He's Here!

Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere or are not a facebook friend or don't keep up with our family via facebook or other means, you probably know by now that God blessed us with Seth Edward Fowler on November 14, 2012 at 1:02.  He was 19.5 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 10.

4 ounces at birth. 

I am going to try and retell his birth story as best as I can remember.  It's really interesting how you dream of the day you give birth and when it is all said and done, the details don't really matter as much and a lot is forgotten.

We were scheduled to be induced at 4:30 that morning.  We arrived at the hospital on time to find that my inlaws were already there.  That kinda surprised me especially since what I've heard about inductions is that it can take a while and I didn't expect much to happen until at least late morning. Not a problem at all, I just didn't expect to see anyone else for a few hours.

We got checked in and I changed into the hospital gown. The nurses came in to get my IV going. As soon as I said I had good veins the nurse told me I shouldn't have said that.  Sure enough, it took three tries to get the IV going.  And in the middle of that I started over thinking things and passed out. I guess I was looking pale and the nurse asked me if I was okay.  I said "yes" shortly followed by "not really."  If you know me at all, this is not an uncommon occurrence.  I've probably passed out 20 times over the years, usually over blood and guts kind of things. I just gross myself out I guess. Anyways, once I got the blood back in my head the external monitors they had for Seth told them that he wasn't recovering like they wanted him too.  His heart beat had gone down into the 60s after I passed out and just wasn't coming back up very fast.  Before I knew it I had about 5 nurses in my room moving me from side to side, lowering the head of the bed and anything else they could do to get Seth's heart rate back up.  They didn't seem panicked so it didn't worry me at all.  Looking back, I should have been worried, and it must have been the peace of God that carried me through those few minutes.

After the scare with Seth's heart-rate, they waited an hour or so before starting the Pitocin.  They wanted to make sure he was going to behave before they increased the contractions.  And he did. Pitocin was started about 6 am and Dr. Wiegman broke my waters at about 8.  My goal going in was to not get an epidural.  Both my mom and sister had really quick labor and so I figured I could do the same.  But I hadn't totally ruled it out based on how hard it was for me.  At about 10, I had been having contractions every 2-3 minutes that lasted a minute or so for and hour and a half.  And I just couldn't get comfortable in the bed.  I had an audience at that point (mom, inlaws, Shay) and really wasn't comfortable getting out of the bed in a hospital gown, so I endured back labor in the bed. And Seth's heart rate was being temperamental all morning.  Every time I would try to move to a different side, they would either lose his heart rate on the monitors or his heart rate would drop and the nurses would run in to make sure he was fine. So for all purposes I was stuck in the bed in one position that wasn't particularly comfortable through contractions.  We decided to kick everyone out of the room and see if I could get in a comfortable position that would help me endure the contractions, but it just wasn't happening. I was told that if I wanted an epidural I needed to decide since the anesthesiologist was going to be tied up at 12:30 for a C Section.  I thought I was only dilated to 4-5 centimeter at that point (BJ thinks it was 5-6) and I couldn't even imagine another 6 hours of this just to get to the point I could push. So I bit the bullet and got the epidural. They upped the Pitocin at the same time I was getting the epidural so I had to endure 3-4 contractions that were more intense than the others while trying to remain still so they could give me the epidural.  I remember being mad through 2-3 contractions because I could still feel them until the medicine kicked in.  But after that, it was smooth sailing. I really didn't care about anything at that point. Everyone came back in the room and we visited for an hour or so. They were able to up the medication more quickly since I wasn't feeling a thing and I dilated quite quickly.  At 12:30, everyone was kicked out again and the nurse checked me and said we were ready to push. I pushed for a while with the nurse and Dr. Wiegman came in shortly after. Seth was born at 1:02 pm.  So all in all I was in labor for about 7 hours.  Not bad at all, especially after the epidural. I was totally numb through the pushing and being stitched up afterwards. I had an episiotomy and tore some additionally.

We came home on Friday and have been doing really well since then. I only had pain meds twice at the hospital and then nothing since I've been home. Overall I would say it was a pretty easy delivery and recovery and things are going as good as can be expected. And the best part is that my doctor gave me very limited restrictions, which I think has helped me to heal faster. He told me I could exercise, as long as I take it easy, and I could drive as long as I wasn't taking pain meds that caused me to be drowsy. So I got to be back to normal me (whatever that is with 4 kids) and not be stuck at home or restricted.  I don't get out much, but I can and it makes a difference mentally.

I have lost all but 4-5 pounds of my baby weight.  Most of that was baby and water weight. I've also been told that breastfeeding is helping with that as well. It is so nice to be in my non-pregnancy clothes already (especially since most of my maternity clothes were for work and not really lounging at the house).

The kids are doing great and are in love with Seth. They want to hold him and hug him and kiss him all the time.  We've had a few colds going around, so I am trying to be really careful with them touching him so he doesn't get sick. Ok, for some more hospital pics (the real reason you read the blog anyway, right?)