Nixon's birth story

On Wednesday my doctor's office called about scheduling an induction time. I had tentatively been scheduled to go in Thursday night with hopes of a Friday delivery. That would have Nixon here about one week early and hopefully still small enough for me to deliver. (His size had been a small concern since my 3d ultrasound at 30 weeks.)

They offered me the opportunity to go in that night instead. Since it was 105, I didn't pass up the chance to go in a day early. I had some mixed feelings about being induced so early. I knew that it might take longer as my body had been showing no signs of labor. But truth be told, I was pretty miserable at the end. I was HOT and tired and ready to be done.

I was told to expect a call between 10 and 11pm telling me if and when they had a bed for me. I spent my afternoon packing bags for my girls and myself (thanks to Regina for taking my girls). Trying to do some last minute laundry and cleaning. And I went to pick up my girls a little early because I wanted a little more time with them before everything changed. Unfortunately, they just wanted to go to grandma's house. So we went there. I let them play for a bit and then I put them to bed. I cried a little. I don't like to leave my kids. And I knew everything would be different next time I saw their faces. That night I went to sleep, left my phone with Erich, and was a little surprised at 10:55 when they called and actually had a bed for us and wanted us to come in.

So off to the hospital we went. They checked us in and monitored me for about an hour in the triage area. And then they took us to our room. They started me on some gels to try to help my body get ready. It meant that from 1 to 7 I was woken up at least every hour, instructed to walk around at some times, and getting very little sleep. Erich slept for a few hours in between watching old episodes of Lost. And before long it was morning.

Around 8 am, my doctor came to check on me and break my water. Around 8:30, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. And about 9:00, my nurse started me on pitocin. And that's went things got worse. Apparently, my epidural made my blood pressure drop. So they gave me some medicine to solve that problem. Which led to Nixon's heart rate being all over the place. Which led to a stopping of the pitocin and starting of oxygen for me. After about 20 minutes, his heart rate seemed to have stabilized and so the picotin was turned back on. And about 10 minutes later it was turned off again. Around 11am, all was well and the pitocin was turned back on for the final time.

I rested for the next little while and watched some tv. I was progressing very slowly much to the disappointment of Erich and myself. (And my family who kept texting and emailing and calling to see if anything new was happening.) About 2:15, I realized that my contractions were starting to hurt on the right side. I called for a nurse, she rolled me over and pressed the more painkiller button for me hoping gravity and an extra boost would solve my problem. She told me to call her back if I was still in pain in 2o minutes. Sure enough, I was. By this time, I had had it. I was exhausted- both physically and mentally. I was crying. And I had Erich give me a blessing. I called the nurse back. She reported that the anesthesiologist was in on a c-section but would have him come help me as soon as he was done. Around 4, I received an extra dose of something and in no time, I was once again pain free.

Luckily, around this time, my body seemed to finally be preparing to deliver this kid. Nixon was finally dropping and I was almost at a 10. My doctor came in around 5, he told me I was just about there. And then he commented on the Lakers-Celtics game that was supposed to start at 6. He was sure the baby would be here in time to watch the game with me. I doubted.

Around 5:20, I started pushing. And at 5:41, Nixon entered the world. I was shocked that after 14-15 hours of waiting to be ready, he came so quickly. He was 8lbs, 2 oz and 19.75 inches long. And to me, he was perfect. And he did watch some of the Lakers-Celtics game with me.