Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Introducing BB

Britton Arrington Brown


Born March 30, 2009

10:02 am

8lbs, 6oz 21 inches



Pictures:





Fresh out of the oven





He measured huge! I correctly guessed his length.




And he was quite the healthy weight! Lewis guessed his weight right on the nose!

(lovely conehead!)



The proud papa. I love this picture!





I think he looks like one of Lewis' baby pictures in this one.







He's so serious! I wonder what color his eyes will end up being?






Hmmm, what's he thinking?







Much more alert at 1wk 1 day








Daddy holding him. Britton is wide awake!


And at this point, I will warn you that I will be sharing my birth story. You may consider parts of it grpahic and inappropriate, but it's my blog and I want to document it. So read at your own risk. :)



I did not feel very good on Saturday evening, March 29th. We went to bed kinda late and I awoke every 1-2 hrs with tightness in my belly. Looking back on it, they were contractions, but I just thought they were BH.

At 5:30am, I noticed pink spotting. But no more contractions. I did feel nauseous and had loose stools, so I thought maybe I was getting the virus Lewis had the previous week.

We got ready for church and I kept leaking, but they were tiny random trickles, and they stopped when I sat down. I did not leak again for almost 8 hrs.

We went to church and I still did not feel good. After church, I emptied my bladder and put a washcloth between my legs and laid down for 1/2 hr. When I got up, it was not wet. So I figured my bladder was weak and my water WAS NOT broken.

I took a nap that afternoon, and when I woke up there was no leaking and I had had no more bloody discharge. I was still feeling nauseaous.

About 5:30pm, I had more bloody show, but this time it was bright red. So I decided to call the doctor's office. I told the on call doctor what had happened all day and she told me to come in and they would check the fluid. After I got off the phone, I went to go pee, and after I got up, fluid just kept coming and coming.

We got to L&D and they checked me. I was still only 50% effaced and was dilated to a 1 and the baby was still way high up.

They brought out a strip of paper and told me they were going to touch the fluid with it and if it turned blue, it was amniotic fluid and they would admit me. As soon, as the paper touched the fluid, it immediately turned blue. I was shocked, becuause I really thought that with all the other stuff, that I was only leaking pee and we would be sent home.

I was admitted and told that they like to have the baby on the outside 24 hrs after water breaks due to possible infection. Technically, my water had been broken for almost 12 hrs already, and I had a LONG way to go to get to 10 cm and have the baby drop and to fully efface. I so so so wanted to avoid a c-section.

They started the pitocin drip, and it wasn't so bad at first. After about 2 hrs, those contractions were hurting, but not too bad. I got checked again and I was only at 1.5.

So they upped the pitocin drip and Oh. My. God. They were every 2 minutes and hurt hurt hurt. Britton was also positioned crooked in there, according to a sono they did and his head was not aligned with my cervix. So we had to fix that. I was contorted in every which way to get him to line up and it hurt so bad.

Doc wanted to see cervical change or else I would be looking at a c-section. She also did not allow an epidural until you got to a 4. I prayed and prayed those laboring positions were working.

When I got checked again, I was at a 4. Thank GOD! I was so ready for an epidural. It seemed to take forever for the anesthesiologist to get there, but when he did, I did not know how I would stay still during the contractions. But I did. It is incredible what you are capable of when you HAVE to do it.
Our friend, Shannon, is a doula, but also happens to be a L&D nurse. So she was there to help during the labor and was there as a nurse when Britton was born. She talked me through the contractions before the epidural and even though they hurt like crazy, her breathing and visualization techniques helped. Lewis also applied pressure in various spots to counteract the pain. But I would still advocate an epidural as soon as you can get it. :)

After the epidural, it was heaven. I could sleep and we could try more positions to move Britton into the corect position. At my next check, I was at an 8. I think this was about 7am. I progressed a cm an hour and was at a 10 right before 9am, I think. (time seems to just be blurry!)

We were really close to the c-section magic 24 hr limit time.

Lewis and I both told the on-call OB that we wanted to push for at least 2 hrs before throwing in the towel. I was still good and Britton was doing well. I had developed a fever, but everything was still stable.

I pushed for 45 minutes. It was the hardest thing I have ever physically done. I finally got "it" on how to push to make progress and after that, it was all about the strength of the push. But pushing also felt SO good to do. To me, it feels like trying real real real hard to poop. :)
The labor nurse finally finally finally told me it was time to call the doctor in and the rest of the nurses. It seemed to me like it took forever for them to get in the room and get themselves assembled. I remember asking Lewis why they were taking so long. I wanted to push and I had to hold back. We had discussed beforehand that I wanted Lewis to be the one to tell me whether it was a boy or a girl. After I felt Britton "slide out", Lewis looked at me and told me "It's a boy," with the biggest grin on his face. My gut feeling had been that he was a boy all along, so I don't know if me thinking that diminished the surprise since I had it in my head he was a boy all along. It was special to hear Lewis tell me the sex, but I don't know if it was as big a deal as I thought it would be. But in another pregnancy, I would once again wait to find out the sex. I love saying, "My son" or "Our son". :)
Honestly, my memory of it all is not that great. I was just so glad to have him out! I do know I started crying, thinking "Lewis and I have a son". They put Britton on me while they cleaned him and I remember him being really warm on my stomach. He screamed his lungs off and scored 9's on both APGARS.
We didn't name him until the following morning. Britton had been our choice for several months, but in the last 2 weeks, we had added some other options to the mix. In the end, we decided to go with our original choice. I love it. :)

Lewis was a fabulous coach and I could not have it without his coaching. We make a good team. :) I am sooooo glad I did not end up with a c-section. Adjusting to a new baby at home is tough as it is...I can't imagine doing it with an incision after major surgery. Lewis has been very supportive and encouraging in helping us all adjust.
My mom stayed with us when we brought Britton home and will be here again tonight. She has been a tremendous help. Friends and family have expressed their congratualtions and well wishes and it truly has helped my emotional well being to know that people care about us and love us.
Breastfeeding is tough. Both Britton and I are learning to conquer it and somedays are better than others. I would like to stick with it as long as possible, but it is sometimes very tempting to give in to formula. Especially at night. Our lives have done a complete 180.
So far, he sleeps really well. I usually have to wake him to eat. He loves being swaddled and had his first bath yesterday, courtesy of his dad. Lewis did a fabulous job with him.
But we have a beautiful baby boy and he is the world to us.

As an aside, I was stunned at the amount of swelling I have down there. The doc did do a 2nd degree midline episiotomy. I was also shocked at how much blood you continue to lose. They had me on Sitz baths and using a UV light to help the swelling. I also am having some issues with my left hip/groin area. My range of motion is not as good as on my right side.









4 comments:

Krystal R said...

Awww, I've been thinking about you guys and I'm glad to hear all is well!!!!!! Britton looks adorable, you're going to be such a great mama...I can't wait to see more pics of him. I'm betting on his eyes to be the same as Lewis's, but Britton is going to have your beautiful smile!!!!
xoxoxo

april said...

hmmm...i was not as disturbed as you probably would have expected me to be. awesome story, and im sure you will be glad to have it as britton gets older.

you will prob need PT (for your left hip/groin and your decreased ROM)...its a good thing i know a good one! and she would do it for free!

Anonymous said...

loved loved LOVED your story! Thanks for sharing it. I am crying. I was like you...the swelling after wards is the worst! With my first (caleb) they had me sit on an ice pack as soon as I was cleaned up. I did not have much swelling or pain. After the girls, they did not do the sit on the icepack thing. I think there was too much to think about with them being preemies and there being two of them. I am DEF. asking for an icepack with this one.

Hip pain... I got on an big exercise ball and did hip circles. That seemed to help get my range of motion back.

You are doing great girl!!!! So proud of you. First time mom stuff is hard. You are a champ!

Crissybug said...

I love reading birth stories. You did awesome!

I hear you on the whole aftermath thing. I think people tend to try to block out how painful, and uncomfortable it is to heal. With Caden it took me almost a whole 6 months to feel 'normal' again. Hopefully it won't take you that long.

Britton is just adorable.

Congrats to you and Lewis.