Operation Windmills: Our Early Arrival

Shortly after the start of third trimester, I failed the one hour glucose test.
Shortly after that, I failed the 3 hour glucose test and was officially diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Which took my fabulously uneventful pregnancy and knocked it into the "high risk" category.
So started several grumpy weeks of low-carb, no fruit juice, cinnamon gummy-less diet. I promptly lost 4 pounds in the first week and went to my next OB appointment super stressed out because you're not supposed to lose weight during third trimester.
My OB was not worried. I never gained another pound but the little guy kept growing, so we figured that was okay.
We kept the diabetes under control with diet, so I never had to take insulin or medication to regulate my blood sugar. I just couldn't eat ANY of my favorite foods.

For the last 5 weeks before our due date, I had to start going in twice a week for non-stress test where they'd hook me up to a couple belts and monitor T's heart rate against his movements.
We went in for our scheduled non-stress test on Monday 3/20 and my blood pressure was crazy high and there was protein in my urine sample.
My OB was out of town for the week, so I was actually seeing one of her partners who took a blood sample and said "We'll have the results tomorrow morning and will call you. But if we don't like the look of the lab you'll be term on Wednesday, so we'll be inducing then. If not, schedule a blood pressure check for Wednesday."
So Rick and I spent the evening freaking out. I didn't have anything ready for my class, there were things for the hospital bag we hadn't even bought yet (like open in the front pajamas) I hadn't gone through my classroom with my sub to show her where everything was. And we'd only declared the nursery "done" the night before. It was crazy stressful.

Tuesday came, my blood work was showing elevated levels of protein, so we were looking at preeclampsia not a UTI, which is what they were worried about, but they weren't so high that I needed to come in for immediate induction.
So we went back for another blood pressure check on Wednesday. My blood pressure had climbed even higher so the OB decided we would check into the hospital that night to ripen my cervix and start induction first thing Thursday the morning.

We checked into the hospital about 7:30pm and they put in a catheter thing that had two little balloons that went on either side of my cervix and spent the night there causing small but painful enough to keep me awake contractions and dilated my cervix to about 3cm. They removed it just before 4am and started the pitocin to strengthen my labor. Around 7am they came in and broke my water (that was actually quite painful) to try and speed things up a bit. I don't know that it did.

Soon-to-be-Grandma-Janice had come out the night before, but slept at the house and arrived back at the hospital around 7ish. Soon-to-be-Mom-mom arrived at the hospital around 11.

I did alright with contractions just through breathing until about 12:30, I wasn't comfortable or talkative, but I wasn't ready to surrender my mobility yet either (as much as you get when you're strapped to an IV drip). Rick and I were doing laps around the maternity ward when the contractions started to get WAY stronger. I'd have to stop walking and just hiss it out clinging to his arm until they passed, and then we'd walk another lap and get to the same corner and the contractions would hit again, and I finally decided I'd had enough.

The nurse checked my cervix again, only 4.5 - 5cm, depressingly little progress considering we'd been at 3cm 8 hours ago, but a great time for an epidural. I didn't want an epidural, but I didn't want gestational diabetes, hypertension and an induced labor 3 weeks early either. And I was getting tired, so... yes, please, drug me up.

The anesthesiologist came in and stuck the needle in my back and started the drip and almost instantly my feet went to sleep and the numbness worked its way up my legs and all the pain went away.

I spent the rest of my labor in a fog.
I couldn't get up from the bed, so I vaguely remember nurses emptying my bladder with what looked like a stick, but was probably a catheter. I think I fell asleep a lot. Ricky was always right there. I also remember vomiting constantly. I didn't know that was part of childbirth. The pain meds made me dizzy, and then the contractions made me vomit. It was never-ending fun.

When I finally hit that magic number 10 and it was time to start pushing it was after 5 and I'd been labor for 13 hours. Not that I was super aware of any of that. The nurse coached Rick on his job (keeping my completely dead leg in the stirrup) and coached me on my job - curling upwards and hoping that I was squeezing stomach muscles I couldn't feel AT ALL to her count.

So began 2+ hours of pushing. I couldn't tell if I was pushing. I just stared at Rick and he gave me updates on T's progress and I just hoped that somehow through foggy willpower I was operating muscles I couldn't tell whether or not I had control over.
I would do three, 10 count pushes to each contraction and cling desperately to Rick's report that we were, in fact, getting somewhere, and then sort of doze off until the next one.
I didn't know that's how that worked either.
I thought the pushing would be a lot more continuous, I didn't realize you could take a nap in between. Sometimes we would have to skip a contraction so I could throw up in a bag again, but vomiting contracts your stomach muscles too, so we actually made small progress during those episodes too. The nurse said she'd had women before who vomited out their baby. The beauty of childbirth.
I was desperately uncomfortable with how little control I had over what was happening, and very seriously regretting the epidural. Rick was my rock.

An OB showed up for the last part of my pushing and delivery, which was at 7:44pm. They toweled T off and Rick cut the cord and then they put him on my chest to snuggle skin to skin while the OB stitched up tears I hadn't felt myself getting.

I could feel how warm and tiny he was. Almost right away he started rooting around so the nurse helped position him and he's been a champion nurser ever since.

Rick and I were both instantly in love.

Eventually they took T to weigh and measure him, right in the room so I could watch.
He was 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs. 14.5oz

They moved us to a postpartum room after I had enough feeling back in my legs to support my weight. T got to stay in a little clear basket in the room with us.

Because of my gestational diabetes, the poor little guy had to have his blood sugar checked before every feeding for the first 12 hours. Which meant stabbing him in his little heel so they could get a reading. He would cry out at the poke and then instantly calm himself, which has continued to be a trend. He only fusses during the immediate discomfort. As soon as it's over, he's fine again. He's a very easy baby.

Mommy's little snuggle-bug

We spent the next couple days snuggling him constantly. We're not sure who enjoys it more, him or us. But we almost never put him down. He's the cuddliest baby!