Not as I planned...

Warning: Long post and I even cut out A LOT!

The last part of pregnancy was hard for me because I couldn't plan ahead. I hated the unknown of how he would come, when he would come, etc. Thankfully though I didn't know how it would turn out or I would have been miserable thinking of what was to come!

Each day felt like an eternity and each night I went to bed wondering "Will this be the day or night?" Going past my due date was nearly unbearable. At my 41 week appt. the doctor said I wasn't anymore dilated and his head was still floating up in New Hampshire. Great. Their policy was to wait until 42 weeks to induce, but I asked if we could do it early because I did not want to have a baby during Thanksgiving week! My appt. was a Monday and he wanted to have me induced on Friday with me going in on Thursday to get ready. Unfortunately the hospital already had a long waiting list and did not want to add me to it. It seemed like the only way I was going to get this baby was to do it on my own, which did not seem likely.

My phone broke while I was at the doctor so we got a new phone at Costco then went to the mall to have them transfer all my contacts. We walked around, hoping to help things along, went home, wrote in Landon's journal (only for the 2nd time), and when we went to bed I prayed and prayed that he would hurry and come on his own that night. I cried, knowing we had a lot going on and I needed him to come NOW, plus I knew he was a big boy and was just getting better and I REALLY did NOT want a c-section.

(Shortened timeline--okay I know it seems long. Don't read if you don't want to.)
3:30 am I woke up thinking "ooo I gotta pee!" I ran to the bathroom and then wondered if my water broke, after a couple things, I was pretty sure it had, yelled for Chris, and called the doctor who said to get to the hospital. Woohoo!!!! I was super giddy and Chris was pretty nervous as he ran around grabbing things that I told him to pack.

Leaving for the hospital!

4:15 We got to the hospital and things were a little more uncomfortable than I thought with my water being broken, but contractions were starting and not painful at all. I was only dilated 2-3 cm. After an hour or so we got into our delivery room.

10:00 ish my contractions were really painful at this point and I was finally in active labor. I was trying to decide whether to get an epidural, but after a couple of contractions that were less than pleasant, I wanted that epidural right away! I had waited in getting it so that I could walk around and bounce on the ball because I knew as soon as I got it, that I wasn't leaving the bed for awhile. Thankfully I had a wonderful nurse who saved me from getting the epidural from a not-so good student. Even with the experienced anesthesiologist it took 3 times and I found out I had scoliosis.

11:15 Decide to give me pitocin to speed things up. I ended up only needing a little.

3:15 Dilated to a 10 but want him to drop more.

4:00ish Time to push! After an hour, they decided to start using the vacuum because his heart rate would drop with each contraction (normal) but take too long to come back up. After 30 min. with the vacuum decided it was time for a c-section. I was upset by it, but trusted that that's what needed to happen.

6:09 Landon is born! I was so out of it at this point, shaking really bad and throwing up, that I didn't realize he was out. I didn't realize it until he was cleaned up and Chris was calling my name and trying to get my attention. I couldn't hold him and sadly didn't really want to at the time.

Recovery wasn't very fun and after a few hours we ended up in the very last bed in postpartum...a shared room! I was not happy about that, especially since their baby was screaming as I was wheeled into the room. I could not sleep that night and was surprised how much pain I was in once the anesthesia wore off.

Once again my prayers were answered and I had a wonderful nurse (again) the next day who saw a room opening up, put me in a recliner chair, and wheeled me down the hall pretty darn fast so that I could have the private room!

Except for Landon's blood sugar being low, everything seemed normal while we spent our 4 more days in the hospital. The next week, Thanksgiving, I was feeling pretty rotten with chills, sweats, and aches. Part of me thought it was normal and part of me didn't want to know if anything was wrong because it would just go away if I didn't know. Hmmmm didn't go away. Saturday I noticed a hard spot above my incision and I finally decided that I should take my temperature. It was 100.5, the temp. the doctors said if I had, we should call. We called and the doctor on call prescribed me an antibiotic and we set up an appt. for the urgent care for the next day.

When I woke up on Sunday the hard spot was much, much bigger. When I got to the appointment I noticed a really nasty smell and was trying to figure out what it was and where it was coming from. After the nurse left the room before the nurse practitioner came in, I realized it was me! I was having major drainage! Luckily it started at the urgent care! The nurse came in and panicked a bit, brought someone else in to help her, tried to control it, told me I had to go to the ER, called the ambulance, told me I was going commando, called my mother-in-law (who thankfully is willing to change plane tickets over and over) and brother-in-law back to the room (Chris was at church leading choir) and said you need to call your husband. I was crying and a mess, got loaded into the ambulance (with lights and sound), and went to the ER.

I spent 3 days in the hospital with 3 IV antibiotics, much to my dismay, and left with a wound vac to suck out anymore drainage that I might have. The hospital set up home nurses who come to change my dressings and check up on me. After a week with the wound vac, I have now graduated to Fibracol, a collagen packing.

Phew. That was the last 3 weeks in very short telling. If you want more details, just ask, I'll tell ya! Now for getting through that...here's your treat!

Sadly almost all the pictures I've taken of him are bleh which makes me really sad:( Seriously...

1 week old
www.kimbercrandallphotography.blogspot.com
He was awake the whole shoot and also wanted to eat, eat, eat but thankfully we got some cute pictures in between the crying and eating and fussing. Kimber was sooo great!
You can see 3 or 4 posts of his pictures on her blog!

PS I have more pictures on my facebook