Excellent. Can I Come Into the Out Now?

Throwback Thursday

This throwback isn't very long ago. It's to Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Gideon's birthday! Here's his birth story. 

Gideon's birth story is nothing compared to Lydia's....but they way he was conceived (via IUI) is way more interesting than they way Lydia was conceived. So, basically, my kiddos like to come into this world with a little bit of drama. 

I ate a ton of pineapple the weekend before Gideon's birth. Maybe that helped a little? I also went on several (slow) walks. Monday, the day before he was born, I was in the pool floating around and having the tiniest bit of contractions. I was really hoping and praying he'd come soon - it's hard work being 40 weeks pregnant! That evening I was up pretty late watching TV shows and keeping track of my contractions with a contraction app on my phone. They weren't really strong contractions, but they were really consistent. After awhile, the contractions were continuing but they weren't getting any stronger and stayed about the same distance apart. I gave up and decided to go to bed.

At 1:00 in the morning I woke up to a (what I thought) painful contraction. I started timing them again and they were very consistent. By 2:30, they were really strong and I had woken Brian up and had even started tearing up during contractions. By 3:00, we called my mom to have her come over and stay with Lydia and we started quickly packing my hospital bag (yeah, I hadn't packed it yet...oops...but Gideon's diaper bag was all packed). We left for the hospital around 3:30. My contractions were still really consistent and strong. Remember, I didn't know what contractions felt like as I had never experienced them before (I was induced with Lydia).

We got all signed in at the hospital and I was changed into a gown and laying in a bed in triage. My contractions were at the point where I couldn't talk during them, but I wasn't crying just yet. The doctor on duty came in and checked my dilation - I was just at 3 cm. Yeah! Leah had told me that they admit you at 3 cm. But...this doctor didn't want to do that just yet. Leah says it's because I wasn't in enough pain....ugh. Well, give me about 30 minutes and I was writhing in pain. Contractions hurt like crazy!

Finally my doctor arrived, checked me, and told me he was getting a room ready for me and the epidural was coming! Yeah! It took awhile to get to a room (that was torture) and once we were finally in there, it took awhile for the anesthesiologist to arrive. Also, the nurse who did my IV (I had tested positive for Group B Strep and needed meds) messed up the first IV in my left arm and had to redo it in my right - I hate needles! The epidural doctor finally arrived! Yeah! Man it was hard to sit still during contractions and not to react to the painful needle! But I did it. Brian got really woozy and had to sit down - silly boy.

Once the epidural was in and working I was perfectly happy. My baby would be here soon and I could just relax! We called my mom to check on Lydia and asked if my mom could come join us and bring Brian some food (that boy was hungry). By this time it's close to lunch (I told you they made me wait forever in triage and then it took forever to get a room). And the doctors are ready to deliver my baby. 

Unfortunately, I was progressing pretty slowly, but they couldn't give me pitocin because Gideon's heart rate was constantly dropping and the drug would stress him out. I definitely didn't want a C-section (had miraculously avoided that with Lydia), but also wanted a healthy baby. The nurses kept changing my position until we found that if I laid on my left side, the baby was happy. This, of course, caused my left leg to be extremely numb! Finally, at about 3:20/3:30, I was 10 cm dilated and ready to deliver!

Gideon Amadeus Pfeiffer arrived at 3:58, weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 9 oz , and was 21.5 inches long! My long awaited miracle baby had arrived!

Because of my super numb left leg, we were stuck in the delivery room for a long while - we had to wait until I could walk by myself before they would move me to recovery. Brian and I enjoyed quiet time with sweet Gideon (even though he pooped on me...twice). He nursed right away and was the perfect, sweetest baby!

We were finally moved into the recovery room and I was ready to eat and relax and hold my precious boy. Brian's parents came down to see their new grandchild, and Lydia came in to meet her new brother! Brian went home with Lydia and his parents, and my mom stayed with me during the night. 

Despite the awful contractions (how do you mommas do it without drugs?!), the birth was pretty straight forward and easy. My recovery was super fast - I went to Lydia's preschool picnic that Friday! I am loving being a Mommy to two precious kiddos!