3 months later I am
finally writing Theodore's birth story. Don't ask me why it has taken so long, but I decided I need to do it now because I am already starting to forget details. So, here it is (mostly for me) but I thought that some of you may enjoy reading about it.
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| I sent my Mom this picture 2 days before Theo was born saying, "I feel like I'm going to pop!" |
Let me start off by saying that I
loved being pregnant and had a really easy pregnancy (except for the occasional aches and pains). However, somewhere around 36-37 weeks I began getting headaches. Thanks to Facebook, I can look back and see that on October 25th I posted a status, asking if it was normal to have a headache for a week straight and got
tons of replies...
"No!"
"Call your Doctor...you could have high blood pressure!"
"You could have preeclampsia!"
Pregnant or not pregnant I frequently get headaches so I thought that people were overreacting
and I had never had high blood pressure once (and had just been at the Doctor the week prior), but I reassured everyone that I would ask my Doctor about it at my 37 week check-up, 2 days from then...on October 27th.
Cut to Thursday, October 27th. Nate took the day off work (he tried to go to as many appointments with me throughout my pregnancy that he could) and we headed to my appointment that morning. We got called back where the nurse checks weight, blood pressure, etc. She weighs me and then asks how I'm feeling...
Me: I feel great, except I've been getting some headaches lately.
Nurse: Okay, let's take a look at your blood pressure.
(que sitting in silence while nurse takes my blood pressure)
Nurse: Hmmmm...it's a little high.
Me: Really? How high?
Nurse: 150/90
Me: What does that mean? Is that bad? (I still to this day have no idea of what is good or bad bp)
Nurse: Your Doctor will discuss it with you.
Um, okay. I'll go ahead and try not to be freaked out while we wait 20 minutes (or at least it felt that long) for the Doctor to come in. Enter doctor...
Doctor: I see that your BP is high and you've been getting headaches.
Me: Yep
Doctor: Are you working?
Me: Yep
Doctor: I want you to go home today and
relax. Put your feet up...do nothing. Also, I want you to take tomorrow off of work. I am going to have you go get some blood work done after this and I want you to come back in the morning so we can check your blood pressure again. It could be a sign that you may have preeclampsia and if that's the case we need to get the baby out as soon as possible.
Me: Um, okay (trying to comprehend everything and frantically looking at Nate)
Doctor: If your BP is still high in the morning I am going to induce you...tomorrow.
Me and Nate: What?! Really?!
Doctor: Yep, you could have a baby this weekend! Now go home and relax.
Riiiiiiiight. Relax?!?! Lady, you pretty much just told us we are going to have a baby...
tomorrow!!! Nate and I were both overwhelmed with excitement, giddiness and fear! We called our families and everyone was shocked. Our little man was going to be 2 weeks early!
Nate and I proceeded to ignore my Doctor's instructions. We went home and frantically cleaned our house (especially the guest bedroom), went and bought some necessities I had been putting off, packed our hospital bags, frequently looked at one another and said, "Oh my gosh, we are going to have a baby tomorrow!" We went out to dinner and I stuffed my face (because I couldn't eat after midnight since I was probably going to get induced) and then we came home and slept like rocks...for the last time in weeks! :)
The morning of October 28th, Nate I head back to the doctor (around 8am) and we wait for about an hour. An hour!!! We were dying! :) Finally we were called back, they checked my blood pressure again (it had gone down a little) and then we proceeded to wait until we could meet with my Doctor...
Doctor: I got your blood work back. Everything looks fine there. Your BP went down a little, but is still high and I'm not comfortable sending you home in fear that you could get really sick this weekend. With that said, are you ready to have a baby???
(I really wish ya'll could've heard how casually she said it...like it was no biggie...you're going to have a baby)
Nate and Me: Yes!
She proceeds to tell us that they'll call over to the hospital to get a room ready for induction and we should head straight over (her office is attached to the hospital, so we literally just moved our car to a different parking garage) and she would be there shortly! We called our families and told them the big news!
By 10am I was in the delivery room and hooked up on Pitocin! At noon my doctor came in and broke my water (at that time I was 3cm and 70% effaced). Holy cow. Having my water broken was the
weirdest sensation ever. I seriously started laughing and the harder I laughed the more water gushed out. It was hilarious and bizarre.
After 3 hours of intense contractions I finally got an epidural (I was 5cm) and it was awesome. Around that time my Mom arrived, my Dad arrived and we watched the World Series. My progress slowed down somewhere in there and they had to increase the Pitocin. It honestly felt like an eternity until I was 10cm and 100% effaced.
Finally at 9:00pm it was time to push! I pushed for almost 3 hours...
3 hours! My epidural was starting to wear off and I could feel
all the contractions and some other pain (that will go unmentioned). Luckily, the epidural hadn't
completely worn off so I wasn't in extreme pain, but I could definitely tell when to push. It made it a lot easier to know when and how to push and for that I am thankful. Nate was such a wonderful encouragement and I could have not done it without him. There are 2 moments I remember while pushing.
1. The Doctor saying, "He has lots of dark hair!" That was a great encouragement and just what I needed to hear at the time.
2. For all of you who know me well...you'll get a kick out of this. A couple hours into pushing, I was sweaty and tired and just wanted it to be over. I looked over at Nate and said, "I want a cold Coke after this." This nurse promised to bring me a cold Coke after...and she kept her word. :)
Finally, after hours of pushing, our son, Theodore David Miller was born at 11:51pm, weighing in at 6 lbs & 9 ounces. They immediately put him on my chest and I just stared at him. I didn't cry (which I totally thought I would, since both Nate and I sobbed like babies at our wedding), I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was the craziest thing I've ever experienced and there is no way I could even begin to put it into words. It was like an out of body experience. The little person who had been growing and moving around inside me for 9 months was finally here. Welcome to the world, Theodore. You are loved more than you know.
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| seeing Theo for the 1st time |
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| Nate and Theo |
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| we did it |
