He's Here!

On March 27th, 2015, I headed out to the Dr. for my almost 39 week appointment at 1:30pm. I was 38W5D. I got to the Dr's office and did the normal pee in the cup and had an ultrasound to check Grady's heart rate and fluid levels. Everything looked great. Headed back to the waiting room and waited for the medical assistant to come get me to put me in a room. Well for the first time in my entire pregnancy my blood pressure was high and I mean really high. So, I had my NST in the office and that all checked out great. Unfortunately, the check my blood pressure again and it was still high and there were trace amounts of protein in my urine. They did an internal exam and I was at a 3/4 cm dilated. She swept my membranes and had me have a growth scan. The ultrasound said he was going to be 8lbs 6oz. The Dr. sent me over to Labor and Delivery to be monitored for an extended period of time and to be screened for pre eclampsia. That was at 3:00pm.

On my way over to labor and delivery I called Ben and told him he should probably pack the car with the car seat, diaper bag and suitcase and I would let him know if I was going to be admitted. Ben decided to come over and wait with me in Triage. The Dr. on call came in and said that because my blood pressure wasn't going down they were contacting the head of neonatal to get the approval to induce before 39 weeks. While we were waiting on her to come back the hospital admittance came in and admitted me.

At 7pm they said that I was going to be induced and we were going to walk across the hall. As soon as they admitted me my blood pressure went back down to normal. I had to lay on my side, because that was the only way they could keep Grady on the monitor and it helped keep my blood pressure down.

My mother in law arrived around 9pm and the nurse let her sneak me a shake since I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

The bed was so uncomfortable, so every hour when the nurse came to check, I would get up and go to the bathroom. At the 3am time, my whole body was shaking and the pain was unbearable. I asked the nurse how frequent my contractions were coming and she said 2 minutes apart and I asked for an epidural. It took about 20 minutes for the anesthesiologist to arrive. The nurse had me curl over a pillow and held me still. Ben and his mom had to go out to the waiting area while the procedure was done. I felt so good almost instantaneously and I was able to sleep until about 7am.

The nurse that came in was named Heather to take over for the night nurse, Bibi. She was wonderful and kept me focused. The OB on call came in and broke my bulging waters. Heather got me in position to start pushing at around 9am and told me exactly how to push correctly. The Dr. finally arrived around 9:45am and with 2 more pushes Grady arrived at 10:07am on March 28, 2015.

They put him on top of me and I said, "He's here! Welcome Grady!" Ben cut the cord and then went over to the baby area of the room to have him weighed and measured. He was 9 lbs 15oz.

A little while later we were brought down to the mother/child floor and spent 2 days there.

We are so in love with our little man. In his short 2 weeks of life, he has brought so much joy to our lives.

 Grady at 3 days old.