A Child Is Born

I have a horrible memory.  Even now, I barely remember most of the details of Griffin's birth (who am I kidding - I didn't remember them the week after!).  But here's what I do remember...

Griffin was measuring big the entire pregnancy, so near the end my doctor scheduled an ultrasound to check him out.  I went in on Monday, April 2 to take a look and they estimated that he was about 8 lbs 7 oz.  I was dilated to almost a 2.  Doc decided I should be induced and scheduled it for Thursday, April 5 (2 days before my due date).  I was happy that the end was near, and also glad to have it "scheduled" so my parents could travel back.

Wednesday, April 4 - I was told the hospital would call me to let me know when to check in.  I was supposed to call if I didn't hear from them by 5:00 PM.  I called at 5:45 PM and was told they didn't have room and would call me back within 2 hours.  I called back at 8:45 PM.  Still no room in the inn, and they tell me just to come check in at 11:00 PM.  Mark and I arrive at Northside at 11:00 PM, as scheduled; we have to wait 2 hours before they check me in.  I guess that's what happens when you deliver at the hospital that delivers the most babies in the country.

Thursday, April 5 - We checked into my room a little after 1:00 AM.  Got things going with the Cervidil.  My nurses that night were super nice. At around 3:30 AM I was given a sleeping pill.  Then it went like this...Pitocin around 6:30 AM.  Nurse tried to put in my first IV - vein collapsed.  I should have taken that as a sign that the day was heading south.  I got the epidural sometime in the AM.  All day long, I was being told that Griffin was lying on the umbilical cord, so I was being rotated from side to side.  One side was extremely uncomfortable for me. 

Our little egghead - glad it went back to a normal shape within a day or two

I wasn't dilating; I never made it past a 5.  Griffin's heart rate and oxygen levels weren't looking great, so that was monitored all day.  I was throwing up and pretty miserable.  I also had to have an oxygen mask on, which sucked.  All day long, I just kept saying that I didn't want to have a C-section - ESPECIALLY after being in labor all day.  At around 5:30 PM, I got the news that it wasn't working and I was pretty immediately wheeled into the operating room.  I remember throwing up as they wheeled me down the hall.  In the OR, I started having seizures (a complication from the epidural).  It was basically a nightmare.  I couldn't stop shaking, I was biting my tongue, hitting my arms on the sides of the bed.  But the worst thing was that I couldn't open my eyes.  Griffin was born at 6:41 PM and I heard him cry but I couldn't open my eyes to see him.  The seizures lasted for a few hours so I wasn't able to hold him until 9:15 PM.  It was pretty horrible.  By that time, he was so tired that he wouldn't eat, and that led to eating problems for the first few weeks. 

First time holding him

When we got back to my room, and my parents and Mark's parents came in I was still shaking pretty badly. The next few days were rough.  We wanted to keep Griffin in the room with us at night, but the first night he had too much mucus and they were worried he'd choke so they kept him in the nursery.  He wasn't eating well and lost more than 10% of his birth weight, so they made us give him formula.  I was in a lot of pain from the C section.  We couldn't decide on a name. 

Happy Easter - 3 days old

I was set to be released on Monday, and we were ready to go around noon - except we still couldn't agree on a name.  I liked Griffin and Mark wanted Marek.  And when we finally settled on Griffin, we realized that we'd never thought of middle names.  So we spent the next 5 or 6 hours looking up names on our phones before we decided on Asher. Left the hospital around 6:00 PM and headed home.
So to sum things up, I had a pretty horrible experience. I was talking to a friend 2 or 3 days ago and telling her about it and I still cried. So after 3 months, I'm still not over it.

But he was definitely worth it.