On December 15th 2015, Ryan and I were given the
date that I would be induced. It
ultimately changed from the night of December 27th into the morning
of the 28th to the night of the 29th to the morning of
the 30th because of the number of inductions that were pushed back
due to the holiday and weekend. I was
elated that the date was pushed back because it gave me a couple more days to
try to go into labor naturally which is what I really wanted with all my heart
(now I could care less about that because I am so insanely in love with my
beautiful baby boy).
A little background on why induction was required by the
doctors. At my 28 week appointment, I
was told I was measuring small and that I had to see a specialist to measure my
baby boy and to verify that blood flow was strong through the placenta because
measuring small can be indicative of a deficient placenta. Our first visit with the specialist indicated
that he was measuring small and falling on the 5% curve with a small stomach and
short femurs. These three items are
indicative of Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR) or Inter Uterine Growth
Retardation i.e. the baby is small. With
FGR, induction in the 39th week is recommended across the
board. It also required that I be
monitored twice a week via Non Stress Tests, weekly ultrasounds to measure
fluid, weekly appointments to measure hormone levels and check me physically,
and ultrasounds with the specialist every three weeks to measure size, blood
flow through the chord, placenta, and organs of our baby. Luckily baby boy and I passed every single
test without any scares. A couple
doctors freaked me out, but second and third opinions (and a blessing by our
parish priest), calmed my nerves. Throughout
this entire process, I wasn’t allowed to work out and I had to eat high levels
of protein during the day and before bed so that baby boy would get more
protein than he was. During this entire
process, Ryan was amazing and stood strong by my side and was my voice when I
just wanted to cry or didn’t know how to handle a situation because let’s be
real, doctors can scare that crap out of you when they say things like
“stillborn” to you.
At 3:30pm on Tuesday, December 29th and my
amazing parents, brother Tom, sister Bonnie, and two family pups, arrived to
stay with Jared and Lira while Ryan and I were at the hospital. Their arrival was a godsend to me because
nerves were starting to get the best of me and I needed the distraction! We went for a nice walk, made and ate chicken
burritos, loaded the car, listened to Adele, and just chatted about
things. It was really nice to have them
here.
At 6:45pm, I called the hospital to make sure my 7:30pm
arrival time was still good and they told me to come on up. At 6:50pm, Ryan
gave me a beautiful Pandora bracelet with three charms, lovebirds for us, a
camera for me, and a baby boy for Maxwell.
I sobbed and hugged and kissed him.
It was absolutely perfect! I
can’t wait to wear it out and get all dressed up once Max is bigger of course. Right now I am a wee bit attached to the
little munchkin and he to me! Ryan and I actually went out for 45 minutes
to grab a beer and desert the other night while my parents were in town. It was glorious, but I loved coming home!
Around 7pm, Ryan and I said of goodbyes and headed to the
hospital. It was a surreal moment
knowing that I was going to have my baby boy the next day. I was still in a state of shock because this
was not how I planned or even envisioned my labor and delivery was going to
happen. Jared seemed a little nervous,
so I knew that if I could send Ryan home for the night that I was going
to. We tried to calm him, but he’s a
worrier. Thankfully my parents and
siblings were there to distract him.
They walked the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights and then they
walked to ice cream!
We arrived at the hospital, registered, and completed any
paperwork that I hadn’t completed ahead of time (because I am a planner), and
Ryan joked with the nurses the entire time!
I was quiet and he was being a goof!
Typical us when we are nervous and anxious. Once I was checked into my room and changed
into nothing but my lovely mint green hospital gown, I actually calmed down a
bit. Our nurse was great! She flat out said she hates people, but loves
her patients! He bluntness totally put
me at ease. I knew she would be a
straight shooter, which I needed at that moment. When asked if we had a copy of our birth
plan, we laughed and said NOPE! Ryan and
I both thought the other one was printing it and let’s be real, being induced
was NOT part of my birth plan. We told
them the most important thing…DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT AN EPIDURAL. It was noted in all caps on my board and I am
happy to say not a single nurse mentioned the word to me. I received a pelvic exam to determine how
soft my cervix was and if I was dilated at all.
I definitely needed some cervical softening, but I had progressed from
my last exam, so that pineapple I was chowing down on must have done some good! To soften the cervix, a small thumbprint
sized object with a string like a tampon was
inserted and stayed for 12 hours. There
was a possibility that this alone would initiate labor, but chances were
small. Since my body didn’t seem
anywhere near going into labor, the nurse gave me an ambien and I sent Ryan
home to have a beer, sleep in a comfortable bed, and hang with Jared. I’m the unlucky 1% that ambien doesn’t work
on. I was WIDE AWAKE until 4am. This was not a good sign for the day to come. I feel asleep once the ambien wore off and woke
up around 8am when Ryan came back. I
showered, ate a small meal, drank some water, moved around, and waited for the
induction process to start.
Around 9:30/10am on Wednesday, December 30th, I received my
first dose of induction medication and contractions immediately started 2-3
minutes apart with a duration of 90 seconds and 30-60 second peaks. I was NOT prepared for contractions to be
that close together from the beginning, but I dealt and breathed through
them. I had monitors on my belly to measure
contractions and the baby’s heart rate, so I wasn’t allowed to move much. Around 1pm, I asked to walk around or bounce
on a pilates ball and the nurse let me, but quickly recanted that idea because
the monitors kept loosing the heart rate and my IV malfunctioned. My left arm and hand was full of fluid and I
looked like a sausage with a half softball on my arm. It was painful. Three nurses later and I had a new IV in my
other arm and was told I had to stay in bed.
That was a huge blow to my ego and birth plan that I didn’t have a copy of, but knew in my head and heart. After 6 hours of heavy contractions, my water
breaking on it’s own (yay!), and only progressing to 2.5c dilated, I started to
get tense and not breathe through them. A few choice words were said, tears were shed,
the look on Ryan’s face broke my heart, and after 2 more hours, the word
epidural came from my mouth. Ryan
literally ran out of the room to get a nurse.
The anesthesiologist just so happened to be 2 rooms down and was in my
room in less than 10 minutes. Just
seeing him relaxed me. He prepped me and
then gave me the meds, laid me down, I puked my brains out (which is apparently normal), and then I
was good to go. Ryan left to get some
dinner so he wasn’t eating in front of me and I passed out. He came back an hour or so later and I woke
up and told him I had a lot of pressure in my butt. The nurse came in, checked me and bam I was
10cm +2! Holy Cow!! I sobbed tears of joy! Ryan and I were convinced that I would be having
a 24+ hour labor that might be ending in a C-section since my body wasn’t
progressing quickly at all. I will never
forget the relief I felt of hearing those words. We kissed, hugged, and were hit with “we are
having a baby and soon” emotions!! It was
glorious! Getting the epidural was the
best decision I made that day. It relaxed
me and allowed my body to progress and prevented me from tensing and fighting
my body from progressing. I was so
determined to have a natural labor, but in the end I listened to my body and am
very thankful for that. Lesson learned:
Go with the flow and listen to your body.
I practice pushed a few times so that I knew what to do when
the time came and then rolled to my left side and relaxed with a peanut ball
between my legs for 45 minutes. This
allowed baby boy to drop more with the goal being that he would drop to -2 on
his own and then I could begin pushing.
He dropped on his own which was great news. I was on oxygen in between contractions
because I had labored so intensely for so long, hadn’t eaten since 8am, and was
so swollen with fluid, but right above my head was a large light with a
reflective cover, so I was actually able to watch my son be born. It was absolutely amazing and phenomenal
motivation while pushing. 12 pushes
through 4 contractions and he was in my arms! Doctor literally delivered him
and placed him on my chest instantly.
Within 5 seconds of him being born, I was kissing him, crying on him,
smelling him, and completely in love with my perfect son! Hearing him cry and watching him respond to
our voices will stay with me forever. In
this moment, I became a mommy!
Maxwell Joseph Nolan was born at 9:36pm weighing 6lbs 2oz
and measuring 20.5 inches in length. He’s my tiny perfect baby boy!
His First Picture with Mommy & Daddy
Maxwell Getting All Checked Out and Passing with Flying Colors!!