I've been wanting to write down Finn's birth story for, oh, 14 weeks now. I know it's late, and I know that some of you don't like details like this, but you don't have to read it. I, however, have to write it.
According to Reid, the story starts on the night before, the 16th of October. It was around 6:30 or so that we got a call from Reid's sister, Kristi, letting us know that their baby boy had just arrived. Even though her due date was the day after ours, we knew that their baby would come first as she has never actually made it to a due date. But knowing that her baby was here was definitely an eye-opener for me. It hit me that we were next. So crazy! Reid did ask me that night when I thought the baby would come and I said I didn't know. I had a strong feeling that we weren't going to make it through the next week, but I didn't want to voice that feeling because I really didn't feel ready and thought that if I didn't say anything, it wouldn't happen.
That night was Kai's first night in his big boy room and Reid had promised him a campout. So, Reid went to sleep on the floor in the room with Kai and I was in our room all alone. Right around midnight, my cell phone rang. My first thought was to let it go, then I realized it was in the kitchen and I was afraid the boys would hear it in Kai's room and it would wake him up. I didn't want Reid to have to worry about that, so I ran into the kitchen to silence the phone. It was a wrong number by the way. That's when I first felt a very strong contraction. I went back to bed and laid down. The next time I looked at the clock was 1am and it still felt like I was having the same strong contraction. I know I wasn't, and that I must have fallen asleep, but it worried me. So, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. That'll make everything go away, right?
The next time I looked at the clock it was 5:30am. And there was another one. And another. I decided I should time them. Every 4 minutes, practically on the dot. So, I decided to do something else to stop them, as sleeping obviously wasn't working. According to Dr. Bradley, eating, sleeping, drinking, moving, showering....all of those should stop Braxton-Hicks. So I opted for a big glass of water. 10 minutes later, nothing had changed. Then it was on to the bowl of cereal. Still no change. Time to pull out the big guns, I thought, and headed for the shower. It was about 6:30 or so at that point.
Once in the shower, I realized that the contractions weren't going away, and I cried. Yes, I'll admit it. I cried. I had plans for the day and having a baby wasn't on the schedule. And I didn't want to leave Kai with anyone. And my midwife was out of town. So, yes, I cried. When I was done, I got out of the shower and dressed. It was after 7am, so I went to find Reid. Thankfully he was up and watching TV with Kai. I gently hinted that he needed to shower and get ready as we were probably going to be making a trip to the hospital soon. At about 7:30am, he was ready. Now, we had to find someone to take Kai.
The first call I made, didn't work out. Then I called a friend who had given me her cell number just for this emergency. Her cell phone was off. Dang...I didn't know who else to call. I took a break and started packing a bag for Kai. (He was supposed to be staying home with my mom, but mom wasn't coming for another week.) Then I made a call to the OB's office. After she called me back and told me to come in, I got serious about the babysitter hunt again. This time, my friend's cell phone was on....and she was available. Hallelujah!! I sent Reid and Kai out the door (it was 8:30am at this point) and stayed home trying my best to relax.
Reid returned to the house at 9am and after some running around to grab all of our essentials, we were out the door. The ride to the hospital was not fun. Sitting down was definitely not on my list of comfortable positions. We arrived at the hospital at 9:30am and got checked in. They hooked me up to the contraction monitor and said that they were about 2 minutes apart at the point (I hadn't timed them in hours, so I didn't know) and I was dilated to almost a 7. Wahoo--entering transition. The nurse asked me, "So, you want to stay and have a baby?" My initial thought was, "No, what's my other option?", but she never gave me time to answer. At that point, I gave Reid the go ahead to ask for my epidural. Without my midwife and with me as stressed out as could be, I had no intention of sticking to my birth plan. In fact, I almost threw it out the window on the freeway. I did go to the bathroom and see the large, beautiful tub and for almost a minute considered getting in. I knew it would feel so good, but I also knew that there was no way I could get an epidural in there, and so when the next contraction hit, the tub idea flew out the window, too.
What they don't tell you is that to get an epidural you need to have a whole bag of fluids through your iv first. That took almost an hour!! Uhhhh... hello, way too long. I finally got my epidural at 10:30am. At that point the doctor came in and decided to check to see where we were at. I was dilated to a 9, but my water still hadn't broken. So, she broke my water and then told me to let her know when I thought it was time to push. I was concerned that with the epidural I wouldn't be able to tell them, but that epidural was fabulous. I could feel my legs and everything the whole time, just without pain.
At 11:30am, we grabbed the nurses and told them I thought it was time. The checked and Finn was still pretty high up. The asked me to give a practice push, and then asked me to stop. They told me I was an excellent pusher and that they thought they should get the doctor. The doctor came in, noted that Finn was still high, and asked me to push. Once again, they asked me to stop. They got all scrubbed up and then we got down to business. Finn was born at 11:58am! I was so happy with how it all went and how I was able to feel everything, except the pain. It made pushing so easy and such a neat experience.
Finn got an 8 and then a 9 on his Apgars. The pediatric nurse thought that he looked a little pale, but then she looked at me and thought I looked pale too, so she let it go. They knew that he had swallowed meconium, as they got a bunch out of his stomach. So, she left me with an aspirator and told to suck out his mouth when it sounded like he needed it. There were a couple of times that I told my nurse that it sounded like he was struggling to breathe and that I needed help suctioning him but she said he sounded fine. After an hour, the pediatric nurse came back and felt that she should measure his oxygen levels. Wouldn't you know, they were low. So, the doctor was called in and it was decided that he needed to be in the NICU to get oxygen, until he was able to maintain decent levels on his own. And so off he went. Thankfully, he came back 24 hours later an oxygenated baby. :)
As every birth is, Finn's birth was a fabulous experience and one that I'll treasure forever. The only negative for me were my nurses. But that's another story. Reid says it was my competitive nature that brought Finn here less than 24 hours after his cousin. I think it might have had something to do with running for a wrong number in the middle of the night. But maybe Finn will tell you that he was just ready to come meet his family. Whatever the reason, we're sure happy to have him here!
