I was scheduled for an induction on Friday, August 5th at 5 am which also happens to be my birthday. I was supposed to be at the hospital at 445 am which means we were setting our alarms for 330 am. Holy crap, that is early. Kim (Gammy) came out to stay with us on Thursday night so she could be with Cole. She decided to take Cole to day care since they were having a splash day and he was pretty excited about it. Also, she wanted to be able to come up to the hospital during the day so maybe she could be there when Cass was born.
So we arrived at the hospital on time and they took me to a room to get started with all the paperwork and IVs and stuff. I was set up and ready to start Pitocin at 6 am. I also had to start a double round of Penicillin because I was positive for Group B Strep. I was forewarned that the Penicillin would hurt going in, but she tried to dilute it and make it go slowly. It still hurt pretty badly, though. I asked for an epidural for the Penicillin. Haha Dr. Atkins arrived around 730 to break my water. That was weird. My water broke with Cole, but it was a trickle until I got to the hospital. So when she broke my water with Cass, it was just a big gush. It felt like I was peeing myself except I had no control over it. Super weird.
I was having a few small contractions before they started my Pitocin, but of course after they started it the contractions started coming pretty regular, but they weren’t too bad yet. They checked me when I first got there and I was still about a 2. So after being on Pitocin for 4 hours they checked me again and I was a 4 (at 10 am). They also started another round of Penicillin. Things were starting to progress pretty well with my contractions so we started talking epidural. I decided if I’m going to get one eventually I might as well go ahead and get it because there’s no need in being in pain for no reason. So I had my epidural by around 1030.
The epidural was supposed to be a 2 hour spinal block and then after that a regular epidural (like I had with Cole). He warned of “hot spots” where you could still have feeling. Well I ended up being one of the lucky ones who experiences hot spots. I had an area in my lower left abdomen that I could still feel everything. It was dulled, but it was still painful. By the time I go the epidural the contractions had started getting pretty painful. I was not in excruciating pain, but I can tell you that if that epidural hadn’t kicked in when it did, I would have been soon. So I pushed “the button” for a booster of my epi for the “hot spot.” It didn’t work either, so the nurse anesthetist came back and did something that worked. Whatever it was…I have no idea, but it worked.
I had made the comment that I should definitely have the baby in the 2 hours before the regular epidural kicked in. Well, since I had that extra whatever, the full on spinal block stuck with me longer than 2 hours. The bad thing about the block is I couldn’t feel my legs at all. So moving was absolutely a struggle. I couldn’t lift my legs! They checked me at 12 and I was at a 7. The nurses had made me lay on my left side because Cass was having decelerations. I also had to wear an oxygen mask. This is exactly what happened with Cole. They told me that his decelerations were bad but not scary bad because he was rebounding quickly and well. He was going from around 150 to 80 bpm when I was having contractions. If he had dipped to 50, they would have been more concerned, but as it was they were just watching very closely.
It was very scary, though, to sit there and listen to your baby’s heartbeat go that low. At one point I was like, oh my gosh, is it going to stop?! I was a little freaked out. They said that the decelerations could be because the cord was wrapped around his neck, or compressed in some way, or because he was descending so fast. Well, it ended up being because of his fast descent.
So after they checked me at 12 and I was at a 7, and they got the epidural “fixed” I was sitting there not feeling my legs or anything else below my waist and all of a sudden I felt the slightest bit of pressure. It wasn’t anything horrible or substantial, but I felt like I better go ahead and call the nurse just in case. So they came in pretty quickly and checked me. Oh, I forgot…I had an intern nurse, Ashley. She stayed with me the majority of the day and her supervising nurse, Courtney, came a couple of times when it got closer. So when Courtney would check me, but wouldn’t say what she felt, then Ashley would check me and she would tell Courtney what she thought it was to see if she was right or not. So Courtney checked me and her face and actions pretty much gave it away, but Ashley went ahead and checked me too. It was time to have a baby! They called the doctor and started getting me in position to start pushing.
Dr. Atkins showed up seriously like 3 minutes later. They had me put my legs up and they literally had to hold them up for me. They were just DEAD! I started pushing and Cass was born about 15 minutes later. It was 1:02 pm and he weighed 8 pounds even and was 20 inches long. He scored 9 and 9 on his Apgars. Oh, and they put him on my chest right after he was born. He was ooey and gooey, but he was beautiful and amazing! The funny thing is, though, after everything calmed down, they brought me a delicious sandwich and Dr. Pepper (just like after Cole was born), and I was chowing down. I looked down and I had dried blood all over my hand. LOL I didn’t even care, I just kept eating.
We got put in a postpartum room and pretty soon thereafter Gammy brought Cole up to meet his new brother. Cole was a little cautious when he entered the room, but he climbed up in bed with me and gave me a hug and kiss. We introduced him and Cass and he really didn’t pay too much attention. We gave Cole his gift from Cass (a new train) and all he cared about was playing with his train. But, I got him to come up in the bed with me and take a couple of pics with me and Cass. He gave Cass a kiss on the head and he even held him for about 2 seconds. Then he said “here you go Daddy” and handed him back. He really did a pretty good job. And ever since then he’s done pretty well, too. He even shared his trains with him a couple of nights later. That was a big step!
Cass stayed in the room with us that night. It went pretty well. He was awake for a good portion of the night, but he just laid there looking around. He’s been a very alert newborn. He really has only cried when he’s hungry or when you change his diaper or bathe him. But, boy oh boy, does he like to eat. He’s very similar to his brother in that way. He eats and eats and eats. He just has to fight his hands all the time. You’re trying to put the bottle in his mouth and he’s so busy trying to eat his hands you can’t get the bottle in his mouth. He just chews on his hands and then every once in a while sucks on a finger.
As far as how he looks, I didn’t really think he looked like Cole when he was born. He has a head full of brown hair, unlike Cole who had blond peach fuzz. It was very crazy to us that Cass has dark hair. The older he gets, the more I can see Cole. They might end up looking a lot alike. But, I think Cass looks more like Justin than Cole did when he was first born. Cole looked more like me when he was born. But, they change so much it’s really hard to say.
We only stayed one night in the hospital and they sent us home on Saturday afternoon. Cass has been doing great ever since and Cole is doing pretty well, too. Every once in a while Cole gets stingy and has to tell Cass it’s “his ball” or “his Thomas”, and we have to remind Cole that Cass doesn’t want his toys, but that he shouldn’t be so stingy. It’s going to be a long road, I’m sure, but they’re doing great so far.
We are formula feeding Cass, but I did pump some milk on Sunday and we fed Cass with it, but for some reason it didn’t really agree with Cass’ stomach. So we have just decided to stick with formula. We’ll see if he ends up having the same issues Cole had with formula. I hope he doesn’t, but we’ll just deal with it as it comes.
Whew! That’s it I think…I know it’s super long, but I just wanted to make sure I got all of this down before I started forgetting stuff. I have to say, I feel pretty special to share my birthday with such a sweet, special little boy. I'm so very blessed!
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