Callum Wyatt Smith's Arrival- Part II

Once it was confirmed that my water had broken, we called our families and alerted them that we were staying at the hospital and that baby Smith was on his way.  It was about 9 PM Tuesday night when we got checked in and I got moved to my room in Labor & Delivery.  Things were still pretty fun at this point. 

Just checked in...still smiling!

Getting hooked up to the monitors.

It was cold in there!

So, after the excitement of getting checked in, we talked with my doctor about what was going to happen next.  Let me back up and explain...  We had planned on doing a natural birth- as in, no pain medication.  We had taken a great child birth class and felt as prepared as we could be to go this route.  We knew our plans might have to change, and we were ok with that, but we really hoped to make it the natural route if possible. 

Back to present day- with my water breaking, the baby needed to come soon thereafter.  Since at the point I was admitted I was having just about no contractions (except really small ones that I barely noticed) and I was almost completely not dilated, my doctor recommended they start Pitocin to get things going.  I really, really, really didn't want or plan on Pitocin, but I knew at this point they had to get labor going and I didn't really know of another option to get that accomplished.

So, Pitocin was started at about 11 PM Tuesday night.  We were still hopeful for a natural birth at this point, but we knew it would be more difficult since I couldn't leave the bed to get into positions and the Pitocin would make the contractions more intense sooner than if labor would have progressed naturally.  But, we still hoped that I'd be able to deliver naturally.

The contractions weren't too bad at first.  I stayed up the whole night, breathing through each contraction as it came.  I watched 3 movies throughout the night- Leap Year, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.  I actually quite enjoyed the first two.  By the third, things were getting a little rough.  Wyatt was able to get a few hours of sleep during the night, which I was glad about. 

By the end of the third movie, it was morning, Wyatt was up, and the contractions were really intense and very close together.  This is what I looked like at this point...just trying to make it through each contraction, one at a time. 

Wyatt was great through the whole thing- praying with me, breathing through contractions with me, and telling me jokes to try to lighten the mood as much as he could.  At one point, he asked what he could do for me and I requested that he sing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff."  He obliged, and I really needed that laugh.  It was a great moment.  I don't know what I would have done without him. 

My doctor came in at about 7 AM, told me I'd dilated to 6 cm and asked me how the epidural was.  We told him I hadn't had an epidural and he just kind of looked at us with a surprised face.  He was really encouraging that I could make it the whole way, though, so we kept going. 

Within the next hour, things really intensified.  The nurse checked me and said I was 7 to 8 cm dilated.  She said I could have some pain medicine given through an IV.  This wouldn't be as strong as an epidural, but it was supposed to at least take the edge off.  I went for it; it had been a long time and I was totally worn out.  I hoped the pain medicine would be what I needed to get me to the pushing phase. 

The pain medicine did help, I think mainly because it allowed to to rest a little and get a little more calm.  But the contractions kept coming- they were about 2 minutes apart and very intense.  At this point, the anesthesiologist came in to make sure I didn't need an epidural.  They explained that I could still get one, but they thought I could make it the remainder of the way without it.  They left and Wyatt and I talked.  After discussing, we ended up opting for the epidural.  Although this wasn't part of the original plan, I had been having contractions for about 10 hours at that point, and I had barely slept.  I was worn out.  If I had known that I would get to 10 cm within an hour or two, I would have persevered, but there was no way to know how much longer I had to go to get to the point of pushing.

So, I got the epidural.  It didn't really hurt going in and the relief started shortly thereafter.  Then, the fun really began...  Apparently my system didn't take too kindly to the epidural.  My blood pressure dropped dangerously low (as low as 80/40), and the baby's heart rate dropped as well (as low as 60 bpm, which is VERY low for a baby).  Since I was so drugged up, I was pretty oblivious at this point, but Wyatt saw all  the vital signs dropping, and he was extremely worried.  Within the next half hour, tons of people came into my room.  I was pumped full of all kinds of fluid, and eventually, my blood pressure normalized.  Baby's heart rate was still fluctuating, but not going quite as low.  The doctors told us the baby's heart rate might be dropping like it was because the cord was around his neck.  Again, I was pretty drugged up, so not too worried, but Wyatt was still very anxious.

My mom and sister arrived at about noon, which was right after all of the mayhem had subsided.  I was so glad to have them there, especially now that I wasn't in crazy pain.

Within the next couple of hours, I got to 10 cm, and it was time to push at about 2 PM.  I pushed for about 30 minutes, and our son was born at 2:27 PM in the afternoon.  The cord was around his neck when he was born, so that explained the drops in his heart rate.  It was incredibly emotional.  I was so glad to see him after all that time. 



Wyatt went out to tell our families that he was born, and announced the name we had chosen- Callum Wyatt Smith (story of the name to come later). 

Callum was weighed and measured.  He weighed in at 6.2 lbs and measured 19 1/4 inches long. 

Wyatt and I were extremely happy and relieved.  Here are some of our first pictures with out son.

After they took Callum to the nursery, I got a few treats.  First, there were Sour Patch Kids, which if you know me, you know these are my favorite candy.  I am a bit obsessed with them and after about 24 hours of no food, I was quite happy to see these!



Then Wyatt gave me a special gift- a necklace to match my engagement ring.  It was such a sweet gift.  I am so thankful for Wyatt.  Callum has a great dad.

My dad and brother arrived at the hospital later that night.  I have some great pictures of them that I'll add later on.  Here are some pictures of Callum meeting some of his very favorite people.

Callum with his Auntie Em and Grammy Sandy (we still have yet to settle on a grandmother name for her). 

Callum with his Pappy and Grandmother.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out at the hospital.  Wyatt took our families out for a couple of meals, and I took advantage of the nursery to try to get a little sleep before we headed home.  Here are a few shots of us before we left the hospital.





And that's it!  It was an adventure to say the least.  No, the birth part didn't go at all how we'd planned, but I am just incredibly thankful to have a healthy baby and such wonderful support from our family.  We still hope for a natural birth in the future, but we're ok with whatever needs to happen for the sake of health and safety.  We thank God for the blessing of our son.  He is so good and He was so present through the entire pregnancy and birth.