09 June 2014

landon arrives: our birth story

my sweet, sweet, sweet landon jakob. I don't even know where to begin when describing our birth story. our labor & delivery was crazy fast, a blur. but there was so much anticipation & gratefulness for landon. I was really curious what he would look like. I couldn't wait to see in what ways he would be similar to & different than ruby. 
like most pregnancies, it flew by & crawled by at the same time. typical sick & tired first trimester, a better second trimester (full of nesting, I don't think I ever washed so many dishes before), & ready-to-meet-my-babe third trimester. I knew that our labor & delivery would be quicker than ruby's & mine, but I wouldn't have guessed in a 100 years that it would go the way it did. here it is.

at 35 weeks, my doctor checked me for dilation & there was none. I said I didn't want to be checked again until 39 weeks & time carried on. 

at 39 weeks, my doctor checked for dilation again. 3 cm! I was very happy with that since I really did not want to be induced & if I did have to be induced, I hoped I wouldn't be starting from 0. my doctor warned me to not wait too long to come in when I started having contractions, since I was already 3 cm. so that was on Thursday, April 17th. my due date was the 22nd. 

the next day (the morning of the 18th), I woke up & noticed that I'd lost some of my mucus plug (and yes, that is every bit as disgusting as it sounds). no contractions, felt like I usually did. I went to work & got everything on my list done. I left work around 4:30 & picked up ruby at her friend Ava's house. Noticed I'd lost more of my plug, but still no contractions or anything. So we decided to stick with our plan to meet T & go to dinner in Racine (about 45 minutes from our house.) 

Dinner was wonderful, on the lake, & everything was tasty. It was at a restaurant owned by the brother of one of T's close friends & they showed us around the place just before we left. I had my first contraction while we looked at their outdoor patio, didn't say anything to anyone, but got anxious to go. It was about 8:15 at that point. 

We got in the car & I was driving about 5 minutes when I had a much more noticeable contraction. We switched seats and got back on the road. It was about 8:30 then. 

Almost immediately, the contractions got stronger and consistently closer together. I was having to breath through them after the first couple. Terence hauled some serious booty (speed limits broken, may have ran some red lights and stop signs, and drove in the bus lane. desperate times, people, and thou shall not argue with a laboring woman. you just drive. calmly. and quickly.) We got back into Milwaukee at about 9:00 & went straight to the ER.

*Just a side note that Ruby was in the backseat this entire time. She was watching Disney Jr on my phone and asking me questions, which I tried to answer as calm as possible. I was super stressed that she was there but I knew if I showed how much I was feeling the contractions she'd get freaked out, so we carried on on our crazy drive to the hospital (and called T's sister and husband to pick up Mom to meet us at the hospital!) *

When we got to the ER, my contractions were about 1- 2 minutes apart. They took me right up to labor & delivery & I got checked into a room. By that time it was about 9:15 & the contractions were one after the other. T left the room with Ruby to wait for our entourage, who were almost there. That left me to labor for a few minutes with our nurse. She was a wonderful woman, very calm, supportive. After a few minutes of laboring, she asked if I felt any urge to push. I replied that I did so she helped me over to the bed to check me. 10 cm. It was about 9:30 by then.

My wonderfully supportive, calm nurse then began to page everyone and anyone who was free to help with delivery. My doctor was off for Easter weekend so they paged the on call doc, who thankfully lived about a mile away. (I later ground out that his wife drove him to the hospital so he didn't above to waste time parking. God bless that woman, too.) 

it was about this time that the room started to fill up with residents and doctors & also T came back to the room, leaving Ruby with his sister, her husband, and my mom. and the nurse told me I could start pushing anytime (that's pretty much the first thing T heard when he retuned to the room. welcome back, honey! I'm about to start pushing. glad you made it! :) ) 

My contractions were nonstop & my body was doing it's own thing. I had a very strong one, I pushed, and my water broke...all over T. sorry, honey. aren't ya glad you showed up just in time for that?! ;) About this time Dr. W (on call doc) showed up & Landon's heart rate dropped a lot, quickly. It became a bit more hectic in the room. Dr. W said it was important that Landon come out quickly and that he'd assist with forceps and I needed to push as hard as I possibly could. So that's what I did. Two pushes (and about 15 seconds) later, Landon was born. All 8 lbs 7 oz of him. it was 9:55 pm. an hour & a half after my first contraction, he was here. and he was perfect. 

he was brought to me right away. He stayed with T & me the entire time they worked on me & I am so grateful for that. then we were brought up to the mom & baby floor & ruby & some of our family got to visit. it was wonderful. I was exhausted but so happy & relieved to have him here, safe & sound. 

ruby loves Landon something fierce. she talks to him & covers him in hugs & kisses. I am in love with watching them grow together. T is an incredible dad, again. no surprise there & I'm so grateful for all his support in the busy couple of months it's been. and I know he loves having another boy in the house to even the male:female playing field. 

Landon is the perfect addition to our family. I already can't imagine life without him & I can't remember what our life was without him in it. it's like he's always been with us.