Sutton's Birth

I've been meaning to write my version of Sutton's birth like I did for Sophie. Most of the before details have already been covered in my earlier posts (like painting my belly like a watermelon at 10:30pm the night before we were going in for the induction). I got in bed right around midnight (had to get my last glass of water and bite of chocolate cake) and laid in bed for a little while before falling asleep. I woke up around 2am to use the bathroom and was having some uncomfortable contractions...now I think it was actually a contraction that woke me up. I had a hard time falling back asleep, but knew I would have to be up at 4am to get ready so figured there  wasn't much else I could do. As we were getting ready for the hospital I told Chad that I was having painful contractions and was more uncomfortable on the way to the hospital than I was when we went for Sophie and this was for a scheduled induction and my water broke before. 

We got to the hospital around 5:45am and by the time we got to the room it was around 6:30am. The night shift was about to get off and they weren't in a big hurry to really get started on my induction. They did the paperwork needed and got my IV in (after having to try twice). When they got me hooked up to the monitors it showed that I was having strong contractions every 4-7 minutes. I had told them I thought I was in labor, but still didn't know if I wasn't coming in for the induction if I would come in yet. I was actually in labor and would have been admitted had I not been scheduled. I immediately started asking for the epidural (I had already asked the guy in registration if he could go ahead and get me on the list). It was a busy time in labor and delivery (6 other inductions that morning) and I didn't want to have to wait. The nurse checked me and said I was at a 2-3 (I was at a "good" 2 last Wednesday and figured I was more). They came in to give me the epidural shortly after...maybe sometime around 8am. It took him two times to get it in....not a fun experience anyway and very scary laying there thinking something was going wrong. 

Dr. Scott came in while they were putting the epidural in and Chad was showing her pictures of my watermelon belly on the computer. Once the epidural was in, she broke my water (took her a couple of times). She said I was dilated to a 4 (which was the more accurate measure). I think they started the pitocin after that and this was all around 8:30-8:45am (I think). 

In the meantime, Ginger, Mom and Sophie, Mammy, Pappy and Eliza got to the hospital (Don got there after he ran the bus). Mom woke Sophie up early and got her ready and on the road...she wasn't taking any chances of missing anything even though I told her she shouldn't even come till around 9:30am. 

I didn't feel any contractions after the epidural. I remember feeling at least something with Sophie. The nurse checked me again around 9:30am and said I was at a 5 and that she would check again in an hour or two but to let her know if I felt pressure. Mom and Morgan were leaving the room sometime after 10am and I told them if they saw my nurse to tell her I was feeling pressure. Chad said they shouldn't that it was just my way of getting checked earlier. 

So Mom had been begging to be in the delivery room ever since we found out we were pregnant. She tried hard with Amber, but she didn't give in. Chad and I had actually decided that as long as everything was going smoothly we would ask my mom and his to be in the room, but we wouldn't tell them till the last minute. Mom was so worked up about it and really thought I wouldn't let her but kept asking what I was going to do. I tried to put her off, but she wouldn't let it go. I finally just told her we wanted it to be a surprise, but she could be in the room. She was so excited! She went back to the waiting room with instructions not to tell anyone. Chad told his mom when he went to tell them I was about to push. You can imagine the excitement they had.

The other nurse came in a little after 11am and I told her I was feeling a lot more pressure and she checked me and said I was ready...not expecting that! Of course I had to tell that I had felt it a while before when Chad wouldn't let me tell them. It all happened quickly after that. Chad went out to get his mom and my mom around 11:15am and I started pushing shortly after. Dr. Scott got in for the last two contractions and Sutton was born at 11:41am. I think I pushed for around 20 minutes. Dr. Scott immediately said that he looked like Sophie and we all agreed. They do favor a lot, but definitely different features too. It will be interesting to see how he changes. Like before, we had lots of visitors the first day. We had to move to another room that evening because of all the babies being born and scheduled inductions the next day. 

Sutton is absolutely perfect and we are so blessed to have a healthy baby boy!! He weighed 7lbs 13ozs and was 19 1/2 inches long.