A Boy!!!!! We were and still are to add a boy to our family. We thought about names forever. James and I never agreed on names when either one suggested a new one. We finally decided Donovan was a good first name, but we weren't sold on a middle name yet. The estimated due date for Donovan was November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving. By the week before Thanksgiving I was really excited to have him out, but not excited enough to schedule an induction. Anyway, his due date came and went. December 1st was our first appointment with my doctor after his due date. Because it was after his due date the doctor sent us to the hospital for a post due date stress test and another ultrasound because Donovan had been measuring big. My Doctors appointment was at 3pm and we left the hospital around 5:30pm. While in the hospital I mentioned Carmine as a possible middle name. This was the first name James had ever agreed to that I suggested. So that was it, more than likely, Donovan Carmine. Anyway, I had no contractions while I was there, Donovan was measuring 9lbs 2oz based off of the ultrasound and loved to have his fist in his mouth and we could really see his hair. At that point in time we had an induction scheduled for 6:30am on that following morning. The doctor had given warning that we might have to do a C-section because he was measuring so big. I think that worried me a bit only because his size was in addition to an induction and him not deciding to come on his own. And, I forgot to mention that the doctor still couldn't feel the cervix at the appointment today.
When the 3.5 of us left the hospital we headed to the grocery store. We got there somewhere around 7pm and that is around when the contractions started. And they hurt. And to start, the contractions were between 7-9 minutes apart. When we got home we got Rosie ready for bed and I had James give me a blessing of comfort because I was really nervous about the morning. As the night progressed the contractions got stronger. I was keeping in touch with my friend Robyn, who was going to be at the birth, basically begging her to tell me 7 minutes apart is enough to go to the hospital without being turned away. She told me no, they would turn me away. These things were killing me. I was exhausted because I had been up since 6:30am and I did not want to not have an epidural. My fear was that it would be too late by the time we got to the hospital. At around 11pm I called the hospital to see if they would see me or turn me away (especially since I was supposed to be there at 6:30am for an induction anyway (which they didn't have scheduled evidently)). The hospital told me to go ahead and come in. So I told Robyn we were going in, got last minute things in our bag, got Rosie ready, and off we went.
We got to the hospital around midnight. Into Triage we went and they took forever. Robyn had stopped on her way to pick up donuts for the nurses and still made it before any of the nurses had even come in. Eventually I rang the nurse and told them how eager I was to get an epidural and how I wanted to move things along. A nurse finally came in, asked a few questions, checked my cervix (which was now able to be reached) and I was at a 5. She called Labor and Delivery and told them I could stay. The Labor and Delivery nurse came with the wheelchair to pick us up and I made it clear to Kimberly, my nurse, how eager I was to get an epidural.
Once in L&D, Kim had my fluids hooked up and rushing through while she was prepping the room for a patient. Not long after the anesthesiologist assistant came in and was asking questions. Not long after that the fluids were done, the assistant was leaving and in came the anesthesiologist. It was magic. James and Rosie stepped out and Robyn held my hand for the epidural. It hurt, I remember it hurting more than it did when I got the epidural with Rosie, but I knew it would be worth it. The nurse and the anesthesiologist both commented on how they knew I wasn't a wuss, they said they knew I was tough, they could tell from the beginning. That made me feel good, mainly because I was in a lot of pain. Epidural was in and James and Rosie came back in. James teased Rosie a couple different times, but when they came back in the room was one. He told Rosie her baby brother was here and walked her to the crib. She goes and looks and there was no baby. Sad day.
I was checked again and I was at a 6, an hour or two had probably passed at this point. The doctor felt no need to start the pitocin because I was progressing fine on my own. At this point I could move my legs, they felt tingly, but numb. Robyn would look at the monitor and say, "you are having a big contraction" to which I would look at the monitor and say, "Oh, so I am." At about 3am Rosie finally fell asleep. I had progressed to a 7, the doctor broke my water, and they put in an internal contraction monitor. I called the nurse in a couple times because I felt "pressure," actually it felt like Donovan was trying to come out through my leg, but again I had an epidural and wasn't feeling things right anyway.
At about 4:40am on December 2nd the nurse decided to go ahead and see how the pushing would go (the doctor had checked not too long before that and I was fully dilated but the baby was still at a -3 station.) The internal monitor was still in so she told me when the contraction began and I would push. I held my legs this time, as opposed to James and nurse holding my legs with Rosie. After 2 contraction of trial pushes the nurse decides to call in the doctor. Rosie is still sleeping. They turn the lights on, start getting everything ready, Robyn sets up the mirror in case I can push with my eyes open to see the birth. The doctor comes in and starts getting himself ready. The nurse takes out the internal monitor and tells me to let her know when I'm having another contraction. I couldn't really tell because the epidural was working so well, but at one point I though I might have been having a contraction, so we decided to push. I pushed twice and Donovan started crowning. She told me to stop pushing. Ummmm....good thing I had an epidural, can you imagine trying to stop pushing with excruciating pain while your child is crowning? I don't think so.
Well the doctor was finally ready (he sped up with the crowning). I pushed for one more contraction (so this is a total of pushing for 3 contractions) and Donovan was born at 05:09. I was able to watch. James woke up Rosie after he started crying so she could meet her baby brother. Robyn got to cut the cord. They put Donovan on me after the cord was cut. I held him for about 5 minutes before they took him and started cleaning him up a bit. His placenta was dramatically smaller in comparison to Rosie's placenta. The staff was in awe of his size. They all were very excited to get his weight. They said he was by far the biggest baby of the shift. The doctor did a 2nd degree episiotomy. After they cleaned Donovan up a bit we did some skin to skin. The scale was being used elsewhere, so we still had to wait to get his weight and height. Rosie was in a daze, mostly because of only having slept for 2 hours since waking up Monday morning.
While waiting for the scale I admired his hair, he doesn't have webbed toes like Rosie, but he has a birthmark on the back of his right leg under his knee. I was admiring every little bit of him. We let Donovan hear the few possibilities of his name and he cried at 2 of the 3 suggested. Even Donovan liked Donovan Carmine. Finally they scale came in. They put the little man on it and he was 9lbs 4oz and he measured 21.5inches long. Crazy, big little boy.
No more alcohol on the umbilical cord. Things have changed in the 3.5 years since Rosie. After his weight I was able to attempt to nurse him and he was a pro just like his sister. Robyn said goodbye (so she could sleep too since she had been up over 24 hours as well). After about an hour after birth they brought us up to the maternity ward. I finally got an hour nap around 8am. Rosie and James managed to sleep about 3 hours. Healing went well, Donovan was doing good and we were a family of 4. We all got another hour nap around 5pm before James took Rosie home. Donovan and I were going to brave it alone. That night was rough, working on 2 hours of sleep in a day and a half, after having given birth. At one point in time in the middle of the night Donovan was crying. He must have been crying for a while because the nurse came in, I was falling asleep trying to comfort him and falling asleep talking to the nurse trying to tell her I was falling asleep trying to comfort him. She took him for a couple hours so I could sleep. (There wasn't a nursery on the floor we were on.) She ended up taking him for 3 hours. He wouldn't sleep in his crib, so he spent the whole time switching hands between nurses and techs while I was gratefully able to sleep. We decided to try and go home the next day. After clearance from my doctor we waited for clearance from the pediatrician, got his hearing test, his first vaccine, and off we went picking up his birth certificate on the way out. While in the hospital he went two different 6 hour stretches of not eating, but they didn't stress, he was doing fine, and eventually he ate.
So that is his birth story, a little scattered, but I wanted it written down. Here we are month later on the day of his baby blessing and the three of us just love and adore him, especially Rosie.
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