Thursday, January 9 at 7:00pm - Over at Mimi's for dinner and my water breaks! Thank goodness she is (mostly) set up for last minute sleepovers, so we left Simone there and went home to put the finishing touches on our hospital bags... oh yeah, and to try and get some sleep!
When my water broke with Simone, they sent us home and told us to wait until contractions started. Since I wasn't feeling anything (and the doctor's office was closed!), we decided to follow the same advice. Mimi took Simone to daycare in the morning and then went back to bed!
Friday, January 10 - I was on the phone to the doctor's office as soon as they opened at 9:00am, but it became clear that they had no sense of urgency and they booked us for 11:00am to get checked. Once she confirmed it had broken, the doctor said we could wait until 7:00pm that night or go to the hospital right then to be induced. We were ready to get this party started, so we chose the second option.
12:00pm - Arrived at the hospital. Barely a nurse in sight and all birthing rooms are full! We get set up in the tiny back corner room and wait until a nurse is available to get the IV going. Our first order of business is to fill out the paperwork for a PRIVATE ROOM!
2:00pm - A lovely nurse is finally freed up to be one-on-one with us. I lay in the bed, hooked up to the monitors, the nurse increases the oxytocin every 15 minutes. We are just waiting for something to happen...
3:30pm - ... and waiting...
4:30pm - ... and waiting...
5:30pm - And we're off! And this is intense! Mimi picks Simone up from daycare (thank you for keeping her a bit later, Auntie Mick!!!) and takes her home for dinner and bed. Once she is out, our angels Aunty Leigh and Aunty Gaye go to watch over her so Mimi can be present for her grandson's arrival. Thank you SO much, Team!!!
6:30pm - Thinking back to our first experience (during which we waited an additional four hours for an epidural, AFTER the first 12 hours of contractions!), I decided that an hour was enough this time. I told Jeff (who learned how to get his shoulder in the right place this time for my wrist-breaking grip!) that I was ready for an epidural, please. The nurse was a bit reluctant because I was only 2cm dilated, but thank goodness they looked at our history and the dude walked in right then to administer it. Yay! Or so I thought...
I guess I should have known something was up when he asked me, "Does that feel like it's in the middle of your back? Or off to the side a bit?" Uh... I'm in the middle of a contraction, buddy, I think it's the middle! Can't you see where you're putting it??? Anyways, I guess it was a bit off because only my left side was numb. He came back to give me two extra doses, but I could still feel every inch of contraction on the right. This did not really help me relax!
The next plan of attack was Fentinol (a knock-me-out drug that they put in the IV) and it worked INSTANTLY. Jeff said I was totally out of it.. at first. This also required two extra doses, but eventually I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing.
Like I said with Simone, I could have pushed for ten more hours. That was the easy part! The on-call doctor, who was also training a medical student, was SO calm and talked me through every breath, every big push, every little push... it was awesome. One million times less pain than with Simone. I guess this is how people get convinced to have more and more babies... other people, I mean! :)
9:40pm - After only four hours, our little prince arrived, weighing 8lbs 2oz. Of course, all of that extra epidural kept me numb for hours, so little Ollie and I cuddled in bed until I was able to get up and walk. It was so lovely!
Mimi brought Big Sis Simone to come and meet her Baby Brother at the hospital:
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Baka also stopped by to meet his newest grandson:
Simone "texted" Auntie Shilo to tell her about Ollie and his "tiny fingers"!
Unfortunately, there were no private rooms available, so we were stuck in the ward. Fortunately, the second time around, they figure you have some idea of what you're doing, so we were discharged the next day! We were home on Saturday by 5:30pm and spent the weekend resting comfortably
Ready to go home, Mommy? Mmmm... yep!
Ollie the monkey looking tiny in his bucket!
Mimi and both Aunties came to visit Oliver and Simone, the pirate!
A recreation of the famous shot the Aunties took with Simone:
24 hours old!
Thank you to everyone for your warm wishes and congratulations! Please check back soon for more updates of Ollie's first few days.
Congratulations, team! He's BEAUTIFUL!!! (but of course he is!) What a sweet and heart-warming meeting of the siblings... it's incredible to have captured that for happy memories! Hugs to all of you!
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