Five on Friday - Hospital Bag Essentials

 With my first baby I read all the blog posts and pinned all the pinterest tips.

And laughed at myself in the hospital.

I overpacked and underused.  BIG TIME.

I have no desire to stay in the hospital 'as long as insurance will cover'.  Heck to the no.  I want out right away!  Though - last time my husband invited his entire family to meet the baby.

#nothappy

That also required me to get dressed and look "presentable" while everyone passed the baby around and wanted to chit chat.  All while I was sore, wearing a diaper, and trying to figure out how to nurse.

This time - no visitors.

I really don't feel like hosting guests in my hospital room while I'm trying to recover.

You mama's know what I mean - bleeding, sweating, nursing, and bonding with your precious new baby.

With that in mind I packed the following

1.

Coming home outfit - for me and baby - and pajamas for dad.

Gillian O'Malley nusring cami from Target

Mine consisted of stretchy yoga pants, nursing cami, cardigan (with no buttons or zippers!) and slip on shoes.  Baby had two outfits packed.  Depending on gender ;)

When Justin left to pick up #wiggydiggy to come meet his new brother, he stopped at home first to change his clothes.

Once I was admitted, I only wore the hospital gown they gave me (hello bodily fluids and such).

#meshpantiesforlife

2.

Boppy!

My favorite nursing friend and perfect pillow for dad to sleep on :)

3.

My travel bag of toiletries.

The hospital shampoo and conditioner leave a lot to be desired.  I only took one shower in the hospital, but it was so nice to use my own products.

Yes, I did pack make-up.  Just the bare bones - light foundation, concealer, and mascara.  Shout out to my favorite lipstick!  It stayed on through labor and delivery!
Even though I felt like I had been run over by a truck and finished off by a steam roller, I felt more like myself when I freshened up and got ready to head home.

4.

Phone charger

Between Justin and myself, at least one phone was plugged in at all times.

5.

My manila file of important documents

This included everything for insurance and work benefits that I needed my doctor or hospital staff to sign.  I also put in all of the documents I received from the hospital.

Everything was packed in our favorite diaper bag:
Pottery Barn Classic Bag

I don't use the bag on a daily basis - I have a insert for my purse with the essentials.  This bag is our standard travel baby bag.  We have it in gray and I LOVE it.  I can see the boys using it as a overnight or weekender bag when they get older.

BiggyWigs Birth Story

It was no secret that I was more than ready for #BabyWigs (now #BiggyWigs) to arrive.  After being told for many weeks that I wouldn't make it to 40 weeks, my patience was at the breaking point come D-Day, May 14th.  That morning I had my 40 week appointment.  I hadn't slept well due to intermittent contractions and the thought that I would be waking up on my due date.  To say I was a bit disappointed would be an understatement.  I was more than ready to meet my baby!

My doctor is amazing.  Just the absolute best.  She was shocked I was in her office still pregnant so she offered to strip my membranes to help get things moving.

Oh boy, did they.

I left her office and had contractions every five to seven minutes until I left work at 3 PM.

They weren't unbearable, but I didn't have high hopes that they were going to progress.  In the weeks previous, my contractions would always dissipate by bedtime.  Thinking they wouldn't turn into anything, I picked up #wiggydiggy from school and we took the car to the car wash.  Lil man LOVED the special treat and I had to focus on breathing through contractions.  I was making progress!

Justin was golfing in a charity tournament across town.  We had discussed how I would let him know it was 'go time' that morning but I just couldn't bring myself to send him the '911 Labor' text.  Instead he ended up texting me about 4 PM to let me know they were on the last hole.  I let him know I had been having contractions all day and that he needed to come home as soon as he was done.  As fate would have it, I had a BIG contraction right around 5.  I sent Justin a text saying - COME HOME ASAP.  2 minutes later he called and said he got the text just as he was getting into his car!  All while this was going on, I was making sure #wiggdiggy had dinner, was occupied playing outside and prepping for my Mother in Law's arrival.  She would stay with #wiggydiggy while we were at the hospital.

Both she and Justin arrived home at the same time.  I sent Justin to take a quick shower and I did the MOST logical thing and loaded the dishwasher, wiped all the counters down, and sorted the dirty clothes.

Once Justin was showered and ready we gave #wiggydiggy lots and lots of hugs and kisses and started to leave.  While in the garage I heard him through the door scream and cry to give his Mama one more kiss.  I went back and held my baby for the last time.  A few more kisses and he was ok to go play with his Nana.

The entire drive to the hospital I only had one contraction.  I felt like the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf'.  I even asked Justin to turn around and go home - it had to be false labor.  He suggested we at least get checked out.  I was at 3cm that morning at my drs appointment, so surely I had made more progress.  After admitting paperwork, we went to triage and progress had been made...but barely - I was at 4 cm.  Contractions were also coming every 3 minutes and getting stronger.  We stayed in triage for an hour for monitoring when the nurse came back and said we were being admitted, but we could walk around the halls until my room was ready.  Walking made the pain 10 times worse.

(Wasn't until the following morning we figured out why)

Once we got in our room I was begging for an epidural.  Contractions were intensifying and I was barely getting a break between them.  According to the nurse I was 8 cm.

WHAT?!

The silver lining to arriving at the hospital after business hours is that labs and ordering an epidural go super fast.  Shortly after the epidural was administered (which I never felt a thing.  God bless.) my doctor arrived.  She disagreed with the nurse and said I was only 5 cm.

Major disappointment.

It was about 9 PM and everyone guessed baby would be here by midnight.  So we took the opportunity of me being pain free to grab some shut eye.  Unfortunately I never progressed through the night.  My contractions stayed intense and coming every two minutes.  Thanks to my epidural I slept most of the night.  But by 5:30AM, the nurses and my doctor were baffled by my lack of dilation with the contractions I was having.

So they broke my water.

SURPRISE!!

To spare you the gory details - the average woman has 1 quart of amniotic fluid.  My doctor estimated I had closer to 3 quarts.  My stomach visibly got smaller (and holy moly did it feel better!) and I continued to gush fluid with each contraction.  I also progressed steadily at that point.

6 AM water broke

630 AM - 6 cm

715 AM - 7 cm

740 AM - 8 cm

830 AM - 10 cm

11 minutes of pushing and here HE was!

A BOY!

I wish I had taken a photo of Justin's face when he saw our baby.  Pure joy.

After he was born my doctor said she wished she had broken my water the night before.  Hindsight is 20/20.  I never had any signs of excess amniotic fluid.  I was measuring right on track and had even gained the same amount of weight that I did with #wiggydiggy.  The excess fluid did explain why my contractions got worse when I was walking (gravity brought baby down).  My doctor also noticed my placenta felt heavy.  We all looked at that amazing organ and then the nurse took it to be weighed.  2 pounds!!  The average placenta is 1 1/2 pounds!  No wonder I felt like an over stretched balloon!!

(also, special note here - no tears!  I still have no clue how that happened)

#BiggyWigs latched right on and nursed for just over 2 hours.

Then we got our 3rd shock of the day.

He weighed 9 pounds 4 oz.

Needless to say, my stomach felt amazing after giving birth!

#wiggydiggy's Birth Story

When J and I started trying for a family, I would spend hours scouring the blog world reading birth stories.  I loved knowing that women like me had gone through an amazing miracle and would share their stories with the world.  I found so many to be helpful and educational, as well as inspiring and hopeful.  Maybe my story will be remembered by some other mother-to-be.

Saturday November, 29th

I felt my first contraction.  On a pain scale of 1 to 10, they topped out at maybe a 1.5.  When I would get up and walk around, the contractions would end and I felt fine.  A few hours after they started, they were over.  False Labor it was!  J was at a Carroll College football game and I waited to tell him I was experiencing false labor until he got home.  The rest of the evening we spent relaxing and I went to bed not feeling another one.  

Now - to backtrack some here.  J and I were being very careful up until Thanksgiving that we wouldn't do anything that could possibly jump start labor.  Being constantly told we were going to go early had us on high alert until after the holiday.  I was excited that the first sign of any progress showed up the Saturday after Thanksgiving :)

Sunday November 30th

That evening, false labor came back.  Once again the sporadic and inconsistent contractions would end if I got up and walked around.  Just a few hours after they began, they ended.  I had my 39 week appointment Wednesday, December 3rd and I was excited that I had finally felt a contractions so I could have my Dr check to see if I was making any progress, though I still believed my baby wouldn't arrive until closer to December 10th.

Tuesday night December 2nd

J and I had dinner and headed to bed a little early.  Then we ended up staying up later than expected talking about the future and all of the possible changes.  I finally fell asleep around 10:30.  J fell asleep at 11:45.

Wednesday December 3rd

Around 1:00 in the morning I was woken up by an 'odd' feeling.  In my sleep induced state, I assumed I needed to use the restroom so I began my '9 month pregnancy rock' to scoot me to the edge of the bed.  As quick as the feeling came, it ended, so I just fell back asleep.  This happened a few more times before I finally woke up enough to realize that something was going on.  I grabbed my phone off the night stand and started tracking my contractions.  By the 4th contraction I realized that we may be in for the long haul.  One whole week early!!

In an effort to let J sleep longer, I headed to the family room to watch some TV and pass the time.  I barely made it an hour before I started to become concerned.  The pain was only a 3, but they were coming 3 minutes apart for 45 seconds.

Knowing that my Dr wanted us to head to the hospital at 5-1-1 (5 minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour) and I was almost at 3-1-1, it was time to start thinking about heading to the hospital.  I was still in denial that "real" labor was starting so I decided to hop in the shower to see if my labor would slow down or maybe stop.  I woke J up just after 2 AM to let him know that I was contracting and going to shower.  After 30 minutes of standing in the hot water and contractions were not slowing but intensifying, I decided I might as well wash up and get ready to head to the hospital.  J came in at this time to check on me and agreed that we needed to load up the hospital bag.

At 3:30 in the morning we pulled up at the hospital and checked in.  I was thinking I was at least at 3 cm dilated because I was hovering around a 4 on the pain scale.  When I was checked I was only 1.5 cm dilated so the nurse recommended we walk the halls for an hour and get re-checked.  (hello party of wimp)  While J and I were walking I would pull him in front of me and put my head in the middle of his chest and grip his arms.  He would then zip his jacket back up once we started walking.  After the third time doing this, and ripping his jacket zipper back down so I didn't head butt it, I finally growled at him mid-contraction.  "Leave your damn zipper alone!".   I did apologize once baby arrived. :)

After an hour of walking the halls I was checked and had made no progress.  (according to that nurse. Our delivery nurse, Orpha, told us she saw us leave that morning and knew I'd be back in that morning, I was laboring fast.)  With a "pep talk" from the nurse saying 'Labor is a marathon, not a sprint' (said in your most annoying voice) I felt defeated.  I knew that I was exhausted from no sleep and couldn't walk the halls for another hour.  The contractions were stronger and I was losing the ability to talk through them.  I asked J to take me home to labor for a while hoping I could rest between them and maybe even catch a little sleep.  We got home around 6 AM and I tried to nap on the couch but contracting every 2-3 minutes didn't give me much of a break.  So J ran me a hot bath and the sweet guy pulled in all of the blankets from the living room so he could lay on the floor next to me while I was in pain.

As much as I appreciated his concern, I told J to head to bed because I really needed him to get some sleep before the show really got going.  I was going to be leaning on him for my strength and if he was exhausted it wouldn't do either of us any good.  He reluctantly headed to bed and set his alarm for 20 minutes to come check on me.  The hot bath did WONDERS for the pain and I was finally able to close my eyes for just a few minutes.  Then THE contraction hit.  I went from a 3/4 on the pain scale to a 7.  I swear I was climbing the shower wall.  The next 15 minutes were a blur of me trying to put my clothes back on in the middle of much more intense contractions and then trying to find a comfortable position to labor in.  I was afraid if we headed back to the hospital I wouldn't have made much progress and I couldn't be admitted.  J saw how much pain I was in and encouraged me to hit the road.  This time, there was no way I could sit in the front seat.  I COULD NOT labor sitting down.  So instead I climbed into the very back of the Jeep and rocked back and forth on my hands and knees until we arrived.

**Contractions are NO JOKE!**

At the hospital I was in so much pain that I wouldn't let J stop at the admitting desk on the main floor.  Instead I headed straight to the elevator to go to the Woman and Children's floor.  When we walked to the main desk full of nurses at 9:30 in the morning J announces ' She was at a 5 earlier, but she's at an 8 now.'  I was in the middle of a contraction I couldn't breathe through and the nurses jumped to life at his announcement.  Once I could breathe, I informed them '8 on the pain scale.'  That brought out a few laughs!  Turns out, J wasn't far off.  

Our most amazing nurse, Orpha, took us to a room and checked me.  Less than 3 hours after we left the hospital at 1.5 cm dilated, I was 7 cm dilated and beginning transition.  As soon as she made the announcement I yelped out "Epidural!  I want one now!'.  I was suddenly scared that if an epidural wasn't administered soon, I would end up delivering with out pain meds.  That sent me into slight hysterics.  I was in excruciating pain, my back would not stop hurting and contractions were coming 2-2 1/2 minutes a part and lasting for a minute or longer.  For someone who's never had menstrual cramps, this was a whole new experience and one I was not mentally prepared for.

The next hour was a blur of nurses putting in an IV (which I don't remember at all.  J said I put my arm behind me, buried my face in the side of the bed and groaned through contractions), running blood work and having Orpha massage my back while J let me attempt to break his fingers.

Side note - I had no clue I am able to grip that tightly.  I don't even remember holding his hands that hard!  He had to take off his wedding ring between contractions because I was causing him pain.

Once the anesthesiologist arrived, I was hopeful that I would make it.  I had gotten inside my head that the pain was never going to end but I refused to announce that 'I can't do this'.  I refused to have a C-Section if I could help it and I was mentally struggling with my capabilities.  J on the other hand, was a rock.  I knew that putting my strength in him was going to get me through the next few contractions before the epidural kicked in.  The epidural process was quick and painless.

Once the epidural kicked in, it was a whole different world.  My super awesome Dr had arrived during my contractions, but I was in so much pain I hadn't noticed.  I finally saw her and was excited that this was really it!  Our baby is coming!!  At 11:00 she checked me and said I was at a 9 and she asked to break my water.  I was ok with it and thankfully it was clear.  That gave me the go-ahead to nap for a little over an hour before I started pushing.  Orpha hung out in our room the whole time prepping for the baby and finishing admitting paperwork with J.

The only pre-birth photo.  Epidural was a success!

At 12:30 my Dr came back and checked me again,  She said baby's head was already coming through the birth canal and I could start pushing at anytime.  Orpha prepped the bed and J and I were giddy with excitement.  The best part of my epidural was that I could still feel my lower legs and I could feel some pressure when I was having a contraction.  I felt like I had some control during my pushes.  The downside to my epidural was my contractions had slowed down to 4 minutes apart.  After Orpha walked me through a few different pushing techniques and had me do some practice pushes, we began the real deal.  I honestly loved every minute of pushing.  J, my Dr and our nurse had a blast between contractions.  We were cracking jokes and debating baby's sex and birth weight.  Every time I laughed the baby made more progress too!  Who knew laughing would help push the baby out?!

1 1/2 hours after I started pushing, the baby's head was out and I felt time freeze as I stared at J's face.  I knew that the next words he said were going to tell me if I had a son or a daughter.  Once the baby was fully out, J's eyes filled with excitement and he said ' It's a boy!'.  I couldn't believe him and asked him to repeat himself.  'It's a boy!' he tearfully chocked out and we both started crying.  #wiggydiggy was put on my chest for skin to skin and J and I stared at him in awe.  I was totally oblivious to everything else in the room.  My Dr was stitching up my minor tear and delivering my placenta.  Our nurse and the baby's nurse were cleaning up the room and checking #wiggydiggy's stats.  Our hospital is amazing and does everything with the baby on momma's chest, so #wiggydiggy and I weren't separated until that evening when they weighed and measured him.   All the while J and I were staring teary eyed at our little boy.  Our son.

At 2:25 PM on Wednesday December 3rd, our son was born.  He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.

J and I are over the moon with our little man and couldn't be happier to be a family of three.  This chapter of our lives is going to be the greatest one yet.

So far my recovery has been a breeze and we are navigating nursing. Our lactation consultant was amazing and #wiggydiggy is plumping up nicely :). Now if only J would let me change a diaper!

Introducing

It's a BOY!!!!

nicknamed #wiggydiggy

12/03/2014

2:25 PM

7 lbs 5 oz

21 1/2 inches long

We are so in love.