Baby Sammy was born on Friday, September 15, 2006 at 10:41 am. He was 7 lbs even and 19 inches long. His apgars were 9 and 10.
I began having contractions around 4am on Friday morning. I was noticing them but they weren't bad and I really didn't think I was in labor as I've been having lots of contractions for weeks now. I slept until 7am. By 8am they were starting to hurt and we started to time them. They were about 5 minutes apart. We decided we should get ready to go to the hospital. A couple of minutes later we noticed that they were about 3 minutes apart. We decided we should probably hurry.
We had to wake up Katie and get the kids dressed. We still didn't know for sure if I was in real labor as I was able to talk and walk and doing okay. So we didn't call for anyone to come and babysit the kids. We figured we'd have time to get to the hospital and then we'd know if I was really in labor or not and call for someone to come and get the kids.
So, I took a shower and packed the last minute things and we left for the hospital. Pulled into the parking lot around 9:45 and I realized that I couldn't walk through the contractions anymore. Someone on staff got me a wheelchair and we waited for Andrew to park the car. The hospital lady quickly noted that the contractions were about 2 minutes apart. They really hurt, but I was able to breathe through them and still doing okay.
When we got to L&D they tried to put me in triage but quickly realized that I was in labor and put me in a regular room. They checked me and I was 6 cm. Plenty of time, I thought! I requested my epidural which I'd been looking forward to for weeks. They called the doctor and she was in the room about 10 minutes later. In those 10 minutes I went from 6cm to 10cm and was ready to push. That meant no epidural. I was not happy about the news! Right before I started pushing, my friend Amanda came and got the kids. I was glad that they weren't there because the thought of pushing without an epi was not something that I really wanted them to witness.
I pushed for about 20 minutes or so. It was very intense. I decided that I don't like natural childbirth and I don't recommend it!
Several staff members asked me if I was Group B Strep +. This is a test that they run on all pregnant women around 36-37 weeks. I know they did the test but I never heard if I was + or -. So, I told them that I assumed I was - as I think I would have been told if I was +. Anyway, about 5 minutes before Sammy was born, they found my chart and realized that I was GBS+. Ugh, this meant that I should have had 2 rounds of antibiotics during labor to prevent the baby from contracting GBS while being delivered. So, they quickly put the antibiotics in me, but how much had time to cross the placenta and get to the baby before he was born 5 minutes later is pretty much unknown. I am still a little upset that I was never told that I was positive. I think I would have planned to be at the hospital much sooner had I known.
So, finally the baby was crowning and the nurse said, "it's time to call the doctor, he'll be here in the next few contractions". I opened my eyes and said, "what? the doctor left?" The nurse said not to worry that we have time. I yelled that I'm having this baby right now and went on to push his head out. The nurse (pictured below) caught her first baby after 26 years in L&D. She has never not gotten the doctor there in time! She seemed kind of pleased that she delivered her first baby.(although I'm not sure what *she* did except not let him fall).
Baby Sammy was born less than an hour after pulling into the hospital parking lot! I'm so glad we didn't wait any longer or he would have been born on Hwy. 29!
In any case, because of the GBS possibility, I had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours so that they could watch the baby. The did a heel stick and checked his blood which looked fine. The Ped said he was fine and we finally got to come home.
He's been a perfect baby! Just sleeps and eats all the time! Jackson and Katie adore him and want to hold him all the time. They're facinated by his little fingers and toes and belly button (the cord is just about to fall off).
We're enjoying having Andrew home and he's taking good care of us. The church has been very kind and provided us with meals this week.
I Sam. 1:27 -- "For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:"
