Sunday, February 6, 2011

Elias Glen Keyser

It still feels totally shocking to be writing this and posting this, but our little mister decided to make an early entrance into this world.

Elias Glen Keyser
Born 12:36 PM Feb 4th
5 lbs 5 ounces
18" long


Here is as much as I can remember about the whirlwind of his birth!

I will spare everyone the details but when I woke up Thursday morning, there were some different things happening and some potential signs that labor could be coming soon. I really didn't want to think too much of it as of course labor is coming soon - I was only a week shy of that "full term" status. I did some brief research (I am a researcher) and everything I read said that it could mean labor is hours away or it could mean that labor could still be a few weeks ago. Since my "symptoms" went away after a few hours I just took it easy and figured we were good to go.

I should have known better. The day before all this, I was in a serious cleaning mood. Like mopping the floor on my hands and knees cleaning mood.

So when Peter came home from work, we did our typical Thursday night thing. We grabbed Mal and headed out on our little "family date night". I kind of joked with Peter that this could be our last meal and that Malachi was going to be a big brother. But again, I really didn't believe anything was going to happen.

On the way home I told Peter I wanted some chocolate (yeah, I know a gestational diabetes no-no). So we stopped at the store and I tried to find some chocolate. Looking back now, I was really uncomfortable and just quickly grabbed something and said lets go home. Eli had dropped awhile ago but Peter even made a comment when he came home that it looked like the baby had dropped some more and I was very uncomfortable walking. All signs now that I look back.

We came home and then I started having those same symptoms I had in the morning. I decided I just needed to take it easy and I would call my doctor in the morning. I love my doctor and I know she is always busy and being interrupted and I really did not want to bother her as I really thought I would be fine until morning. At this point though, I decided that just in case I needed to pack my hospital bag - so I packed.

So I was laying on the couch, watching tv and chatting with my mom online. I was telling her about the earlier symptoms of my day as she has been asking almost daily how I am doing. She was never convinced I would make it to March. She told me to call her if I needed her and she would come get Malachi. I told her I really didn't think anything would happen overnight. Around that time, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom (normal thing these days) and as soon as I stood up, I felt a huge gush of fluids. I looked at Peter and said "my water just broke" and he stood there not really knowing what to think and said "really?!?"

I ran to the bathroom and yelled at him to go find me towels as I was still gushing really bad. I kind of went into a panic at this point and couldn't believe what was happening. The fluid just did not stop. I grabbed my phone, told him to start gathering things - the camera's, finish packing our bags, get Malachi's stuff together. I called the doctor and told my mom my water broke and she was on her way over to get Malachi.

My doctor told us to come meet her at the hospital as she was already there getting ready to deliver someone. She was not to thrilled that at this point as at-9:45 PM I was 35 wks, 6 days.

We rushed around and my mom came and got Malachi and off we went. They put me in the triage room and quickly discovered that my water had indeed broke. They would not have kept me and would have had me transferred if I was not going to be 36 weeks at midnight. I am still glad this did not happen, as I really trusted my doctor and wanted her to be the one making decisions over my care and delivery. At this point, there were no beds available so I had to wait in triage while they moved a mom into a different room and cleaned the room. At this point I was not having any contractions but I was 1cm, 80% effaced, and the baby's head was pretty low. We did have the discussion at this point about all of the what-ifs of delivering a baby at 36 weeks and that the baby may need to be transported.

After another hour or so, they moved me into a room. By this time I was having mild contractions about every 2 minutes. My doctor was going to let me sleep until 5AM and then start me on pitocin. We got settled in our room and Peter went home to take the dogs to his parents house. My contractions stayed steady about every 2 minutes, but they were not too strong and were not lasting long enough. At about 2 in the morning, my doctor had delivered the baby and was getting ready to go rest. She checked me again and I was 2cm, 100% effaced and the baby's head was "very low". She gave me some medication to help me try and get some sleep and before I knew it the room was spinning.

I did get a few hours of sleep but just between contractions that were staying steady at every 2 minutes. The contractions were getting stronger, but I was still able to sleep pretty well. By 5 they were just getting to the point that I was having to breathe through them. Then came the lovely pitocin. I was not too happy that the pitocin had to be started before I got an epidural, but I trusted the hospital staff :) They turned that stuff up every half hour and the contractions started to hurt. There was no more resting. They were coming strong about every 2 minutes still and were starting to last the length of time that they wanted to see.

Around 7:30 my doctor came back in and checked me. I was at 3 cm, still slowly making progress. She okayed the epidural at this point (which I thanked her profusely for) and wanted me to get tucked back in afterwards and get more rest. By 8:00 I had the marvelous epidural and labor was amazing from here :) They gave me more of the sleepy, dizzy meds and I tried to sleep between nurse checks. With the pitocin they had to check my vitals more often plus they were keeping a close eye on my blood sugars because of the gestational diabetes. The baby started acting a little weird on the monitor so they were also in quite a bit changing my position.

Around 9:00 I had made it to 4cm. Slowly, but surely we were getting there. I was trying to just stay positive and hopeful that this baby was going to make an appearance, I just had to stay patient.

Around 11:15, the baby was doing some interesting things on the monitor, which the nurse thought meant I was probably making some good progress. I was thrilled to find out that I was 6cm! Around 12:00 they were back in the room because the baby was having some heart decels. They wanted to put me on some oxygen to see if that would help. They also decided to check me and see if there was a reason that his heart was acting that way and they were shocked to find I was complete and they said the head was right there! I was kind of in disbelief that it was all almost over. Since I got my epidural, everything had been so peaceful and easy.

The room was a buzz with commotion. They called my doctor and they called a pediatrician. I knew there would be a lot more staff in the room than they normally have. They also called in a respiratory therapist to be there for the birth in case he needed some help breathing. The room definitely filled up quickly.

I started pushing and that experience was so not what I thought it would be. Having a doctor who had no sleep the night before, she was hilarious. Truly, she had us all laughing so hard while I was pushing. Pushing went pretty quick and at 12:36 we met our little baby BOY!!!

He was whisked off pretty quick so I didn't really get a chance to look at him or see him. The experience was so much different than what I was prepared for or expected. Parts were much easier than I had anticipated and the ending was definitely not what I anticipated or hoped for. We will end his little birth story here for now and the next update will explain everything else that has gone on.




11 comments:

Jenny said...

Thanks for posting all that! I know you're probably still very tired and in a bit of a daze! It was wonderful to read about everything... So so happy for you guys and praying for Elias to come home soon!

Elle J said...

What a surprise to read this post - that your little one has arrived!! I was praying this morning that you'd have a healthy delivery - little did I know it had already happened. =) I will now be praying for your sweet son - for all things healthy and will be okay. Praying for your rest too.

Mama Mimi said...

This brings back soo many memories!

"Are These Kids All Yours?" said...

PRAYING for rest for you all!!! :) Sooo happy for you!!!

Theresa said...

Amy, I've been following along on Facebook, but it was wonderful to read the full arrival story here! You, Peter and Elias are in my prayers :)

Amy said...

Welcome Elias! Praying for your family!
Blessings,
Amy

David and Larisa said...

Wow, congratulations to all of you! Praying that you can all rest and recover in the days ahead, and that little Elias can come home quickly.

I have a cousin named Glen Elias, BTW!

Amy said...

Thank you for sharing! I never tire of hearing birth stories! Each one is such a miracle. Can't wait to see a new family photo! Congratulations!!

Julie said...

SO exciting! Praying for your newest, little addition. Our twin girls were born at 34 weeks and 5 days, and had to be in the NICU 13 days for breathing/feeding issues too, but are now happy, healthy 4-year-olds! HIS BEST to you and your family. :)

Julie said...

SO exciting! Praying for your newest, little addition. Our twin girls were born at 34 weeks and 5 days, and had to be in the NICU 13 days for breathing/feeding issues too, but are now happy, healthy 4-year-olds! HIS BEST to you and your family. :)

Julie said...

SO exciting! Praying for your newest, little addition. Our twin girls were born at 34 weeks and 5 days, and had to be in the NICU 13 days for breathing/feeding issues too, but are now happy, healthy 4-year-olds! HIS BEST to you and your family. :)