Thursday, April 13, 2017

Sullivan James Clark

We had another baby! A boy! Sullivan James Clark "Sully" was born on April 7, 2017 at 9:17pm. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. 

I am just writing down his birth story so I don't forget! He is currently 5 days old and snoozing in his chair while Reagan plays with Easter window clings. Bryce is up in barn gym working out.

This whole pregnancy was similar to Reagan's but also different. Starting pretty early on I started spilling protein in my urine. No other symptoms of high blood pressure or swelling so I had to go to the high risk doctor-MFM (maternal fetal medicine) and get checked out. I had a few visits with them, lots of blood work and everything turned out to be normal and fine. My kidneys were functioning properly, baby boy was healthy and measuring right on track every time. I was just randomly spilling the protein. I also had to do early diabetes testing, which I passed then had to redo it 3 weeks later and failed the 1 hour and then had to go back and do the 3 hour test. UGH. I ended up passing it and not even being close to having gestational diabetes so whew. At 32 weeks I had to start weekly NSTs at the child birth center. Those were always normal too. Anyways...

37 week check up-I was dilated to a 2! I was super stoked about that, not because it means labor is coming soon but because I never dilated with Reagan until I was induced so I was just happy to know that I was starting to progress on my own. Also, I found out I was GBS positive. My doctor and I talked about induction and wanted to induce me on 4/7 (I was due 4/12) but I said no because we are in the process of finishing up our house remodel and we were suppose to be moving, so having the baby later worked out better with having more time to move. So she set up my induction for 4/14.

38 week check up- I was still dilated to a 2, told my doctor I had gotten off my crack pipe and want to be induced on the 7th instead. I started having some serious pressure and could hardly walk it hurt so bad, so I wanted this baby out, asap. We had also decided we were going to rent our house from the new owners for a month and the house we buying wasn't done, so actually having the baby earlier worked out because now I would have more time to heal before moving. **NOTE TO SELF: I would rather move post partum then 38-39 weeks pregnant.** So she rescheduled my induction to 4/7 when I would be 39 weeks & 2 days. 
*Fun fact, my aunt's birthday is 2/7, my moms is 3/7 and Sully's is 4/7*

39 week check up-still dilated and my cervix was "sooo soft" and ready for induction day!

Induction Day: April 7, 2017. I was scheduled for 7:20am start but was told to call an hour before to make sure they weren't booked. I called, they didn't have my paperwork to be induced but had the room and the staff ready for me. They had to call my doctor and confirm my induction. When they called me back 20 minutes later they had 2 women walk in actually in labor so they had to push my time to 9:00. Mind you, I was already dressed and ready and Bryce was ready too. We had Kay come over still to watch Reagan and we went to Ihop for breakfast and then stopped at Fred Meyer for a few snacks and last minute things. 

11:00am-I get all checked in and hooked up to my IV, started antibiotics, I was dilated to a 3 but not effected so I got cytotec to help with dilating more and help start contractions. We did this with Reagan and it worked pretty well! 4 hours later my contractions started picking up so a second dose of cytotec wasn't needed and neither was pitocin. 

3:30pm- I was dilated to a 5 and 80% effaced so my doctor broke my water. Contractions were about 2 minutes apart but I wasn't in terrible pain yet. (3-4 pain level).

4:00ish-Contractions started to become 1 minute apart and so consistent that I barely got a break between them but they still weren't "super strong" on the monitor. I asked for my epidural and the anesthesiologist was in a C-section so I had to wait an hour for him. That was not fun. 

5:15pm- Epidural was in and I was feeling great! Then the nurse checked me I was dilated to an 8-9 and 90% effaced. My epidural with Reagan I was so numb that I felt nothing and could move nothing. This one was awesome! I could move my feet, roll over myself, feel light pressure but felt no contractions. They also didn't give me a catheter for whatever reason, and then I think I stopped progressing or maybe Sully wasn't moving down so my doctor said to give me one, and I had such a full bladder that it was blocking the way for him to move down. Once my bladder was empty he started to move down more. 

Not sure what the time was during this but Holley who was there to take my pictures, went to get something to eat and Bryce went to walk around and stretch his legs, but during them being gone I started to feel A LOT of pressure. The nurse came in and I told her. She asked if I felt the need to push. I didn't feel that urge but also didn't know what I would feel like. She checked me but I still had a little lip on my cervix left so I wasn't quite ready to push. We waited maybe 30 minutes until I was complete. 

9:10pm- My doctor walked in and the pressure I was feeling quickly changed to the feeling of -TMI- the urge to poop. I said "I'm about to poop my pants right now!" My doctor was like let me check you. She did and Sully was right there. I said again, "I'm about to poop!" They said no, that's the baby, and I said no I have to poop, and then I did. hahahaha My doctor still lies about it but Bryce and Holley said I did. I also felt her clean it up... I started to push and I was getting 3 pushes in with each contractions, but he was just right there so fast that I just kept pushing and pushing with hardly any break and out he came! 6 1/2 minutes later! They placed him on my chest and was just so cute! Bryce got to cut the cord. 

The nurses got me all cleaned up and I only needed 2-3 stitches so that has been nice. My epidural worked well with the contractions but I still felt all the pressure and when my body needed to push, the "ring of fire" but as a dull burning sensation. It was great to be able to feel what my body needed to do but without the pain. Since it wasn't super strong I was able to get up after 2 hours and go to the bathroom and I walked myself to our post partum room. Recovery has been amazing and I have been feeling great. Way better then Reagan's and hers wasn't even that bad! 

We are so happy to be a family of 4 and Reagan has been adjusting well. So far Sully has not been backwards with his sleeping and only wakes up 2 times a night. I'm hoping that will continue, but it probably won't. Nursing has been going well too, just a little LOT of engorgement! Ha! If you could only see...

I will post some pictures after Holley gets them to me, hopefully!

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