On Tuesday, May 10th I had my doctor appointment that afternoon. That evening around 11:00 when I got in bed, I started having contractions. They were very sporadic though so I decided to hold off on calling Jeff or my parents. I ended up going to sleep around midnight. I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night with a few contractions and then had some more on Wednesday throughout the day. I went to church that night and was super emotional and feeling very blah. I was supposed to meet Kris for supper at Chuy's before church but he got stuck in traffic and didn't get there in time to go in. So, we had to go somewhere else. He picked Mellow Mushroom which was not what I wanted. The kids had been rambunctious the whole time we were waiting for him and so I just had a little meltdown in the restaurant. I think I knew something was happening. I could tell things were going on with my body and I just didn't feel well.
That night I started contracting again around 11:30. They were slightly painful but mostly just uncomfortable. I timed them until about 1:00 in the morning, but eventually went to sleep. I wondered if it was the real thing but was scared that it wasn't and didn't want to wake everyone up if it wasn't the real deal. Finally, around 4:30 a.m. I woke up contracting again and they were a little more regular but still not super consistent. They ranged from 2 to 10 minutes apart and lasted about a minute. So, I decided to go ahead and call Jeff to come over and call Mom and Dad. I called Labor and Delivery and told them what was going on. They told me to drink 2 glasses of water and walk around and if the contractions didn't stop, to come on in and they would check me. I took a shower and got the last few things packed. Jeff got there and we left for the hospital around 7:00 a.m.
I was a little nervous when we hit some traffic on our way in! I just kept thinking about how Kris' mom had Kurt in the car on I-70! Yes, she did.
When we got there, they put us in the triage area and checked me around 8:00. I was 6-7 cm and 90% so it was happening. I was not contracting much at this point. My contractions were still really irregular. I was comfortable and excited.
They moved us into a room a bit later and around 8:30 a nurse came in to put in my IV. Oh how I hate those things. She tried in my left hand first and it blew. Then, she tried in my left arm and it didn't work. All I could think about was how horrible a time they had getting my IV in when I had my appendix out. They tried and tried and pushed and pushed. It was awful. I was getting scared that I was going to have to go through that again. The nurse decided to go get a vein finder and left. Then a lady anesthesiologist came in and saw what was going on. She looked at my right hand and with one stick had it in and going. It was awesome! I was so relieved. I remember looking over at Kris and saying how great that was and all I needed was my epidural and this was going to be easy. I spoke too soon.
I am not certain when this picture was taken. It probably was after the anesthesiologists came in and talked to me because I think my face looks a little red.
So, around 9:00 the nurses and the lady anesthesiologist and a man anesthesiologist came in. They asked me if I knew that my platelet count was low. I told them no and immediately got this awful feeling like something wasn't right. The lady anesthesiologist that was just about to give me my epidural looks over at the other one and says that it was up to him but she would not do it. Then, he proceeds to tell us that my platelet count was 77,000. A low normal is 150,000-200,000. He said that his threshold was 75,000 and that he would not give an epidural if they were lower than that. The reason was because if they gave it to me and for some reason I bled into my spine, it could cause all kinds of problems later. My heart sank. I was relying on that epidural. I have had one every time and except for the last one where it took about 12 sticks to get it in, I have had no issues and been really glad that I had it. I never had to feel any bad contractions which was great. In fact, one of my worst nightmares was natural childbirth. Well, I just realized I was about to have to face that fear.
Doctor Wiedower had been in a c-section, but she knew what was going on. She came in around 9:30 and broke my water. At this point I was at 8 cm.
Around 10:00 my contractions were coming every minute and a half to four minutes and lasting 30 secs to a minute. They were a little more intense but I was breathing through them fine. They gave me this ball to sit on to try to bring the baby down because he still needed to come on down.
They checked me at 10:20 and I was still 8 cm and he had moved down some. I was so disappointed that I was still at 8. I started to fear that this was going to take a while.
At 11:00 they checked me again and I was still 8 cm. At this point the contractions were pretty bad. I was having a harder time breathing through them. They wouldn't last long but they were intense. Somewhere between 11:20 and 11:30 I had a few really bad ones and realized all of a sudden that he was right there and I needed to push. It was an overwhelming amount of pressure. I started to freak out a bit because I realized it was time to do this and I was scared. They quickly got me into the bed and called the doctor. The next thing I remember was Dr. Wiedower flying into the room, frantically telling them to get her gown and gloves on her. They get me in position. Kris is to my right and my mom is somewhere back a ways to the right. They tell me to bear down and push. There were a few screams as I pushed for about 2 minutes the nurses later told me. The doctor told me to open my eyes (because they were clinched tightly shut) and the baby was mostly out. I remember her making the comment that his umbilical cord was short.
Then, he was on my belly. Ledger Easton was born at 11:38 a.m. on May 12th. He was 21 in long and weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. He was my biggest baby.
Kris told me later that I had a mad look on my face. I insisted that I didn't but seeing this picture that my mom took, I think I did. I just remember that this moment was very surreal to me. I didn't have that "Awwww look at my baby", happy joyful tears moment. I was silent and had this weird look on my face. Looking back, I believe I was in shock--shock that I had just had this baby with no drugs. It was so weird.
But he was so precious.
Welcome to the world Ledger Easton Keim!!!!
The hospital has a new thing they do where they want you to do an hour of skin to skin before they do shots etc. They also don't give them a bath for the first 12-24 hours. So, I held him and nursed him during that first hour and he nursed so great. It is always amazing to me how they know exactly what to do. We wanted to tell the kids his name before announcing it to anyone else so we had to wait till after that first hour.
This was a picture that Jeff had taken while they were all out in the waiting room. They were out there for quite a few hours. Hannah was beside herself wanting to see him.
I love these pictures of them running in the room and seeing Ledger for the first time.
Their faces are so precious.
So excited!!!
Pappaw getting his first look too.
This may have been when we told them his name. No one had ever guessed the name Ledger, so it was pretty exciting to get to finally tell it.
And just for my memory's sake, my cousin Linzi mentioned the name Ledger back earlier this year when she and all my cousins and aunts were here in Little Rock for a shopping weekend. I tucked it away because I wanted to remember it. We didn't know at the time if we were having a boy or a girl, but I wrote it down in my phone just in case. Later when we found out it was a boy, it came back to me and the more I thought about it, the more perfect I thought it was. Easton was just found on a name list I think.
Such a proud big sister.
And big brothers!
Pappaw holding Ledger for the first time.
Meeting Uncle Jeff.
I couldn't resist posting this on Facebook and commenting on how hard he had worked. Ha!
Logan was our first visitor outside of immediate family. I hate that I didn't get a picture of him. Todd Hart also came by as well as another guy from church that we had never met before. Then, the Stephens visited us that night. Kenzie was so sweet and had told me Wednesday night that she was praying for me.
Those cheeks!!!
Daddy changing his first dirty diaper that night.
Hello there!
On Friday we had more visitors. Amy and Sara came.
Leanne came.
Uncle Wes flew in from Dallas that morning.
The kids and Mom and Dad came back up for a while.
I never imagined this little boy as a big brother. He will be so great!
Tremaine came up and brought Kris a whole rack of Simms ribs. He also brought some gum cigars for the kids to pass out and some cute little onesies.
We enjoyed a visit from Jimmy and Andee as well.
This girl is going to be the best big sister. She wants to hold him constantly.
Eva from the Cone office wanted to come check Ledger out too.
That night Hannah B and Amy dropped in.
I took lots of pictures of those cheeks. I was trying to get him with his eyes open. I love his eyes.
He has the sweetest little complexion and perfect features.
The first night in the hospital I was absolutely exhausted and he was having a hard time settling in. I felt bad, but I asked them to take him to the nursery for just a couple of hours. That helped so much! I got a little sleep and then was able to handle it okay from then on.
We had to stay till Saturday morning because I was positive for Group B Strep and they were only able to get one bag of antibiotics in me before I had him instead of two. Apparently, they keep you an extra day if you don't get two bags in so they can watch the baby longer for any possible issues.
When Dr. Byrum came by on Friday morning he told us that Ledger had a slight heart murmur. The nurse had caught it that morning. He said that usually with this kind it would fix itself quickly. For some reason something just hadn't closed completely after he was born. He knew this would worry me and so he said on a scale of 1 to 10, he was .5 worried about it. So, we tried not to think too much about it. He hoped that when he came the next morning, it would have fixed itself. Thank goodness, it had. He did not hear it when he came back Saturday morning.
Almost ready to go home!
Headed home with our sweet blessing from God. Still can not believe it. So thankful.
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