Not Just A Mom: How I Became A Mom

This month our Not Just a Mom group is looking to share stories about we became a mom--- this could be a birth story, an adoption story, a story about meeting your step-kids for the first time or a moment that just made you feel like a mom for the first time. 

Buckle up! I know this is going to be a long post. I kept a journal for all 3 of my boys about my pregnancy and thoughts/ feelings/ preparations during it and kept that going their first year of life so I have lots of details to share.  I'll add in plenty of cute baby photos though! 

Born 8 lbs 13.6 ounces

Obviously, in my case,  I became a mom when my oldest entered this world.  For as easy and breezy as my pregnancy with Ian was my labor and delivery was anything but.  

I was admitted into the hospital on a Thursday morning at 7:10 am for an induction.  But before they could even start Pitocin (for actual labor) they had to thin out my cervix.  They started the very long induction process by 8 am. By 12:30 there had been no progress but I was having regular and fairly close contractions which meant that they couldn't do much of anything but watch and wait. 

I did a lot of walking around all afternoon and by 5:30 there was still no change at all. They did insert a different drug into my cervix and finally by the middle of the night I had thinned out 1/2 way.  

Even in the hospital he was pretty wide awake-- and he never lost that full head of hair

6:30 am on Friday they finally started the Pitocin to bring on actual labor and it was pretty painful.  Within 2 hours I still had zero changes and spent yet another day waiting around.  I was having regular/ consistent contractions but by noon nothing had changed so they upped the meds again.  At 2:30 nothing had changed and the doctor still could not break my water so we began to discuss c-section options/procedure and alerted the hospital staff.  Going in I had wanted to avoid a c-section at all costs but by this time I was actually relieved to know that they would go in around dinnertime and end all this!

Around 3 or 4 one of the nurses came in and asked if I wanted to see an anesthesiologist since he was already in the ward and my doctor was also on her way to check on me. Between my doctor, myself, and the anesthesiologist it was decided I should get an epidural and try to get some sleep since they knew I hadn't really slept much in the past 36 hours. 

My mother in law came to peek in Saturday morning and was surprised that we had finally had him; but hadn't yet gotten around to calling anyone yet.  She had been out on an EMT call and stopped by.

Now in between all this 24+ hours we had had plenty of family members popping in throughout the course of our stay. My mother and husband's step mother worked at the hospital and my mother in law was an EMT so they often popped in on breaks or anytime they were near the maternity ward.  My mom popped her head in late that afternoon and said that the pediatric center (where she worked) was busy prepping for a c-section later that evening and I replied "yeah, mine."  She was a bit shocked but knew I was in good hands.

 By dinnertime I had dilated enough that my doctor was finally able to break my water and wanted to wait and see if I'd progress on my own.  I remember feeling mostly discouraged because by this point I just wanted to get it over with and eat something!  I did finally begin to progress on my own but very slowly.  It was nearly 11 o'clock at night before I was ready to actually begin pushing.  The doctor had to use forceps, the vacuum, and make a small incision before Ian finally made his way into the world at 12:24 am on Saturday... nearly 42 hours later.

My grandmother (with my sister's baby) and my older sister with Ian when Ian was just a few days old

However, even though Ian was healthy and doing well,  I was having some minor complications. The placenta would not deliver and they had to call the emergency OB to come and perform an emergency D&C to scrape the placenta off the walls of the uterus.  At this point my epidural had been nearly turned off and while they gave me a good dose (or perhaps even 2) of Demerol it was the most painful experience of my life to date (and I've had broken limbs and multiple surgeries).  I didn't even really get to see Ian properly until the next morning.  I remember them handing him to me and me mumbling something to my husband about not letting me drop him but I was just too tired to keep my eyes open after that whole ordeal. 

It's kind of ironic that my first baby was the biggest and definitely the most difficult delivery of the 3.  I'll have to write up a quick post about the other 2 at some point-- it's only fair.  

I hope you'll join us next month when we look at our top 5 family activities. 

 

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