Of course, just because things happened a certain way once before doesn't mean they're going to happen the same way again...especially when it comes to giving birth!!
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| Doing puzzles on the iPad |
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| Henry's room - minus the furniture ::sniff, sniff:: |
Tuesday, May 31: With Kevin shipped back off to Corpus, Emma and I had just kind of planned to hang around the house for the week. She was officially done with school, so we really had nothing to do and nowhere to be. I piddled around the house trying to get a few things done, but really, we just sat around and snuggled in our pajamas soaking up some of our last mother-daughter movie time together. However, since Emma had been asking and asking and ASKING when Henry was going to come out of mommy's tummy, I finally decided to make her a countdown chart so she knew how many days where left until he would be here. Each night she got to take another onesie off her countdown as we slowly marched through those last 14 days to my planned induction on Monday, June 13th.  |
| Emma and her classmates |
Thursday, June 2: Each month Memorial Hermann Katy, the hospital I was going to be delivering at, offers a siblings class for those children who are three and older. Since May's class was only two days before my brother Philip's wedding, we opted to wait until the June class, which I think worked out the best because Emma was really starting to understand what having a baby meant. There were 5 kids signed up for this month's class, and as we went around the circle to tell everyone what we were having and when we were due, it came out that I was the next one to have a baby! In her class, Emma learned about how to hold her baby brother, how to change a diaper, how to swaddle, what babies eat, and what toys are safe for a baby. The kids were so cute whenever the nurse would ask questions because they all would raise their hands to answer even if they didn't know the answer or understand the question. Emma, especially, would raise her hand saying, "Me! Me!" to get called on. After the lesson part of the class, the kiddos got to take a trip up to Labor and Delivery to see where their mommies would be, and they even got to see a tiny newborn through the nursery windows. Everyone got to go home with a goody bag with a diaper to practice, nurse and doctor hats, a birthday card to color for the new sibling, and their own hospital bracelet.
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| Learning to change a diaper |
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| Practicing holding the baby |
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Showing the baby some love
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| I had just a little bit of sewing to do! |
Fun at Grandma's house
Wednesday, June 8: I was really determined to keep Emma busy in the days leading up to when I was going to be induced. I just knew that I didn't have it in me to help her burn off all her energy, so I made sure to schedule her a playdate with one of our besties Charlotte and her mama, Kristy. The girls played and played and played together, so it gave Kristy (who is also pregnant) and I a chance to just sit and chat and rest. It was good to have some much needed gal time since we weren't sure when we'd be up for visitors again. That afternoon, my brother Stephen brought us some lunch and came over to see if he could help me with things that needed to be done around the house. I definitely took full advantage of his offer! We completely rearranged and organized all the piles of baby items and random junk that has taken over the playroom upstairs. He helped me put away all the nursery furniture conversion pieces, and most importantly, he just carried things up and down the stairs for me! It was like an afternoon of extreme nesting. Then, after all of that manual labor, he stuck around to read Emma like a gazillion books. She just kept bringing him another one and another one and then just one more. It was really cute to see them cuddled up on the couch together, and I was super grateful that he would come spend some time helping me finish up all my odds and ends.
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| Story time with Uncle Stephen |
Thursday, June 9: After such a busy day before, Emma and I took the morning to just sleep in a bit and snuggle. For whatever reason, I just couldn't shake myself awake. But I eventually had to because I had my last ultrasound and OB appointment that day at 2:30pm. My cousin Sharon came over to babysit Emma, so my mom and I could head out the appointment and do some errands. We had been extra cautious by having someone go with me to my doctor appointments in the last few weeks since with Emma, I passed out on the way home after being internally checked by my OB. When we got to the doctor's office,I headed back to the room for yet another weekly ultrasound, a perk and annoyance of previously having a pregnancy with high blood pressure. During a BPP ultrasound, they check the level of amniotic fluid, the baby's breathing rate, and his movements. Usually these go pretty quickly, and I had expected this one too as well, especially after how much Henry had been moving the past few days. But of course, he was sound asleep, and it took us forever to get him to wake up so that they could gauge his movements. He scored a perfect 8/8 though, and all looked well. After the ultrasound, we waited for Dr. Bliss to come and examine me. She told us that I was only 1cm dilated, and my uterus was still high and dry. She also thought looking at my fundal height measurements that Henry might be a 9 pound baby. My mom and I just laughed. There was no way I was carrying a 9 pound baby in there. I tried to convince Dr. Bliss that this was just how I carried the baby - all in the front - and that they thought the same thing with Emma, and she came out a nice 7lbs, 5oz. But nonetheless, Dr. Bliss just wanted me to be prepared just in case. We got my instructions for checking into the hospital on Sunday, and then headed out to do some last minute errands. I don't even remember all the places and stores we went to, but I remember I finally hit the wall when we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things, like diapers, wipes, and a Father's Day card for Kevin. After that, I was done for the day and any other shopping just had to wait. My mom finally headed home around 8-8:30 that night, and I tossed Emma in the car for a quick trip to Taco Cabana to grab us some dinner.
9:30 PM: We were sitting down at the table eating dinner, and I just didn't feel right. I couldn't even finish the quesadilla I had gotten for dinner, and if you know anything about me, I never turn down any kind of Mexican food. I just felt crazy tired and was having a little bit of back pain, but I brushed it off thinking that I had just walked around too much while shopping and had overdid it. In fact, I texted Kevin just that:
Me: Omg...how could I not have been any dilated or effaced? I feel like poop.
Kevin: I'm sorry. It won't be long now. And remember it can change in a heartbeat.
Me: I know...my back is just sore and everything aches. It could just be from the shopping.
Kevin: Yeah could be. Maybe a soak will do you good tonight.
Me: That was the plan.
I ended up getting up from the table and washing some dishes while Emma was finishing up dinner, and I just constantly felt like I had to go to the bathroom. But again, I didn't really think anything of it because you know, pregnant-lady problems. At 10:14 PM though, I was texting Kevin this:
Me: Is your phone where your can hear it?
Kevin: It's right next to my head. Why? Feeling stuff?
Me: Just checking. I don't feel great. Going to use the restroom to see if that helps.
Kevin: Ok. I'll turn it up just to make sure.
At 10:28 PM, I was calling Kevin asking if he wouldn't just go ahead and head home in case something happened on Friday. He was already packed because he was coming home the next day anyways after work, so he really just had to wake himself up to make the drive from Corpus. I felt really bad asking him to drive in so late, but we both wanted him here. After I hung up with him, I called my mom really quickly just to let her know that I wasn't feeling the best and that Kevin was going to go ahead and head home. After getting off the phone, I headed back to the kitchen to get Emma cleaned up after dinner and to head upstairs to put her to bed. Since it was so late and I wasn't feeling too hot, we decided to forgo her shower that night, but we still had to do the usual like brush her teeth, put on her jammies, and read books. For the past week, we had been reading the book The Night Before the Baby, which tells the story of a little girl and her mommy who goes to have a baby in the rhyming pattern of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It's super cute. After I read the book, Emma wanted to read the book back to me on her own, but she had to wait because I had to go to the bathroom. Again. I tried to convince her that she didn't need to read to me but negotiating with a three year old is pretty much pointless. So as I'm sitting there listening to her "read" to me, I just feel a gush. And I'm like, what?!? Did I just pee myself after just having gone to the restroom? Embarrassing. So I quickly shoo Emma into bed while checking behind me to make sure the chair isn't wet, and I scurry downstairs, feeling yet another gush.
By this time, it's 10:50 PM, and I pretty much assume that my water must be breaking. So I called my mom and dad, who of course had just gone to bed like 15 minutes earlier, to come and get me. I also called the doctor to check and see what I was supposed to do because I'd never actually gone into labor before since I was induced with Emma. When Dr. Bliss called me back and went over my symptoms with me, she advised me to go ahead and go to Labor and Delivery. So here I am, on my own, with a child sleeping upstairs, trying to stay calm enough to wrap my head around what was happening. I, of course, had nothing packed. I wasn't supposed to be going into labor - I was just 1cm dilated at 3pm! I was getting induced on Sunday, not having a baby today! I hadn't even had time to dye my hair yet...lol!
But there was definitely no going back, I was definitely in labor, and my ever increasing contractions were there to remind me of it! I tried to hobble around and collect things to pack in my bag, but the contractions were just coming and coming. By the time my parents got to the house, it was 11:20 PM, and I was in tears and so flustered that I couldn't get up and do anything. They helped me finish getting my bag together and got me out and into the car. Dad stayed behind with Emma, while mom took me to the hospital. There was no way she was letting my maniac driver of a dad take me! Of course, as she's safely driving along to the hospital, I'm just wishing she'd go faster. And muttering not nice things under my breath during contractions. Oh, and my water continues to break. So now, I'm in pain and have wet pants.
Friday, June 10, 12:05 AM: We finally arrive at the hospital! Of course since it's after hours, we have go in through the ER entrance. So I have mom park under the porte-cochere and go in to get someone because my contractions are coming every 2 1/2 minutes, are intense, and there's no way I'm going to walk. Plus, I'm crying about having gotten my mom's car seat all wet. People, I was a hot mess!
A very nice person came out with a wheelchair, helped me out of the car, and wheeled me into the ER. My doctor had already called ahead to let them know I was coming, so I sat and waited downstairs for Labor and Delivery to come down and get me while mom parked the car. Luckily, it wasn't that long of a wait. A quick trip upstairs and they ushered me into one of the L&D emergency rooms so I could be assessed. The nurse, bless her heart, kept asking me to do outrageous things, like undress and change into the hospital gown and get out of the wheelchair onto the hospital bed. I was just like, I CAN'T. Ow, ow, ow! Cry. When they finally got me situated and the on-call doc came in, she was like, Yep your water broke! No, really?!? When can I have the drugs? That is all I wanted to know. I was 50% effaced and 2-3 cm dilated.
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| Think I've got enough bands?!?! |
12:25 AM: I was waiting to be transferred over to a delivery room when I heard text messages coming from my phone. My mom checked my phone, and it was Kevin letting me know that he was in Victoria stopping for a break, and he wanted to know if I was okay. I should mention that at this point we hadn't exactly told Kevin that we had gone to the hospital. So, my mom decided to call him back and let him know that surprise! I was in labor. Luckily, I wasn't anywhere near ready to have the baby, so he had time to get there. Eventually, I got settled into a room, and they started the process of getting me all hooked up to the monitors and such. My night nurse Gigy was so nice and patient with me, even though I was being less than pleasant due to the pain from the contractions. I was pretty desperate to get some relief. So desperate, that I let Gigy put in my IV without any lidocaine to numb my hand first. And if you know anything about my previous history with IVs, this should tell you how much pain I was in. I was willing to do anything to get that epidural started.
1:15 AM: After they primed me with enough fluids, the nurses got a hold of the anesthesiologist to come start my epidural. Thankfully, he showed up pretty quickly after they paged him. Per protocol, my mom got sent out of the room while he placed the epidural. Even though my contractions were still coming pretty quickly, I was able to focus and sit still so that he could get it done. He was pretty quick at it too. After they got the epidural placed, the night nurses bustled around me getting me all setup with the catheter and positioned in the bed. As they were working, I told them that I was starting to feel warm and my ears were a little fuzzy sounding - the warning signs that I was going to pass out. I don't think the nurse really believed me, and the next thing I knew there were 3 or 4 nurses standing over me calling my name and trying to wake me up. Sure enough, I had passed out on them. I mean, it's been the theme of this pregnancy anyways, so why not one more time! Henry was fine throughout the whole episode, but my pulse ox and blood pressure dropped pretty low, so they put me on oxygen right away and turned off the drip from the epidural. Luckily, I had gotten enough of a bolus from the epidural that everything was good and numb. However, I knew from my pregnancy from Emma that I hated having an oxygen mask on; it just makes me feel claustrophobic, so I got them to switch it out for a cannula and all was right with the world.
Just after 2 AM: So while all this drama was going on, my poor mom was still being kept out of the room and had started to wonder what was taking so long. About the time that she was finally let back in the room, Kevin had arrived. I was never so glad to see the two of them as I was then. My mom will tell you that after the epidural I was a much nicer person - she says I was like I was in one of those Snickers commercials. She told Kevin he did not want to see me without that epidural; it wasn't pretty. I just kept saying, I don't see how some women do it without meds! Props to them, I am not made of such stern stuff. But since I was mostly comfortable, we all tried to settle in for a little sleep and wait for Henry to do his thing.
4 AM: Eventually, the epidural meds that I had been given started to wear off. So I paged the nurse to let them know that I wasn't in pain yet but starting to get uncomfortable. She checked my vitals and since everything was looking okay, she started the machine back up (once it cooperated), and we were back into bliss again.
5 AM: An hour later the night nurse came to check to my progress (so much for getting any sleep), and I only had progressed to 5 cm dilated but was 80% effaced. The contractions were still coming pretty regularly at every 2 minutes but they weren't necessarily always strong ones. At this point, I was starting to get super thirsty and wanted nothing more than to just down a big glass of water. But only ice chips for me...sniff, sniff.
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| Morning snuggles with Pappy |
7 AM: Two hours and a shift change later, Dr. Lin, my OB, stopped by on her morning rounds to check my progress. Let me tell you a little bit about my OB, she is THE perkiest little Asian woman you have ever met. At 7 AM in the morning, she was moving at lightning speed like the good little morning person she must be. I, on the other hand, was not feeling it. I was tired from the nurses having to come in adjust my fetal monitors, taking my vitals, and just being in labor. So it totally didn't help when after Dr. Lin checked me to find out that I was still the same, and there'd been no more progress. She told me just to hold tight and let my body do its thing.
After getting an update from the doctor, I sent Kevin to get some breakfast, and my mom finally headed back to my house to help my dad with Emma and get her and the dog packed up to go to their house while I was in the hospital. My dad had said that at some point during the night Emma had woken up and wanted her mommy, so he had to go up there. When she asked where I was, he told her I was sleeping. So the next morning when she got up, my dad was in the living room watching TV, I guess, and she told him he needed to be quiet so he didn't wake up mommy. Eventually, when my mom got there they told her I was at the hospital with daddy waiting on baby Henry. She was pretty excited!
10 AM: It was actually a pretty quiet morning; we turned the TV on for a little bit just for some distraction. But to be honest, I was starting to get antsy. I was hot and uncomfortable and just really hadn't been able to fully get any relaxing sleep. When the nurse came in to check me, I had at least progressed more and was 6-7cm dilated and still 80% effaced. When I told her that I was hot and uncomfortable, she was on it! She got our A/C in the room turned down, which helped immediately, and then she told me the best thing ever - the epidural machine had a button to push for more relief!!! I guess in all the confusion of me passing out when they put it in and then having it epidural turned off, they forgot to tell me I could give myself more medicine if I felt uncomfortable. You better believe I pushed that blessed button, and then I finally drifted off into a nice TWO HOUR nap, as did Kevin. After our naps, I sent Kevin for some more ice and to get him some lunch. I might have also snuck in a few sips of water here and there.
2:40 PM: Time to get checked again! I had made it to 8cm and was now fully effaced, and the baby was at station 0 meaning Henry had settled into my pelvis but wasn't into the birth canal yet. Progress! But also the reason for the increasing discomfort on my end. I was also starting to get a little anxious at this point and that was making me nauseous. So the nurse gave me a nice dose of Zofran, and I pushed my best friend the epi button and drifted off again.
4 PM: Guys, I swear I have the slowest moving children ever. At least in the birthing phase. When the nurse checked me again, I had just gotten to 9cm dilated. Baby Henry was just taking his dear ol' sweet time. I was not amused. And I pushed the epidural button.
As things got closer to 5PM and the shift change that was going to happen at 6PM, my nurses started to get a little antsy about when this baby was actually going to show up. Finally, my nurse decided that she was going have me turn on my side and put my leg up in a stirrup to see if she could get the last bit of my uterus that was in the way to move. She was also going to go get a bag of Pitocin to hang to see if that would help move things along some. I swear it was about 5 minutes after she moved me that my OB came in to do her evening rounds. The nurse had come back in with the bag to hang and was telling Dr. Lin what she had done when Dr. Lin checked me and let her know that Henry's head was clearly visible and let's hurry and get setup so I can push. Talk about going from nothing to something like that! I don't think the nurse ever even started the Pitocin.
Dr. Lin stepped out to go quickly check on the rest of her patients, and our room became a flurry of people as everyone got setup for Henry's impending arrival. They flipped me back onto to my back and got me settled into the stirrups. I think the nurse thought she was going to have to have me do some practice pushes to get the birth started. So she had me do one, and then was like, STOP, we need Dr. Lin! Apparently, Henry was ready, and I'm really efficient at pushing. Dr. Lin scampered in and suited up, and three big pushes later Henry was born at 5:38 PM! Kevin cut the cord, they whisked Henry over to take his vitals and clean him up while Dr. Lin finished up with me, and that was it!!
Henry Thomas Banes was here!
(And not 9lbs, thank you very much!)
(And not 9lbs, thank you very much!)
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Weight: 7lbs, 8oz
Length: 18.5 inches
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Of course, everyone else was super excited to meet him too! So much so, that for the second time no remembered to take our family's picture together. Oh well!
We spent the next two days cuddling, eating, and sleeping a lot. I mean, a lot. One time the day nurse came in for vitals, and all three of us were so passed out that no one even moved when she walked in, and she didn't have the heart to wake any of us. We almost didn't get discharged the last day because Henry's bilirubin levels came back elevated. So he went under the UV lights for the majority of the day to get it under control. Later that afternoon, his levels were good, and we were released to go home! My parents were awesome and agreed to keep Emma and Lizzy one more night so that the three of us could settle in at home and make it through the first night without having to worry about having two extras under foot. The next day when they got home everyone was definitely happy to be back together, and we started our journey together as a family of four! 
