Sawyer's here!

Our newest little man turned out to be stubborn, just like his big brother.  Sawyer was due May 2.  I went to the doctor on Monday May 6 and was 3-4 cm dilated.  We talked induction and the doctor suggested trying cervical gel first to try to jump start labor.  They made an appointment for me to go to the hospital that night for the gel.  I was to call back to schedule induction for Wednesday morning if nothing happened from the gel.  Jim and I packed up our bags (hoping that this would send me right into labor!), gave Pax an extra kiss, and headed for the hospital at 6.  About halfway there, we got a call that there was no room for me in labor and delivery, so we should go back home.  I was told to call around 8 if we hadn't heard from them.  Eight o'clock came and went and upon calling, the nurse told us that we could head in.  They had one open bed but couldn't guarantee it would still be available by the time we arrived (about 15 minutes).  Once my dad came over to stay with Pax, we were off.  We arrived and checked in with the nurse who told us that she had just put someone in the room they were going to use for me.  Another nurse must have seen my face and mentioned that they had another room they could give me (thankfully!).

We ended up being at the hospital for about 2 hours because the procedure involved monitoring me for 30 minutes before the gel and then an hour afterwards.  Nothing was happening after the gel, so they sent us home.  We got home around 11:30 and were exhausted.  I had stopped working the previous Wednesday, so I spent Tuesday laying around the house and wondering what was going to happen.  I called my doctor around lunchtime to say that I needed to schedule our induction for the next day.  I got a call back that we were to get there at 8am the next morning to begin our induction!  Yay!

Jim's parents arrived Tuesday evening, along with a yummy dinner, to stay with Pax while we were in the hospital with Sawyer.  Jim and I were actually able to get a decent night's sleep the night before the induction, knowing it would be our last solid night of sleep in a long time.

We woke up early and after getting some extra kisses and snuggles from Pax headed to the hospital around 7:30.  We arrived at the hospital and got all checked in by 8:15.  After getting hooked up to monitors and IVs and many other things, I was started on Pitocin at 9:28am.  The idea was to start the Pitocin at the lowest level and then up it every 30 minutes.  I was also started on Penicillin at 9:10, due to being GBS positive.

My contractions started coming but they weren't consistent or too painful.  After upping the Pitocin a couple of times, the doctor came in to check my progress.  At 11:15, I was 5 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and baby was at -1 station.  At that point, the doctor broke my water.  After having my water broken, my contractions started coming more consistently and were more painful.

Around 12:30pm, I got my epidural, which turned out to be quite the process.  According to the doctor, the bones in my spine were close together so it took her awhile to get it placed correctly.  I had an epidural with Pax and was never told I had close spinal bones haha.  Getting the epidural was uncomfortable because I had to sit with a very rounded back during contractions.  The whole process probably took around 15-20 minutes.  Once the epidural was in, it took awhile to kick in.  At first, I couldn't feel my contractions.  Then I started feeling them in a very small portion of the underside of my belly.  The pain was enough to take my breath away, but thankfully the area was small.

The nurse mentioned that the monitor was not showing the strength of my contractions, so she wanted to place an internal monitor that could measure the strength.  After she did that, I asked her to raise my head because it was very uncomfortable laying on my back.  As she raised the head of my bed, I got very lightheaded.  My blood pressure dropped to 82/44 and the nurse said I went pretty gray.  They put my head back down and called the doctor in.  After laying back down, I felt fine, but they kept a close eye on my blood pressure after that.

As time went on, the small portion of my underbelly where I could feel the contractions was growing.  I mentioned it to my nurse and she told me that it could just be the way that Sawyer was sitting and there wasn't much they could do.  At one point, I could feel each contraction across the entire bottom side of my belly.  They were enough to take my breath away and were very painful.

I was checked at 3:00 and was 7-8cm dilated.  At 3:50, my nurse mentioned that pattern of my contractions suggested that I was close to being ready to push.  She rechecked me and I was 9cm.  Twenty minutes later, at 4:10, I was rechecked and was 10 cm and was ready to push!

I started pushing around 4:15pm.  With a couple of my pushes, Sawyer's heart rate dropped so they called the doctor in to monitor it while I pushed.  Since I was able to feel my contractions, I knew when I was supposed to be pushing, which was different from Pax when I was completely numb.  My contractions were coming quickly and it felt like I was pushing constantly.  After about 45 minutes, our little Sawyer James was born at 4:52 pm, weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long.  Happy birthday, little man!