41 weeks and a Birth Story

Well, as I mentioned before, my due date of April 2nd came and went and still no baby.  We had a schedule induction for April 9th, which put me at exactly 41 weeks.  When I woke up that morning, I was still have ZERO signs of labor, so I wonder how much longer I would have gone in this pregnancy had Dr. Hintz not decided to take things into this own hands. :)

41 weeks and leaving for the hospital!

Yep, it's baby time!

We arrived at Allen Hospital at 7:00am and got checked into the Birthing Center in Suite 10 (2 doors down from where Ava was born).  Our nurse, Michelle, asked a million questions about family history and I signed a million waivers. :)  At about 8:25am, Dr. Hintz showed up to check me and inject some gel that would hopefully start labor.  I was 4cm and 50% effaced.  Dr. Hintz then made an estimate of how big Baby Burton would be - he guessed 7lbs 2oz.  Before leaving, he said that I wouldn't like him very much in about 20 minutes, meaning contractions should be starting then.

Nurse Michelle - I would beg for her again in the future! We loved her!

My mom showed up at 8:30am to spend the day with us!  At about 8:45am, I started feeling contractions, although they just felt like cramps.  Nurse Michelle was having me get up and walk around every so often.  I never had to slow down when I was walking and still had a smile on my face.  The three (plus baby) just hung out in the room or strolling through the halls for the next 4 hours.  We had been told that Dr. Hintz would come back up over his lunch hour to break my water (probably between 12:30-1:00) so Tyson thought it would be safe for him to make a quick trip to the cafeteria for lunch and make it back by 12:30.  Well, Dr. Hintz was about 10 minutes early and broke my water while Tyson was still eating lunch.  It's okay.  He didn't miss much.  This time before Dr. Hintz left he said "If this doesn't piss you off, I don't know what will."  That made me a little worried.

Could they make these gowns any less flattering?!

About 5-10 minutes later, the contractions were getting stronger!!  Michelle had told me that I would still be able to get up and walk around, but that never ended up happening.  Wendy had sent me a text message during this time as well, asking how things were going.  I responded with "Swearing a lot now."  Hahaha!  Wendy ended up getting off work early and arrived around 2:00pm maybe (I was in so much pain I really don't know).  I also soaked in the tub, which apparently worked because the contractions were getting A LOT stronger so obviously baby was working his/her way down!

After I couldn't handle it anymore, Tyson helped me back into bed and Michelle came to check me again.  She said I was at 5-6cm and then said she would call for the anesthesiologist to come up! I couldn't believe it!  I knew I was in pain but I really thought I would have to be more dilated!  The next thing I knew, Steve Punke (someone we know from Snap Fitness) was in the room to give me my epidural!  I was so happy, but a little scared as well.  I had been told about how big the needle it and I hate shots!  It turns out that I barely even felt the tiny pinch in my back.  Ahhh...relief!

For awhile I didn't think the epidural was completely working because I still had feeling on my left side.  I finally realized it was working when Michelle asked if I could feel the contraction that I was having and I had to say no!  I received the epidural at 2:30pm, just 2 hours after my water had been broken.

I think the epidural is working!

I spent the next two hours relaxing in bed.  My dad arrived and went to pick up Ava with Wendy.  Around 4:20pm, Michelle came back in to check me.  She said I was complete!!  I couldn't believe it!  She told me that I wouldn't start pushing for about an hour, which would allow for Baby Burton to make his/her way down and then I wouldn't have to push for as long.

Michelle stopped back in at 5:20pm to check me.  She could feel baby's head!!  She started getting things ready while my family went to the waiting area outside the room.  I started pushing at about 5:30pm.  Dr. Hintz arrived at 5:45pm.  Tyson was in charge of counting while I was pushing.  He definitely mastered counting to 10, over and over again. :)

Finally at 6:06pm, everyone told me to sit up and look.  I could see baby's head!  One last little push and out came a healthy baby BOY!!! He was wiped off with a towel and put on my chest.  I couldn't believe this tiny miracle that I was now holding.  I could tell he was perfect right away.  I remember thinking how tiny he looked, until they weighed him and told us he was 7lbs 11oz, 20in long.  He seemed so much smaller than that when I was holding him.  The nurses then asked if we had a name.  Right away Tyson said "Kai Michael" (don't worry, we had previously discussed this and knew this was his name).  Eventually, Tyson went out into the hallway to tell my family (and his mom, Nana, and sister via phone) that it was a BOY!!  We didn't share the name though.  I wanted to be there for that.  Finally, my family was welcomed into the room to meet their brand new grandson, nephew, and cousin.  Baby Kai was loved already!

He is absolutely perfect.

We were in love right away!

 We had lots of visitors on Tuesday and we then released to come home on Wednesday.  It was a little surreal bring Kai home on Wednesday.  I carried this baby for 10 months and was constantly thinking about who this baby would be, what he/she would look like, etc, but it's hard to wrap your mind around it all until it really happens. 

My whole family joined us for supper on Wednesday night and then my mom stayed until Saturday morning.  She was a HUGE help!!  I knew all along that I could do this.  I could raise a child and I knew Tyson could as well.  However, those first few days out of the hospital are overwhelming.  There isn't a nurse bringing your medicine to you every 6 hours.  The nurses aren't here to tell me it's time to feed Kai or to ask if I've checked his diaper lately.  They also aren't here for us to have them watch him while we get some sleep and then roll him into our room when he's hungry.  However, my mom makes a pretty good nurse and did all of those things AND cleaned and cooked.