And Then 3 became 4...continued

Last blog post we were JUST getting to the good part! Here is the continuation and conclusion of Matty's birth!

Enjoying some computer time before they realized my blood pressure was too high and forced me to lay flat for the next 11 hours or so. :-) I was on facebook updating everyone! ;-)

It was Monday, June 28th, as I went to my 39 week doctor's appointment. I had been HOPING to talk them into letting me be induced on my due date since my mom would be here to watch Caelynn. I also had been having some severe pelvic pain from Matty due to an excess of the hormone "Relaxin" (couldn't remember that from my last blog post) - my joints were separating a bit too much and causing severe pain. Secretly, my mom was praying that they would induce me immediately so that I'd already have had the baby by the time she got there so she'd be there to help me when I came home from the hospital. Her prayers were answered. My blood pressure had been continually climbing the past several months with Monday's being 140/95. I called my husband to get home from work and alerted our dear friends from church that they'd be getting Cae for the night. Let me just say - while I didn't believe that they would induce me that day, I had slept horribly the night before - waking with butterflies and a nervous stomach like I did the night before I was induced with Cae. Eerie.

My husband came home, I quickly vacuumed through the downstairs. Yes, I'm that ridiculous. :-) It was partly nerves (I clean when I'm really nervous, aggitated, angry, or worked up about things), but also because I realized that my mom would be seeing my house for the very 1st time in about 2 days so I wanted it to look good before I left. My mom has a medical condition that makes flying very difficult for her. When Caelynn was born she was told she absolutely COULD NOT fly out to Hawaii with her condition. Thankfully, she and her doctor had been working since the time I announced I was pregnant with Matty on getting her condition under control in attemps to fly out. Anyway, I vacuumed, emptied the trash, packed my bags and Cae's, and got ready to go. After seeing Cae off (can't even tell you how hard I was crying while vacuuming through the house at the thought of being away from my baby girl for the first time in her entire life), we left for the hospital and arrived around 1:30. By 3:30 I had FINALLY had all of the preliminary paper work finished, the I.V. inserted (done by a resident and the anesthesiologist, which took two tries after much bruising - OW!!!), and the cervadil in place to help soften my cervix. This time I was determined to get my epidural A.S.A.P. I tried the "brave" route with Cae - and I realized that there is no special trophy at the end for going "natural" versus "comfortable". Plus, I already knew it would be a long haul before Matty would make an appearance, although my day nurse assured me he would be delivered before the day shift would start over again. If it took 25 hours to have Cae a week LATE how long would it take to have Matty a week EARLY? I wasn't thrilled at that thought. I also realized that I am identical to two of my aunts that also had to be induced. Because you go from about ZERO contractions to hard and fast ones so quickly, your body doesn't adjust well and thus we tense our bodies during contractions instead of letting them do their job of bringing the body to a state of readiness for delivery. So, with the epidural in place, it allows our bodies to relax and deliver faster. Wish I would have known that BEFORE I had Caelynn. :-)

Things went well for a few hours. I had some mild contractions, which apparently I'd been having for several days. Who knew? :-) I started to progress nicely and began dilating on my own - hoping not to have to go the "pitocin route". As the contractions and discomfort mounted, I decided to get my epidural. This time hurt WAYYYYYYYYYYYY more than it did with Cae - the sting just from the numbing agent felt like 10 wasps stung in the same place. That should have been my sign that things were about to get worse. For a while the epidural worked wonderfully, and they decided to start me on pitocin. Thankfully I felt nothing. The only bummer was that due to my high blood pressure, I had to stay completely flat in bed, which made it almost impossible to read the awesome book I had brought with me to keep me occupied. Around midnight or so I stopped dilating and became stuck at 4 1/2 cm (can I even EXPRESS how excited I had been to go from a 0 to 4 1/2 in just a few hours? I was like, "This is it! I can be NORMAL this time!!!" It was pretty discouraging. They decided to up my pitocin in an attempt to get me into the 2nd phase of labor. Around this time I started to feel more and more pain/pressure and called for the anesthesiologist. I started to get a bit worried - the epidural surely couldn't have worn off that fast! The anesthesiologist came in several times to give me a "boost", coming back 10 minutes later to find out that it wasn't taking, and I was almost writhing in pain. After about 3 "boost" attempts and me almost in tears in pain, he determined that my epidural would have to be redone. I was dreading getting stuck again but the pain, at this point, was unbearable. I could literally feel Matthew's head stuck on my pelvic bone and not descending. Sitting up and trying to be still through such painful contractions was incredibly difficult. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist determined that the epidural had slipped out and would be able to be replaced without having to "restick" me. During this time my blood pressure spiked to 200/120 (apparently very dangerous) so they tried to get me back down A.S.A.P. Monitors were going off and I remember my nurse saying, "She needs to LAY DOWN!" Rich remembers none of this. :-) I love my man to pieces, but between about 11 p.m. - 5 a.m., he gets pretty cranky and is completely out of it. He snored/slept through most of the night while I watched a "Cake Boss" marathon b/c that was the only thing on besides soccer. Don't even get me started. Thankfully the epidural took AGAIN, and I was pain free...for a time.

After about an hour or two the pelvic pain came back and increased with each contraction. I started sobbing and asked the nurse to please bring the doctor in (whom I had never met. Our medical insurance company is awesome but because they have so many facilities in the area, their ob/gyns all take rounds in the hospital so you can almost guarantee that you won't have ever met the one who delivers your baby. At the point of delivery, ladies...do you really care? I don't care if it's my pastor, mailman, president of the U.S...just get the kid OUT!)

They determined that I wasn't dilating b/c Matthew was face up instead of face down and was stuck. They upped the pitocin again and the doctor left. The pain kept getting worse and worse, and I didn't think I could make it any longer - I couldn't even lay still in the bed. I called in the nurse and literally started BEGGING for an emergency c-section. I'm not bragging - but I have a pretty high tolerance for pain so to get that point of almost being hysterical, it's not good. It felt like Matthew was literally pushing my bones apart. She kept saying, "I'm so sorry, sweetie, but we just have to bear through this." (I should mention that she looked to be about 19 years old and never had a kid - so this whole "we" and "bear through this" jargon was ANNOYING!!!) I have never wanted to slap somebody as hard as I wanted to slap her. I called out to the front desk and said, "I NEED A DOCTOR NOW!!!!!!!!!" Of course they send dippity-do-dah back in to me and she decides to check me. Low and behold I was at 10 cm and "ready to push". I didn't think it was physically possible but kept thinking, "The harder you push, the sooner you are done." My doctor (a female this time around and that made SUCH a difference) was INCREDIBLE! Soft spoken, sweet, and so incredibly encouraging. I'm so thankful for her...even though I can't for the life of me remember her name. She had me do short, fast pushes to avoid tearing. Thankfully Matty turned during the first pushes and was able to be delivered in about 10 minutes. I wanted to die. Sometime during this period I muttered to my husband, "I am NEVER having children with you EVER AGAIN!!!" That was my only "Real Housewives of Denver" moment. I know some women scream at, curse at, or try to physically assault their husbands. :-) That was the first time I ever was mean to him during labor/delivery. He just doesn't know what to do and thinks the typical man mindset of, "There isn't anything I can actually do to take her pain away so I'll stand over here." My tip to male readers either going on this journey or may ever go on this journey of child bearing...if she asks you to hold her hand, hold it. If she asks you to stroke her hair, do it. If she wants ice chips, get them. If she wants you to leave the room, leave the room. We don't care if you are hungry, tired, or have to go to the bathroom. This time is NOT.ABOUT.YOU. There, I'm done. You're welcome.

My beloved Matty just seconds after he was born!

Anyway, Matthew David Paul McConnell was born on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 5:51 a.m. mountain time. During the end of my pregnancy I had wagered that he'd weight a pound more than Caelynn. I was just OUNCES away from being 100% right! Cae (born a week late, remember) was 6 lb 15.9 oz.   Matthew (a week EARLY) was 7 lbs 11oz. Both of my kids came exactly one week before or after the due date. Both kids were induced and both were induced on a Monday and born on a Tuesday. Easy to remember. And THAT is extreme planning. ;-) Just kidding. But it DOES make it easy to remember!

One awesome thing about Matty's birth...after having such a scary time during Caelynn's delivery and then having her rushed away immediately, I was praying over and over throughout my pregnancy that I'd be able to hold him and see him right away. As soon as Matthew as born, they placed him directly on me, and I was able to have a few special moments with him (and notice that my baby was a blondie!). That was such a blessing. And that concludes our journey on the fun road of the arrival of Matty. :-)