Allen James' Birth-Day Story

The night before I was way too excited to sleep but somehow found a way to ease my brain and get a few hours of down time. My alarm was set for 1:30am {no joke}, started getting ready and got my hair straightened. At 2am I called L&D and told them that I have a 4am Induction, so they put me on hold and then come back and tell me that everything will be ready at 4am when I arrive... {Yay!!} I got Dave up around 2:30 and he started getting ready. I put on some "waterproof" mascara and woke my dad up to tell him that we were leaving. He stayed the night so he didn't have to come over at 3am. I put the last bit of things I needed in my bag and we were out.

On our way to the hospital we stopped at Walgreen's so I could get a few magazines, notepad, pen and other goodies. We arrived at the hospital around 3:45am and we headed up to L&D. I signed in and gave them my induction papers. They had us go sit down because they were still cleaning the room. While we were waiting, my 1st nurse came over, introduced herself and then started having me fill out papers so that would be out of the way. We got into the room at 4am and I gave my urine sample as best as I could and put on that hideous blue gown. I get hooked up and contractions are already showing up on the screen {score!} After we get Allen on the monitors she gets everything together for my IV. She finally found a good vein and when she poked me, the vein rolled. She had another nurse come in and do it, thankfully the other nurse got it and I only had to be poked twice. They got my fluids and my Pitocin started and they were going to bump the Pit up every half hour.

Then it was 7 pages worth of questions on her computer. While she was asking me the questions, the contractions were getting pretty intense. She also decided to check me and I was 3cm/50%/-2 which was a good start for inductions. At about 7am my contractions got pretty gnarly and had to wait till my new nurse came in and introduced herself. I met my new nurse and told her that I would like some pain meds at 8am, she said "great!" and that was that. About 7:50a I started having some horrible contractions so I told Dave to go get my nurse so I can get my Stadol now. I love Stadol but some people hate it. She also had to check me and I was at a 4/5cm and 60% and still at a -2 station. So I at least made a little progress. Dr came in said hi and back to his office across the street he went.. lol My contractions were going in a nice pattern and I decided that I wanted my epidural as soon as possible. My nurse said that I have to have at least 1 1/2-2 bags of fluid in me before I can have it plus my Pitocin was already bumped up to 10ml.

9:30a came and I was on my 4th bag of fluids so we were just waiting on the anesthesiologist to get to my room. My nurse checked me again and I was a good 5cm and still 60%. She also said that she is surprised that my water has not broken yet cause its right there. The anesthesiologist comes rolling in and this was not a fun 20 minutes... My spine shifted when I was pregnant with DJ because of how much weight I had gained, so it was really hard for him to get the spinal in. He finally got it for the most part and I got little boosters in my IV. I noticed that whenever I would get a contraction, I would get a dull pain in my lower left side. It didn't help that the only thing that was numb was my legs and hips. I could feel ALL of my contractions in my stomach which was absolutely horrible. Around noon I was checked again and had not changed at all. So disappointing .

Dave went to the red box by the hospital and got The Other Guys, so we were watching that and all of a sudden my Water Broke at 1pm... I was in the middle of a really good contraction and felt a pop then a stream of warm wetness. Everyone started laughing because I was just so calm about how I told them. I had Dave get my nurse and she came in excited and said that she knew it would happen when she was on her lunch.. lol But right after my water broke, things got real intense. My contractions started getting really painful and they were coming every other minute, so I had no time to relax between them. I broke down and started crying uncontrollably because they were so intense and painful, my friends kept asking if I was okay and if I needed anything. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a boost in my iv but that did absolutely nothing for my pain, it just made my legs even more numb.

After about 20 minutes of that I told Dave that I felt "pushy" and to go get my nurse asap! When my nurse came in she checked me and laughed.. I was sitting there crying and she was laughing while checking me. She told me "Lets have a Baby!! You're complete!" I had never been so excited and relieved in my life. I started shaking uncontrollably, it was so bad I could barely talk. So my friends are getting the cameras ready and my nurse and Dr are getting the room ready. Dr tells me to do a "test push" and then he said "yeah, you only have about 2 good pushes" yay! Shannon and Amanda have to put my legs in the stirrups because I could not move my legs to save my life, they were so numb. At about 1:45p I started to push and I have no idea what came over me but I started to just bawl my eyes out. I was an emotional wreck with this labor. I never cried with the other two.

After my 2nd push I had to wait for a contraction to come. Go figure, they turned off my pitocin and my contractions started to die off, so I had to wait a few minutes. I felt a good contraction coming and started to push. i could feel the head and then shoulders slip out and this is where I lost it again. I was so excited to meet this little boy and I could not contain myself. I gave one last push and before I knew it, Allen was on my chest screaming his head off and looking at me with his big bluish grey eyes {sob... sob... sob...}

Allen James was born at 1:57p weighing in at 7lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. Dave was able to cut the cord and I didn't poop on the table!! I am 3/3 :) When I look at him he seems so small but he is actually a few oz bigger than Reagan. They finally took him off my chest and went to weigh, measure, clean him up and then put his hip bracelets on him. I was finally able to stop crying while I was getting my 2 stitches and Dave, Shannon & Amanda were taking a ton of pictures.

They put my bed back together and Allen and I did skin to skin for a good 30 minutes and he even started nudging to my breast. He latched on for a minute or two but then just started using my nipple as a chew toy. I noticed that he wasn't getting anything and so I gave him some formula and he chugged it. I brought my breast pump to the hospital just in case we were having latching issues. Around 3:30p my left leg was almost back to normal but my right was still completely useless. My nurse wanted me to get up and use the restroom so we cold move into my post partum room, so she brought whats called a "People Helper" and I put all of my weight on my left leg. We got me to the bathroom which was only 5 feet away and I sat there for a good 15 minutes trying to pee, but couldn't. We started to run the water but no luck, my body just didn't want to go. So my nurse helped me clean myself and then I had to get a catheter again so she could empty my bladder. I am so glad I was still pretty numb because catheters hurt. After about 5 minutes, the nurse got over 900cc's out of my bladder {holy cow!}

We moved into my post partum room and I had to share a room but luckily I got the big side {yes!!} We got settled in and Dave waited till Allen came back into the room and then he snuggled with him for about 10 minutes and then left to relieve my dad from the kids. My dad came up to the hospital to see Allen and myself. He was cracking jokes and when my sister and her friend came in, it was a complete riot in there. I love my family! After everyone left, Allen and I got settled and took a nap :)

The next morning Allen started having trouble latching/sucking. The nurse said it could be that he just was tired or forgot how to eat. So I had to syringe feed him till he started to remember. Around 9am Dave brought Reagan up to see her baby brother and was not to thrilled about him. She didn't even want to sit by me if he was in my arms. So she watched cartoons while Dave held Allen and I was able to rest a little bit.

{look at that glare....}

Then after DJ got out of school, Dave brought him up to see Allen. DJ's response to Allen was the same.. lol They will warm up to him, its just going to take some time.

The lactation consultant came in and helped me with Allen and also let me use the hospital grade pump. Allen started to get the hang of sucking after the hospital gave him a pacifier. So from then on, Allen started eating more and doing better. I talked with my nurse and she said that as long as Allen's pediatrician said it was okay for him to go home, we could go home that evening! What do you know... His ped called and said we could go home!!! So Allen went to get his hearing test done and his newborn screening done. Passed Both!!

Dave got to the hospital around 4:15p and we were leaving the hospital at 4:45p. When we got home, both kids were looking at Allen but didn't want to touch him.. lol

I cant believe Allen is here and we are now a family of FIVE!!!