------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer - I didn't have time to write this right after you were born, but wrote it in various segments when you were napping and finally finished it when you were 6 weeks, 2 days old, so I couldn't remember ALL the details, but I'm glad Dad took notes throughout the process.
My Adorable Joshua Luke,
Today was the day that we finally got to meet you, although it all started on Monday, June 3 in the afternoon... (37 weeks, 4 days pregnant)
 |
| Last belly shot |
We needed to go to the hospital at 1:30pm for them to give me a gel to help with the induction for Tuesday. When I was at the OB in the morning, they told me not to come at 1:30, but instead at 4:00 because they were slammed in Labor & Delivery. We got there and I was 1.5 cm dilated which was surprising because the last time they checked, I wasn't dilated at all. After being on the monitors for a while, Dr. Wertheim decided to just admit me for the night so they could watch my blood pressure which was 142/84 when I first got there. So, we moved from triage to a L&D room and settled in. We were just getting comfortable and waiting to hear if I could finally order some dinner since I hadn't eaten in about eight hours when Dr. Gopal came on duty and sent me home for the night. Dad and I decided we would have one more dinner together just the two of us and went to Joe's Crab Shack for crab legs for dinner before heading home and trying to get some sleep for the night.
Tuesday, June 4 (37 weeks, 5 days pregnant)
We were scheduled to be induced at 6:30 and needed to get to the hospital at 6am. So, Dad and I went to Amphora for a nice, quiet breakfast. I was supposed to eat light and had a decaf coffee, greek yogurt with granola, toast, and OJ. When we got to L&D, they told us to go to the waiting room where there was another couple waiting to be induced as well. We chatted with them for a bit and were really surprised when three more couples showed up and none of us had been admitted yet. They finally did the admittance in the hallway for everyone waiting just to move things along. At one point a nurse came out and Dennis said that we all really needed some answers to why we were all waiting so the head of the unit came out to talk to everyone. She mentioned that there was an unusual amount of natural deliveries that came in overnight, most likely due to the thunderstorm over the weekend and the change in atmospheric pressure could have caused a lot of women to go into labor. So, there were no rooms available for anyone and elective inductions (all 6 of us by that point) were being delayed. I mentioned to her that mine was not elective, but medical due to pre eclampsia. She looked at my ankles (which were swollen beyond belief at that point) and said they were taking me back to triage for evaluation. So, Dad and I finally got to leave the waiting room. I felt horrible that I was the only person out of the group actually in the L&D area, but knew that my situation wasn't quite the same either. I later found out they were all admitted at some point later in the day, but in at least one case, not until around 3 in the afternoon. Yikes! Talk about a day you weren't quite expecting...
8:00am - We got to triage and I was hooked up to monitor contractions and BP. My BP was 154/92 and the nurse said there was no way I was going back to the waiting room. After laying down, it did drop back to 117/68. By this point I was 2cm dilated, 30% effaced, and your head was at the -3 position. (+4 is crowning, 0 is even with pelvic bone, -4 is not dropped at all.)
10:45am - A room finally opened up and I was admitted to L&D Room 1 to finally get this show on the road!
11:00am - Pitocin started (2mg/L) and I was getting a bit nervous and excited at the same time. We were finally going to get to meet you soon! They increased the Pitocin by 2 mg/L every 20 minutes. Dad and I passed the time just talking about everything getting started.
11:45am - Water broke naturally! At first it was really slow, but really picked up through 1:30pm. The nurse had just left the room and Dad was in the bathroom when my water broke. When Dad came out, I told him that I thought it had happened and then we called the nurses' station. My contractions were about the same and not really hurting too much. Dad spent some time writing up current things in your baby book and I spent a lot of time on Facebook updating some of my forum friends. By 1:35pm I was 3cm dilated, 50% effaced, and you were now at the -2 position so things were progressing, but not very quickly.
2:30pm - I requested an epidural because the contractions were a bit painful, but they warned me that with so many people in the L&D unit it could take 40-60 minutes for them to even administer it and another 30 minutes for it to kick in, so I thought I would ask for it before things got too bad.
3:00pm - Epidural administered. I was really nervous about the epidural, but it actually wasn't that bad and my anxiety and thought of how painful it would be was worse than the actual pain. Once that kicked in, I could still feel the contractions, but they weren't painful. I actually took a quick nap and Dad and I watched Men in Black II on the on-demand movies form the hospital.
6:30pm - Dr. Pickford started her rotation at the hospital. I had been hoping that she would be the one to deliver you because she was my favorite OB in the practice. At that point I was 4-5cm dilated, 80% effaced, and you were at the -2 position. We called and updated your grandparents and Grandma and Grandpap Lutz were on their way down from Pittsburgh. They thought that you might beat them, but with the slow progress there was a good chance they could make it to the hospital before you were born.
9:35pm - 6cm dilated, 80% effaced, you were STILL at -2 position. I started saying that you were being a turtle with how slow you were moving with things.
10:00pm - They placed me on an internal contraction monitor to see if there was a need to up Pitocin even more. After a while, they realized that while my contractions were regular, they were not as strong as they needed to be, which is why progress was so slow. So, they upped the Pitocin to the max dosage to see if that helped.
11:40pm - 7cm dilated, 100% effaced, you finally moved to the -1 position! Grandma and Grandpap Lutz were here by this point and starting to get really excited. We were all making guesses as to when you were going to be born. I don't remember everyone's guesses at this point, but it was fun to try and figure out. You also started having hiccups while in the birth canal which was the weirdest feeling ever and something the doctor had never heard before.
Wednesday, June 5 (37 weeks, 6 days pregnant)
While we thought your birthday would be on June 4, you had other plans...
1:30am - 8-9cm dilated, 100% effaced, you were moving down and at 0 position finally. :) Dr. Pickford said it wouldn't be too long now, but could still be another couple of hours.
2:30am - After 15 1/2 hours in labor, I really felt the need to push, so Dr. Pickford checked and said to start pushing. Dr. Pickford had another patient that started pushing around the same time so she spent the time going back and forth between rooms and the nurse helped us out during delivery. For the first half an hour, I was joking around with Dr. Pickford and Dad between contractions. The second half an hour was just working, but not too bad. The third half an hour was really hard and I was starting to fall asleep between contractions because I was so tired. Dad was giving me ice chips and holding a fan up to my face between contractions. Finally, Dr. Pickford asked if I was willing to consider using the vacuum to help with delivery. I asked how much it would help and she said that it would be a matter of hooking it up and you would be born with the next set of contractions. I was beyond excited to have this done after and hour and a half of delivery.
4:05am - You were born! After the vacuum was suctioned to the top of your head, you were born with the next set of contractions. You started crying right away which was such a wonderful sound! They put you on my stomach and I started bawling. You seemed so big and so small at the same time. It was definitely love at first sight and I couldn't stop touching your head, arms, legs, belly. It didn't matter to me in the least that you hadn't been cleaned off yet, you were still the most perfect baby I have ever seen. It's a moment I will never forget. By the way, Grandma Lutz was only off by one minute on guessing when you would be born. She guessed 4:04am! Dad was able to cut the cord which was a first for him and they said that it was a very juicy cord which was great for saving your cord blood.
Dad took pictures of them examining and weighing you. You were 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches long. When you were finally cleaned up, Dad was able to hold you and bring you over to me after the doctor finished things up stitching my 2nd degree tears. Holding you again made me feel absolutely complete. After a little while, Grandma and Grandpap came back in the room and we were finally able to tell them that your name is Joshua Luke Buckley. Grandpap couldn't believe that the name he came up with a few months ago and has been calling you ever since was the name that we had picked out before then. He finally realized how difficult it had been keeping your name a secret when every time I talked to him on the phone he asked how Josh was doing! :) Both he and Grandma cried and loved holding you for the first time.
The next little while was actually really hard for me. After you were born, I was bleeding a lot and had Postpartum hemorrhaging from the long labor and delivery and the pre eclampsia. While I was holding you, the room started to spin and I had to have someone else hold you. They took my bed back down so I was no longer sitting up and I wasn't able to hold you until they got my blood levels back to normal. They gave me two units of blood, but I was having a really difficult time emotionally seeing everyone else hold you when I couldn't. Eventually, they let you lay next to me on the bed with pillows on the side so I could at least look at you and touch you. After a few hours, we moved to the post partum unit and I was able to hold you again as they pushed my bed down the hall to the next room. I was so proud every time we passed someone and you were in my arms for everyone to see.
 |
| Able to hold you again! |
8:15am - You nursed for the first time for 8-9 minutes.
1:30pm - Dad changed your first poopy diaper.
The rest of the day was spent loving on you and trying to get some sleep after being up for so long.
Thursday, June 6 (1 day old)
In the morning, I took you to a breastfeeding class because you weren't really latching or getting anything to eat. We started using a shield to see if that helped and you seemed to take to it pretty quickly after that. Unfortunately, since you hadn't been eating well, you were now jaundiced. Rather than putting you under the bilirubin lights right away, we decided to supplement with formula in a syringe while you were feeding. When they checked my blood levels, they realized that my levels were too low and I needed another transfusion. Another 2 units of blood were hung along with the accompanying fluids. Because of all the fluids, I was getting a really bad rash on my legs and Dad said that my face looked like Harry Potter's after the stinging curse in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so obviously I was really swollen. It was another really hard day given all of the complications. We had our favorite nurse Laurie that day and she surprised me with a hug when her shift was over.
4:45pm - Jacob held you for the first time. His mom brought him to the hospital and they were your first visitors other than Grandma and Grandpap. He was so excited to meet you and couldn't stop staring at you. Your other visitors were Uncle Greg and Aunt Ashley and my friend Tyler (Aunt Tyler) and her boyfriend Trevor. We also facetimed with Uncle Tim since he was still in Pittsburgh - he happened to be in his convertible with the top down and had his friend Cliff drive so that he could pay attention to seeing you.
Around 11:00 that night, they told us that your jaundice had not improved enough and you needed to be put under the bilirubin lights. I did not react to this very well. It seemed like every time I was starting to run out of energy and needed some real sleep we got bad news. They tried to tell us that you had to go to the nursery and I lost it. I was not letting you out of my sight after everything. So, we were transferred to a bigger room so they could have the bilirubin lights in there with us. It was so hard putting you in there and not being able to hold you again, especially when I knew that skin-to-skin contact was needed for you to start feeding better. We did convince them to let you out for one hour every three hours instead of half an hour for feedings so that I could hold you for a little while before you had to go back under the lights for another two hours. I was trying so hard to stay positive and I don't know what I would have done without your Dad. He was my rock. He stayed positive, reminded me of everything that was wonderful (which obviously was a lot - we had you now!!!), and that it was lack of sleep that was making everything seem so difficult. One of the best moments (behind seeing you for the first time) of the entire hospital stay was sitting on the hospital bed with Dad holding you and just marveling that you were really here. It had been so crazy until that point and it was wonderful to just spend time with the two of you and we could really soak you in.
4:00pm - After 16 hours off and on under the lights, they took your blood work again. Your levels needed to be under 12 to be discharged. After about an hour, we got the good news - 11.6! We were actually getting to go home! Your discharge weight was 7 pounds, 4 ounces. It was so wonderful dressing you in your own clothes, leaving the room and hospital, and putting you in your car seat to go home. It finally hit me at this point that this was all really happening and you're all mine!
 |
| Leaving the hospital! |
I love you more than I thought possible!!!
Love,
Mom
