For those of you who are interested here is "the rest of the story"On Wednesday the 17th I had an appointment with my midwives to do a non-stress test, an ultrasound and a checkup because I was "overdue". He was due the 13th and I had not really been having any regular contractions yet. All of the tests came back looking good, with the added information that based on the ultrasound our little guy was not so little and was going to weigh around 11 lbs 7 oz at birth. This information sent us into a whirlwind of decisions/confusion/prayer/stress.
The ultrasound weight is based on 3 measurements 1) head circumference 2) abdominal circumference and 3) femur length. If you know Joel you know that 1) he is tall and 2) he has a big head, so even though they were predicting a big baby, it was also easy to see how these measurements may not accurately predict his true birth weight. With 2 of our other babies they were predicting in the 9 lb range and no one had been over 8 lbs 12 oz yet. But, medically speaking after your baby is "measured" to be larger than 11 lbs they have to offer a c-section. The reason is because there is a chance the baby may not fit on it's way out which can cause major complications.So there Joel and I were at what we thought was going to be
a routine appointment being told that we had an above average sized baby and should consider the possibility of a c-section. Wow, heavy stuff. One of the midwives had personally had a c-section and was very reassuring that a c-section would go well and the other midwife in the practice that day kept trying to gently persuade us towards a "trial of labor" or an induction with the c-section as a last resort. We sat in the office and talked for about an hour and felt like maybe a c-section was the best choice. So we scheduled the c-section for 9:30 am on the 19th. We figured that God had 36 hours to start labor naturally if He disagreed with our decision, but we were at peace with where we were headed.Thursday the 18th, an emotional roller coaster of a day! I woke up feeling fine and was still comfortable with the c-section, but thought I should really look into what was ahead of me/us as far as recovery was concerned. I had heard that it was a solid two week recovery time with 6 weeks before you were really "back to normal". So I researched online and the more I looked into it the more I cried. I was a wreck. I was sitting at the computer with my 5 kids running through the house just bawling. Nathaniel spilled his cereal on the floor twice that morning and Rebekah came in from the back yard covered in dirt and I sat there thinking, how in the world can I be recovering for 2 weeks (to the point where I can't even walk up stairs). And how can I not pick up my 14 month old for 6 weeks?? This just didn't make sense, but on the other hand what if we tried to deliver the baby and he got stuck?? I just felt like I couldn't make the right decision.
Then the phone call came. About 12 o'clock the phone rang and it was the Dr. at the office who was scheduled to perform my c-section. I had never met him and he proceeded to tell me that he was by far the most liberal Dr. in the practice offering women and often talking them into c-sections if they wanted them, just because he enjoyed performing the operations that much. He was calling to tell me not to have a c-section, basically the opposite of any advice he would normally offer. He stated that he had done 3
c-sections for other women recently who were "having 11 lb babies" to find out after delivery that they were all in the 8 lb range. Since I had already delivered 5 other 8 lb babies, he found it highly doubtful that I had an 11 lb baby in my belly. If I wanted the c-section he was more than willing to perform it, but if the babies birth weight was my only reason he felt I should start with a trial of labor. "OK, Dr, thank you for the information, I'll talk to my husband and let you know." Then the tears really started to flow. I felt like no decision was the right decision. I wanted to be wise, but we had a peace about the c-section, now we were being told that it was probably not necessary, but what about the risks? I was soooo confused. Thankfully Joel was home and we were able to talk through it. I also called the office and talked to another midwife (my practice has 5) and she also felt like the weight was probably off. She had assisted with Naomi's delivery and has known me for the past 6 years and felt like even if this was a big baby that my body would be able to "do it" AHHHHH!!! What should we do???? So after much contimplation and reassurance that if anything looked "wrong" that there would be no hesitation towards a c-section, we moved forward with an induction on Friday morning.Oh the joys of induction. I've been induced with Pitocin twice before. The first time with Josiah 10 hours after my water had broken and contractions never started. And then again with Joshua who was 1 week past due and had a questionable looking ultrasound. What I knew about Pitocin was 1) yes the contractions are stronger (I only know this now because I've done it 3 other times without Pitocin) 2) The contractions are much more regular, usually ever 2 to 3 minutes instead of 5 and 3) you have to be on the monitors at all times which greatly limits you ability to move and breathe through you contractions. So armed with this knowledge and with the stress/possibility of a c-section still in the back of my mind we made a decision we have never made before and that was to have an epidural.
We arrived at the hospital around 8 am and the Pitocin was flowing by about 8:30, and by about 10 I was starting to really feel like I was in labor (nothing bad yet, but very regular contractions that were getting stronger) The anesthesiologist came in around 10:30 and by 11 I was no longer feeling anything. It was a really weird experience, not bad, not better, just very different. I thought the epidural went in the middle of your back, but it goes in really low, almost lower than what I consider my back. I thought I wouldn't feel anything, almost like my lower body didn't exist, but that wasn't how it felt either, it was like my legs were asleep, they were kind of tingly and I couldn't move them, but I could tell they were there, I described it as if there was a dead animal hanging from my body. They were very "heavy".Then we (Joel and I) slept. How weird is that to sleep during labor??? I was 3 cm when we arrived at the hospital, 4 1/2 cm when I got the epidural so I was "in labor" but to sleep for 2 hours seemed odd to me. The nurse woke me up to roll me over because most of the medicine was draining to my left side and I was starting to feel contractions on my right side and Joel went to lunch, this was around 1-1:30. At 2 they checked me again and I was 7 cm and Joel was just getting back from lunch and they said we probably had about 2 more hours before we'd have the baby. About 15 minutes later it felt like the baby was "falling out" of me so I told Joel that maybe we should have the midwife come back and check that everything was ok. They checked and I was "complete" or 10 cm and at +2 which means he was indeed on his way out. After 4 minutes of pushing he arrived.
This stage was very surreal to me because I could see by the look on Joel's face and the midwife's face that something was happening, but I couldn't feel anything happening. There was a point during the process that the midwife showed some slight concern that he may not "fit" but it only lasted about 20 seconds because then he was out. And he weighed in at 9 lbs 8 oz, which is a large baby, but not the 11+lbs the ultrasound had predicted. And all I could say was "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you" The nurse who had been working with us all day looked at me and said, wow, I didn't know if you knew how to smile. I was so relieved that he was here a huge wave of peace washed over me. All the stress of the previous 36 hours melted away. The Dr. who would have performed the c-section came in to congratulate me. It was over, and it went as well as we could have hoped.Samuel was not necessarily our first name choice (I kept telling people his name was going to be Caleb) but it was on our list and after he was born it just seemed to be the one that fit the best. It meas God hears, and Joel especially felt like through our whole ordeal that God heard our requests and answered. Keith is after my maternal Grandfather.
So now he's 9 days old. How did that happen so fast? He is a really good eater. Better than my other babies waking up pretty much every 3 hours to eat. He's a good sleeper (during the day) not so great at night yet. Joel has made the comment that it feels like he's been a part of our family for a long time even though he's only been here for just over a week. The kids all love him and are very curious about where he is and what he's doing all the time. Joel is back to work and I'm home with 6 little ones to care for. Is it overwhelming?? YES. Am I making it? More or less. I'm feeling much better physically, just a little tired. Is God faithful? Definitely!
