Hospital Visitors

One bad thing about the delivery date, is that the following day Elijah had a cardiology appointment. That meant that Jake had to leave the hospital early to go pick up Elijah and go to the appointment by himself. He picked up Mom, Jonah and Noah too and they visited during the appointment time. They were all so excited to see the baby.

Elijah was so in love. He cried when he had to leave and wanted to make sure that he could hold Oliver again.

Mom got to hold Ollie before Papa. That's a first. Usually he gets to the hospital first because he comes from work.

Ha ha. I look a little more tired than I did yesterday.

Another special thing happened. When Jake came back from dropping the kids back home, he brought up the carseat. He told me I needed to check the straps because he thought he messed them up. In there was a box from Jared. He bought me a beautiful birthstone ring for September. It is so pretty. The picture just does not do it justice as it is super sparkly. I love it. It made me feel very loved and appreciated. 

Happy BIRTH Day!

Today was the day! Finally! I got to meet our new little guy. I have to admit, this experience was incredibly different from my other deliveries. Yesterday night was surreal going to bed knowing that we were going to be getting ready for our baby to come today. I was able to pack everything up in the car and get the kids ready for school and dropped off at Mom's house. I ate a light breakfast. I put makeup on. There was no rushing. No craziness. It was just a calm morning...well, as calm as it can be with three kids and a dog.

Here I am. The last picture of me pregnant...ever. I think I got pretty round, but not quite as big as I was with the twins. I gained about 40 lbs.

Here's labor room 18...our home for the next few hours. We had waited in the waiting area for about 45 minutes and I was really hoping that they wouldn't cancel my induction because they were very busy. Thankfully we were called back by Cinnamon, my labor nurse. What a relief to know that things were going as planned.

First, I had my blood drawn and IV started. Then my doctor called to let my nurse know all of the orders for me. The plan was to start some Pitocin and then at around lunch time break my water and hopefully get labor going. Cinnamon said that she had two of us that she was starting for inductions and the nurses were guessing who would go first. Ha ha. Typical nurses.

So at around 10am I had the Pitocin started and at 1130 one of my doctor's partners came in to break my water. I hadn't progressed too much from when I started and the baby was still sitting really high. After my water broke I started to feel the contractions a little bit more. Cinnamon said that I could have an epidural any time that I wanted, and considering my history of relaxing and dilating quicker with an epidural, I decided to go ahead and have her give me the fluid bolus so that I could get it. About 1:30pm I got my epidural and my doctor came in to see how things were going. The baby was facing up and high still so we used a peanut ball and continued upping the Pitocin hoping things would progress. It did fairly quickly. I started to feel some pressure and Cinnamon checked and I was 9cm. At that point she sat me up a bit to let gravity help and she called my doctor. 

Through all of this time, I was looking at labor affirmation cards that I had received in my baby box. Jake and I were just relaxing and watching some Netflix. With Elijah we slept and the twins came so quick, that this was an entirely new experience. We were able to enjoy each other's company and just have a great time. Funny thing to think of when you think of delivering a baby. Ah the joys of epidurals. 

Anyway. My doctor arrived and set up for delivery. I was very focused on what I was doing and Jake was great about coaching me through everything. A few pushes and our little boy was out. Originally I hadn't wanted him on my chest but I changed my mind at the last minute. We were just overcome with emotion when he arrived. He had a head full of hair and was a long skinny boy. Looks were deceiving and he actually is larger than Elijah was at birth. He was so much like Elijah. Not only in looks, but he also didn't want to cry. He needed to work out some fluid and cry but he wouldn't cry for me, Jake or Cinnamon. My doctor was the one who finally got him to let out a good wail.

Introducing Oliver Govanni.

He was born at 4:04pm

Weight 8lb 12oz

21.5 inches

Because he was facing the wrong way for so long he got a bit bruised on his face. Poor little guy.

Look at all the dark hair! The other boys were bald. This is just amazing to me.

Here's our white board. I love that I have zero pain tolerance. Jake knows me too well.

Here's my doctor holding Oliver. He's delivered all the boys.

Me after delivery. Makeup pre delivery and an epidural make a huge difference in photos.

My nurse Cinnamon. She was amazing. I would recommend her as a nurse to anyone. 

Little Ollie

Proud Daddy.  

It is so nice to have a baby to cuddle. They fit right into your arms.  

What an amazing day. We were able to go to our postpartum room at about 630pm and got settled in for the night. Time to return to the waking-up-at-all-hours-to-feed-a-baby stage. 

Finally settled down for the night.

Something to look forward to

The internet can be an amazing thing. I came across something interesting on Facebook the other day.  There is a guy that does reviews of baby gear and he started putting together boxes of some favorites.  In August he had a Jamie box with some of his favorite adult things, a toddler box for toddler goodies, and a breastfeeding box. The boxes are $60 and have a guaranteed $110 worth of items but could be more. Well, I found out that this month was a labor and postpartum box. After looking at all of the sponsors of the box, I decided I wanted one. I wasn't sure if I would get it in time, but guess what? It came just in time! I haven't gone into labor on my own yet, despite the constant contractions.   It is becoming incredibly hard for me. In fact, I went home early yesterday. I just was so uncomfortable. It would be completely unbearable except that there is light at the end of the tunnel! I will be induced this Thursday, the 23rd. Yesterday my OB checked me and I am 3cm dilated and 70% effaced so my cervix is favorable for an induction. Yay!!!! Also, Jake is working from our hospital here so I don't have to worry about him driving home if I do go into labor before then. I have been very anxious about not getting to the hospital in time.  Anyway. I got the package today and am so happy! There are only a couple small things that I won't use because they are geared toward earlier pregnancy. 

Excited to use everything! Very glad that it has so many things for me. I got a book to keep track of all the things that I like, a teething bracelet, a lactation granola bar, a pack of diapers, a cool swaddle blanket, hemorrhoid cream, a panda pacifier holder, pacifier wipes, a rattle, preggy pops, and pregnancy week by week stickers. 

Talk like a pirate day

Today is "talk like a pirate" day. Because of this, Krispy Kreme gives away a free doughnut if you talk like a pirate. If you come in dressed like a pirate you get a whole dozen. I woke up early today because, well, quite frankly, I don't sleep well. The puppy wanted to be let out at 6 am and I couldn't get back to sleep. Elijah woke up early as well so I decided to take him out by himself for a bit. We went to some garage sales hoping to get some treasures like I did when I went out with Noah. Elijah was quite disappointed not to bring home any goodies. Well, we we did get some goodies. A dozen doughnuts thanks to this handsome pirate! He really wanted to have a hook but I guess his finger will have to do.

Bad Day

Well, unfortunately because of being an old lady (and this time I do feel old) and because I have uterine irritability, a previous preterm delivery and depression, I am at risk for preterm labor and stillbirth/cord accidents (old lady problems). My OB is on the cautious side so I get weekly nonstress tests and weekly biophysical profiles to make sure things are going well still. Unfortunately, this makes my life very busy because I am still working full time and we have had several things going on including ear infections, school projects, trying to get ready for the baby, getting cars maintained, etc.  I have been scheduling my doctor appointments after work so that it's one less day that I have to tie up my mother in law with watching the kids. This idea turned sour today. I fell asleep on the way to the appointment and got into a car accident. I was not going very fast and woke up to brake lights in front of me. Unfortunately, I did not wake up quite in time and I hit the person in front of me. Thankfully, my air bag did not go off. Jake's boss was nice enough to drop him off at the accident and after I got checked out by the fire department and received my ticket, he took me to triage to be placed on the monitor for 4 very long hours in a very uncomfortable gurney. I had a very nice nurse though who made sure I could get some food while I was there. 

Here you can see some of the nice little contractions that I am getting constantly but aren't doing anything. I figured at 38 weeks this might set me up for going into labor...but not so much. So it's back to the waiting game.

I am hoping that maybe I can be induced at 39 weeks. I have a doctors appointment on Monday with an NST and he will see if I have progressed enough to be induced. My friend, Clarinda, is going to ride with me to make sure that I don't fall asleep again. 

Addendum: Apparently the person I hit got a lawyer because his neck and back were injured. I understand that you can get whiplash if you are hit from behind, but I don't really understand why you have to get a lawyer. Like I said, my airbag didn't even go off and we have good insurance. I'm sure that they would have covered whatever he needed. It upsets me a bit. I haven't been involved in an accident with someone else since I was 16...so almost 20 years.