James Rockwell Pruett was born Thanksgiving Day (November 24th) at 7:04 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs., 15 oz. and was 21 inches long. He is a beautiful, perfect baby and I can hardly put into words what I feel when I look at him. We are totally in love and starting to find our groove as a family of three with a newborn. :)
His birth story was quite the wild ride and started off very slowly on Tuesday, November 22d. I began noticing some very random, light contractions as the night wore on. I had baked an apple pie that night and watched the finale of one of my guilty pleasure tv shows, Dancing With the Stars. (Pruett family trivia - Adam's mother also baked an apple pie *right* before she had her first son as well...maybe there's something to it?) The contractions were so light that I slept through them all night. At 6 a.m. on Wednesday I felt four that were pretty strong and woke me up. I awoke Adam at 8:30 (he'd been up late working the night before) and let him know what I was feeling. Throughout the morning, I noticed they were intensifying and becoming more regular so we started timing them with a cool labor app Adam had on his smartphone. Throughout the morning, I distracted myself by watching tv, bouncing on my birth ball and taking a bath. At 12, they were coming every five minutes and I started focusing hard on getting through them. Adam started going through our hospital bag, making sure we had everything we needed and taking out the garbage and getting ready. I remember sitting on my knees and leaning over my bed and finding other random positions in our bedroom/bathroom and practicing my breathing exercises. My original plan had been to wait a long time before heading in to the hospital, but after three hours of intense contractions at home I was totally ready to go. The car ride was short but seemed to take forever. I remember gripping the door handle, swearing like a sailor at all the cars slowing us down. Adam dropped me off at the entrance to Labor & Delivery at our hospital and I had to stop several times to breathe through contractions on our way down the long hallway to the admitting desk. The nurse who met me in triage let us know that I was indeed in real labor and was already 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced - so things were going great. I remember feeling very frustrated by every little thing she was doing (putting in my iv, trying to get me to sign paperwork, etc.) because I was in pain and was trying to concentrate hard to get through them. I overheard her radio to the midwife on call and saying, "yep, Sarah is an admit!" In that moment, I knew this was the real thing and Adam & I squeezed hands as we made our way to our labor room.
We decided to call my mom, my labor coach #2, and let her know I was admitted and having a baby. Adam and my mom did a fantastic job coaching me through the contractions and helping me breathe and conserve my energy. I used the labor tub at the hospital which provided more relief than anything else I did. After three hours, I was 7.5 cm dilated and my contractions were coming very strong every 2 minutes - so rest was becoming more and more limited. I decided to get an epidural to help me relax and focus and was really glad I did. The hardest part was sitting very still while they finished the procedure - I'll never forget moaning and rocking through a contraction while the anesthesiologist was behind me saying "oops! Ok Sarah, please don't do that again!" Really, I couldn't help it. After that, I could still feel the contractions and breathe through them but I no longer felt the stabbing pain that accompanied them. This is probably my favorite part of the birth. We turned the lights down, played Van Morrison my ipod, and told happy stories. The contractions continued in the same pattern and seemed to be very effective. By 9 p.m., I was 9.5 cm dilated and the nurses starting calling bets on when I would deliver. Everyone was sure it would be before midnight, and I remember thinking it was too bad because after midnight it would be the 24th which is also my father's birthday and I thought it would be special to deliver then.
As the night wore on, however, the progression of my labor slowed down even though I was almost complete. My water hadn't broken, and I wanted it to happen naturally but at midnight agreed to have the midwife do it manually with the hopes that it would help kickstart the transition to pushing. At 1 a.m., the midwife suggested we start a small amount of Pitocin to help move things along since my labor was no longer running a "normal" course and things seem to have stalled. I finally started pushing about 2:30 a.m. and I have to say, it was absolutely the hardest part of labor. My epidural had started to wear off so I could feel the contractions better and work with them. We tried all manner of positions and tried various techniques to help the baby's head move down, which was still a bit high in my pelvis. A couple of hours went by with very little progress which was really discouraging. I started to cry and feel hopeless that after all these hours of hard work his head still hadn't moved down. My doctor came into the room with a few other nurses and reiterated that his head seemed to be badly positioned (he was what they call "sunny-side up"), tilted at an awkward angle and had moved down but not to where we had hoped. She offered to move towards a cesarean delivery or, as an alternative, to try a vacuum delivery. I wanted so badly to avoid a c-section and consented to trying to the vacuum hoping it would work. After pushing with the vacuum for 15 minutes or so, I noticed many more nurses and another doctor entering the room and my original doctor said she was sorry but the vacuum didn't work so we had to move to a cesarean delivery. At 6:30 or so in the morning after a long night of pushing, I was wheeled into the operating room and James was born at 7:04 a.m. Adam was right there beside me and we were both so in awe when we finally met our son. He was placed on my chest for awhile so we could have skin-to-skin bonding, which was really important to me and something I didn't want to miss out on. The surgery was surreal and strange and honestly quite scary until the baby came out. Once I met him, I immediately felt this intense feeling of love and awe at the miracle of it all. Adam & I both shed some tears together and poor little James cried hard for about the first hour of his life, clearing out his lungs and letting everyone around hear what a healthy baby he was.
I recovered in the hospital for four days which are now a bit of a blur. The recovery was painful and more difficult than I had anticipated but it got better every day. Adam was an amazing father and did a lot to help with things I couldn't get up to do myself. We had a slightly bumpy start to breastfeeding but received a lot of support from the nurses and lactation consultants and by the time we left, we were doing pretty well with it. I was feeding him at least every 2 hours (sometimes more often!) which was pretty exhausting but necessary to get his weight up and help resolve some jaundice that had developed. We were visited by a lot of family and friends who were incredibly supportive and made us feel so loved. James got to meet all of his grandparents, a couple of his great-grandparents, his uncle Wes, his great-uncle Mike, and many others. Finally, the morning came when we got to bring him home and I was so happy to be leaving. We had a beautiful homecoming thanks to Adam's parents and my mom; we enjoyed a delicious pasta lunch with champagne to celebrate the occasion. Best of all, James's grandparents rocked him in the living room so Adam & I could take a long, luxurious two hour nap before settling in to our new life with James.
The past two weeks have honestly flown by and I have so much more to say, but for now I will just share that it's been the most extraordinary time in my life. Some words that come to mind to describe the experience would be joyful, exhausting, emotional, surreal... I am happy to report that James is very healthy and at 12 days old has already grown to 8 lbs., 12 oz. He has such personality even as a newborn and we are really enjoying getting to know him. He always wants to have his hands near his face and loves to be held and rocked, especially on our chests. He has cried through his sponge baths and almost every single one of his diaper changes. We go through 10 more diapers a day (often quite a few more) and James has peed on his dad two times already. He has been to the doctor and grocery store and seems to enjoy car rides until they stop. He is wearing newborn clothes though seems to be getting to the limit of his outfits lengthwise so we might be ready to start trying out our 0-3 month clothes. Every day, he spends more time being awake and alert and has tried many of his toys including his baby swing, bouncer, and being in the baby carrier. He seems to change every day and I'm so thankful for all the hours I get to spend just staring into his big blue eyes and bonding with him.
Speaking of, that's what I'm off to do...will post some pictures and more updates when I can. Lots of love from the three of us to you!
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