here's the story...of a tiny baby

{you have to sing the title to the brady bunch theme song - yeah, i'm a dork}

so it's only taken me, yeah, forever to finally get back to this blog thing. i know. i suck. sorry.

so here's the birth story. kinda long, so i apologize in advance.

to catch you up...

due date was 1.28.2011
39 week appt scheduled for 1.21.2011 @ 7.45 am
induction scheduled for 1.26.2011 @ 5 pm (would have done it as early as 39 weeks or 1.21.2011, however they don't start inductions on friday's and i had plans earlier in the week, so we were set for wednesday the 26th

1.19.2011 - about the time i finished dinner i just wasn't feeling "right". v was moving around, but not as much as normal. i spent all but about 4 hours over night actually sleeping...and it wasn't consecutive. i spent the rest of the time awake and with the doppler firmly planted on my stomach listening to an inconsistent thump-thump (sometimes fast, sometimes slow) willing him to move. just about the time i would get nervous and ready to call the dr., he would give me a good kick and calm my nerves enough to catch a few winks of sleep. this continued all night.

1.20.2011 - wake up and he's moving around a little better as i go about my morning and get myself and tony ready to head off to school and work. i arrive at work and drink a ice-cold apple juice to try to keep the little bugger moving. by lunchtime i finished what had to get done that day and called the dr. (there was no way i was going through another night like the night before and no way i'd make it til my 7:45 am appt the next day without a nervous breakdown).

@ 12:20 pm - i call the dr who says they will move my next day's appt to 1 pm. i leave the office

@ 1 pm - i arrive at the dr (john arrived about 1/2 hour after) and they hook me up to the monitor for an nst. vinnie's heart rate is high one minute and low the next...this continues as i have contractions...and start to feel them.

@ 2 pm - i'm taken in for an ultrasound to check amniotic fluid. it's in the normal range but in the lowest range of normal.

@ 2:30 pm - meet with liz (my pa) who says they want to send me to ob triage for more monitoring (they would have kept me in the office, but it was close to the end of their day) as they weren't crazy about his heart rate not regulating and the low fluid.

@ 3 pm - arrive at ob triage (john went back to work). meet my nurse (who happened to be my delivery nurse with tony) and am hooked up for continued nst and bag of lactated ringer's which should help to increase the amniotic fluid.

@ 4:30 pm - ultrasound tech arrives and checks fluid levels after a bag of fluid...even lower than they had been at the dr. office. nst confirms heart rate is still not regulating. jeralyn (my nurse) leaves and calls the dr. and returns saying i'm here to stay and we're off to labor and delivery.

@ 5:00 pm - walk to l&d and get settled in my room. i had already called john and my mom to let them know that they were inducing me that night and our plans were set in motion.

@ 6:30 pm - resident arrives and places misoprostin on my cervix to start to "ripen" and the induction has started. they will return in 4 hours to check my progress. in the meantime, the contractions i was already having have begun to pick up...i'm excited as things are going much better than my induction with anthony.

@ 6:45 pm - my mom, dad and tony arrive at the hospital with a happy meal. tony is excited to see where his little brother will be born, and to see that mom is ok and he shouldn't be scared about anything. he enjoys his happy meal snuggled in bed with me (as i am really starting to feel the contractions, but they aren't horrible yet).

@ 6:25 - 9:00 pm - we hang out in the room, watching bravo (the real housewives of beverly hills if you must know...and yes tony watches it too...bad mom, i know).

@ 9:00 pm - john arrives at the hospital after having left work (when i arrived at l&d) and going home to take care of packing the rest of my bag, along with his and tony's bags and taking care of the dogs.

@ 9:15 pm - tony and my dad leaves for my parent's house and john walks out to get tony's bag.

@ 9:30 pm (3 hours into induction) - john returns...mom and i try to talk him into leaving to get himself something to eat as "it's going to be a while" and he hadn't eaten dinner. he refuses as he says he's afraid something will happen while he's gone...i'm thinking he might be a little psychic.

@ 10:30 pm (4 hours into induction - 1st check) - resident arrives and checks my cervix. still only 1 cm dialated despite the "good" contractions i was having. however vinnie's heart rate shows signs he's not tolerating the contractions. his hr is decelling after each contraction instead of during...which is not good. resident leaves to call dr. and fill him in (he'd just left he hospital to go home for the night). resident said that they would probably hold off until morning with any more miso or with pitocin.

@ 10:45 - resident returned after only having been gone no more than 5 minutes to say dr. dougherty was on his way back in and we were going to go ahead with a c-section. the decels in vinnie's hr during the contractions and the combination of that and the low amniotic fluid is an indicator of a problem with the placenta and i could be headed for an abruption (which if you've been following me is what happened to my sister when she lost oliver 3 weeks before her due date almost 2 years ago). i immediately freaked and thought the worse. my mom was in shock as was john that this could actually be happening to us...be happening again.

@ 10:50 - they begin to prep me for the c-section as i am sobbing, terrified beyond comprehension, not for the surgery but for the fact that vinnie was in trouble.

@ 11:00 pm - dr. d arrives and calms me down, assuring me that vinnie is fine and they are doing the section right away to avoid there being an issue if they wait it out. we head off to the or. mom and john are suited up in scrubs and will be brought in shortly after the surgery begins.

@ 11:12 pm - vinnie makes his arrival screaming and peeing on his way out and aside from that there were many, many gasps of "look at all that hair".

@ 11:12 and 1/2 pm - i breathe a huge sigh of relief.