It's only been 3 1/2 weeks since Porter was born so I guess it's about time to write about him being born...
Happy to get going already!!
I was told to check in at the hospital Friday, March 22nd at 8am. We were more than ready to go! My grandma came early in the morning to watch the boys for the day. I wanted my mom and the girls to be at the hospital when the baby came so I told them to plan on coming around 10 am. I figured I would be hooked up to everything and going by then. Well... I was wrong.
The nurse told us the doctor was in surgery and to just hook me up to the IV. I told them that once I was hooked up to Pitocin and they broke my water, I would have a baby really fast. The Dr told the nurse not to start me on Pitocin until 1pm. I was really disappointed. I wanted this baby out by lunch!
I quickly told my mom not to come until I texted her later. They were bummed too!
At 1 pm, the nurse anesthetist came and gave me the epidural. Since I go pretty fast, I always get the epidural before anything else. This one was the best I've had by far. I felt nothing the
entire labor! The nurse even told me he was known to give a higher dose than the other nurse anesthetists. I'll take it!
After the epidural, the nurse started the Pitocin. I said that nothing was going to happen until they broke my water. The nurse then proceeded to tell me that the Dr had a C-section and a couple of other deliveries to make so he wouldn't break my water until later.
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| Maybe I should have sent them to school after all! |
So the waiting game continued. We waited... and waited.... and watched tv.... and waited...
My parents brought the girls in at 1:30 and they stuck around for about an hour. I told them to go do something fun because nothing was going to happen any time soon. They decided to take off and go to Costco and get something to eat at Panda Express.
At 5 pm the nurse checked me and I was only progressed to a 5. It was so aggravating but at least I wasn't having any pain during all the contractions. If waiting around for the Dr to break my water was my worst complaint, I have nothing to complain about! At 7 the Dr finally came in and broke my water.
My parents and the girls came back and we continued to watch movies and wait around. I felt so bad for my grandma and the boys. They were soooo excited to come and I kept telling them, "not yet, not yet."
At 9 I was finally progressed to a 10 and ready to push. I had started feeling contractions only on my right side so I pushed the button they gave me to give me an extra dose from the epidural. The buzzer started ringing for the nurses to change the bag the medicine was in for the epidural so they came in and changed that. After they did that (about 15 minutes later) I pushed the button again. I started feeling numb all the way up my left side. Slowly my left arm became numb, then the left side of my face was saggy and my eye became droopy. I told the nurse and she sat me up so gravity could take affect. There wasn't much else to do because I was ready to push.
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| Getting ready with the "splash guards |
We had the girls stand up by my head so they could watch, but not see anything graphic. They were a little nervous and kept asking questions.
They were also my "peanut gallery" and throwing out comments left and right.
"Is it going to be really slimy?"
"Are you in pain?"
"Is that mucous?"
"The umbilical cord looks like a twisty ice cream!"
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We were getting a little crazy after waiting for soooo long! Notice the droopy eye...
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I only pushed for about 20 minutes. I still didn't feel anything and didn't even feel pressure so I just pushed! It was so amazing and surreal seeing my baby being born and not feeling anything. I love modern medicine! I enjoyed the experience so much and truly witnessed a miracle. At 9:29 pm Porter made his entrance into this world and let us know it with his amazing set of lungs :) I wish I could have seen the girls' faces but I could hear them oohing and aahing behind me. I was a little nervous to have them in there with me but I'm really glad they were. I think it is an experience they will never forget and were happy to be a part of.
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| Big Baby! |
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| Our newest addition! |
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| Squishy little old man face |
After all the clean-up, check-ups, picture taking and rounds of holding Porter, my parents left and Mark took the girls home. I wasn't able to leave the room and go to my recovery room until the epidural wore off enough for me to stand up so we were in there for quite a while. After finally moving me over and getting settled in the recovery room I didn't get to bed until 1:30 am.
It was a long, long day but with excellent results! I was so happy to be done and to have my lungs and bladder back :)
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| the crew |
The next day Mark came back with all the kids. The boys were so excited to meet their new little brother. They all took turns holding him and poking my jello belly. They had patted my belly almost every day for the past several months as it grew and I think it was weird for them to finally see the baby out!
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This is what Jared looked like in every picture. Dude, open your eyes!!
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| Derek already making his little brother cry :) |
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| I can't believe I have 5 kids! |
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| Porter Cade DeBry |
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| My Awesome Grandma! |
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| The new fam |
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| Proud Papa! |
