<< Rewind. Baby talk >>

{I started this post on 10.17.11, before my baby was born.  I figured I'd finish it up by adding to it Ashton's birth story}

I'm really bad at blogging.

So, I'm gonna give everyone a pregnancy recap:

• July 2010 - Patrick and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year.  When I didn't get pregnant, we decided we would slow things down and I would go back to school to get my Master's.  We'd start "really trying" again when I was done (which would be Dec. 2011). 
• March 2011 - I'm half way through my Master's program and *surprise, surprise* we find out I'm pregnant. (5 weeks) That's usually how it rolls, right? Ha.  So now, we come to the realization that I'm due November 4th, and school won't be over till December 8th.  What do we do? Press on!
• 7-14 weeks - Uber sick. Morning, Day, Night sickness. You name it, I had it. Blah. 
• 18 weeks - It's a BOY!!  I also had Complete Placenta Previa and was put on "pelvic rest".  No biggie...
• 26 weeks - Placenta moved. I'm off "pelvic rest". At this point, I had a little belly, and had only gained 5 pounds.  My doctor said that was ok, but that I need to try and start gaining a bit more.
• 32 weeks - Still haven't gained enough and at my 32 week appointment my belly measured small so I had another ultrasound and everything looks great on the baby but my amniotic fluid was borderline low...
• 37 weeks - start feeling some contractions.
• 38 weeks - dilated at a 1. 65% effaced. Tested positive for Strep B.
• 39 weeks - dilated at a 2. 70% effaced. Still having light contractions. Also my cousin Martha had her beautiful baby girl Sydney on Halloween.
• 40 weeks - Started my maternity leave. dilated at a 3+ and 75% effaced. (Mind you... I'm still feeling contractions and they were getting stronger.  Unfortunately, according to the University Hospital policy, unless there are signs of distress to the mother or baby, they won't admit you until you dilated to a 4 and having regular, strong contractions. Lame.)
• Week 40 - 41 - My mom took me to my 41 week appointment. I was still at a 3+ and 75% effaced. We set a date to be induced on November 11, 2011 (which is my 41 week date.) She stayed home with me all week just in case I went into labor during the day. We went on a lot walks, went shopping almost every day, relaxed, chatted and had an amazing mother/daughter week before the whirlwind of a newborn.  
• November 11, 2011 - best day ever but also the scariest...

The night before the 11th, I was still feeling contractions but nothing I couldn't handle or hadn't handled for the last few weeks of contractions. We went to bed knowing that at 6:30 am we were supposed to call the hospital to confirm our induction time at 7:30 am.  Well... what do you know.  I wake up at about 12:30 am in more pain from the contractions than I had felt before.  I had been timing them all week and they had consistently stayed at about 8 minutes apart, but tonight they were 6 minutes apart and stronger than before.  I timed them for a good hour and half before waking Patrick.  (I had already felt like everyone was thinking I was crying wolf so I didn't want to wake him up if it wasn't the real deal.) 

At 2:00 am I woke him up and told him that I was pretty sure it was time and we had to go to the hospital.  Of course, he was sceptical, and wanted to be sure before we just headed down there.  He was worried we'd get there and they'd say "Sorry, you aren't ready come back at 7:30." (The hospital is about a 40 minute drive so that would basically suck!) So, we kept timing them for another hour to see if they'd ease up.  Nope.  Once we realized these contractions meant business, we got up.  Patrick showered while I got the dogs ready.  They were going to be there all day with a very early breakfast and probably very late dinner.  We finally left the house around 4:00 am and called our parents. My parents left right away and Patrick's mom came shortly behind them.  I was admitted at 5:00 am.  I was at a 5+ and 90% effaced with my contractions getting stronger and stronger. They hooked me up to my IV since I need the antibiotics for the Strep B stuff and by 6:00 I had my epidural in place. Awesome. I was ready.

My dad went to work and the mom's stayed with Patrick and I.  From that point on it really felt like smooth sailing.  Patrick and I did homework, both mom's had books to read, the nurses were in and out but nothing to crazy.  They broke my water at 9:00 or 10:00 am and there was very little fluid which was expected but still surprising at how little there was. I was still at a 5+ maybe 6 but fully effaced.  My contractions had actually started to slow down (according to the charts, because I really couldn't feel it) so they gave me a small dose of Pitocin to see if that would start them up again at around noon.  At 1:00 pm, they came to check me again because the nurse didn't think the pitocin was really working and they wanted to give me another dose.  I was at a 9+ and fully effaced. I was just about ready to go. 

From that point on, everything went by so fast.  My doctor came in and said I was just about ready to push.  She had to run downstairs to her clinic to tell them she was going to be in delivery and to make sure her appointments were taken care of.  They started having me push at 3:00 pm and by 3:45 pm the baby was basically but my doctor hadn't returned.  The nurse she was just outside cleaning up and to not push during the next contraction, because the baby was seriously one push away from being born.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, my doctor walked in, sat down, one push and Ashton was born.

Everything seemed extremely surreal. I had a baby on my chest that had just come out of me. He was crying and all I could think of was, "Wow. That was it? Piece of cake!" All of sudden I start to realize I had two nurses basically on top of me forcibly pushing on my stomach... hard. I still had the epidural in but they had stopped the medication about a half hour before I started pushing so that I could feel when to push. I wasn't sure what was going on (assuming this was all normal) but then I saw my mom pushing the epidural button to start up the medication again.  All of a sudden a nurse came and took the baby, told Patrick to go with her to the nursery and left.  Seriously, it was like suddenly they were gone. The next thing I knew I had another IV in the other arm, and I was being wheeled away into Emergency Surgery.

From there, I remember being awake, with a lot of people running around.  Someone kept saying they had taken me to the operating room to have a better look at a problem because there was better lighting in there.  I started to feel sick and basically went into shock.  I remember shaking so bad that I felt sick to my stomach and everything they were putting in my multiple IVs stung so bad that I tried to pull away.  At that point, I must have passed out or they gave me something to go to sleep.

I woke up back in the L&D room with Patrick, my mom and dad, Patrick's mom and Josie in the room.  Something had happened and I still didn't really know what. Apparently, I hemorrhaged after delivery and they couldn't stop the bleeding because they couldn't find the source of the bleeding.  In the OR, they discovered that during delivery, my placenta had ripped my uterus at the very top and had to get it closed up to stop the blood. It was intense, and it took awhile for my body to relax and stop convulsing. Once I finally calmed down, they let me go to the maternity ward.  It was like 7:30 pm, I was starving, hadn't seen the baby in hours, in pain from the stomach pushing (which I guess was their way to delivery the placenta by force to get to the bleeding area) and extremely exhausted.  Everyone that had come to see the baby was already gone. Lame.

That was the day Ashton was born.  My doctor told me that if I had had a home delivery, I wouldn't have made it.  I lost so much blood so fast that the paramedics wouldn't have had time to get to my house and stop the bleeding.  Thank goodness I was in a hospital and thank goodness for my doctor.  She truly saved my life. The next few days went by fast.  I hung out with Ashton all weekend long. Awesome. On Sunday, I ended having a blood transfussion because I had lost too much blood and boy does that make you feel so much better!  I was feeling weak and tired but I assumed it was because I had just had a baby.  After the transfussion, I could actually get up and walk around without feeling like I just ran a mile.

We went home on Sunday the 14th and it was so nice to be home.  Didn't get much sleep, but at least I was home. In one weekend, I had a baby, almost died, and lost a huge belly.  In fact, not to brag, but a few days later I was in my pre-pregnancy jeans and, although I was given a two week restriction from doing anything to get my blood pressure up (exercise), two weeks after Ashton was born I was down to my pre pregnancy weight. It felt really good to jump back on the eliptical knowing that I wasn't trying to lose weight but just get back into shape!

My family was amazing through all of this and Patrick just blew my mind at how strong he was! He stayed the whole time during delivery and still was able to get a bunch of things accomplished.  (We were in the middle of selling all of our appliances. I'll get to that later.)  We're so lucky to have Ashton and I'm so grateful I get to be his mom.  He's seriously the most amazing little guy and I still wake up and look at him and can't believe he's ours.

Ashton Patrick Raymond

11.11.11

3:50 pm

7 pounds 20 inches