I'd always had in the back of my mind that I should keep a record of our life with Oliver. I had these big ideas about how hilarious it would be to look back in ten years and see all the hopes and fears we had at the time, as well as all the ridiculous situations that we'd put ourselves in. Then Oliver actually arrived and there just seemed to be no time. That was, until last night. Last night I grabbed the blog (in book form), that I did for Bo last year as a first anniversary present. In three short pages I remembered more laughs and smiles then I could count, and that made me realize that no matter how tired I am at the end of the day, this record is an important one to keep. I mean, I thought Bo and I laughed a lot before, but now there's no contest!
July 7, 2009
I woke up around 6:45 to go pee, something that I was doing about 7 times a night, no biggie. I had actually gotten used to waking up around then because Bo get's up around 7 for work (when he doesn't reset the alarm that is). I sat down, peed, and then couldn't stop peeing.
Holy shit.
Stupid me decides to get excited before the magnitude of the situation sets in. My first thoughts are 'YES! Oliver's coming today!'. I sat on the toilet for a few more minutes, with a massive smile plastered on my face, enjoying the moment privately before going to tell Bo. I walked over to his side of the bed, gently shook him and said "Hun, my water's broke". Bo's response? "What, now".
Bo jumped out of bed, got dressed, then sat back down on the bed and stared blankly at the wall, everything that we had read over the last 8 months just few out that window for him (including everything they said in the pre-natal class), and he had no idea what to do. I told him to relax, that I wasn't having any contractions yet, so we didn't have to rush. I asked Nana if she would take me to Walmart to pick up a few things (I needed a nightgown for the hospital, toiletries, a nursing bra, the list seemed endless), and because I was feeling absolutely fine, I sent Bo to work. He was just so nervous and anxious, I figured that it was best to keep his mind off of it as much as possible for the time being.Why was Bo so nervous? Well, it seems Oliver didn't want to wait any more, he was coming a month early.
With Bo off to work I was able to get everything organized. I got our hospital bags 90% packed (thank god I made that checklist a few weeks before hand), sent off a quick email to the girls (Miranda, Lindsay and Angela) because we were supposed to meet for dinner that night, and then Nana and I headed off to Walmart. The most important purchase? A new Mario game for my Nintendo DS...I wanted something to waste the time if Bo was asleep.
While Nana and I were shopping I got a phone call from both Miranda and Angela, who found the fact that I was out shopping hysterical. I just looked at it as a necessity. Another necessity - a mattress for the crib. That was the one thing Bo and I kept putting off until the "next" weekend, but we weren't going to be having any more of those. Once we were back home I called the store where the matteress we wanted was, Nana paid for it on visa, and Papa went to pick it up on his way home.
I still hadn't had any contractions, and the word "induction" started floating around in my head. you typically only have a 24 hour window for natural childbirth once your water breaks to avoid more complications. I got a phone call around 11 to find out that I was RH+, which bascially means that I'm a carrier of the strep virus, which Oliver could get sick from, so I had to get 4 hours worth of antibiotics into my system before he's delivered, or else he would have to get an extra shot (something I hoped to avoid for his sake). I called Bo and told him to wrap up his stuff and then head home, that we'd go to the hospital around 12:30 / 1 (my 6 hour plan from the start)
Now, it's been two months, and I don't want to labour (lol) over all the little details of delivery, so I thought I would just copy and paste the email I sent to Miranda, Angela and Lindsay the day after Oliver was born.
Hey Guys,
Alright, so I've finally got access to a computer and can give you a full update, so I'll start from the begining (ignore details you don't want to read).
My water broke Tuesday at 6:50 on the toilet, I'm frigging lucky it wasn't an embarrassing "at the supermarket" moment or something. Nana took me shopping at Walmart because I still had to buy the boy some diapers for when he came home. Oh yeah, we also hadn't gotten the mattress yet, arugh. Thankfully it was Papa to the rescue, he drove to Mississauga to pick up the one we wanted, and Nana spent all day yesterday doing one last major clean of our room for us.
By 12:30 I still hadn't gotten one contraction, so it was time to head into the hospital anyway. After a stop at McDonalds because I wanted a coke, and Scotiabank because literally, on the way out the door, they called to say someone hacked Bo's debt card and stole money from the account. Our luck is awesome. Thankfully it was only $7.56. Like, how is that even worth it.
So, we get to the hospital around 1, and yeah, I wasn't having any contractions. It turns out that my boy actually broke his own water (either a kick, punch, grab, or something else). I got a couple of rounds of antibiotics because I was GBS positive (very common, like a 50/50 chance of it, I'm just a carrier for Strep and it can pass to the baby during birth).
I had the nurse FROM HELL when I first arrived. She screwed up the first round of antibiotics, then gave me the second set 40 minutes late because she couldn't tear her fat ass away from the computer where she was watching the Jackson funeral. Bo was super pissed.
Her shift ended at 7:30, then all was WAY better.
Anyway, 7pm comes around and I finally get Pitocen started. This created contractions. It was supposed to be started at 2pm. Not cool. When your water breaks you have a 24 hour window where everything's ok, then after that point your baby has to go to NICU for 48 hours for antibiotics. Not every hospital does this, but centennary does, so to me, I lost another 5 hours there.
Anyway, I wanted to be a fucking hero so I was all
"No, I don't want any drugs or an eipdural, I'm fine"
"Yes, I understand pitocen causes more severe contractions then natural"
"Nope, I still don't want an eipdural"
It took a bit for the contractions to kick in, they were strong and I could feel them at 11. By midnight I was at the max does you could get of pitocen (how much dripped into the IV per minute) and I'll be honest, I was surprised by how much they hurt. At 12:30 I was thinking I must be dialated to like 8....yeah, no, 2 -3cm. So not cool. I made it to 2 am and decided I wasn't a hero after all, and folded for the eipidural, which I got at 2:30.
Best decision ever.
Not for everyone, not what I hadn't hoped for, but I was getting 90 second contractions that I couldn't think through, less then 2 minutes apart, so I was lucky to have 20 seconds in between. Fuck that. I had them give me the minimum epi that they could though, so I always had full use of my legs (even though they wouldn't let me out of bed). This made pushing WAY easier, and I was up and moving around right after birth too, also great.
Anyway, I kinda slept until 5, they kept having to check on the kid because he was moving around a lot and the monitor was constantly losing the heartbeat. When they checked me at 5 I was dialated to a 9, then I got nauseous and puked 3 times, then they checked me and I was a 10 and ready to rock at 5:30 (apparently this happens).
YEAH ME!!!
BOO DOCTOR!!!
See, the doctor was in the c-section room with back to back emergencies, and she didn't get out until 7:30. This really sucked because it was after my 24 hours, and I could have made it. It also sucked to wait so long feeling the need to push and being told not to.
The Dr shift change was at 8, and I liked / knew the Dr starting, so we were glad that they didn't want to let me start until then. Dr Samra got in around 8:15 and got settled. He was in my room around 8:25, did the first push with me, then left to do rounds, I pushed through 6 contractions (3 pushes each, so about 18 pushes), and my boy was out by 9:01. Apparently this is great for a first time, but also bad.
So, Oliver Edward Kajganic was born at 9:01 am on July 9, 2009. Bo loves that his birthday is 07-08-09. He weighed 5lbs 8.2oz and was 19.25" long. He came out screaming too, and nice and pink, scoring 9 on both of his APGAR tests (great results, especially for 4 weeks early!)
Bo and I got to see him for about 5 minutes, then they took him to the NICU, which we expected. They wanted me to stay in bed until 1 because of the Epi, yeah, screw that. Like I said, my legs were fine. I got up at 11 and was going to meet Bo (who was visiting with Nana), but they would only let me go in a wheelchair, gay, so Bo came and grabbed me. After a quick visit we hit the NICU and found out that Oliver was having breathing problems, which we now know is wet lung.
So, wet lung is often caused when the actual pushing goes really quickly. This is where the great pushing isn't so great. When you push for a while it forces the babies chest to contract, which causes the lungs to contract and force out any fluid in them. Because the pushing went really quick (he was at -2 when I started pushing, which is pretty high, not really in the right spot so the dr. was thinking it would take 2 hours), his lungs didn't empty and he'll have breathing trouble until all the liquid is absorbed.
That's about all I know right now about him. He's looking a lot better then yesterday, he was pretty swollen after birth, looked like a boxer in the 8th round, but he's getting cuter every time we see him (biased, I'm sure). We're supposed to be meeting with the pediatrician this afternoon, but I'm not holding my breath because everyone that works in here sucks. I was hoping that we'd be bringing him home tomorrow, but now I'm thinking that I should hope for the weekend. I really hope that we get some answers today.
Still no visitors allowed (which totally fucking blows). My mom was able to sneak into the NICU today though, she learned that wearing her scrubs makes it easier, and her tag thing opens the door, lol, so she finally saw him.
I tried to put pictures up on facebook, but the hospital blocks them, lol. I'm working on uploading them to a photobucket site for now, and I'll make sure to copy you guys. It's at 60% now.
As soon as we get this boy home I'm expecting you all over to fawn over my perfect kid, and yes, I know I'm biased, but what ever.
Love you girls!
Kat
So, that's the gist of labour and delivery. What I didn't mention was how great Bo was through everything! He only had to leave the room because of the vaso vagal thing while I was getting checked, and when I got the eipdural. He was fantastic during delivery, and did everything I'd hoped he would.
One other funny moment: Once I decided to get the eipdural, I made my mom wake Bo up so I could ask him if that was ok. Bo thinks that this is hilarious, but I don't. I get that it's my body, but it's his son too, and I felt that he should have a say in everything.
That was the longest 24+ hours of my life.
