult and I was really really scared, but I had my husband there holding my hand and keeping me focused to not move. I was lucky and had a contraction right before I got the shot, so I didn't have to stay still through a contraction. And it helped that the nurse and anesthesiologist were funny and keeping conversation light, and kept me talking. The shot hurt, but right after, it was just fine.
12:30am
Nurse: "Did you feel that?" Me: "Feel what?" Nurse: "You just had a pretty strong contraction?" Me: "I did??" Nurse: "...So the epidural is working for you. Good. Go to sleep!"
1:00am
The last time I looked at the clock it was 1-ish... I woke up BARELY a couple times when the nurse came in to check me, but for all I know I could have been dreaming!
6:30am
The nurse came in to check my cervix, I was 7cm and she could feel the baby's head! Right-o, way to go! It was so good to get some rest too... The nurse told me I had a couple hours til I'd be ready to push, so I just hung out and watched TV.
7:45am
The nurse came in to ask how I was doing, and I told her I thought the epidural was wearing off cause I could feel a lot of pressure during the contractions. It didn't hurt, I just felt pressure. So she checked my cervix, I was 9cm!! The pressure was the baby's head pushing down during the contractions. I'd be ready really soon!
8:20am
The nurse came in (again) to have me do a couple practice pushes to see how I could do with it... I pushed two sets of three and she said "Ok, those weren't practice apparently, you're good at this, we're pushing for real now." She got on her hospital cell phone and said "Get Dr. Barber in here NOW! Thank you!" the baby was crowning and was coming out!! The whole time I was pushing, I had my sister on my left side, my mom on my right, my mom-in-law walking around, and Mike was standing right behind the doctor. He looked scared out of his mind! My sister kept telling me to "Look! Look at your baby!" but hey, it takes a LOT of energy to stay pushing and pushing and pushing and breathing and pushing, so I only glanced at him maybe twice the whole time I was pushing (yeah, all of 20 minutes).
8:39am
My baby arrived into the world!!! On his due date! I pushed for 20 minutes! I only got one stitch. Everything else was perfect.
Archer James Calvert
3/2/10 | 8:39am
7 lbs | 20 inches
...and love at first sight DOES exist... I fell in love with my baby the SECOND I saw him!! And I fell in love with Mike all over again.
8:00am
On monday morning I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, as always, but my back and pelvis and hips and legs and feet and everything was hurting, so I stayed in bed for a while and texted my MIL a bit... I told her I had accepted the fact that this baby was never ever going to come out!
8:30am
So I decided it was time to get up and get my day started... I sat up at the edge of the bed preparing myself to stand up (hey, it's a process that far into pregnancy, haha), and felt a slight leak! I freaked out, grabbed a towel, stuck it between my legs, and quickly waddled to the bathroom... I couldn't believe i was peeing myself! I heard leaking was common later in the pregnancy because the baby moves over the bladder and whatnot, I just couldn't believe it! No one was around yet I was completely embarrassed. I knew I had to pee, but I didn't have to pee that bad!! ...So I went... then I texted Mike at work telling him what I did and how silly it was. While I was standing there leaning on the door frame texting him, it happened again! I'm here thinking "Seriously, I just peed, not again.." So I told Mike what happened and he said I should call my doctor and ask him what to do because he was convinced my water was breaking. so, to appease my hubby, I called the doc and told him. He said because my due date was here, just to go to L&D and get the leaking fluid checked. Told hubs I was goin' to L&D and he said he'd meet me there.
9:00am
I got myself ready, went and got gas in my car, and drove myself to the hospital! I didn't have very intense contractions, but as small as they were, they were relatively close together... 3 in 35 mins. While I was driving to the hospital, I'm thinking to myself "This is silly, I just wet myself, I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm totally not in labor. This is gonna be a false alarm!" And then, the other half of me is responding with "Yeah, but that's what you said when you took the pregnancy test! You didn't think you were pregnant at ALL, then you took it and you were... so you never know!!"
9:45am
I get to the hospital. I met Mike in the parking structure and we went in... while I'm walking in the doors, I leak even more. At this point I'm leaning more towards a slow trickle of amniotic fluid and less towards the possibility of me wetting myself.
10:15am
Got up to L&D, got checked in, and got into my room.
10:45am
A nurse came in to get a sample of my fluid... immediately upon checking, she KNEW it was my water because I was "pooling" inside, but she sent it back to give my doc the results. The first test came back negative, which she called bull on because she knew, so she did it again, and yep, it was my water!
11:45am
My contractions weren't strong enough and I was 1cm dilated... Nothing was progressing, so they had to put me on Pitocin... wasn't so thrilled about it, but I knew I wasn't progressing.
1:45pm
still no progression with the Pitocin. They kept upping the drip, and nothing was happening.
7:00pm
Still only 1cm dilated and my contractions are very steady and very not fun... I couldn't move through the contractions, I couldn't stand up, it was HELL just to get up to go to the bathroom, and I was getting very irritated that it wasn't progressing!
9:30pm
My nurse came in to level with me. Time to talk to me about maybe getting an epidural... she knew I wanted to do it as natural as possible, but she let me know that I went the entire day with Pitocin and stayed at 1cm... I couldn't relax through the contractions so my cervix wouldn't/couldn't dilate. She basically said I either needed to get up and walk, or get an epidural to get the labor progressing. Walking really wasn't an option and I felt a little defeated, but I was literally crying through the contractions, I was so exhausted.
10:00pm
I asked for the pain medications through the IV because I couldn't handle it anymore, I just couldn't. Oooh my goodness, those helped me relax so amazingly well... but it only lasts for about 2 hours, so I had about 2 hours to decide if I wanted an epidural or not.
3/2/10 - 40w
12:00am
As soon as I got the medication, I relaxed and realized I did need the epidural to help me along. So I said ok. It was so difficult and I was really really scared, but I had my husband there holding my hand and keeping me focused to not move. I was lucky and had a contraction right before I got the shot, so I didn't have to stay still through a contraction. And it helped that the nurse and anesthesiologist were funny and keeping conversation light, and kept me talking. The shot hurt, but right after, it was just fine.
12:30am
Nurse: "Did you feel that?" Me: "Feel what?" Nurse: "You just had a pretty strong contraction?" Me: "I did??" Nurse: "...So the epidural is working for you. Good. Go to sleep!"
1:00am
The last time I looked at the clock it was 1-ish... I woke up BARELY a couple times when the nurse came in to check me, but for all I know I could have been dreaming!
6:30am
The nurse came in to check my cervix, I was 7cm and she could feel the baby's head! Right-o, way to go! It was so good to get some rest too... The nurse told me I had a couple hours til I'd be ready to push, so I just hung out and watched TV.
7:45am
The nurse came in to ask how I was doing, and I told her I thought the epidural was wearing off cause I could feel a lot of pressure during the contractions. It didn't hurt, I just felt pressure. So she checked my cervix, I was 9cm!! The pressure was the baby's head pushing down during the contractions. I'd be ready really soon!
8:20am
The nurse came in (again) to have me do a couple practice pushes to see how I could do with it... I pushed two sets of three and she said "Ok, those weren't practice apparently, you're good at this, we're pushing for real now." She got on her hospital cell phone and said "Get Dr. Barber in here NOW! Thank you!" the baby was crowning and was coming out!! The whole time I was pushing, I had my sister on my left side, my mom on my right, my mom-in-law walking around, and Mike was standing right behind the doctor. He looked scared out of his mind! My sister kept telling me to "Look! Look at your baby!" but hey, it takes a LOT of energy to stay pushing and pushing and pushing and breathing and pushing, so I only glanced at him maybe twice the whole time I was pushing (yeah, all of 20 minutes).
8:39am
My baby arrived into the world!!! On his due date! I pushed for 20 minutes! I only got one stitch. Everything else was perfect.
Archer James Calvert
3/2/10 | 8:39am
7 lbs | 20 inches
...and love at first sight DOES exist... I fell in love with my baby the SECOND I saw him!! And I fell in love with Mike all over again.
