Delivery Day: The whole story!

Well as promised, I am finally getting on here to blog about Wisdom's delivery. I thought I'd just kind of do a hour by hour (or so) analysis to explain the crazy couple of days. So here I go.

9:30 am - Head to my doctor appt. to get checked and get my membranes stripped anticipating that it won't do a thing for me since it doesn't for most women.

10:00 am - I'm dilated to a 4!!! My membranes are stripped. I was so shocked that I was dilated that much. I actually asked the doctor to double check. I've never been dilated to a 4 and not sitting in a hospital bed. My doctor tells me I will have this baby by the end of the weekend if not sooner.

11:30 am - I'm at home and my contractions are beginning the get more consistent - about every 5 minutes. My mom comes over and tells me I need to go in but I'm not in very much pain so I wait. I do laundry, clean the house but can't believe I could really be in labor 3 weeks early so I don't even pack my bag.

1:00 pm - My contractions are still not very painful but they are coming every 3 minutes now. I start to get a little nervous and call Travis. He heads home but he's still 30 mins out.

1:30 pm - The contractions are getting stronger. I start packing.

2:00 pm - I'm running around the house trying to do everything I thought I had at least another week to do. Travis and my mom finally convince me to just go to the hospital.

2:30 pm - We arrive at the hospital.

2:45 pm - After the nurse checks me, I'm still a 4. They hook me up to all the monitors and say they're going to watch me for an hour or so and see if I change.

4:30 pm - My contractions are still 3-5 minutes apart but they are getting increasingly painful. They check me & I'm still a 4.

5:00 pm - Poor Travis is losing all feeling in his hand as he helps me breathe through every contraction. It's really hurting now and I want my epidural! The nurse comes in and says the doctor thinks I'm only in early labor and I should head home for now. I explain that I could barely walk to the bathroom. There is no way I'll make it to the car, much less home! The nurse says she'll call the doctor back.

5:30 pm - The dr. says I can stay a little while longer to see if I progress.

6:00 pm - The nurse checks me and guess what? I'm a 6! They decide to admit me.

6:15 pm - I move to a delivery room. I ask for my epidural. They tell me I can have it after they admit me, have the lab draw my blood, and get an IV in me.

7:00 pm - I get my epidural . . . I am in heaven! The doctor arrives and breaks my water. I'm still a 6.

7:30 pm - I ask Travis if he's hungry. He says yes but that he can wait. I tell him to go get something. I'm still a 6, they just barely broke my water. We've got time. There's no point in both of us sitting here hungry. Travis leaves for Quiznos (about 5 minutes away).

7:45 pm - The doctor checks me and announces that I'm a 10 and ready to push. Then he asks where my husband is.

7:45 - 7:55 pm - I call Travis' cell phone and get his voice mail. I leave a message and continue to call and continue to get his voice mail. The doctor comes in again and says to get my husband here now because the baby's heart rate dropped once and he wants to get him out.

8:00 pm - Travis arrives. Apparently he couldn't get service in Quiznos or outside of Quiznos or in our car or . . . but he is here now! I start pushing.

8:15 pm - Wisdom Robert is born. He is beautiful! I get to hold him until they weigh and measure him. That's when they discover that he is breathing unusually fast.

8:45 pm - My mom and the girls arrive but are not able to hold him because he is breathing so rapidly and they are monitoring his oxygen levels. The girls peeked at him under the warmer.

9:00 pm - The girls go home to get some sleep with promises that they can hold their brother tomorrow. They continue to monitor Wisdom.

9:30 pm - The nurse decides we can hold him as long as we keep the cord attached to his foot that monitors his oxygen levels and alert them if it gets below a certain number. Travis gets to hold Wisdom for the first time.

10:00 pm - They want to take Wisdom to the nursery to draw blood, run test, get a chest x-ray, etc.

11:00 pm - We get moved to a recovery room waiting to hear news.

11:30 pm - They tell us that all the tests and x-rays came back just fine. They believe his lungs are just a little premature and they want to keep him in the nursery until he "transitions" which can take a day or two or more.

12:00 am - We attempt to get some sleep while we worry about how Wisdom's doing but we're unsuccessful.

1:00 am - The pediatrician comes to tell us that they would like to give Wisdom an IV of basically sugar water so that he has enough energy to keep up with his rapid breathing. They won't let me nurse him until he transitions for fear of him inhaling the breast milk. From this point on I think I get sleep in 20 minute increments and I realize I can't do this alone. I start to pray.

7:00 am - Wisdom is still breathing rapidly but his oxygen levels are good. We are told we can spend as much time in the nursery as we'd like and that I can nurse him now. But no one else is allowed in the nursery. We call the girls to tell them to wait to come up. We keep praying.

7:30 am - We spend the next few hours with our little boy. He has cords attached to different spots on his chest and an awful IV in his tiny hand. Needless to say we didn't take any pictures while he was in the nursery because it isn't something we want to remember.

10:30 am - My dad arrives to give Wisdom a blessing with Travis. Unfortunately we are told that my dad is not allowed in the nursery and Wisdom can't leave the nursery. A compromise is made and Wisdom is given a beautiful blessing in the doorway of the nursery.

11:00 am - Wisdom is taken off the oxygen and a miracle occurs! His oxygen levels stay up and he begins to transition. We spend the rest of the afternoon with him in the nursery.

5:00 pm - Wisdom finally gets to come into our room. He has no cords attached to him and we are told that the IV will come out soon. We are also told that if he has a good night then we can go home in the morning. We call the girls and tell them to get up here!!!

6:00 pm - The IV is taken out. Now we can cuddle our little baby.

7:00 pm - The girls arrive. Pure bliss!

9:00 pm - Wisdom finally gets his 1st bath and I get to give it to him - something I've never gotten to do since I'm usually in recovery when this takes place.

11:15 am - Wisdom had a great night. We get to take him home.

11:45 am - Welcome home!

Since bringing him home, Wisdom has done great! Now at two weeks old he is back up to his birth weight, eating great and sleeping well. Although I never want to go through this experience again, I am so grateful for the faith-building experience this was for me.

Welcome to the world Little Wisdom!