Saturday, May 19, 2012

Easton's birth story

I want to record Easton's birth story before I totally forget it.  It didn't happen at all like I had imagined it would and it still amazes me that everything turned out as well as it did.  Just a warning...this might be TMI for some...okay, I warned you. :)

Wednesday May 2nd I had my last Dr's appt.  I was still measuring a week ahead (like I had been since about week 30) but I was still only dilated to a 1 and 60% effaced (3 weeks of this...)  My doctor set up an induction for May 8th at 6 AM.  I left the appt. happy to know that I only had 6 more days being pregnant!

Friday May 4th I woke up in the early morning hours to use the bathroom and thought I lost my mucous plug.  I wasn't exactly sure but figured that's all it could be.  Declan and I went for our daily walk with my friend Krista and her girls and went about my day like usual.

Saturday May 5th I woke up again in the early morning hours and had fluid leaking again - I figured it was still my plug.  I had read somewhere that it can come out for a few days so I wasn't thinking that it could be anything else.  We went to the farmer's market that morning and then came home and put Declan down for a nap.  Later, we were getting ready to go the park and I had more fluid come out - this time it was more than the other times and it occurred to me that my water may had broken?  I was apprehensive though since I had always heard of this big gush of water that comes and just doesn't stop.  I had a few pains that evening but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sunday May 6th AGAIN the leaking continued in the early morning hours.  When I woke up for real that morning I started looking up things online about water breaking but only a little coming out.  Apparently, it's really common so I called the Dr. on call and he said to watch for it this morning and if it continued to go to the hospital.  So of course I wait for it to happen all morning and it doesn't...until noon!  I had been having irregular contractions that morning also.  I called Krista and asked her if she could take Declan to church so we could go to the hospital to get it checked out.  So around 1:15 Declan headed to church with our friends and Zach and I drove to the hospital.  Both of us thought we would be coming home in a few hours.....

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to monitor any contractions I was having - which I happened to be having every 4 minutes.  The nurse checked me and I was still only dilated to a 1.  When she said this Zach and I just looked at each other and said, well at least we know we'll be having a baby by Tuesday at least!  The nurse then did a cotton swab test to check to see if my water had broken.  She sent it to the lab and told us we should find out soon.

About a half hour later a different nurse came in and started pulling out all these pillows for me and told me to lay on my side and that they were going to make me comfortable since I was going to be admitted to the hospital.  I said, "what do you mean?"  She then told us that the test results came back and that my water had broken!  Zach and I were shocked and excited to know that it was really happening!

I got out of bed and Zach and I walked around the hospital for awhile to see if we could get this moving a little faster.  Dr. Kaminsky came in to check my progress around 6 and I was at a 2 and was starting to have some stronger contractions.  He said he didn't want to start me on pitocin quite yet and that he though nature should run it's course.  I am so glad he didn't try and rush it.  He did advise me to get the epidural soon though so I could sleep - best idea ever.

Around 8 or 9, I can't really remember, I got the epidural and tried watching a movie with Zach but sleep won.  I was sleeping pretty peacefully when around 10 PM my nurse came rushing into my room, moving around the monitors and then throwing an oxygen mask at me and telling me to take deep breaths.  We had no idea what was going on.  Another nurse came in and they were just staring at the monitors trying to figure out why the baby's heartbeat and my blood pressure was dropping.  Dr. Kaminsky came in and they decided to do some internal monitoring.  After 15 long minutes things calmed down and they then told us that the baby's heartbeat got into the low 40's suddenly.  They watched for awhile to make sure his heartbeat was regulated and then they checked me again.  Now I was at a 3.  Dr. Kaminsky said he still didn't want to hook me up to pitocin and told me to get some more rest.

It's not easy sleeping in a hospital especially when the blood pressure machine is continually beeping because it thinks I'm dead...haha.  I have low blood pressure normally but it just gets lower when I'm in labor.  Same thing happened with Declan.  The next few hours were kind of a blur...around 4 AM the nurse checked me and said I was at a 7.  She told me if I started to feel any pressure to be sure to let her know.  I didn't feel anything and went back to sleep.  I could tell the nurse and Zach were getting anxious to get this baby out.  I, however, was perfectly happy to sleep more!

Around 5:45 AM the nurse checked me again and told me that we were going to start doing some practice pushes.  I pushed twice and she said, "whoa, okay stop!"  His head's right there, I need to call the Dr.  I couldn't believe it.  I pushed for 2 hours with Declan!  When she came back in the room she said, "he's in the shower, he'll be here in a half hour."  It still makes me laugh to think I just sat there waiting for Dr. Kaminsky.  He got to my room at 6:20 and scrubbed in.  I pushed 4 more times and he was OUT at 6:31 AM.

They placed him on me and I really thought to myself, "there's no way he's as big as Declan was."  The nurse cleaned him off and put him on the scale.  I was the only one in the room who couldn't see the scale but I heard one nurse say to the other nurse, "did you zero that out before you put him on that?!"  She said, "yes, I did, he really is that big."  That's when they told me that he weighed in at 9 lbs. 14 oz!  A whole pound and 2 ounces bigger than Declan.  I hope this isn't a trend because I don't want my next baby to be 11 pounds!  He measured in at 21.5 inches (half an inch longer than Declan.)

Overall, this labor experience was much better.  Which is nice since Declan's really wasn't that bad.  This time around though, I had control of my epidural so I wasn't so numb that I couldn't feel the contractions while pushing.  I felt plenty this time around but it was a good thing.  I think it also helped that I wasn't on pitocin - thank you Dr. Kaminsky!  He was really amazing.  I was definitely tired afterwards but I wasn't exhausted like I was after having Declan.  Anyway, here he is....

Easton Bennett Oswald
9 lbs. 14 oz
21.5 inches






Easton gave Declan some dinosaurs, which he loves!!








We had to stay at the hospital an extra day because Easton was slightly jaundice so they wanted to monitor him.  Luckily, he never needed the light treatment.  We loved our stay at St. Mary's though - the nurses and everyone were amazing.  They even took Easton to the nurses station at night so I could get some sleep and would bring him back to me when he wanted to eat.  It was great!

This is us right before going home.


8 comments:

  1. I think you just win on cute baby boy names. I love it! Easton Bennet is such a good name. Congratulations. You also win on having huge babies. :)

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  2. So awesome Nik! I love his name as well! When my mom found out she was like, it's almost like EATON...hah. I'm pretty sure you had no intention of naming him almost after my maiden name. And good golly! 9 lbs? You are a wonderwoman! Glad it was a great delivery. Love you so much! I can't wait to meet your little man the next time you drive through Boise...you will be stopping--won't you. :D

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  3. He's a cute one! I think he looks like Declan :). Did I tell you if Kambri was a boy we already had the name picked to be Easton Reed Stites... Great minds think alike :)

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    1. I couldn't find a way to comment myself so I am "replying". Anyway...i LOVE birth stories so thank you for recording it on your blog so I could read it. What a great story. You are amazing...9lb 14oz baby & you didn't even bat an eye. 4 pushes & he was out. And you are already talking about the next baby. You are wonder woman!! Whoo-hoo! Congrats on your beautiful Easton. He is CUTE! ps: love that his middle name is Bennett!

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  4. Hurray!! Glad everything went so well! We're so happy for your family!!

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  5. OHH NIKKY congrats! You have such a cute family. I am so glad for the details! I just felt like I was right beside you. I hope you feel good and I hope to meet little Easton and Declan someday! CUTE family!

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  6. Loved this. Congrats on another cute little one. Hope all is well.

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