Kyle and I headed to the hospital at around 1 am. We made a quick stop to Smith's where we grabbed some doughnuts... I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat for a while, so I cheated a little and downed two frosted doughnuts faster than any human being before me.
We checked in to Labor and Delivery and they escorted us to a room. I changed, got attached to monitors, got my IV, got some medicine, turned on some Gilmore Girls, and planned on waiting no more than 42 hours before we would have another little boy join our family.
At 6:00, Kyle was fast asleep and I got up to go to the bathroom. I climbed back in bed, hooked myself back up to my monitors, like my nurse had taught me to do, and repositioned myself . I was tired of laying on my left side, so I decided to try the right and I started to doze off again.
Annie, my nurse, came running into the room. She asked me if I had changed positions from before. I had been switching back and forth all night, but I had just switched from my left to my right. She told me to roll back over onto my left because Bridger's heart rate had dropped significantly. I rolled over as quick as I could and she sat with me watching the monitor. Everything was silent except for the slow pulse of the heartbeat.
"Get up. Get up now, on your hands and knees. Don't worry about modesty, just get up!" And a very large 39 week pregnant me, struggled to obey and get into the position she demanded (not an easy transition to make when you have a watermelon growing inside your belly). I held myself in that position for about 10 minutes listening to Bridger's heart rate slowly increase. After a while she told me to very slowly lay back down on my left and when she knew the heart rate was okay, she went to call my doctor.
Kyle slept through the whole incident, so I called over to him and chucked his wallet at him to get him to wake up. I brought Kyle up to speed and we watched an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond while we waited and listened to Bridger's heart beat... racing along.
My doctor came in and talked to us about our options, and he explained that we needed to get things moving. Bridger needed to be delivered in the next few hours, one way or another.
The doctor broke my water at around 7:30 and I was only dilated to a 3. Now when I had Porter, I remained at 4cm for 5 hours... so Bridger and I had a little heart to heart.
And I told him to get his little tush moving.
By 8:00, I was begging for my epidural and Phyllis, my new nurse, obliged.
At 8:04, I was introduced to John, he was there to place my epidural.
By 8:10 I had my epidural... a new best friend... and this overwhelming desire to name the baby John...
By 8:40 I was only dilated to a 4 and I had developed a really bad sharp pain during contractions. Phyllis called for my best friend again to give me another dose of medication.
9:00, John showed up ready to re-medicate me and all the sudden, Bridger flipped... the pain was gone and now I was feeling pressure. A lot of pressure. I was now dilated to a 9 and Phyllis called for my doctor.
At 9:16 he told me to push...
10 minutes, 3 contractions, and 9 pushes later I heard my doctor say, "Happy Birthday, buddy!" And he plopped this sweet little goop-covered baby into my arms.
And I've been captivated ever since.
The past year has been exciting having this little guy as part of the family.
I can't believe it's been a year already.
Happy Birthday Briggs!
4 comments:
What a sweet boy he is, too! That smile, his big blue eyes and those great little cheeks, I could just smooch on him all day long! Happy Birthday, buddy!
I'm actually surprised it hasn't been two years, Mr. Big Brigg Bottom. (Ian's grateful that he was able to reclaim that Littlest Member of The Family title after just a brief stint after your name. I doubt if he'll ever catch you at this point.)
Happy Birthday, little man!
Happy Birthday Bridger! What a cutie.
A year? Are you kidding me! Wow that was fast. :)
Glad he made it here OK and that you're so good at getting on all 4's.
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