40 Weeks plus 6 days

January 13, 2015

40 Weeks and 6 Days

Mark Joseph Henry's very first day on earth. We love him so much already!!

Had a crazy crazy whirlwind of a day yesterday. I was progressing great when my water broke in a huge sudden burst (think of the end of a log flume ride- sorry! TMI!) around 2 or 3pm.  Mark got distressed and his heart rate dropped. All the nurses got quiet and very busy fast, which scared me. They turned me on my left side and gave me a shot to stop my contractions. Thankfully Mark stabilized, and they started giving me Pitocin to restart my contractions. They bumped up my Pitocin all throughout the day and night until my contractions were at the maximum possible intensity! It was so painful and I had to get two boluses of strong painkillers, and at one point I was shaking, sweating, holding a barf bag, and gripping a railing. We also tried other sorts of strategies like stirrups. Despite all this, I made no progress with dilation. After 12 hours of this, Dr. Williams finally said at about 2am that it didn't seem like there was any way Mark was going to come out without a c-section. We agreed- he'd been stuck at the -1 position for about 16 hours!

So, we went to the OR. I was delirious because I hadn't been allowed to eat or drink for about 30 hours at that point. They brought Tom in after they anesthetized and draped me, and in about 7 minutes flat we met baby Mark!

He is the most precious baby ever. He's eating well and so far loves to snuggle. Hope you all get to meet him soon!

Love,

Betty and Tom

40+5 days

January 12, 2015!!!

40 plus 5 days!

The contractions started getting really bad last night around 11pm! From about 12 to 3 they kept getting stronger and closer together. I called the doctor around 3, when the contractions were about five minutes apart, and she said to come on in!

Ender saying goodbye as we left. 

We got to labor and delivery around 4am. Tom almost ran a red light for me because the pain was bad. We were really bedraggled when we checked in.  It was hard for me to stand up straight because of the contractions. And Tom's voice was hoarse- which it almost never is! Tom even got my doctor's name wrong because we were frazzled. And you know how good Tom is with names. 

They checked us in quickly, and gave us a wonderful room! It is giant!  The pain from the contractions was really bad for a while. I started shivering and almost threw up. They gave me an IV painkiller, which helped me get some rest. And Tom and I took a short walk around the ward (in my hospital gown)! But everyone else was in their gown so I didn't feel weird about it. We saw our childbirth class teacher. She is a nurse here. Our two nurses so far have been Lindy and DeAnna. Lindy has an electric Leaf car- she says she only needs to charge it twice a week. 

By about 8 AM I asked for an epidural. They said if you know you want one, don't wait until it's so bad you can't stand it because it takes about 45 minutes at least to order one, and they have a ton of c-sections today.  Sounds like trying to order a soufflé at a French restaurant!

Dr. Roberts, the anesthesiologist, came around 9AM. He was awesome! Great bedside manner. He chatted with us the whole time and showed us his flair- a stethoscope charm he wears with his school colors in a bottle. He went to a school in Canada. The epidural really didn't hurt at all, and I got almost immediate relief. I was so happy!!  I was able to take a nap until 11, which is great because Tom got to sleep too. He's getting lunch now (I'm not allowed to eat because of the epidural). 

So now we are just monitoring contractions on this nifty machine. I'm about five minutes apart now, but really feeling good! They say the painkillers wear off, so I'm sure I'll be sad later. But for now, I'm so happy I decided to go with an epidural. 

Much love to everyone! We will send a pic when Crits arrives!

B

Kelly's Visit and Contractions!

January 11, 2015

40 Weeks, 4 Days

Kelly came to visit this weekend!

She was hoping to see Crits, but he has been staying put- until now! Started having contractions this morning- woke up at 3:00AM because of them! We were supposed to go to brunch, but looks like we will wait around and have bagels instead.

We had some excitement this afternoon. Tom's tire blew out on our way to the airport. It was really scary because we had to cross several lanes of traffic. We were worried too that we'd have to get Kelly an uber from a crack den by the side of the road. Luckily, AAA saved the day! They can by and fixed it in less than a half hour! We got Kelly to the airport and went to a Walmart in College Park to get a new tire. Tom kept saying Crits was going to be a Walmart baby through a series of unfortunate events. Ha!

Love,

B

40 Weeks

January 8, 2015

40 weeks!

Crits is staying put- he's enjoying himself!  It is super cold out here, so we are just hunkering down while we all wait for his arrival! Our next appointment is on Monday!

Much love,

B

39 weeks!

December 31, 2014

39 Weeks

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! We've had such a wonderful year! Tom and I did a "year in review" last night, and we just could not believe how much has happened this past year.  Feeling so lucky to have wonderful family and friends in our lives. And we are getting close! 39 weeks today, so this could be our last bump shot (or we could get two more)!

I'm wearing this shirt out in a moment - I told Tom to let me know if my shirt rides up. Ha!

This cracks me up - so happy we took all these photos!

38 weeks!

December 26, 2014

38 Weeks!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  We have had such a fun week.

First, got this great pic from Lis and Burt!

Tom made a lamb rack.

It came out delicious!

And we are getting close! Not sure who will get closest to our due date.

But getting big! Love my new Christmas pajama pants - thank you, Jeanne and Lee! 

37 weeks!

December 22, 2014

37 Weeks!

Woo! Getting close to the big day- whenever that may be! School is out- so I am just wrapping up projects and laying low! We are having dinner with Kimie tonight!

Ender- ready for Christmas!

Managing to get bigger every week!

Happy holidays!!

B