I had a doctors appointment the Wednesday before he was born. At that time I was 4 days overdue and when she checked me, I still hadn't dilated! It was quite the disappointment seeing how I looked forward to these appointments every week and each one was the same...not dilated and "thick". So Dr. McNallan set my induction date for Monday and we would come in on Sunday night to start Cervidil.
We spent the weekend enjoying our last weekend as a family of two. We went out for dinner and drinks on Friday night and then met up with Nikki and Jason on Saturday for lunch and shuffleboard. Took it easy Saturday night, watched a movie and slept 11 hours. I knew that would not be happening again for a while. Sunday came around and we headed to the hospital!
After a romantic dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, we headed to the hospital at 6 as scheduled. As we pulled in to the parking lot, I started up my spotify and we agreed that the first song that came would be the one that would forever remind us of this special day....it was Wilson Philips, Hold On! I laughed as Bjorn smiled and shook his head. He doesn't appreciate my taste in music as much as I would like him to :)
We checked in and got settled in our room. At 7:30 the nurse checked me again, still not dilated, so we inserted the cervidil. Cervidil looks like a mini tampon that they just shove right up there and tuck it by your cervix. Sounds like a pretty comfortable thing to have done huh? :) Cervidil is not used to start labor (like Pitocin) but is used for the initiation and/or continuation of cervical ripening and thinning. So then it became a waiting game. Per doctor's orders, it would be removed between 4 and 6 am and then they would start Pitocin to put me into labor. Bjorn and I watched a movie and then tried to get some sleep. I tried sooo hard to shut my eyes but my brain wouldn't shut off! The nurse gave me something to help (basically like Benadryl) and I ended up getting about 3 hours of solid sleep. I woke up to a very uncomfortable pain and those pains started to develop in to contractions that were about every 2 minutes apart. Now cervidil isn't suppose to put you in to labor and if you start contracting with it in, they want it out right away. It was removed at 4:50 and then those contractons went to every 1-2 minutes apart. Bjorn and I walked up and down the hallway and I would bear all of my weight on him during each contraction. Good thing he's been working out...I was 35 lbs up! :) I decided that I wanted to take a bath after that. Each room at Hudson Hospital has their own huge Jacuzzi tub which was so great. I labored in there for a while then decided to sit on the big blue ball with my head on the bed. That was by far my favorite position. We turned on my spotify playlist as the contractions continued at 1-2 minutes apart. The music really helped...until Hakuna Matata played 3 times in a row-we deleted that off of the playlist after that. After two hours of contractions the nurse checked me and I was a 1...a 1?! Ugh. She talked to the doctor and said if I wanted the epidural, I could have it. My thought process was that getting an epidural at 1 can really slow things down so I was hesitant..but I was also in a lot of pain! They said because my contractions were so close together, it would be just fine to get it. I also knew it was Monday morning at 7 and with the surgery schedule, if I didn't get the anesthesiologist to come down then, who knows when they could make it. I decided to go for it. Oh holy wonderful. Life was good. The procedure went great and I felt so much better. That was at 7:30. At 8:30 my doctor arrived and checked me. I was a 3! whoop whoop! She broke my water and said she would be back before lunch to check out my progress. She also said she had to leave at 6 no matter what due to family scheduling so my backup doctor would be around. She didn't seem confident I was going to have this baby before late evening.
At that point they started Pitocin too. My nurse Jenna was sooo amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better birth nurse! She had to keep going up on my Pitocin (which was fine because I felt nothing) but around 11 baby started having some slight decels. They kept repositioning me to help but she ended up having to cut my Pitocin in half (from 12 to 6) which we worried about because we didn't want to slow down my contractions. She called it the "Pitocin game" and said they play it all of the time. Good news was, going to a 6 didn't slow them down at all...they remained every 3 minutes apart. Around 12, I told her I could feel some pressure. She paged the doctor and no response. 30 minutes later I still had that pressure and she re-paged my doctor who finally showed up a 1. She was in a meeting and super lax thinking I'd be at a 6 or 7 but guess who proved her wrong! She checked me and goes "well you're fully dilated and ready to push. Baby is right there". Holy crap! I couldn't believe it and neither could she. Everyone was prepped by 1:15 and I started pushing! 30 minutes later, he was out! It was such an amazing experience! I found it easier to sit at a 60-70 degree angle propped on my elbows to push. I was literally looking down at everything happening (didn't need a mirror) which was so cool. Bjorn had one dead leg and the nurse had the other and we got it done! They plopped him on my stomach and he just screamed and screamed which is what they wanted because my water had shown meconium. My doctor said that's the best way for them to clear the meconium vs being suctioned if they come out crying. It was the most surreal and amazing moment of my life. I just kept looking at Bjorn and then my baby and I never wanted that feeling to end. In all of the craziness, I forgot to check out the sex! Bjorn was suppose to announce it so no one had said anything but he forgot too! I opened those legs and saw those little balls and that's when I started the water works. My little boy. I couldn't believe the love I felt in that moment. I looked up at Bjorn and said "you got your boy!" Best experience ever.
Once all of the craziness settled down, we made calls to our family and friends and waited for my legs to get their feeling back before moving to our postpartum room. As a volunteer cookie baker at Hudson Hospital (no big deal:) I had gotten to know many of the day nurses pretty well and because of that we scored the biggest postpartum room which I was super excited about :) It's the little things. Speaking of nurses, Hudson has the BEST L&D nurses! They were all beyond helpful and so sweet throughout our entire stay. The other great thing about Hudson is that they have a lactation consultant (who is also an RN) in house M-F 8-5. She came in right before she left to help with Nolan's first feeding. She was so wonderful and helped fix a few things with his latch and he caught on right away! I took plenty advantage of them when we were there, making sure his latch was right, etc. I believe that's one of the reasons he's such a great eater now! The rest of time in the hospital was spent with visitors and lots of staring at our precious new addition!
First family photo!
Bjorn changing his first diaper..full of meconium!
Enjoying pizza and mimosas :)
Love
On our way home! By the way, it took us 30 minutes to figure this stupid carseat out! I used to be so good at these when I nannied and apparently forgot everything I knew...
Here we are now...a little over two weeks later! When I started this post, we had been home for a week. Now it's Wednesday and I'm finally finishing it! Being home has been great. He has been growing like a weed! At his one week check up, he was back to his birth weight, yay! At his two week check up on Monday, he had gained another 15 oz!! The doctor was very impressed and it made me feel so much better knowing he was getting plenty of milk from me. He grew 1 1/4 inch as well. Overall he is in the 67% for weight, 98% for height and 98% for head :) As far as looks go, we've narrowed it down to this: He has Bjorn's head...the shape, the receding hair line :) He also has Bjorn's nose and mouth. When Bjorn has a straight face, his mouth has a natural frown which Nolan has inherited as well. He has my eyes and cheeks (even though his eyes are blue right now) His hair is combo of colors. It's brown on top and in the back, blonde the very bottom and strawberry blonde in the other places...so who knows what color he will have?! His eye lashes are light brown and very long.
We have started to figure out our little guy and his schedule. After that first week home, I've been pretty strict with his schedule. I believe it really helps not only baby but us as well. I've been following the book Baby Wise (which is the only book I've chosen to read). The point is to (after the first week) feed baby every 3 hours during the day. If he is sleeping at the 3 hour mark, I wake him up. The only time I don't wake him is during the night (basically from 10-7). Another point the book makes is how it's important to Eat. Wake. Sleep. Right now with him being so young, I don't keep him up if he falls asleep after a feeding. Usually in the morning he has a good period of wake time, then again in the afternoon and evening as well. When he is ready to go back to sleep, I don't nurse him even though he may seem hungry. He will do the open mouth searching for boob face but per my lactation lady that's what they attribute to comfort and who doesn't want to be comforted when they're sleepy. So we rock and sing soft songs and he dozes off to sleep. Wow, that was a long explanation. Basically it's working really great for us right now so we will see!
Nolan is also very alert and strong for a newborn! The first day in the hospital he lifted his head off Bjorn's chest and changed the direction he was looking...kind of shocked us all. He continues to try and lift his head off our chest and really enjoy tummy time which we just started yesterday. So he has enjoyed it twice, haha. Basically he's a genius.... Isn't that what all parents think of their kids?? I get it now. We love it when he is awake (which is actually quite often). In the last few days, we've gotten a few smiles out of him that aren't due to him falling asleep or pooping...so fun! He is starting to track and loves to stare at his mobile above his swing now. I am by no means wishing time by, but it's so fun to think about him getting older and becoming more engaged.
Something is funny! He's probably pooping again...his favorite pastime
Bjorn was able to take off for a week after Nolan was born. Then the following week he went back to work very part time which was great. What has been even better is that my Mom came in town last Tuesday and has been a HUGE help! She is just loving getting to hold and love on her Grandson. It's also been awesome because she loves to change diapers...perfect, go right ahead! She has been cooking some great meals for us, has kept our house super clean (she loves to clean...weirdo) and it's been so amazing having her here! She leaves tomorrow so we will miss her and I will really have to step up my game!
Sleep: Nolan has actually been pretty good about sleeping. Up until this Sunday, he had been sleeping in a stretch of 4-5 hours, then another 3.5-4 then another 3. We were pretty excited about this seeing how so many newborns get up every 2-3 hours during the night. Well on Sunday I decided to put him in his crib for the first time hoping it would help me sleep better because I could hear all of his little noises. He was up every 2-3 hours. Woof. The next night was every 3. Again, normal for a newborn but he had been spoiling me the past 2 weeks and I wasn't ready for that change! :) Last night, I moved his rock n' play in his room (was next to our bed) and put him in that. He was back to those 4 hour stretches. Soo, I think I'm going to keep him in that for another few weeks and try the crib again when he is a month old. He sleeps better and so do I.
Feed: He's a great little eater! He eats for a solid 15-20 minutes and that seems to keep him full. His 'milk drunk' faces are my favorite...I just can't get enough of our little guy!
Petri: Ohh poor petri. He has been forgotten outside a good 4-5 times now. That's my mom's fault. She likes to let him out (which is nice) but forgets about him...thank God he comes back! He has probably received more attention since bringing Nolan home than he had before. Everyone feels bad for him assuming he is getting no attention therefore gives him extra. He's so good with Nolan. Usually he just wants to sniff him and occasionally lick his face. When Nolan is laying on the cough with Bjorn in the evening, Petri loves to cuddle with them. It's super cute.
Belly full of milk!
Love!
Family Photo!
We appreciate all of the calls, gifts and visitors we've received since Nolan was born. We have the best family and friends! He is one lucky little boy to be surrounded by such great people. Thank you to everyone for all of the messages, congrats! Even though I haven't responded to all of the comments, I've seen them all and am so appreciative of all the love!
