The RUFF Life

We're nearing two months since Crawford joined our family, and I am one incredibly lucky mother! I have a beautiful baby boy who sleeps well and is starting to break out the cutest little smiles. AND I have an amazing five year old who is bright, spunky, helpful, and loves her little brother. She is always eager to help in any way we ask and often does things on her own that she thinks might be helpful. She sings and talks to Crawford in the sweetest little voice and loves to hug and kiss on him. One evening I had pumped while Crawford was asleep, and he woke up soon after and was starving! Adeline got to give him a bottle, and she was SO proud! I'm loving watching the two of them together!!

*This is really long and mostly just for my own record. However, feel free to keep reading if you're interested.*

I had been having contractions off and on since 32 weeks or so. By the time I got to my weekly appointments (36 weeks) I was already 2.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Baby boy was also already very low, so my doctor and I were both convinced that when I did go into labor, things would progress quickly. At my next appt (37 weeks), I had progressed to 4 cm and was still 80% effaced. We were a little concerned about things going to quickly at this point. I was positive for group b strep, and had to be administered two doses of antibiotics while in labor to prevent Crawford from being affected. That Friday (2/3) I had contractions all day long and by the evening, they were 4-5 minutes apart, but not painful. We called L&D and decided to go in, in case I was in labor to get the antibiotics going. After two hours of monitoring and inconsistent contractions, there was no progress and I was sent home with an ambien to help me sleep (Todd can tell a funny story about this). I slept most of the day Saturday due to being exhausted and nauseated. I continued having contractions throughout the weekend and in to Monday. I had another appointment Monday afternoon, and had progressed slightly to 4.5 cm. Dr. H swept my membranes and we scheduled an induction for that Friday (the 10th). I worked Tuesday and had every intention of working all the way up until Friday when (I thought) this baby was coming. Our friend Randy was in town Tuesday night and we went out to dinner (Mighty Fine-burgers, fries, and a milkshake!). Todd teased me all evening about my water breaking (since it was a full moon that night) and what did we need to do to get this party started. He went for a run and I jokingly told Randy he should track him down and tell him my water broke. I went to bed (read: the couch) early that night and woke up around 12:30 for my first of many usual nightly trips to the bathroom. It was then that I realized what I thought was my water leaking. I waited a minute before going to our room and waking Todd up. He thought I was teasing him again and his response? "Turn the light off!" I told him I was serious and he jumped out of bed. I wasn't too keen on getting sent home from the hospital twice in 5 days, so I walked around our bathroom for 45 minutes where my water continued to leak (while Todd scrambled to put together lesson plans) before I was convinced that this was it. We called Chrisy and decided to let Adeline sleep since Randy was at the house. Chrisy would pick her up in the morning. Todd and I got in the car and headed in to the hospital. I called Amanda who planned on leaving as soon as her girls were off to school. We were worried she'd miss the birth since we all thought I'd go so fast. Upon arriving at the hospital around 2:00 am, the nurse checked to see if it was amniotic fluid that was leaking, and I admit that I held my breath a little in hopes that I wasn't wrong for a second time. Once it was confirmed, they started my iv and antibiotics and we waited for things to get going. I texted my sub and coworkers to let them know I would not be at school on Wednesday!

I tried to rest some since my contractions weren't very consistent or strong yet, but probably only snoozed for half an hour or so. My doctor came in around 7:30 and decided to hold off a little on the pitocin to give my sister more time to get there. We were still convinced that things would go very quickly once they got going. Amanda made it around 9:30 or so, and they had just started the pitocin before she arrived.

I decided to get my epidural early, even though I still wasn't having real painful contractions, to make sure that I didn't miss my chance to get one. The epidural placement wasn't bad, and almost immediately my right leg was completely numb. I thought this was a good sign that the epidural was working. I was also excited to have a bolus button I could push to administer more medication.

As my contractions slowly picked up, I soon realized that my right leg was the only thing that I couldn't feel. The nurses encouraged me to use the button, but I was afraid it would just make my leg even more numb and not do much else. After continuously pushing the button and not getting much relief, I realized I was right. Dr. H came back around 2:30-3 and checked me again. At this point I was only 5 cm, so I wasn't progressing much at all. I was very worried about ending up with a c-section, but my doctor reassured me that we weren't at that point yet. The contractions were coming stronger and much closer together and I was feeling every one. They called the anesthesia team back and the doctor thought that the epidural may not be working due to my scoliosis and the placement of the catheter. The two choices were to remove the epidural and start over completely or adjust the placement of the current epidural. I chose to have the placement adjusted. He did this and then gave me a bolus of some pain medication which gave me some relief and hope that the epidural would now work correctly. Dr. H decided to place an internal monitor to ensure that the contractions I was having were strong enough to be changing my cervix. After the monitor was placed, my pitocin drip was increased until the contractions were strong enough to move me on to transition labor. Again, I realized that the epidural was not doing its job. The contractions were very intense and exhausting. I was not prepared for an unmedicated labor and delivery, as it had always been my plan to get the epidural during early labor and feel as little as possible :) However, I did the best I could to make it through each contraction with the help of Todd, Amanda, and my nurses.

At about 4:45 (maybe? at this point I was in so much pain that things start to get a little fuzzy) the nurse suggested that I might consider having the epidural replaced if I was still interested. Of course, I was! They called in anesthesia (a third anesthesiologist came) again and checked me before he replaced the epidural. At this point I was 9 1/2, but they still allowed me to have the epidural fixed. It took the doctor 30 minutes or so from start to finish, and the contractions during this time were very intense. I actually began to feel the urge to push. Once everything was finished, I did have some relief, but was not completely numb. Dr. H came back and checked me again and I was fully dilated, with just a bit of cervix left. They made me wait to push while they set up the room for delivery. These contractions (pain + pressure) were some of the worst. Finally, things were ready and I was able to begin pushing. I only pushed for 10 minutes or so, but it felt like forever. Finally, at 5:46 pm, Crawford Thomas was born. This is my favorite picture from that day, as it pretty much sums up exactly what it felt like to meet our son:

Crawford was just perfect! I ended up laboring for 17 hours, from water breaking to delivery. So much for things moving quickly!! Here are some more pictures from that day...