Leo's Labor and Delivery

With Rich, labor came on suddenly. 

I say suddenly because I mean that being in labor was unexpected. I wasn't due for another month. I didn't know what to expect, and I certainly didn't actually know that I was in labor.

With Leo, I felt like a ticking time bomb, but I didn't know when the bomb was going to go off. No one had shown me the timer. Each week passed by, and nothing (really) was happening. I was becoming increasingly dilated and effaced, but really, nothing was actually happening. 

And yet, like my labor with Rich, I didn't know that I was in labor. At least, my body wasn't giving me the typical labor signs I was looking for (regular contractions, back labor, inability to speak through a contraction, etc.). I simply woke up two Sundays ago, knowing (with no real reason to know) that I was in labor and we should go to the hospital. And despite this sure feeling I was having about being in labor, I kept second-guessing myself and my judgment. I wondered if I was making an extra trip to the hospital, thought sure they would send me home and tell me to come back later. I repeatedly told Tyler that I felt stupid--even when we were in the elevator in the hospital, heading up to Labor and Delivery.

Tyler reassured me, several times, that even if they did send me home, it was no big deal. At least we would know what was going on. 

The only thing that was happening to me, was that I had a few Braxton Hicks contractions that felt so tight, they made me pause for a few moments. So, I was feeling like labor was imminent, but not yet at hand.

When I walked into L&D, the nurses greeted me kindly, and showed me to what they called their triage room, where they would check me out and see what really was going on. They hooked me up to a machine that would measure the strength and frequency of my contractions.

Well, once again, the nurses (and I) were in for a bit of a surprise. Turns out, I was already dilated to 8 cm!

So, off to the delivery (and recovery) room we went, where the nurses started me on some fluids and antibiotics, and my epidural got hooked up. (The nurses also continued to monitor the strength and frequency of my contractions.)

Once everything was set up, we had a little bit of waiting to do. The nurses (and the OB) wanted me to finish transitioning (is that what it's called?)--basically get to 10 cm--then they would break my water and allow things to move along.

Once the epidural was in, I felt really good. And very very tired. (Side effect of the epidural is sleepiness.)

So I tried taking a nap. But I was just too excited that I was about to have a baby to sleep. I was so hyped up. (But I posed like I was sleeping, so I could show that I at least gave getting some rest a try.)

Now, I don't remember perfectly the order of how things happened after that. Everything moved fairly quickly. One of the nurses, Amanda, came in to check how I was progressing. She asked me to give a "test push," then told me very quickly, "Okay, stop," and called in the OB (Doctor Olmstead) to break my water. Apparently, that test push had been in danger of becoming a real push--Leo's head was right there. Our boy was ready to come out. 

Doctor Olmstead broke my water. Apparently, there was a bit blood and meconium in the water, so they called in a special nurse to be on hand to look after Leo in case he was having trouble breathing after he was born. (They were worried that he might have aspirated some of the blood and meconium.)

As I started pushing, I could see that Dr. Olmstead was just a little concerned. Leo's cord was wrapped around his neck, and each contraction was making his heart rate drop pretty low. So rather than wait for my body to contract naturally, Dr. Olmstead just asked me to keep pushing and push Leo right on out. So, I did. I think I pushed for about 5 minutes. And then there he was.

Good thing he was small, or that would have been a lot harder. :) 

Leo Benjamin Heasley was born at 12:16 PM. He cried upon exiting the birth canal. (Great sign. Meant his lungs weren't blocked.) 

The nurses laid him on my chest, where he coughed and sputtered and cried for about an hour.

I would say we fell in love with him instantly, but the truth is that we were already in love with little Leo before he came.

Who couldn't love this little guy?

One of the things that I loved about this hospital was that the room I gave birth in was also the room I recovered in, so Leo and I could be together during our whole stay at the hospital. There were no nurseries we had to go to to visit or retrieve our son from. 

Another thing the hospital staff did well was coordinate our care. I remember when we had Rich, it seemed like we were constantly being bombarded by nursing staff doing different things--we never had more than an hour (if even that!) to ourselves. But at this hospital, the care was coordinated well enough that we were only disturbed once every few hours. So, there was more time to rest (even though a hospital really is not a place to rest) and bond and learn about our new baby.

And Richie? Rich seems to love "Baby." Although, he has been a little snugglier and needier since Leo was born. But truth be told--it's nice that Rich wants to cuddle up with me a little more. He's such an independent little soul. 

Anyway. We're so excited to get to know our little Leo. We can already see subtle differences between his little personality and Rich's personality. It'll be so fun to see what kind of a little boy Leo is going to grow into.

And on another (somewhat related) note: 

Happy birthday to my Rich-boy! I think that's why I decided to sit down and finally record my memories of Leo's birth--I've been reliving Rich's birth story in my mind all weekend long. 

I am so grateful for my boys!