Midgie's Here! Welcome Aaron Samuel Weatherwax!

So on Friday, July 23, I woke up and immediately started having contractions. They were not at all painful or regular, so I sent Dave off to work and Mudgie and I stayed home for our Friday together time. It was a big day, as we were finally getting carpet in the basement, meaning Mudgie could finally use his playroom. The 2 of us played all morning, both inside and out, but by mid-morning, it was clear that my contractions were not stopping. I sent Dave an email to let him know he may need to come home early, and I'm pretty sure he left as soon as he saw it.

Mudgie was very accommodating, and was content to watch lots of tv while I took it easy. Dave got home, and while my contractions were still not painful, they were coming pretty regularly at 7-10 minutes apart. Dave called his parents and told them they should head out here. They arrived around 1:30, and Mudgie got up from his nap a little after 2pm. Dave and his parents played with Mudgie while I continued to time my contractions. By 3:30 they were coming every 4-5 minutes, but they still weren't painful. I called the doctor's office, just to let them know before they closed for the day. The doctor said to call back when they got so painful that I couldn't talk through them. Ok...

We decided to all go out for dinner. It was hot, and I didn't want to cook or clean up a mess, so we went to Chili's. Our waitress was so slow! We all kept joking that I should start screaming about how I'm in labor to get her to hurry up. My contractions were definitely getting stronger through dinner, and by the time we got home, they were becoming downright uncomfortable. After timing them for an hour or so, they were now 3 minutes apart, and they definitely didn't feel good, so I called the doctor back. Unfortunately, storms in the area did something to their answering service, and I couldn't get through! I called the hospital instead, and they paged her for me. When she called me back, she sounded somewhat annoyed, but told me to go ahead and come it, and that she'd break my water and we'd have a baby tonight. Ok...

So we say our goodbye's and leave for the hospital around 7pm. I cried leaving Mudgie, and all the way to the hospital, thinking about how much is going to change for him, and how I don't want our relationship to change. We get there, and we get the biggest and best delivery room as there is no one else there! The nurse comes in and I get changed and hooked up to the monitors. Then the doctor comes in. She checks me (in her rather forceful manner...I think I actually jumped and said, "Hello"), and then proceeds to tell me that I'm not in labor and I need to go home. Apparently, even after having contractions all day, I'd had no progress since my exam the day before. She gives me a (rather hilarious) demonstration of how I'll be acting when I'm really in labor, and then sends me home with a sleeping pill! The nurse, who was very nice, said she wouldn't be surprised if I was back there later that night.

Disappointed, we head home. Even as we are leaving the hospital, my contractions are getting stronger, but I do as I'm told and take the sleeping pill when I get home. It worked great, except that my contractions were so strong at that point that I would wake up every 3 minutes and writhe around in pain until they were over. By 10:30pm I was a mess. I was in so much pain I was shaking, and even though I was a little loopy from the sleeping pill, I couldn't even sleep between contractions, which were now about 2-3 minutes apart. Dave called the doctor back, as I couldn't talk to anyone at this point, and she reluctantly told him we could go back to the hospital. We departed for trip #2 around 11pm.

After this point, I have no recollection of time, as I was in too much pain to notice or care. I get to the hospital, and the nurse checks me. I've progress from 1-2cm to 2-3cm, so they let me stay. For what it's worth, I don't think I would have left no matter what they said! They start my IV, and I bide my time before I can get an epidural...I needed to have a certain amount of IV fluid before they do it. A few minutes before the doctor comes in to break my water, my wonderful nurse gave me a shot of Morphine (I think) for the pain. It definitely helped take the edge off, but once the doctor broke my water, my contractions got even more painful. There was meconium in the water, which told me that this baby was definitely ready to come out, and made me feel a lot better about going back to the hospital when we did. The contractions were now unbearable and they even made me vomit! Dave was so good during all of this, and he just held my hand and was there for me 100%. I don't think it was long before I got the epidural, and after that I felt wonderful!

I think I labored for a couple hours after I got the epi, and I was able to sleep during some of that. Around 3am the doctor came in and said the baby was experiencing some drops in the heart rate. I was at 10cm, but the baby was still really high. Normally they would have let me labor a while longer and let the baby come down on its own, but the doctor wanted me to start pushing. I was feeling some pressure, and I did not want a c-section, so I told the doctor that I'm going to get this baby out. I pushed with everything I had. The nurses were great and so encouraging. They kept telling me what a great pusher I was, but despite all my efforts, the baby wasn't coming out. The heart rate began dropping lower and lower with each contraction, and after 2 contractions where the heart rate dropped into the 40's (when it was 140-150 normally), my doctor said enough.

Things happened so quickly after this. I was whisked off to the OR, and Dave stayed behind to get changed. They moved me onto the operating table, and there were about 10 people busily moving around the room, prepping me and preparing for the baby. I was in tears at this point, scared about the c-section, and scared about the baby's health. The doctor told me she was going to start, and Dave wasn't even there yet! He arrived shortly thereafter and held my hand. I felt a lot of tugging and pressure. They started the procedure at 3:31am, and at 3:34am Aaron was born. The doctor told us it was a boy, and that he was a big boy. They brought him over to the cleaning station to do a quick exam, and then briefly brought him over to me before taking him away to clean him up and do a full exam. Dave went with the baby while I stayed behind to get put back together. I was so loopy and sleepy at this point I was going in and out of sleep. I tried to talk and I could barely get coherent words out, but I think I did manage to ask the doctor if, while she was sewing me up, she could take care of that loose skin that never went away after Eli was born. I don't remember her response.

The next thing I remember, I was back in the delivery room, and the nurse was there telling how I had done such a great job, and that I shouldn't feel bad or disappointed at all. She was really wonderful. Dave came back and told me our baby weighed in at 9 lbs 0.4 oz. Holy big baby! I don't know what time it was when Aaron was finally delivered to our room, but it was so nice to have him in my arms. He latched on like a champ and we nursed for the next hour. I didn't want to give him up, but the doctors had some more tests to run and I was being transferred to the maternity ward.

As it turned out, I have a rather small pelvis, and the doctor said I was probably lucky to get Eli out. Aaron was so much bigger that there was just no way for him to fit. Nothing was going to get him out other than a c-section. I felt better knowing there was nothing else that I could have done.

So there you have it. On Saturday, July 24 2010 at 3:34am, Aaron Samuel Weatherwax made his way (rather forcefully) into the world. He weighed 9 lbs 0.4 oz, and was 21.25 inches long. He is a great eater and an even better sleeper. He is already so different from his big brother, and we can't wait to see what kind of baby/boy/man he grows up to be.