December 24, 2013

Charlie boy turned 2 weeks old yesterday.. right on his due date!  Before I forget all the details, here's the story of his arrival into the world.

I already shared some of this info, but the day before, on December 23, I had my 38 week appointment.  I mentioned to the doctor I had been having insane itchy hands and feet and she did blood work.  She said she would call me the next day with the results.  We also scheduled an induction for December 31.  I was so torn about scheduling an induction, as I've never had a non-pitocin birth.  At first I didn't want to be induced, but after talking it over with Justin and my mom, I decided it would be easiest to have something planned to ensure that my parents could be here (since they live 14 hours away) to stay with the girls while we were in the hospital.  We had everything all set up so I was totally focused on Christmas.

The morning of Christmas Eve, Justin and the girls headed out on some last minute errands.  With a quiet house to myself, I decided to conquer some cleaning.  I scrubbed all the bathrooms, vacuumed every room, mopped the kitchen floor.  After that, I took a shower and blow dried my hair (a huge feat that happens about once a week around here..).  By this time, the girls and Justin were home and Justin was starting to prep food for our Christmas Eve dinner.  My phone rang at 11:30.  It was my OB, Dr. Jo.  She said my blood work showed I had cholestasis and I would need to come in that day to be induced.  She asked me to be there within a couple of hours.  I freaked out, told Justin, started crying, called my mom, and then finally brought myself to call my friend Ashely, who had been my 'on call' person just in case my parents weren't here for the arrival of our baby.  Ashley and her hubby had JUST pulled into his grandma's driveway - about 45 minutes away from our house - when we called.  They immediately turned around and headed to our house to pick up the girls.

I snapped this (blurry) pic before we left for the hospital.  One last belly pic... 38 weeks.

We frantically packed our bags, got the girls prepped for two days without us, and at 1:00, we left for the hospital.

1:15 pm - Checked in and surprisingly, the labor and delivery floor was a zoo!
2:30 pm - We were finally given a room.  We met our nurse and midwife who would be helping with delivery.  Midwife (Wendy) checked me and I was between 2-3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and having mild contractions

4:00 pm - Midwife asked about my previous labors and said, 'we'll have a baby by midnight!'  Decided not to use cervadil.  She inserted a cooks, which is an inflatable balloon that flattens the cervix
5:10 pm - Contractions are now 4 minutes apart.  Decided to use pitocin.
5:45 pm - Nurse starts pitocin drip
7:00 pm - 5 cm dilated and 60% effaced - removed cooks.  I also requested the epidural.  Midwife broke water.
7:32 pm - Epidural is put in.
9:30 pm - 7 cm dilated.  Feeling super nauseous... requested a puke bag.  Epidural is working and I was feeling much more comfortable.
10:00 pm - Monitor wasn't picking up contractions so midwife put in an internal monitor.
10:30 pm - Still 7 cm...  at this point, I'm thinking this will not happen before midnight.
10:55 pm - Epidural has worn off on one side.  I started to throw up and felt the urge to push.  Nurse comes in and tells me not to push... we had to wait on the midwife.  I made it through 5-10 agonizing minutes of not pushing while the nurses and midwife frantically set up the room for delivery.
11:05 pm- Start pushing.  On the first push the midwife says, 'I love third babies!  They come so easily!'
11:10 pm - It's a BOY!  Charlie James is here... 7 pounds, 21 inches.  The midwife had my help pull him out on the last push.  Justin announced, "It's a boy!"

Justin cutting the cord

It was a totally surreal day... went from being in total Christmas mode to delivering a baby BOY in a matter of 12 hours.  What a perfect Christmas miracle!

So thankful for God's provision, protection, and perfect plan for bringing sweet Charlie James into the world.  

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.  James 1:17