Robby's Birth Story

These past 11 days have been a whirlwind. I am proud to say that I am the mommy of a gorgeous, healthy baby boy!

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a local Chinese restaurant. While there I had gotten a fortune cookie. The fortune had said "The next full moon will bring an enchanting evening". The next full moon at the time would be January 19th. This was 4 days after my due date. January 15th came and went. I understood that most first time pregnancies take a bit longer, but I was anxious. I met with my OB on January 18 and set a date for January 21 to be induced. I was upset though because I wanted my son to pick his own birthday. On January 19th, the full moon was out and I had gone to bed around 10pm. At 11:22pm I woke up with a sharp cramp. This was unlike any other pregnancy cramp I had. These continued through the next few hours and I could not sleep. I practiced my Lamaze breathing, which was working. By 3:30am the contractions were closer together so we were off to the hospital. Walking while contracting was so painful, the easiest way for me to breath through them was while laying down. When I was checked, I was 4 cm dilated. The contractions continued to shorten in time in-between and grow in pain. My intentions were to go through my entire labor with no medication. By the time I hit 6cm I had already been in labor for 7 hours. At this point I could no longer handle the pain. My legs hurt so much and I couldn't focus on breathing. I then made the decision to get an anesthesiologist in. While prepping for the epidural, my husband stood in front of me with the nurse. He got extremely weak and had to sit down on the floor. Because he nearly fainted, he had to watch everything from behind me. I could not feel the needle but the medicine shot a quick pain down my back. I was then given a catheter. After being given the epidural I was able to relax. I still felt pressure and watched my contractions on the screen, but no pain. It was expected that I would have a morning baby but once I hit 9cm, my contractions slowed down and I was starting to fall asleep. This is when a low dose of pitocin was administered. At 11:45am (just over 12 hours of labor) I was finally at 10cm and began pushing. My OB was in the hospital but had 3 other patients who came after me that he was also checking on. In the delivery room when I first began pushing was my husband, nurse and myself. It was so relaxing and between contractions we were talking and joking. Around 12:15pm my OB came in. My husband had my [lifeless] left leg and my nurse had my right. For some reason I had absolutely NO sensation in my entire left leg but when need I was able to move both legs. I was able to feel my son's head and they said he has my hair. At 12:33 I had my last push and my BIG boy was born. 8lbs, 9ou and 22 inches!! I couldn't believe it and I see now why I had gotten so many stretch marks and I was nothing but belly. About 2 hours postpartum I was asked to get up and try to use the restroom. I felt like a newborn animal learning to walk. My left leg was extremely shaky. By the time I got to the toilet I got very dizzy and fainted against the wall. I was alone. A few moments later my nurse came in to see how I was doing where I had fainted again. I then needed a wheelchair, my husband was worried and I was forced to lay back down in bed. Another hour went by and this time I was capable of getting up and using the bathroom. I was then wheeled off the my birthing suite where I spent the next 48 hours.
Breastfeeding was a challenge in the beginning. My breasts were very sore and getting him latched was very difficult. After coming home, my mother-in-law spent the first few nights with us. She helped me learn some tricks for my sore breasts, such as warm compresses and massages. At 11 days old my son is a master nurser. He latches on by himself and though the initial latch hurts for a moment, the feeding goes very well. If he is asleep and it's nearing a feeding time, my boobs will let me know by becoming Niagara Falls. Robby was able to reach his birth weight within one week. We are still waiting for his umbilical stub to fall out.
Here is my handsome little boy about a week after being born: