The idea of me detailing my labor might bore you to tears...if you don't want to read this it won't offend me because I will never know! :)
I had resigned myself to the idea of an induction on 3/19...well it was more than resignation...I was beginning to see all the perks of a scheduled delivery. As we all know by now, Little D had other plans!
Thurs night, 3/15: Graem & the boys & I went to Sam's Club. As I was walking around Sam's I was having more frequent Braxton Hicks contractions (ie not painful but contractions nonetheless) and was feeling more pressure from the baby. Kept thinking about it being the 15th of the month...I went into labor with both M&R on the 15th of their birth months. Didn't go into labor but didn't sleep but a few hours that night!
Fri morning: Met Tara, Ruth Ann & Tripp at the zoo...beautiful day...I felt good! Tara made sure she knew how to get to first aid...just in case!
Fri pm: Dinner at El Chico...spicy food. Came home, put boys to bed. Graem started up the BGE and put on a boston butt to smoke overnight for his dad's birthday dinner on Saturday. I was getting ready to go to bed early since I didn't sleep the night before...water broke at about 8:45 pm! Sydney rushed over to STN with Mason & Roper. Grandparents headed to Lexington. They were in for a long night...
10:00-10:30 PM Admitted to hospital (had to first go through triage to confirm that my water broke...there was no doubt in my mind, this was the third time after all!) Moved us back to the labor & delivery room.
1:00 AM Requested epidural.
1:30 AM Nurse - "I'm sorry but we can't find your blood work in the lab. We'll have to re-do your blood work before we can give you the epidural."
For real?
2:30 AM Finally get the epidural (1.5 hours and many contractions later).
ahhhh...
2:40 AM The nurses call in my doctor because the baby's heartbeat is irregular.
3:00 AM They decide to put a scalp electrode on D's head to monitor heart. They discover he is ready to be born.
Why did I get the epidural??
3:15 AM The delivery room is in a frenzy as extra nurses and doctors come in. Everyone is concerned about the heart rate. I just want to see my baby!
3:25 AM Baby Duncan is born!!
When Mason and Roper were born, I immediately got to hold them. When Duncan was born, Graem cut the cord, I got a good look at him, then the doctors whisked him off to listen to his heart. First they were listening to him with stethoscopes and I could see plainly on their faces that what they were hearing was not what they wanted to hear. It was really very scary.
They decided to take him down to special care to put him on a heart monitor, on the way out the door they let me hold him for about 5 seconds and they let Graem hold him for about 2.5 seconds! I felt so helpless. If it weren't for that blasted epidural I would have been right there with them in special care!
No one wants to see their baby hooked up to all these cords!
6:00 AM The nurses move us to our room.
6:30 AM Finally get to see D again, feed him. He can't come back to our room because they are still monitoring his heart.
7:30-9:00 AM Cat nap. Duncan has EKG that confirms irregular heart rhythms, aka arrhythmia. Pediatric cardiologist explained that there is a flap in his heart that is immature/not fully developed that is causing the arrhythmia. He expects that as he grows it will fix itself, possibly even by Duncan's 2-week check-up (scheduled for 4/3)!!
9:30 AM Doctors take Duncan off monitor and let him come to our room. He gets to meet his brothers and many other family members and friends! What a lucky little fella!!
At Duncan's 4-day check-up last Wednesday, our pediatrician could still hear the arrhythmia but said it is much improved. Although it was scary because it was so unexpected, I really have a peace about it and know that he is going to be just fine!