It's been three weeks since Cody was born and I need to hurry and write about his birth day before I start to forget the details. I guess I can start a ways back when I talked to my dr at about 20 weeks(early, I know, but i'm a planner!) about if she would be willing to induce me early(I mostly wanted to keep his birthday as far away from Christmas as possible). She said yes, but we'd just have to keep making sure the baby and everything looks good when it gets closer. So pretty much every week, I would ask her if we were still on track to induce me at 39 weeks. Every week she said yes and I was glad to be able to plan specifics like who would watch Grant when and when our parents should schedule their flights out. Fast forward to me at my 38 week appt. She said everything was still good(I was dilated to a 2) and that she would call and schedule the induction with the hospital. She came back to the room and said we needed to be there at 8am the next Friday(the 14th). She also wanted to schedule one last appt for Monday of the next week, just to do one final check. At that appt on Monday I was at a 3. She said "see ya Friday" as she walked out and I was pumped. Thursday afternoon/evening was crazy as Cameron and I rushed around getting the million last minute things done that I wanted ready before we went in the next morning(laundry, packing last things, packing a bag for Grant, picking up the house, taking a car to leave at the airport for my parents, new sheets on all the beds etc etc etc-I was slightly anal this time around just wanting to have every little detail ready. Cameron had a really nice Anesthetist on Thursday and she let him come home early to help. Cameron was such a trooper and ran around like crazy helping his OCD wife get everything on her list done (:
The next morning, Cameron and I got up, showered, dressed and had most everything ready when Grant woke up. We got him some breakfast and jumped in the car to get him to our friends' house. It was so nice to know that he could go to Jake and Jill's house, somewhere he was really comfortable with and would have fun. He spent the first part of the day there with them and then went to our other friend, Sara's house for the rest of the day.
I got this picture from Jill several hours into labor. I loved getting it and hearing he was doing well. It made me much more relaxed to know he was in good hands. With the picture, Jill sent a text that said Grant kept saying "mmm, dat delicious!" during lunch- so cute!
So after we dropped Grant off at about 7:45, we headed in to the hospital. We got there just a few minutes after 8, but had to wait for about 20 minutes. It was kind of surreal sitting in the waiting room, just the two of us, knowing that by the end of the day, we would have another baby. It was so fun not knowing if it was a boy or girl too. It made the day that much more exciting. Around 8:15 the nurse came out to get us and took us back to our labor and delivery room. The nurse we had for most of the day was older and pretty funny. She had been doing labor and delivery for 30 years. She loved that Cameron was a nurse so she could just tell him all the medical stuff and not have to explain it. They talked a lot about anesthesia and epidurals and stuff which I think was fun for Cameron. It seemed like the paperwork and admitting took FOREVER, and it kind of did because she had no idea how to use the new computer system. At one point she even said "just so you guys know, I am very good at what I do, just not at all the computer stuff". I thought that was funny and was glad to have someone with lots of experience and good advice to make labor easier. As we were doing the admitting stuff, I told her that I was ready for an epidural ASAP(even though at this point I was in NO pain whatsoever), I just thought I'd give her a heads up so I could get it as soon as I was allowed to. Finally after getting all the paperwork and chatting out of the way, the nurse put in my IV of pitocin at 9:50. It was still so calm and it just felt like we were hanging out in a hotel room waiting for someone to come bring us our baby. At 10:10 my doctor stopped in to check on me. She said she was at the hospital for a c section, but that she was done now and going to head back to the office. She pulled her chair up to the bed and I was assuming that she was just going to check my dilation, but the next thing I knew, she was breaking my water. It totally caught me off guard because with Grant I was in pretty bad pain and had to wait hours before she would break my water. I guess with the second kid and being more dilated, she had no problem doing it much sooner. So she broke my water and said I was still at 3cm(the same as when I came in). I asked her when I was allowed to get an epidural(still in no pain) and she said she'd like to wait until I was at a 4, but if the pain was really bad before that, then she didn't care. She said she'd just kinda leave it up to me and the nurse-awesome. After that, my doctor headed back to her office which is about 15 minutes away. The nurse was in and out for the next couple of hours and although I had started to feel pain, it definitely wasn't horrible. I was mostly just chatting with Cameron and pacing around the room-more out of boredom than being in pain. I did have Cameron rub my back with a little massage ball thing and I went back and forth to the bathroom a few times(I learned from last time when they did the epidural and I HAD to go to the bathroom like ten minutes later, they weren't too happy with me, so I decided to make sure that didn't happen this time). At noon my nurse came in to check me again. I was at a 4! It really wasn't any amazing progress, but it meant I could get the epidural as soon as I wanted. I told her I would take it as soon as anesthesia could get there (: Again, I just have to say that although I was feeling the contractions at that point, they definitely weren't bad, but i felt like why not get the epidural and make the rest of the day pain free?!? The nurse called anesthesia and they were there within 10 minutes and after some minor glitches(my epidurals for both Grant's delivery and this one were done by students, which I actually enjoy for some weird reason, maybe it's the fact that that will be Cameron in a few short months) the epidural was in place at 12:45. Within 10 minutes I was completely pain free and loving it. At this point it was seriously heaven(or as close as you can get for being in labor). Cameron and I watched some Grey's Anatomy(my choice) and then we TOOK A NAP. Crazy. It was all so chill and relaxing. Side note: around this same time, Grant left Jake and Jill's and was dropped off with my friend Sara for the rest of the day. I owe them both big time! At 2:50 the nurse came in one last time before her shift ended. She checked me and I was at a 4, 5 during a contraction she said. I was a little disappointed with that, but I didn't care too much since I was in no pain and hanging out. She said she wished that she could be here for the delivery and was excited to find out if it was a boy or girl. Also, on a side note, when we were talking to her at the beginning of the day we told her how my parents were flying out as we spoke and that my mom was DYING to get there for the birth. She must have told all the nurses because every so often random nurses would stop in and say "is she here yet?? did they make it to Cleveland?!". It was fun that they were all so excited too. Before she left, our nurse told us that she usually doesn't try to predict delivery times, but since we were racing the clock to have my parents here, she wanted to make a prediction. She said(at 3pm) that she thought I'd deliver somewhere between 4 and 6. Originally my parents were supposed to get in at 7pm, but literally the night before they were able to call and get switched to an earlier flight that got in at 4:30. I was still thinking there was probably no way they could make it at that point, especially after the nurse making her prediction. At this point the new nurse came in. She was very nice too, although totally different than the 1st nurse. She was my same age and had only been in labor and delivery for 2 years. The first thing she asked when she came in was, "have you heard from your parents yet?" It old her that they should be on their last flight, so I couldn't get a hold of them. She said that she didn't need to check me since the last nurse just did and that she wouldn't need to check me until I felt like maybe there was a change. We talked about how I wanted to do what they call "laboring down", which basically means you just wait for the baby and your contractions to do all the work for you. A nurse told me to try that with Grant and if I did, that I would push for MUCH less time than if I just pushed as soon as I was at a 10. It worked amazingly with Grant(I only pushed 5 times for 9 minutes), so that was for sure my plan this time. The nurse said that was a great plan and that she wished more people would listen to them and do it that way. She left the room for a little while and just told me to call her if I felt like I there was some change. At about 4pm I told Cameron that I thought maybe I felt some pressure. I said "I doubt it is anything this soon though, so I don't want the nurse to check me and say there is still no change". After about 5 more minutes of thinking I might be feeling something, I called the nurse in to check me. I kept apologizing for even asking and telling her it was probably nothing, maybe 1 more cm or something. She checked and said "uh, you're at a 10!" I laughed and said "really" and she said "ooohhhhh yeah, for sure. You've probably been at a 10 for a little bit from what I can tell." It was such a crazy feeling and I couldn't believe I was all of a sudden at a 10. So easy and really no pain the entire time. SOOOO awesome. She called my doctor so she could come back from the office. At this point it was 4:25 and I knew my parents flight was landing any minute. I think I called them 5 times before my mom answered. All I said was "uh, you might want to hurry cuz i'm at a 10". My mom just said "ok! we just landed and we are going as fast as we can, we will hurry!" Then we could here them rushing through the airport(luckily my dad didn't want them to check any luggage-if they had, they for sure wouldn't have made it in time). After a little confusion about where we had left the car for them, they were on their way! Just after I talked to them, my doctor came in and said "I hear we're still trying to wait for your parents?" I told her that they were on their way, but that if I was ready to go before they got there, I obviously wouldn't wait. She said she was fine with whatever and that she was going to check on another patient and would be back in a couple minutes. At 5:20 the nurses station called and asked if they could let my mom come back. We just laughed and said "YES!". She came in and said that my dad was parking the car and would be in soon. Right then my doctor came back in and about one minute later my dad walked in too. I could not believe they had actually made it. My mom kept saying she felt like they were on the amazing race all day long trying to get there in time. My doctor told me that her other patient was ready to push now too, but that I was her first priority(not sure why I was over her other patient, but I didn't really care why (: she said that if I still was not ready to push, then she would go back and deliver the other baby, but that if I was ready in the meantime, I would have to have a resident deliver our baby since she obviously wouldn't leave her other patient in the middle of the delivery. She said the same goes the other way too. If I wanted to start pushing, then the other lady could have the resident do her delivery. I was just about to tell her to go do the other lady and come back when Cameron said "just try one push and see if you're even close at all yet". So I agreed, but was nervous that since I didn't feel completely ready yet, I might have to push longer than with Grant. My parents sat down and the nurse got the last few things set up. My doctor said "ok just give me one big push and we'll just see where you're at. I pushed and Cameron, the nurse and my doctor all kinda laughed and had funny looks on their faces, my doctor said, OOOKK, the head is out! you could have done the whole thing in one push, but just let me suction first. I was amazed and kinda laughing too. She then told me to just do one more push, and the body was out! It was awesome. I felt like it took forever for someone to say something, but I finally heard the doctor kinda whisper something like "well dad, what is it?" as she turned the baby towards Cameron. He kinda laughed and said "It's a boy!" I was SO excited. I had no idea throughout the pregnancy if it was a boy or girl, but I always felt like we were meant to have another boy in this house! kind of weird, but I have told Cameron since we were first married that I thought we'd have boys, and I LOVE it! He was born at 5:30 exactly, so ten minutes after my parents got to the hospital, talk about cutting it close!
Sorry if this picture is a little graphic for some people. I just had to put it in. I love how happy my doctor looks. She was pretty excited that we weren't finding out the gender and is just so awesome. I am glad that she will most likely be my doctor for all my kids. She's just really laid back and relaxed about everything and I think it has helped me to be the same way, especially with this birth. We kind of just went with the flow and it was a SUPER easy day that I would do a hundred times over(if I didn't get so sick during the entire pregnancy I would think about doing it again sometime soon- but don't worry, that's NOT going to happen (: )
Happy daddy
He looked SO much like Grant when he was first born. I think that is what we are talking about in this picture.
It was fun for Grandma and Grandpa to get to hold him within minutes of him being born.
He almost immediately found his thumb and wouldn't stop sucking. The nurse said "you can always tell the babies who sucked their thumb in the womb". That was kind of cool to think about.
He was 8lbs even and 18.5 inches long(although we knew that was off and it was confirmed at his 1 week apt when they measured him and he was 20.5- I don't think he grew 2 inches in a week! haha).
perfectly healthy!
About a half hour later, my parents headed back to our house to meet up with my friend Sara who had Grant. They picked him up and brought his pj's to change into. By the time they took him to get some dinner and got back to the hospital, it was almost 9pm and he had already had a fun-filled crazy day, so he was EXHAUSTED. He was very shy and not sure about the baby. He mostly just wanted to snuggle with me.
We changed him into his pj's and he was ready to pass out.
He was way too tired to be interested in the baby, so we decided Cameron would just go home with them and put Grant to bed and my parents would bring him back in the morning. On the way back from the hospital, Cameron picked up some Chipotle for us, even though it was like 11pm, I hadn't eaten anything since a piece of toast at 6:30am, so I was pretty hungry. It was SOO nice to be able to completely enjoy my meal and not feel the slightest bit of nausea- that hadn't happened in 9 months!
Grant was much more interested and wanted to hold him the next day.
After a little while visiting with his brother, Grant got to go to Chik Fil' A with Grandma and Grandpa for lunch. He loves it there, so it was a fun treat.
I loved the unique hat and socks they gave him. They considered him a "Christmas" baby, so they had this cute hat and some candy cane socks that were so cute.
After a nap for Grant and Grandma and Grandpa, they all came back to the hospital, and that's when we told them we had decided on Cody Clinton Lovinger. My parents had no idea that we were going to make his middle name after my dad. They were both pretty shocked and happy, I think.
Here is my dad just after we told him the name
We had heard from several people that it was a good idea to bring a present for Grant from Cody. I had ordered a puzzle set a few weeks earlier and we had it wrapped and ready for Grant to open at the hospital. He was pretty excited and i'm really glad we did it. Here are Cameron and Grant working on it for the first time. Grant LOVES puzzles and is actually amazing at them. I hate to admit it, but he can do them much faster than I can!
Our first family picture as a family of four!
Cameron pulled up a picture of Grant from his computer since we kept saying how similar they looked and as he showed it to me, I realized I had JUST taken a VERY similar of Cody. These are the two pictures side by side... who is who???
Cody Grant
All ready to head home! love his scrunched up face.
Going home!!!
snuggled up in his little cocoon of a carseat
So peaceful
2 comments:
Loved reading Cody's birth story. It sounds fairly similar to what happened with me with Jordan. I got my epidural as early as I could and then I had to labor down. He had some heart rate issues so there were some differences, but I will never NOT consider getting an epidural. The experience was way to pleasant! Now only if I weren't so sick being pregnant too!!
What a darling family! I am so happy for you!! And hello, talk about being pro at delivering babies! I am glad your delivery went so well. You really deserved it after such a tough pregnancy!
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