As promised....

Hi all!

I hear Eric made a promise that I would post today, so thought I better not make him look like a liar :)  I have to start with some honesty.... I am sure as heck liking the "mommy" thing much better than the bed rest thing already!!  It comes with its new sets of scary things, but the freedom is not even in the same ball park!!!

Where do I even begin??  There has been so much that has happened since my last post!

I remember a conversation that I had with Junior a few weeks back while lying in bed on a Tuesday.  I told him that even though we've had our differences and Mommy isn't so happy with all of his choices thus far, there was still one thing he could do to get back on my good side...  He could also guarantee himself a reprieve from the consistently-since-week-21-promise of going straight to a time out chair upon delivering.  All he needed to do to be granted this safe haven was a fast, quick, and easy delivery for mom.  Wouldn't you know after 34 weeks of NOT listening to a single request I've had, he sure did rise and shine when it was necessary!!!!!  THANK YOU BRECKEN!!!!!!!

Below is the sequence of events from Monday night/ Tuesday morning (at least the highlights).  And thanks to Eric's cell phone (or maybe I should say NO THANKS due to some of his pictures!) you even get a photo for some to make you feel like you were there with us!

12:10am:  My water breaks.  Of course there are funny stories to go along with this, but we'll just leave it at that :)  OBVIOUSLY no picture of this one.

1:00am:  Arrive at hospital, check-in, settle in (FYI:  35W North between our house and the hospital is apparently closed during the wee morning hours due to construction.  No, we did not have prior knowledge of it.  No, I was not laughing upon the knowledge.)  Oh, and after weeks of hospital visits and feeling confident that, if nothing else, we at least knew the procedure of where to go and what to do when it was actually time.  Yet somehow that didn't even work for us- Our place we always went and "knew the ropes for" was closed!!!

1:45am:  Test comes back positive that I have in fact "ruptured" (a.k.a "Yes, Eric, for the 700'th time, I am SURE I did not pee the bed.  My water really broke!"  I am officially admitted, put in a gown, am 2cm dilated and told that "your baby will probably come in the next few days.... Don't be surprised if you don't dilate further for quite sometime.  Just lay down and get some rest."

2:00am:  I push the nurse call button and ask about the whole epidural thing.... As in, CAN I PLEASE HAVE IT NOW?  Noooooooooooooo, I can NOT wait.  (Eric DID take a few pictures during this portion of our evening.  I was not happy at the time.  I will not post the pictures.)

3:45am:  I announce to the man coming in with the Epidural that I love him and he's my best friend.  He starts to go over the negative side effects of an Epidural and I inform him, in no significant amount of words, that the side effects are all welcomed and encouraged.  Bring it on.  He unfortunately has to take a few tries before successfully doing his thing.  (Note to Jill and Lissa:  The process in which you acquire the Epidural, which has never been mentioned or explained to me before so I had no idea- Probably a good thing- is not pleasant.)

4:00am:  Life is good again.  I still feel contractions, but they are much more enjoyable now that the epidural and I are hanging out.  Thumbs up for Dr. Epidural (or whatever his name was)!!!!!!  Oh and the nurse came in to check me and is VERY surprised that I'm already at 5cm.  She again says that it could still take awhile and to try to get some sleep.  She would be back in around 5:30am to check again.... Eric goes to sleep on his little chair and I settled in with my Twlight book (HOW CAN POSSIBLY I SLEEP???).

5:00am:  I push my nurse call button again and ask her to come in.  I asked again when she was going to check me and she said in 30 minutes and she doubts anything has changed much.  I'm not in a lot of pain, so I agree with her that this could be true.  That being said, I feel like something is going on.  I tell her that I can't see past my stomach so have no idea what's happening South of the belly button but feel like he might be pushing his way out as we speak.  She (not really irritated, but definitely thinking I'm over-reacting) says she can check me now.  She checks..... I'm fully dilated at a 10.  Wowsers.  Eric, through his half-sleep of barely an hour rises from the chair without so much as an eye open in hearing the words "fully dilated."  He looked like a zombie and it was actually kind of funny.  From here, it's all sort of a blur as things seemed to happen pretty quickly.  The nurse runs out to call the on-call doctor and the NICU team due to Junior's gestational age.

(Don't worry, this is where the picture walk ends!!!)

5:20am:  My bed is pushed into the Operating Room where I will deliver.  We are waiting for the doctor and NICU team to arrive to get this party started.  I don't really know what I was thinking.... I wasn't in pain, wasn't really scared, don't remember being completely nervous.  It was just Eric, Nurse Naureen, and I in a big Operating Room cracking jokes and passing the time while I (LITERALLY) held Junior in.

5:30am:  Nurse Naureen says that we're going to do a practice push while we're waiting for everyone.  I don't know if it's more to give me something to do or if this is normal.  Either way, she goes over the steps of when I should inhale/ exhale/ breath/ count/ etc.  Being the perfectionist that I am, I make her repeat the directions a few times to make sure I understand.  I'm not sure how it seemed so complicated to me or why I wasn't grasping it, but I was all screwed up.  I would repeat it back to her and it would be the opposite of what she had just said.  I think she thought I was being funny at one point, but I swear I was being serious!  I really wasn't getting it!  I looked at Eric and asked if he understood (he said yes, but I don't know that he did).  I made HIM explain it to me again.... Then Eric and the nurse both demonstrated the breathing/ counting/ inhale/ exhale thing to me.... When I thought I finally "got it," I said I was ready for a try.  We all took our positions, she walked me through the steps, I did my practice run... And I hear her say to Eric "Um, that is your son's head!"  And with that "practice run" she decided it best to hold off on all future sessions until the troops were in place :)  The doctor arrives, we wait a few more minutes for the NICU (Neonatal Intentsive Care Unit) team...... The doctor barely sits down and gets gloves on, and the NICU team is rolling in Junior's little bed and trying to set things up when I get the go ahead to start the show.  Junior is essentially coming out on his own at this point.  Two quick counts to 10 and two quick pushes and BAM.

6:03am:  Baby cries!!

I just remember looking up and seeing the most glorious little conehead of white goo I've ever seen.  I'm not talking a slight curvature of the head either... I'm talking about 14 weeks of head-jammed-in-birth-canal conehead as in the "Coneheads" movie starring Dan Ankroyd from the 1980's!  Classic!!  Junior got whisked away to the next room (I could see them working on him through a window), Eric went and cut the umbilical cord, and then they brought the little peanut back in to lay with me for a few minutes.  Eric went with Junior to the Special Care Nursery to get him settled in and be with him while the doctor stitched me up.

It all happened so fast, that I overheard the head of the NICU team come over to my nurse and say "Okay, what is the last name of the kid that was just born?"  Haha.  Apparently, they are usually a little more organized and have their charts/ files in order.  Oh well.  The introductions were made a little after the fact, but it all worked out.

Alright kids, that's enough story for right now.  I've brought you up to speed on the day in question and Eric has been doing a good job of updating you on Brecken's every eye twitch :)   You'll either be happy or sad to hear that Eric is back at work tomorrow, so won't be able to document and blog about every little leg kick as he has stated that his personal goal is to take a picture each time we go to see him.  I've tried to explain that he doesn't change and grow hourly!

Jill Y.- Apparently, the world of bed rest just wasn't big enough for both of us!  Your first official day of bed rest was my last official day of bed rest.  Funny how that works, huh?  I thought I would learn about the trials and kinks of labor and delivery through YOU like I was supposed to but no such luck.  I have some of the G-rated (G for GROSS!!!!!) details to email you separately as they are not appropriate for this site..... Come to think of it, they may not be appropriate for any site.  Regardless, I'll be emailing you with some highlights of what you can look forward to in the upcoming weeks!!  Sorry that I beat you to Mommyhood, as I would have liked you to win.  I mean, you DID have a 4-week start on me :(

Take care all.  Until another day....

April, Eric, and Brecken