The Birth of Our Son

Wow, our baby is now three and a half weeks old and I'm finally getting around to updating the blog. Get ready for a novel because I have tons to catch up on...and I tend to use the blog as a bit of a journal. Okay, so I'm going to start way back on February 21st. I went to my weekly NST/AFI visit at Maternal Fetal Medicine at St. Marks.  It was the last day of my pregnancy. At that visit, I found out that my little boy has hair :) It was waving around on ultrasound. I was happy about that. I also found out that my labor was really starting. I was also happy about that! Not because I wanted to be done with my pregnancy...granted it was a bit tough (horrible morning sickness, back pain, and a baaad case of PUPPPS). Actually I was happy because I was having a hard time knowing if I should get induced or let him come on his own. (Of course I was happy to finally meet my baby too!) Long story short, Larry wanted to see if he'd come on his due date, February 27th (his dad's birthday). And I had scheduled an induction date for February 22nd.

Well, turns out that the morning of the 21st, I was having contractions six minutes apart. The nurse/doctor told me to go to labor and delivery if they got any closer...but I was a little clueless on the whole timing them thing. So later that night I decided to just go into labor and delivery to get checked. Contractions were 2-4 minutes apart. Baby was coming on his own! But I wasn't really dilating more so they said I could go home. I was proud of my baby for being cooperative and solving my dilemma. I kept my induction date because I would have been admitted that day anyway. Yay! It was kinda nice spending a couple hours in labor and delivery...it was a nice preparation as I realized I was actually going to deliver the next day.

Well, we went home and you'd think I'd be a nervous wreck all night. Nope. I felt calm about having the baby soon, and a little eager, because I was miserable with the puppps...it's a pregnancy rash. You can look it up if you dare. Mine was really severe of course. I'm special like that. I was up all night itching and covered in hives. I got a couple hours of sleep and then 6:00AM arrived. I called labor and delivery to see if I should go into my "induction" (at this point, contractions are 1-2 minutes apart). They said to come down. Okay, I'm being way too wordy. Remember, this is just like my journal...and I'm letting you read it! Anyway, at 9:00AM Dr. Watts arrived. I absolutely love the guy. Don't worry, Larry is aware of my my love for him ;) He's a great doctor and I really am grateful for him.

Anyway, without further ado, Dr. Watts broke my water. Labor quickly progressed. In no time I went from a 3 to a 5. I told Larry and the nurse that I thought it was funny what a big deal people make out of labor. I was half way there and it was a breeze! Well...that lasted two seconds. As soon as I said that it all hit me. The contractions got really strong, despite the zofran that I asked for ahead of time (I knew I'd need it) I got super nauseous...then I couldn't stop puking (I knew you wanted to know that). So much for the goal, "no nausea" that we wrote on the white board.

The pain, actually I don't know that I'd call it pain for some reason....more like extreme pressure and discomfort, got worse. (I guess it was painful but it was like a different type of pain.) I decided that it was a great time to ask for ol' trusty...my epidural. Well, turns out the anesthesiologist was in a c-section and there would be an hour wait. I was fine with that. But by the time an hour and half passed I was really happy to see him. I sat up and he prepared the epidural. At that point the nurse offered a pain medication via iv...Fentanyl. That stuff was spiffy....hehe. Suddenly I felt all weird and woozy but nice and calm cuz the pain was gone. Oops that rhymed. Larry says I don't tolerate drugs well and he's embarrassed to be around me when I get them. Apparently I started talking about cleaning up...um...messes from dogs and cats as a vet tech. Lovely.

K, back to the story. I got the pain killer as I got the epidural. Turns out that's a bad idea. I felt good for a while but apparently doing that caused an issue with the epidural. It only worked on the left side and was fading quickly. I felt like my right leg was broken. The anesthesiologist kept trying to make it work to no avail. Finally, he got it to work on both sides...but it only lasted a few minutes. Meanwhile I continued to puke everywhere. It was all so much fun! At the time I was thinking that I don't know why someone would refuse an epidural. Since mine didn't work I got a feel for the whole natural thing.

At this time I started hearing babies crying every half hour or so. All the days inductions were being born! I realized I was about to have my baby too.  Well, the nurse checked me again and I was a 9. Not long after I was a 10. She says it's time to push. I told Larry to have the cameras ready. I knew I'd have to push a while but we had to be ready for pictures of course. Well, the nurse turned to him and said "Grab a leg!" So he didn't exactly have his hands free for pictures and videos. And he got to be all up close and personal with the delivery. I hope he still loves me ;) Actually, Larry was so cute and supportive through the delivery. He was a very sweet and helpful coach! It made the experience even more special.

A short while later, baby's head showed up and the nurse told us he has BLONDE hair. I was surprised, even though it was in our genes. Larry had blonde hair as a baby. Pushing kinda wore me out. Apparently I have the lung capacity of a 2 year old. I kept running out of breath too soon. But baby was coming nonetheless, so I guess I didn't do too bad. At this point the epidural was non existent. Fortunately the anesthesiologist showed up again. I was 30 minutes into pushing. At least that's how I remember it. In desperation he started pumping tons of stuff into my epidural. It felt really cold going in the epidural, which was actually kinda nice. Then it finally worked and right when it really counts!

Doctor Watts showed up for the baby catch. At this point I was finally relaxed because I couldn't feel anything. I just had to focus on pushing when the monitor showed contractions. Baby boy started desatting so they put me on oxygen. I had really liked my nurse throughout the delivery. But when it got all calm and quite in the room the nurse found it a convenient time to start talking to my doctor about an abortion pill. Yes, that seemed very appropriate for the task at hand. Not. My doctor seemed a little annoyed as he was trying to deliver my baby. Larry and I watched the monitor and had to tell them that I was having another contraction and had to push again. That was the nurses job but she was busy discussing said abortion pill. At some point she got back on board with helping with the delivery.

After one hour of pushing I was ready to be done. The nurses turned on the heating bed for baby and I knew it was time! I looked at the clock and decided that I'd have him by 4:52 PM. Larry thinks I'm full of it. But really, I knew he was coming then. I put my all into it and at 4:52 PM on 2.22.11 I delivered our son, Larry "Allen" Balsmeier III. He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long. Right when I saw him I knew that the name I liked, Hayden Elijah just didn't fit him. He looked just like Larry. I knew this was little Allen. Oh and when he was born, he didn't even look gross! He actually looked pretty clean.The doctor laid him on me and I just held him and we stared at each other. I love this picture. It captures the memory of meeting him perfectly :)

Baby Allen's first photo. Brand new to the world!

My blonde boy at 6 days old

Apparently Larry cut the cord...I guess I didn't notice.   I don't remember when I held him for a while, if it was before or after they cleaned him up, but I got to hold him for a few minutes. I looked him over and he looked healthy/normal. Though I remember asking the doctor if he was okay, for reassurance. Oh and I thought his club feet were so cute at my first look at them! And of course I noted right away that he had tons of blonde hair! Way to compromise baby! Larry wanted a bald baby apparently because he didn't want our baby to have tons of dark hair, because he thought he'd look like a monkey. But I wanted a baby with lots of hair. So he had lots of blonde hair. Yay!
I didn't even realize that our baby wasn't crying until the silence caught me off guard. He just sat there, sweetly looking at me.  I loved the whole experience...even though it was a bit of a rough and unpleasant delivery. It had a very special spirit about it. I'll never forget it. He was just so perfect and sooo cute! It was definitely love at first site.

Larry didn't even get to hold our baby after delivery. The nurses took our baby and tried to get him to cry. They mentioned that he looked a little gray but had pink lips. They called in the NICU to take a look at him. I finished up the whole delivery process (Larry was SO glad he got to see the placenta and everything! kidding) At some point they wheeled him off to the well baby nursery. Larry and the room full of nurses went with him. When my doctor finished up with my episiotomy (again, you all wanted these details) he shook my hand and told me good job or something like that. Then I was alone...just sitting in the delivery room. Like an hour passed and I decided they forgot about me. I couldn't find my call button so I grabbed my cell phone and called labor and delivery to remind them. Haha. But just then my nurse came and cleaned me up. Larry showed up too.

Apparently our baby was only in the nursery for a couple minutes before the NICU staff whisked him away to intensive care. And that leads us to chapter two: The NICU, yes all 9 days of it. I'll get to that experience when I have a chance. Then I'll get to chapter three: Bringing Allen home and home life. (Oh and Larry had major surgery at this time too.) And chapter four: Casting for club feet (which is from 2 weeks to present, since it's an ongoing thing. Yes, I told you this is a novel! Wow, I have a lot to catch up on still.

We don't have any pictures of him with us right after he was born because of everything that went on with him being born and having trouble breathing. Oh I guess I didn't mention why the nicu took him. He was breathing really fast and not getting enough oxygen.

I can't believe Allen is almost a month old!

First Family Photo on go home day 3-3-11

One week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old