Introducing Maxwell Christopher!

We're so excited that our son, Max, is finally here!  Before I forget any details, I want to get my birth story down, like I did with Claire's here.  Warning- this is going to be long and could be considered graphic to some. :)  Josh took notes throughout the labor so I could accurately remember the details!

Sunday was Halloween and we thoroughly enjoyed the holiday with our little cow, Claire.  She had SO much fun!  I got some decent sleep that night and got ready for work in the morning.  While getting ready for work, I noticed that I was feeling my contractions in my back, whereas I normally only feel them in my stomach.  I thought that perhaps it could be the start of labor, but I didn't feel strongly enough to pack my suitcase or any gear in my car.  I had decided to work downtown as much as possible since my office in Brooklyn Park is an hour from the hospital.  As I sat on the ramp to enter 35W, I noticed that the contractions were coming pretty regularly and continued to cause pain in my back, so I downloaded a handy Contraction Timer app on my iPhone (the iPhone came in clutch, once again!).  I started timing my contractions while I talked to my mom on the phone.    I didn't mention anything to her because I didn't want to unnecessarily cause anxiety or excitement. 

As I approached downtown, I had a fairly strong feeling that this was labor.  The contractions were every 5 minutes, lasted about 1 minute, and were uncomfortable.  So I called Josh and told him I thought I could be starting labor and that if so, I could pick him up and he could drive me to the hospital.  When I got downtown, I called him and said we better go in, so he met me in the parking garage and we headed back south.  I called my on-call doctor, who happened to be my primary doctor, Dr Song, and she said I could go to the hospital, but if it wasn't real labor, I would have to go home.  I was torn because I didn't know for sure that it was actually labor but Josh reminded me it's better to go in and know for sure than it is to have a baby in a car. 

We got to the hospital, changed into the gown, got settled, and talked to admitting.  At 9:35AM, my nurse, Macy, checked me and said I was 4-5CM.  Based on the dilation and on the contractions that the monitor was measuring, she confirmed that yes, I was in labor!!  Yay, we were going to have a baby!!! 

We called Chris so he could pick up some stuff at our house and bring it to the hospital (camera, camcorder, suitcase, etc).  I called my mom and she was So excited that she decided to leave work right away. We couldn't reach Annie on her phone so she was surprised to find out when Chris stopped by to pick up the stuff. 

Because I had tested positive for group B strep (GBS) at a previous appt (which about half of women do), I had to start antibiotics (penicillin).  With Claire, one of the worst parts was the IV in my arm because they had much difficulty and it caused my arm to swell and bruise, so I was nervous about getting the IV this time.  At 10AM a different nurse, Lacy, tried doing the IV twice unsuccesfully (in my left and then right hands) before giving up.  Macy put hot packs on my arms and then tried again, successfully, at 10:15AM.   At 10:25AM, the antibiotic was started.  I had to have the antibiotic for a minimum of 4 hours before Max could be born (this exact time, 10:25 will be critical later in the story :)). 

At 10:40AM, Chris arrived with our stuff. 

At 10:55AM, Dr Lee, the anesthesiologist, gave me the epidural.  I was torn on when I should get it.  I was in pain but it wasn't too bad.  The pain was much, much less than what I experienced with Claire when I was on the wretched Pitocin.  My contractions were only every 4-5 minutes (versus 1-2 minutes with Claire) so that made them much more manageable.  I had decided to hold off on the epidural for awhile, but then Macy said that Dr Lee was next door giving another woman an epi so it was a good time if I was okay with doing it then.  I decided why wait, so we went ahead with it.  I explained to him that it didn't appear to have worked last time because the pain actually increased on my right side with my first epi.  He didn't offer an explanation and just said that this one should work.  Super. 

The epi did work (hooray) and I almost instantly could not feel the contractions any longer.   When I got the epi, I was still at 5cm.  Dr. Regina Cho was the doctor that would be delivering for me that day. She wanted to break my water to get things rolling but wanted to wait awhile to give me more time with the antibiotic. 

At 12:20PM, she decided it was safe to break my water.  Looking back, we all wish she had waited longer, because my body progressed extremely fast after that point. 

At 1:00PM Macy checked my progress and found I was already 8cm.  I had predicted I would be at least 7cm and Josh thought there was no way it would change that much so quickly.  I told Macy I thought I would be at 10cm very soon.  Cue the anxiety on all of our parts because it was really important that I didn't deliver until after 2:25 (which was 4 hours after the antibiotic was started). 

At 1:30 I wanted Macy to check me again because I felt strongly that I was already 10cm.  I was feeling intense pressure and was in pain with every contraction.  While I was breathing and focusing through the contractions, Josh was playing "a super fun new game that I should check out" called Angry Birds on his iPhone.  Macy didn't want to check me because she was nervous that I would be 10cm, and there would be nothing we could do about it because it was too soon to start pushing.

Finally at 1:50 Macy checked, and confirmed, yes, I was in fact 10cm.  She started the second bag of antibiotics (usually women have at least 2, if not 3-4 bags of the antibiotics before delivering. The second bag typically starts after the first bag is finished at the 4 hour mark, but she knew we wouldn't have time so she started it early).  The antibiotic makes your arm burn but I didn't notice the burning with the second bag because of the intense pressure I felt during the contractions. 

At 2:00PM, Macy came back in the room and said we needed 20 more minutes for the antibiotics and to NOT PUSH!  Let me tell you this- not pushing when you are 10cm and all your entire body wants to do is push out the baby is the most unnatural and uncomfortable feeling you can imagine.  But I was focused on doing what I had to do for the health of my baby, and I was determined to not deliver before 2:25.  For the first time that day, I started music on my iPod and focused intently on the praise and worship songs resonating throughout the room (I didn't bother with earphones).  It took all of my concentration to keep my baby INSIDE me during each contraction. 

Finally, it was the magical time of 2:25 and I started pushing.  I felt like there was an entourage in the room because it was Dr. Cho, Macy, a person to keep record of time, a nursing student, and Josh.  During the pushing I felt a lot of pressure,  but not pain per se.  Dr. Cho said multiple times that I was "above average" in the pushing department.  Maybe I am, because it only took 25 minutes of pushing for him to be born!  For some reason, it felt a lot longer than 25 minutes.  I had a tear and a 2nd degree episiotomy. 

When Max was born, he came out screaming!!  He peed immediately after he was laid on my stomach and it squirted in the air.  I remember feeling exhilirated, overwhelmed, joyful, and hearing the nurses proclaim that "his head is huge!" and other comments on how loud he was screaming and how cute he was. 

I was so pleased with my medical team.  Macy was simply amazing.  I feel so blessed to have had her.  She is a casual nurse so she only works 2 or so shifts a week.  That day was her day off but they had called her in because someone else had called in sick.  Dr. Cho was also wonderful.  Interestingly, she was the only doctor that I hoped wouldn't be delivering for me because my only experience with her previously was during my pregnancy with Claire and it didn't go so well.  But she was great!  Very calm, friendly, attentive, all the important stuff.  She also said that my body was made to carry and deliver babies.  Imagine that with my petite 5'1'', 100 pound frame. 

After they stitched and cleaned me up, I ordered food because I hadn't eaten since 8:30AM (I scarfed a banana down as we pulled into the hospital parking lot).  I ordered spaghetti, side salad, coke (for some sugar) and chocolate ice cream.  The nurses tried helping me to the restroom but as I sat there I became extremely light headed- my vision became blurry, I got the cold sweats, and I felt like I was going to faint.  So they helped me back into bed and I felt much better after I ate my meal. 

Max has done simply wonderfully with nursing from the start.  It honestly could not be going any better or be any easier (relatively speaking... as nursing, especially a newborn, is a feat). 

It was fun for Claire to come to the hospital that evening and meet Max.  She said "babies" and "shhhh" because he was sleeping.  She clung to Nana and I think she was just overall a bit confused. 

Our stay at the hospital was great.  We had many different nurses throughout our time there and we enjoyed them all.  It was so nice to have Max in our room and not in the NICU, like Claire was.  We got very little sleep the first night- maybe 2 hours or so- because of all of the feedings for Max and having my and his vitals checked every 4 hours (which of course never coincided with each other or the feedings).  Josh has been terrific and I would expect no less.  He is such a tremendous father and partner for me (when he's not playing Angry Birds :)). 

Today is day 5 of Max's life and we are adjusting to being a family of 4.  It will really help all of us to have Josh home from work for three weeks.  Claire has been a dream and is taking the adjustment very well.  The first night home she woke up crying once when Max was up screaming, but that has been it.  Last night she slept from 7PM until 8:10AM this morning.  We're paying lots of attention to her, which isn't difficult since all Max has done is sleep, eat, poop, and pee!

I'm pretty sure Josh and I should continue this baby train because a) we make darn cute babies and b) apparently my body is made for this.  What do you think???

Well my firstborn just woke up from her nap so I better go and get her.  If anyone made it through this entire story, I will be amazed. :)  It's great to have these details documented for us to reflect upon later!