Welcome Baby Skill-it 10/20/2010 @ 0324!

So it started on Monday morning when in hindsight I was nesting. I met Matt for lunch and then headed to the Hershey Outlets to return 2 items. I went to Harrisburg and picked up some decorations from Michael's and picked up a few items at Target. Then I headed back to to Etown, stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items for the week; specifically a recent craving of double stuffed oreos! -The craving started mid way through taking the taper dose of Prednisone.....

Around 1630 on Monday October 18 the journey to finally find out who Baby Skill-it is began. The ctxs were not painful but they were every 5 minutes for 2 hrs. The first hour I walked around the house, cleaned/put away dishes, vacuuming, de-cluttering the front room, and making sure the bags were ready for of course the next weeks ahead. I called my sister Johannah and got the specifics of the day she went into labor. Called Matt and told him not to get excited but he might want to pick up that Gatorade he had talked about having on hand if I went into labor. When he got home we took Regan for a walk for about 45 minutes. We gave the Midwife line a call and was told to consider coming in when the ctxs were 4-5 minutes apart and that I had to breath through the ctxs. They suggested I sit with my feet up and drink some water and see if the ctxs continue.....of course they stopped.....We ate dinner, I took a nap and then watched some TV. At 2115 I got bored and told Matt I was going to go upstairs and take a bath. Not too many details here for a public blog but basically at 2141 I felt what appeared to be my water breaking while in the bath tub and thankfully the water didn't change color so I assumed the fluid was clear......thoughts that went through my head: problem ctxs came back but not any change in their intensity and no feeling of leaking....so did my water really break? I am not going to be one of those women who go to the hospital begging to be admitted because I peed on myself and thought it was my water. So I decide to stay home and see if the ctxs get worse. I told Matt about what happened and he asked me what we needed to do. I told him I wasn't rushing to the hospital. I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible during early labor and I really felt like the ctxs needed to get stronger before we went to the hospital.

After 2 hours of really no change in the intensity of ctxs and feeling like walking around is the only thing that keeps the ctxs going I call the midwife line again. I knew what they were going to say; so we headed to Women's and Babies triage.

I asked Matt to snap a photo just in case this was the last photo of me before Baby Skill-it arrived. But I figured it would just be a photo with a good story of how we went to the hospital at midnight just to come home 3 or 4 hours later......

Of course when I got in the car and we drove to the hospital I felt one ctx!!! ONE! ugh....I told Matt I probably had a forebag and my real bag of water hadn't broken. I told him if they find evidence of rupture we won't be going home; but I am hopeful that they won't. Don't get me wrong I wanted to have Baby Skill-it but this was not going they way that I wanted s/he to come.

Well we arrived at Women's and Babies on Tuesday October 19th at 0045. The speculum/cough test was negative, the nitrazine paper test negative, the microscope test negative (I am getting hopeful that we are going home and I was just a silly pregnant lady getting excited about pee!) She even checked me and I was 2-3 and she said she felt a membrane. That means I get to go home right? The midwife says, but I like your story....let's do the amniosure test...... The amniosure test.....postive. What?!?!?!? Positive???? (Back story a rain shower front came through the area around 2100 and 6 women including me arrived at Women's and Babies to rule out rupture of membranes....gotta love a rainstorm! I've always believed in barometric pressure!

So here is me posing in the fabulous standard hospital gown and gown/robe :) We got into our room around 0430 and got settled. I slept until 0700 and Matt woke up at 0530 ish to go home to settle the cats, make sure everything was okay, and get Regan to the Canine Adventure Center Bark Park for an undetermined amount of time. When Matt got back we started walking trying to get this labor started. We also tried other natural forms of trying to get this labor started.....I also found out that the on call day shift and night shift midwives were two of the midwives I had seen since I had changed to the May Grant office and I loved both of them! Score if this is going to last all day at least I have 2 midwives that I trust and they know me!

1000 comes- 12 hours since my water "broke" and Tiffany, my midwife doesn't check me. She says she will give me until 1600 to try and then we will talk. I know what that means..... So I take a nap around 1100 for about an hour before we go back to walking.

When I needed to be monitored every so often I lied on the bed or sat on the ball....

So 1600 came we talked. I told her I am sure I had a forebag and my water isn't broken. I have walked for hours with no leaking and no pain. She checks me and tries to snag the water....my cervix is so posterior she wasn't able to snag the water and wasn't sure if she could really feel the membranes....ugh that means Pit. I agreed and an IV was started. Pitocin means continuous fetal monitoring...but they have telemetry units so I wasn't stuck to the bed....yeah! I can even get in the shower or the whirlpool! Whirlpool for pain relief....at this time I would enjoy a little pain.....remember no pain, no gain! We walked, sat on the ball, showers, everything. I'm telling you there is a void between me and the ctxs. Baby Skill-it has kicked me while I see I am having a ctx on the monitor....????? I am having ctxs per the monitor every 3-5 minutes on the a pretty low setting....where is the pain for gain????

Angie the night shift midwife comes into see me around 2130. We talk and decide to check me and try another go at seeing if she can break my water. LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!! Water breaks, lots and lots of clear fluid, and oh she strips my membranes/uses my cervix as a punching bag....OUCH!!!!! But the ctxs change, but I get to keep the Pit- thanks Angie :) :(

Of course once the water is gone things get serious. From 2140 My nursing brain knows I am doing something, but my heart is scared I am not progressing. It was fast and furious and there were a few exorcist moments towards the end. Matt has made comments that noises came out of me that he had never heard before and there were times "when it got really dark." I can't stay still. I look at Lori my night shift RN and tell her I'm done being the pt and I want to be the labor and delivery nurse. I cry, I yell at my ctxs, I beg Lori to turn the Pit off, She offers me pain meds. I tell her "But what if I'm only a 3, Nubain only works really good once and what if I need it later?" She calls Angie and tells me she is getting the pain meds so they will be ready when Angie is here as she is checking on another pt (probably one of the other women who came in around the time I did).

Angie comes in probably promptly; but it felt like an eternity. Matt is doing his best to support me and he did an AWESOME job!!!! Thank you my LOVE!!!! Angie tells me she is hesitant to check me with my rupture being over 24 hrs; but she will if I want it before the meds. Then I realize I can't lie on the bed for her to check me. I'm on the ground on hands and knees and am not going to lie on the bed without relief. I am losing energy fast- remember I've had a total of 3 hours of sleep since Monday night, my last meal was around 1630 on Tuesday, and have lost my ability to stay composed during ctxs. Angie encourages me to get into bed with the pain meds and try to rest.

I got Nubain and IV Benadryl- my new favorite cocktail for labor!!! Matt said within seconds I was snoring. In less than 10 minutes Angie checked me and I was complete and Baby Skill-it was at zero station. I was so sleepy I asked if I could labor down for an hour or when I felt less drugged- which ever one came sooner. While resting if I felt the urge to push or grunt I did. I don't remember when I actually started pushing, but it was awesome!- I know weird word for pushing. I didn't push for 10 seconds each time. I pushed for as long or short as I felt like. I didn't count and no one else did either. Baby Skill-it and the way I felt led the way to delivery and it was awesome!

On 10/20/2010 at 0324 in the morning Baby Skill-it was born and named Wyatt Matthew! He weighed 7 lbs 4.4 oz and 19.25 inches long!

The below photo is the only photo of me that was appropriate for a blog- sorry :( That's my arm and shoulder holding Wyatt.

Proud Daddy!

SKILLEN CHEEKS!!!!

We didn't do a paper baby book, we have a paper copy of Wyatt's feet; but the baby RN suggested Matt use his undershirt to mark the day! I am looking forward to doing something special with these shots!

LOVE feet- Flip flop ready and easy to pick things up with instead of bending down to pick things up!

Chilling out at the post-partum side getting a bath.

Matt helping with the bath and washing Wyatt's beautiful head of hair!

Still alert after the bath and looking at this new world!

Thursday Matt got a few photos of me- not my made up self- but at least I'm in regular clothes! My little man is such a blessing- I am still can't believe he's mine at times!

I have to say delivering at Women's and Babies Hospital with the nurses and midwives from May Grant was such a blessing. I know enough about LDRP management as a nurse to be scared of what can happen in hospitals when you want the littlest interventions possible and how one can be treated when one doesn't want an epidural but I also know that sometimes intervention is the only option. I know that not only was my labor nurse, midwife, and Matt in the room with me. I know God was with me and I was in constant prayer to provide my child and myself with safety as my child entered the world. I knew that initially my labor did not get started the way I wanted and that intervention was going to be needed; but I am also so blessed that I had such supportive women and Matt around me to let me have as close to the experience that I wanted. And now I know it was the experience I needed! The first 24 hrs of being in the hospital gave Matt and I time to debrief about what was about to happen and gave us a lesson in patience. And having to wait until Wednesday gave Wyatt a really cool birthdate!!!

So that is the public blog version of Baby Skill-it being Wyatt Matthew! We are so blessed! Thank you all for your prayers, comments on facebook, and your patience to let me get this post up. I will be re-reading this post in the next few days to edit it- sorry if there are any confusing sentences or miss- spellings it's 3:14 in the morning on Friday and time for me to take a nap :)