scott pieter is here! :)

ok, so around 715 saturday night i started having contractions, but figured they were just more braxton hicks b/c i get them ALL the time. i took trevor on a walk hoping it might turns them into something more or make them go away. . . they kept building, but nothing too bad. i got trevor his bath and put him to bed, got his easter basket out and did some laundry and dishes. i figured if i WAS in labor, i didn’t wanna come home to a stinky dirty house. the friend who was gonna drive me to the hospital came over and we decided to watch a movie, but ended up leaving in the middle of it. . . i got to the hospital around 1215. my contractions weren’t regular, but they were bad enough i knew it was time to go anyways. the l&d nurses weren’t so sure, hooked me up to the monitors, and were debating whether to keep me there or send me home. around 2 am, they said they’d check me in about half and hour and see if i’d made any progress, then decide. after telling me that, the nurse asked if my water her broken or anything, and RIGHT THEN, as she asked, it broke. . . i wasn’t sure b/c it was just a trickle, and i’ve had times before where that happened and it turned out i’d peed myself, so i said that. she said we’d be able to tell on the next contraction, and sure enough, it all just came gushing out. there was ALOT more than i’d expected, but at least then i knew they were keeping me and i was having scott. they checked me and said i was at 6 cm and 80% effaced, and that i had another water bag in there! they said something about a forebag, so i assumed that’s what had broken and the main bag was still in tact and asked them not to break it.

we got a message to jon to call b/c i was in labor, so i got to talk to him for a little while until i started having back labor and had to really focus to get through the contractions. that was around 330 or a little after, maybe. another friend had shown up shortly after i got to the hospital, so i asked her to do some counter pressure on my lower back to relieve the pain from the contractions and it helped SO much! i’d had back labor w/ trevor too, but it wasn’t this bad and i didn’t think to have anyone do any counter pressure. i wish now i had, it was a huge help in dealing w/ the pain.

i started to feel like i needed to push a little, but not like i COULDN’T stop it, so i asked to be checked. i was at 8 cm, but that 2nd bag was what was making me feel the urge to push. it wasn’t terrible, so i figured it would only be an hour or so till i was fully dilated. well, 3 hours later, i was still there - they checked me and i was STILL at 8 cm. i was completely exhausted at that point, it was just after 7 am and i hadn’t gotten any sleep. they said if i let the doctor break the forebag, i’d probably be done much faster. i realized then that i’d gotten confused at first - i thought they said my forebag had broken when really it was the main one that broke. i told them definitely go for it then, break it and get it over w/. the doctor came in and broke it, and there was another huge gush - even the doctor was surprised by how much fluid was in there (explains why i was SO huge though). . . 2 contractions later, i was fully dilated and screaming for them to get the doctor back in there b/c i was pushing and there was no stopping it. the nurse told me not to make her deliver the baby and i told her i wasn’t making her any promises. . .

the doctor came in right about then and they let me start pushing. . . he was doing some kind of counter pressure thing to help keep me from tearing, but it was so distracting that i couldn’t push effectively at all. i kept telling him to stop, but i think everyone though i meant to make the contractions stop b/c they just ignored me and kept saying "you’re almost done, just push, you’re doing great!" finally i kicked the doctor and said "you! stop it!" he did, and after that, i just pushed 3 times and scott was born! :) first thing the doctor said as he put him on my chest was "congratulations, now you can eat anything you want!" :) my one friend was offering me chocolate almost immediately. . . :) i didn’t want it quite then, but i thought it was kinda funny.

scott already knew his mama though - when they took him away to weigh him and a couple other little things, he screamed his little head off, but as long as he was w/ me, he was a happy little boy. i was able to nurse him for about half an hour before they had to take him to the nursery, so i was over the moon about that. :)

i didn’t really tear, but i had to get 2 small stitches b/c my skin stretched and wasn’t fitting together EXACTLY the way i was supposed to. best part though, was that i felt so much better throughout the whole thing. even when they weren’t letting me push yet, i was able to talk and laugh and joke in between contractions like nothing was going on at all, and i did it w/out any drugs. they l&d nurses, as well as my nurses in the maternity ward kept telling me i was a "rockstar" and asking why i didn’t have him at the birthing center (apparently that’s an option, but no one ever told me. . . i couldn’t have though, since i was on diabetes meds, i was considered high risk enough i had to be in the hospital). anyways, w/in an hour after having him, i was up and walking around on my own, i felt great! by the next day, i hardly noticed any soreness, and yesterday, when i left the hospital, i felt more like i was 2 or 3 WEEKS postpartum, not just 2 days. :)

scott is nursing like a pro, although i have had to use a nipple shield b/c he’s got such a narrow, high palette that i get blisters even when he’s latched 100% correctly. it’s helped a ton and a few times i’ve been able to go w/out it too. i’m hoping i won’t have to use it for long. he’s already started gained weight back (yay!), so i’m sure the little bit of jaundice he’s got will be on it’s way out very soon. he’s going to the doctor to check on that and his weight tomorrow, so i’ll let you all know what i find out then.

oh yeah, almost forgot - he was born 749 am on 4/12 (so about 12 1/2 hours of labor - huge surprise, since i was only in labor w/ trevor for a little under 5 hours. oh well. . . ); weighed 7 lbs., 15 oz., and was 20 inches long. when we left the hospital yesterday, he weighed 7 lbs., 7 oz., but today he was at 7 lbs., 8.6 oz. :)

AND even though jon wasn’t able to be there, he’ll be home on sunday! :) yay