Monday, May 20, 2013

Holden's Birth Story

He is here!  And if almost makes me forget the horror that was his delivery,  but I figured I should put it out in the blogosphere so when he is being a brat as a teenager I have one more thing to document my suffering :)

On Wednesday, May 1st Ryan and I were scheduled to be at the hospital at 4am to start my induction,  we got there and got back to the room quickly.  By the time they hook you up start you IV fluids and ask you a million questions its 6am before you know it.  So 6am is when the action started, my first bag of pitocin.   The contractions started intensifying but it wasn't the horror I heard about induction contractions.  I had started at a soft 2 cm and 70% effaced and thinned so when I got to a 3 my nurse said Dr. Martin said I could have my epidural.   Let me tell you that epidural is amazing,  it didn't hurt at all and was over in 3 minutes. The anesthesiologist group at Summerlin Hospital was amazing btw..  Once I got the epidural and they broke my water I thought things would go quickly but it took forever to get to a 4,  they kept telling me that was the longest time and then things tended to speed up. I started getting heartburn so bad,  and my nurse would only give me two tums every 4 hours. So I threw up and it wasn't the last time.  Time passed and I crawled to a 4 and then a 5.  By this point it was 8pm at night and my parents and brother had stopped by for a visit,  we watched Survivor and then the nurse came in at 9pm to check me so I kicked my parents and brother out got checked and found out i was 8cm!!!  I was so excited and before they left said hopefully we would have a baby soon. I was tired and had thrown up like 4-5 times by this point.  My throat was killing me and sleep was out of the question.  But now I had a new problem,  I started feeling EVERYTHING!  turns out my baby was posterior (face up) and I was having major back labor.  It was bad.  There were tears and a meltdown.  No way would I ever want to go natural it HURT!  After a hour of the back labor I caved and the amazing anesthesiologist came and gave me a boost in my epi and I was happy again. Fast forward to midnight and I was a 9,  fast forward to like 2-3am and I was a finally a 10 and ready to push.  The problem was now I was exhausted, still throwing up from the heartburn oh and I started having back labor again.  SO FUN!!  My nurse wanted me to just try to push through the pain but I was so exhausted I couldn't do it and the anesthesiologist came and gave me a another boost. I felt so much better but my legs were jello now.   I pushed with Ryan and my nurse for what seemed like forever,  I was sleeping in between pushes and she would wake me up to push again.  We did this for a while but he wasn't descending.  She left to call Dr. Martin who was already on his way.  He came in the room and mentioned something about me not doing anything easy.  Which is so him and the reason I will never use another doctor here besides him :).  He made me push a few more times and Holden was still only half way down.   He basically said we had two options,  the vacuum or a csection.  He did not want to do the vacuum and I did not want to push anymore, so csection it was.   Within 20 minutes I was in the operating room and at 5:18am my little boy was brought into this world weighing 7lbs 2oz and beautiful. I slept through it :). I woke up to see him and went back to sleep. I slept through my entire surgery,  I slept through Ryan bringing the baby over to me,  I slept through them taking me back to my room and putting those wonderful warm blankets on me. I slept until they wheeled Holden in my room a few hours later.

Dr Martin said Holden was posterior and stuck because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. That is why he was not descending.  He also at some point mentioned trying for a VBAC next time and I put the cabosh on that quickly. The next time I have a baby it will be a scheduled csection,  9 months to the day.

 The csection has not been bad at all recovery wise.  The next day I was up walking and going down to the NiCu (that's another post) to visit Holden.  When we got home I was in and out of bed,  by a week I was driving and taking him to appointments and as of today two and a half weeks I feel great.  That's why I will have another one.  If I was having lots of kids I would probably try a vaginal again but since we will probably only have one more I can handle one more surgery :)

We are so in love and I will do another post with the millions of pictures I take daily on my phone.  But I wanted to post the pictures Ryan took of his birth.  This is the only way I got to see him since I slept through it all. 

My labor SuCKED!  The shots and IVF SuCKED! My pregnancy SuCKED! But it was all worth it and I would do it all again because the minute I held him was indescribable.  I have never loved anything more.   

I also need to do a post about how amazing my husband is.  I love him more now than I ever have.  He takes the first shift at night so I am getting sleep from about 10-2 or 3am and it makes all the difference.  Every diaper he changes or bottle he feeds makes me so grateful he is mine. 

My little family of three (plus our two fur babies). Is perfect and we are so happy!  We wondered if this day would ever come and the wait was worth it!


Monday, April 22, 2013

8 days and counting...

Next time I blog I will be a mom...Wow...it's real folks.
 
May 1st induction scheduled at 2:00pm
 
We had some friends over this weekend to swim and I sat around and did nothing for the most part.  I'm tired and have no energy.  But I did hold our friend's little foster baby for a while.  He is only 2 months and was born with a methadone addiction so he seems much younger than 2 months and he only weighs 8lbs,  which mine will only weigh for a half of a second probably.   But as I held him I kept switching feelings of "I'm ready for this" and "I'm scared".
 
I am watching way to many shows on TLC of A Baby Story where half of them labor forever and nothing ever goes right.  I don't know why I torture myself but it's like a car wreck I just can't stop watching.
 
Part of me is expecting a horrible labor,  everything about this pregnancy has been hard, from getting pregnant to sickness that wouldn't quit,  so of course I won't have a easy labor.  The other part of me is praying that Heavenly Father knows I need a break and Holden comes out quick and easy.  Only time will tell..
 
Either way it's too late to back out now and in 8-9 days I will be holding my little boy in my arms and none of this will matter anymore. 
 
Keeping my eye on the prize!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Less than 20 maybe baby??

So thanks to Mr. Ryan Stewart and the Stewart clan I am carrying a giant... 
 
My mom's biggest baby was 7lbs 3oz and I was only 6lbs and 7oz so carrying a baby that at 35 weeks is already measuring 6lbs 7oz is scary!  Ryan was 8lbs 12oz when he was born. My doctor has said he will not let me go past my due date so the longest I have to go is 26 days, but if my cervix cooperates and dilates to 2cm he will take me at 39 weeks which would be 19 days!!  He said he normally will let a first time mom go up to a week after her due date but after 39 weeks all that happens is your baby gains more weight and his number one priority is to keep me and baby safe and his number two priority is to get me to delivery vaginally so he will not let me go past my due date even if my cervix isn't cooperating.   I am so excited and nervous all at the same time.   I had my first cervix check yesterday and no dilation yet but it's soft and he thinks by next week I will have some dilation so we are hoping for 19 days!
 
I feel like we are as ready as we can be,  thanks to our awesome family and friends we have everything we need materially for the baby.  Now will we ever really be ready??  No but it's coming soon no matter what we do so we are going to fake it until we make it :)
 
I'm trying to prepare my puppies for the change in their world.   I am nervous....  Not that they won't love Holden because my dogs are great with kids but I don't want them to feel left out and unloved.  They have been my babies for years.  Maggie has been through every relationship since I was 20 and is my girl.  And my Zoey is my love bug who I loved the moment I saw her. They have been with me ever since I have been with Ryan and now are his puppies too.  They have sat on the couch with me while I have been sick or having a bad day crying and given me the hugs I needed.  I know it's going to different but I don't want to neglect them. And I'm worried they are going to be depressed.. 
 
 I will have to work extra hard to show them special love while the baby is sleeping or playing with daddy. :)