Sarah's Story: August, Part 5: Welcome, Baby Daniel!

I really didn't want to be induced after the experience I had after my induction with Peter. However, my doctor assured me that since I had already had two babies that I wouldn't have a repeat of my first experience. His concern was that he had some things on his schedule that might make it impossible for him to be there to deliver my baby for me...and since we had done self pay (because our insurance didn't cover him and I really wanted him to continue as my OB/GYN), it made sense to schedule an induction. Besides that, Jeremiah had some crazy things at work that would be made a little easier by having an actual day planned for our baby to arrive.

So, I scheduled an induction for Sunday, August 23rd. This would allow me to be there for Peter's first day of school (Wednesday, August 19th). It made it easier for my mom to plan around her work so she could be there to watch my boys too. It also ensured that I would have enough time before Johnny started preschool so that I could be there for him too on his first day of school.

We drove the boys to my mom's house so they could sleep over and then go to church with her the next day. They were super excited to have a sleepover at Nammy's house.

I was told that the hospital could call me as early as 6 a.m. that Sunday morning to tell me to come in to start the induction at 7 a.m. I was told to call the hospital if I hadn't heard from them by 9 a.m. I was warned that there was a possibility that if there were enough people who went into labor naturally, or who had medical emergencies, that I might not be able to be induced that day. However, I was also told that this would be highly unlikely because most people didn't schedule inductions on Sundays, and also weekends were less busy for people to go into labor naturally too.

I barely slept at all the night before. This was due to a combination of staying up late packing my stuff for the hospital, excitement, and Jeremiah's snoring keeping me awake. I woke up and got ready at around 5 a.m. and waited for a call from the hospital at 6 a.m. However, the call didn't come. So, I set my alarm for 7 a.m. (because I was told the calls would come on the hour). Still no word at 7 a.m., so I slept a little more. I hadn't heard anything by 8 a.m. either. I slept a little more, but I was getting tense, and couldn't wait to call the hospital after 9 a.m. Jeremiah was tense times 10...or perhaps times 100. That man can get super tense.

I finally called at 9 a.m. and apparently, the hospital had been busy with a lot of women who had gone into labor naturally, dang it! She told me to call back in two hours. The agony! Seriously, it was such a long morning. It was nice in a way though. We had nowhere to go (it was our stake conference, but we had planned on being at the hospital, so we didn't go to church). The boys were with my mom. It was nice and quiet...and it was so nice to have some together time without having to worry about anyone but ourselves. We put on some church DVDs and watched those for a bit.

At 11 a.m., I called the hospital back. The nurse who was in charge of scheduling the inductions said that things were still busy...however, she assured me that they would make sure that my induction happened that day, but she wasn't sure exactly what time it would happen. She told me to call back in an hour and that they would try to fit me in at 12:30 p.m.

I called back at noon and she told me to head in and they would try to get me in by 1 p.m. Finally! We got the green light to go. Our car was already packed, so we headed on our way.

We got there before 1 p.m. and got checked in. We got into our delivery room, I changed into my hospital gown...and then I sat for an hour. We were starting to wonder if we had been forgotten. However, finally at about 2 p.m., a nurse came in and hooked me up to an IV and started me on my first dose of antibiotic (I had to have two doses of antibiotic during the delivery because I tested positive for Group B Strep). A little later, they started me on a low dose of pitocin. Then things started moving. I got an epidural when I was dilated to a 6. An hour later, the nurse asked me how I was doing. I told her I felt great, but that I felt a little pressure. When she checked me, it turned out that the "little pressure" I was feeling was the fact that I was dilated to a 10 already! Wow, epidurals are so great. They called my doctor, and when he arrived, they broke my water, and then it was time to push! I pushed during two contractions (maybe a total of 5 pushes), and then there was little Daniel.

It's so hard to describe how I felt. When I was pregnant with Peter, I was completely engrossed in it. I think that is the case for most first pregnancies. You don't have other kids to think about, so you have a lot of time to think about being pregnant and the baby growing inside of you. When I was pregnant with Johnny, I had no fears about the outcome, and I was focused on preparing Peter for his new brother. This time around, I was so tired, sick, and busy with my boys that honestly, I didn't have much time to think about it--except when I was lying in bed and Daniel tried to kick his way out each night. At the beginning of this pregnancy, I was so fearful of having another miscarriage that I think it took me a little longer to trust my body, and that this pregnancy would work out...and perhaps I felt a little distant from my baby.

However, when they laid my sweet baby on my belly after I delivered him, and they had to poke and prod him a bit to start crying (I wasn't worried about the fact that he wasn't crying because he looked fine), I just felt such an overwhelming feeling of love for this little guy. When he did start to cry, I immediately noticed that he had my (and my mom's) dimple. It was so sweet to see that little dimple as he was crying.

So, at the end of the day, sweet little Daniel Matthew Washburn joined our family at 7:55 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

Because I tested positive for Group B Strep, Daniel was required to stay two days in the hospital for observation to make sure he was doing well before he could be discharged and I, of course, stayed in the hospital those two days with him too. Jeremiah stayed in the hospital with us as well. It was just heavenly. It was so nice to spend that time in the hospital with my sweet new baby. It was so nice to have that quiet time to just hold him and not worry about anything else but just him and me. It was also nice to have that time with Jeremiah. We watched movies and just held our baby. We also got a good number of visits. The best visit of all was when our two boys got to meet their new baby brother. I'll do a separate post on that though.