On Tuesday September 25, 2012 - I got home from working a 10 hour day. I felt great all day, but about 20 minutes after getting home from work - my water broke! I called Steve and let him know that we should probably go to the hospital and to come home from work right away. I was in tears and in a panic because this wasn't part of the "plan". We expected to get 2 more weeks in before Nolan's arrival. I wasn't at all prepared and was freaking out because I hadn't showered that morning or gotten a hospital bag packed and I had more things that I needed to do! (if you know me, you know that I am a planner and don't like "winging it").
At 5:30 pm we arrived at Alta View Hospital and were admitted. I was only dilated to 1.5 cm and wasn't really progressing over the next few hours and so it was decided that I needed Pitocin to get things progressing. Somewhere in the middle of the night my contractions were fairly painful (to say the least) and I was only dilated to about 3 cm and so I knew I had a long ways to go yet - so I asked for an epidural. Best decision ever! I was then so comfortable and could get some much needed rest for the remainder of the night. After the epidural was started, I dilated from 3 cm to 7 cm in about 4 hours. Then by 8:30 am on Wednesday September 26, I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for about 1 hour before Nolan arrived at 9:45 am. The doctor threatened me with having to use the vacuum extractor if I didn't get Nolan out faster (and you know me - I wasn't going to let that happen and ruin my plan!).
This is me about an hour and a half before Nolan arrived.
Nolan arrived crying and fighting mad. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice (scary!) and had a major cone head shape. When the nurses were assessing him, he was having some brief pauses with his heart beat and his lower extremeties were very pale with poor circulation. They put him on oxygen and took him immediately to the nursery. After a few minutes on oxygen his heart rate stabilized and he had great color, so they brought him back to our room.
Everything after that has been smooth sailing and he is perfect in every way. :)
Nolan during the nurse's assessment just after delivery.
Nolan after his first bath
Steve thinks he looks like he got beat up in a fight. Poor guy!
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