The Birth of baby Julien

Hi! I am finally home from the hospital, after six days! Julien is asleep in his bassinet and Josh is asleep on the couch so I have a few minutes to write.

I am so happy to be home with our beautiful, perfect baby boy. It was a LONG labor and as a result a rather long story but for those of you who are interested here goes..

Thursday we checked into the hospital around 7:45, by 8:30 I was hooked up to a monitor for contractions, heart rate and babies heart rate. After an hour of monitoring the midwife inserted a gel to soften my cervix. I was monitored a while longer then sent to my room to wait for the gel to work. I spent the entire day being monitored and checked every few hours. I had lower abdominal and back pain all day but it wasn't too bad. By Thursday night I had dilated only 1 centimeter so we decided Josh should go home to sleep. I spent Thursday night trying to sleep through both the excitement and the pain. I think I might have managed a few hours before the real contractions began.

Friday morning around 5:00 AM I noticed my ab pain changed, it was worse but then it would actually go away. I started to time the pain and realized it was coming every 10 minutes and must be contractions. I called Josh at home to make sure he was on his way (we had planned he would be back at 7:00 AM). I waited for him to arrive and then we called the midwife. She monitored me and I was still 1 centimeter but I was having contractions every 7-8 minutes. She hooked me up to the monitor again and also started an IV of saline and a round of penicillin. She gave me something else but I am not sure what it was. Luckily I asked for the IV to be attached to a movable stand so I could walk around. After about an hour I went back to my room. Josh and I spent the rest of the day with him timing my contractions, about every 5 minutes for most of the day. The midwife would come check me every couple hours. The doctor also came a couple times. Around 3:00 PM they got really bad (it had been 10 hours now) so the midwife checked me and told me I could have an epidural, she just needed to call the anesthesiologist. She came back at 4:00 to tell me the anesthesiologist wasn't available but she was trying to find another one and would come back at 5:00. She told me to take a shower and try to relax. 5:00 came and went with the contractions getting worse and worse. When she still hadn't come back at 5:45 we called the nurse. She went to find the midwife, they both came back at 6:15 and said I could go to delivery. I was getting rather annoyed that I had to wait 3 hours longer to get my epidural, it was now 13 hours of labor.

We went to the delivery room where Josh was given scrubs and I was hooked up to the monitor. I am not sure why but it took another hour for the anesthesiologist. An hour is a LONG time when you are in labor! She finally came and I got my epidural, it was so, so, so great! It took effect around 8:00. The new midwife came and added some medication to my IV to speed up the labor. She came to check me every 20 minutes and to increase the dose of medicine. We did this until about 11:00 when she called the doctor. The doctor came and told me I was 10 centimeters dilated and completed effaced. I was so happy! He said the baby hadn't come down the birth canal though so we needed to wait. We waited until about 12:30 and he did an exam and said he thought we would be able to get the baby to come down so he prepared me for birth. Everything happened really quickly and they were telling me to push. Josh was counting and the midwife and anesthesiologist were all encouraging me. We tried for about 25 minutes then the doctor got out the forceps which I didn't know at the time.. only that it hurt. We tried this way for another 15 minutes but with no success. At this point the doctor told me it would be safest for me and the baby to have a cesarean. He said the baby just wouldn't come down and he didn't want to wait any longer.

The anesthesiologist explained she was going to increase the epidural and my legs would go numb. She did this and the midwife and doctor cleaned up all the delivery stuff. I thought they would do the cesarean in the same room but suddenly some guy walked in with a bed and I was being transported to the operating area. Josh, the doctor, the midwife, the anesthesiologist, the strange man and I all left the room. We picked up a pediatrician on the way and we set off to the surgery. We got down there (after taking numerous hallways and the elevator)and they made Josh go put on sterile clothes. I was transferred to another bed and brought into surgery. Once I was in the room they strapped my arms down and then cleaned me with iodine. They then put up a big sheet in front of me so I couldn't see what was happening. Josh came back then and was trying to watch but they told him to sit next to me. At this point I was really tired, I was kind of falling asleep, it was about 2:45 AM. I had a warm pad behind my neck and warm air blowing on my and I couldn't feel anything.

After 22 hours of labor, we finally heard baby Julien screaming before we ever saw him. It was such a relief to hear him cry! Then we saw this rather large purple screaming baby! I couldn't believe he had come from inside of me! The pediatrician took him and put him in an incubator and Josh went over to see him. Then the pediatrician brought him over and let me see him. They then left to go clean him up. Josh was so sweet and said he would stay with me but I told him to go, thank goodness I would have been so worried if he didn't! They took about 40 minutes to put me back together then I had to go to recovery. I was in recovery FOREVER! I just wanted to see my baby! Finally after 45 minutes they took me back to my room. I was transferred to my bed and Josh came in with the baby. I was so happy to see them! Julien was much bigger than I expected but so beautiful! I held him until they took him away.

I spent Saturday and most of Sunday stuck in bed with a catheter but I had Josh and the baby with me the entire time so it wasn't too bad. Sunday afternoon I got rid of both the IV and the catheter and had the longest shower ever! I spent the rest of the time in the hospital with my sweet baby and my great husband. The staff at the hospital were really great and I couldn't have wished for a thing. It was really great to get some rest after the two day birthing process!

Josh was so amazing through the entire pregnancy but especially the end. I had to go the hospital every day for the last week and he went every time. I know it was really boring to sit there and watch me be monitored. Thursday and Friday he was so amazing, helping me through a very long labor. He made me laugh and kept my smiling the entire time. He made sure I knew what was happening and that I was taken care of. I couldn't ask for a better husband and I know he will be an amazing father to baby Julien!