I finally have some time to write! :)
Milton Percy Swanson was born on May 1st at 2:20 P.M. He weighed 6 lbs (take
that gestational diabetes, that they decided I didn't really have) and was 19 inches long. He is perfect!
On my due date, April 30th, I felt like I still had weeks to go, even tho my Dr had said he wouldn't let me go much beyond April 30th. I actually had an appointment scheduled for May 3rd to have an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid level and then have a fetal stress test done, and then from there we were going to make a plan for inducing me. Dr. Hirt was absolutely certain that we would not need that appointment, that I would have the baby over the weekend.
So that Thursday, the 29th, I was still at 4 cm and he stripped the membranes again and said I was pretty much ready to go, we were just wating on baby.
Mike and I decided we would make some plans for that weekend, the 30th was a Friday, and plan on having that baby the first week of May. So that Friday night we did something we haven't done in a long time, went out on a Friday night dinner date. And I'm talking the whole shebang, where we decided to go out to dinner at 7:00 and got to the Cheesecake Factory at 7:30 and were told the wait would be 50 minutes. Our usual 'going out to eat' is getting a Papa Murphy's pizza to bring home so this was a big deal. Dinner was fantastic and we stuffed ourselves and got home and to bed by 11:00.
The plan for Saturday, May 1st, was to help Bachmann's celebrate their 125th year anniversary and go get in line for a free tomato plant that they were going to give out to the first 500 people at each location and then go try a McDonald's Mocha Frappe (which I still haven't tried now that I think about it!) and then clear out the gardens the rest of the weekend and get them ready for veggies and flowers.
Well the baby foiled that plan! I woke up at 6 AM on Saturday with what I thought was a stomach ache. I went to the bathroom thinking that would relieve the pressure I was feeling and it didn't. I went to the bathroom 2 more times between 6 and 6:30 and nothing changed. I was feeling some pressure and a big stomach ache, but it wasn't a stomach ache. It would be present and then every few minutes it would intensify for a minute or so and then level off. I started timing the intense moments on the stopwatch on my phone and they were about 30-45 seconds.
I was having contractions!!!! Finally I could feel them!
So I woke Mike up and said there is going to be a baby today. At 7:00 I decided I better hurry up and take a shower and get my hair straightened. To hell with make up but I wanted my hair straight so I could I get it up in a pony if I needed to.
The contractions started intensifying. Mike looked like he didn't know what to do. He kept rubbing my back and asking if there was anything else he could do but that was enough, that really helped. Herbie came and sat by me and I could tell that he could tell something was not right, what a sweet doggie. Mike started timing the contractions and they were 2-3 minutes apart and about 30 seconds in length. We probably could have called the Dr at 8:00 but we waited until 8:30. . .we wanted to be sure that once we got the green light to go to the hospital, that we would be able to stay there.
We got the OK to go to the hospital and that 15 minute car ride was the most uncomfortable, second only to when my gallbladder attacked and we had a 5 minute car ride from Baja Sol to Dad's to wait for the ambulance, and longest feeling ride. Mike had to use the wheel chair and wheel me into the hospital.
It was 9:00 when the nurse in triage checked me and I was at a 5 with a "bulging water sack" and when we walked from the triage to my room, I felt something start to trickle down my leg. They had me use the bathroom and my water broke right into the toilet when I sat down. When I came out and got set up on the bed, I told the nurses and they checked the pad and there was some brown. . .the baby had passed his first bowel movement inside the womb. . .meconium. I felt horrible. I had been worried about meconium most of the pregnancy because I had been quite stressed at certain points, especially at the end. They assured me it would be no big deal, the only thing was that they would do everything in their power NOT to let the baby cry when he came out so they would have a chance to get tubing into him in order to suck out the meconium before he swallowed any of it.
By 10:00 I had received my epidural and it was wonderful. The pain of the contractions completely went away. I was pretty much just laying in the hospital bed talking to the nurses and Mike. Mike and I had made a plan long before I even got to the hospital that we would not tell anyone we were at the hospital until after the baby was born. Neither one of us wanted the extra stress of a lot of extra people waiting around for the baby. We did call Emily because she is the Godmother and if I couldn't have my Mom there, Emily was the next best thing. She's been thru a lot with me and I wanted her there.
So at 10:30 they checked my cervix again and I was already between a 7 and an 8. This baby was not wasting any time! At 1:05 I started pushing and the baby was born at 2:20 p.m.
The whole labor and pushing experience was
nothing like I thought it was going to be. I'd been bulking up on episodes of "Teen Mom" and all of those girls made labor/pushing look unberable. The nurses kept telling me that I was having a really fast labor and that I was a strong pusher so maybe that was the difference for me. The whole time from 6 AM to 2:20 PM when he arrived went by so fast.
It was surreal when he was finally out and they placed him on my chest for a minute while Mike cut the cord. I have my own baby! Then it was a little nerve racking while they were sucking the meconium out and then when they were finished, the baby did not make a sound. I couldn't see him but I could here one of the nurses going "Come on buddy!" and the look on Emily's face was of sheer worry and then Mike turned around and he was smiling as big as could be so I decided I could not gauge what was going on from those two totally different looks. Later Mike said he could see the baby moving his arms all over so he knew he was OK and from her vantage point, Emily could not. So that explained those looks. After what seemed like forever, this tiny little shriek came out and he was crying! The sound made me cry, it was so small and cute.
After we got all done with delivery and got up to our recovery room we started making the phone calls. We just had two visitors on Saturday night which was nice and then we were bombarded on Sunday, and practically everyone showed up all at once. I was exhausted come Monday.
The first week home was really rough, I had a really bad case of the baby blues so I couldn't really enjoy anything. I was just really sad and/or irritable. Mike was great and super supportive during that time which really helped. The second week home, Mike was laid off and reduced to on call, commission only work. Which was really bad timing and really good timing all at once. It has been really nice having him home with me and helping me out with things and just giving the three of us a lot of time to bond. These last couple weeks we have been working really hard on establishing a routine and Milton is finally starting to wake himself up during the day when he wants to eat so that is really nice. He still will sleep thru the night, for 8 hours if I let him, but since he's still pretty small (only in the 2nd percentile for weight) I have to wake him up in the middle of the night to eat. Mike usually gets up to help change diapers and burp between breasts so that really helps and makes me feel like I'm not doing it all myself.
Hopefully now I will be able to write more often!!!
The whole labor and pushing experience was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I'd been bulking up on episodes of "Teen Mom" and all of those girls made labor/pushing look unberable. The nurses kept telling me that I was having a really fast labor and that I was a strong pusher so maybe that was the difference for me. The whole time from 6 AM to 2:20 PM when he arrived went by so fast.
It was surreal when he was finally out and they placed him on my chest for a minute while Mike cut the cord. I have my own baby! Then it was a little nerve racking while they were sucking the meconium out and then when they were finished, the baby did not make a sound. I couldn't see him but I could here one of the nurses going "Come on buddy!" and the look on Emily's face was of sheer worry and then Mike turned around and he was smiling as big as could be so I decided I could not gauge what was going on from those two totally different looks. Later Mike said he could see the baby moving his arms all over so he knew he was OK and from her vantage point, Emily could not. So that explained those looks. After what seemed like forever, this tiny little shriek came out and he was crying! The sound made me cry, it was so small and cute.
After we got all done with delivery and got up to our recovery room we started making the phone calls. We just had two visitors on Saturday night which was nice and then we were bombarded on Sunday, and practically everyone showed up all at once. I was exhausted come Monday.
The first week home was really rough, I had a really bad case of the baby blues so I couldn't really enjoy anything. I was just really sad and/or irritable. Mike was great and super supportive during that time which really helped. The second week home, Mike was laid off and reduced to on call, commission only work. Which was really bad timing and really good timing all at once. It has been really nice having him home with me and helping me out with things and just giving the three of us a lot of time to bond. These last couple weeks we have been working really hard on establishing a routine and Milton is finally starting to wake himself up during the day when he wants to eat so that is really nice. He still will sleep thru the night, for 8 hours if I let him, but since he's still pretty small (only in the 2nd percentile for weight) I have to wake him up in the middle of the night to eat. Mike usually gets up to help change diapers and burp between breasts so that really helps and makes me feel like I'm not doing it all myself.
Hopefully now I will be able to write more often!!!
