Goodbye Bob, Helllllo Charlie! ~ Charlie's Birth Story

Charlie, Charles Hammond Wagner, was born on Tuesday December 29. He was born at 3:16 am, weighed 7 lbs 11 ozs and was 19 inches long.

I started having pain/contractions in my back on Saturday December 26 around 9:00 am. On Sunday, I stood up and felt a trickle down my leg. I have heard your water can break and it feels like a gush of water, or it can be a slow leak. I was worried my water broke so I called the on call dr. He said to put a pad on and watch it for an hour and call if it continues. An hour later, I started spotting, the first time I've ever spotted during my pregnancy. I called the dr. and he said it sounds like I might be starting to lose my mucus plug. He said my body warms the mucus plug and it could come out first very watery instead of mucusy and the blood is normal when you lose your mucus plug. He said again, put a pad on and call if it gets worse. In an hour, I had a bit more spotting so I called the dr. again and we both agreed for me to get checked out at the hospital.

Rob and I went to the hospital and they did a test and confirmed my water did not break. She also checked to see if I was dilated and I was dilated 1 cm so we went home.

That night I decided to start timing my contractions. When I went to bed, they were 10 minutes apart about 60 seconds long. I woke up at 1:30 am Monday morning and felt the contractions were stronger so I decided to stay up and time my contractions. The contractions were 5 minutes apart around 7:00 am. After we both got up and showered, we called the dr. again to let him know they were 5 minutes apart and he said to go ahead and go to the hospital. We got to the hospital and got checked in. They checked my cervix and I was now 2 cm dilated. They said if I was in active labor, I would dilate a cm every hour. They told me I could walk the halls for an hour and they could re-check me. After an hour, I was still 2 cm so I was considered to be in early labor, not active labor. They gave us the choice to go home or stay. I didn't think 2 cm was very far along and didn't want to stay in the hospital longer than I needed to so we opted to go home. They said to call back when the contractions got more intense.

Once we got home, I swore they were more intense. I was crying through them - because of the pain and because I didn't know how long (days?) I would have to feel this pain every five minutes until they got MORE intense. My sister was in town and she and my mom came by for lunch. The men were golfing (Rob was supposed to go with them). My sister asked why I came home, I told her and she thought I should have stayed so they could have helped things along. I started second guessing my decision and after lunch, Rob and I were on our way back to the hospital. On the way, we dropped Buddy off at the lady's house who watches him.

We got to the hospital and I was checked again and was now 3 cm dilated - progress! We were definitely staying. First thing on the list: pain medication! They put an IV in me and started me on some Fetinol. Within about 8 seconds, I was feeling really good. I couldn't feel my contractions and I was sooo happy. The feeling wears off in an hour so I decided to get one more dose of that stuff and then the epidural. The epidural didn't hurt at all. He said the worst part would be the ointment they put on my back. He said it should sting but it didn't and I barely felt a pinch when the needle went in. It was a little hard to sit still because I was having a little bit of the shakes which I guess was common with taking all the drugs. After the epidural, my legs started to get numb. The dr. came in and broke my water. They then started me on pitocin which is supposed to bring on the contractions. Rob would watch the contractions on the monitor and let me know when I was having a "big one" - I couldn't feel them but I could tell because my stomach would tighten up and raise up. At one point, I started feeling pressure and some pain in my back so they topped off my epidural.

I believe it was around 1:30 am. Tuesday morning when Rob and I finally dozed off to sleep. I woke to a nurse coming into our room to look on the monitor and told me to roll over. Seconds later a second nurse ran into the room and said "Did you see what I saw?" Charlie's heart rate had been dipping below the heart rate baseline during contractions but would eventually return to normal. During one contraction, his heart rate was down for two minutes so they needed me to move into different positions to get his heart rate back up. They said he was probably sitting on his cord or it was wrapped around his neck but to not be scared, it was totally normal. I know its normal but how do you not worry when someone tells you the cord may be wrapped around his neck and it is tightening with each contraction? After a while, Charlie's heart rate had returned to normal. They turned off the pitocin to keep monitoring Charlie's heart rate.

I started to feel quite a bit of pain again in my back and now my stomach during contractions so they called the anesthesiologist to top me off again. They said the epidural should last and they weren't exactly sure why I was feeling the contractions but they went ahead and topped me off again directly into the IV even though there was some more juice in the IV bag. A few seconds later my legs got warm and I said "Is there an electric blanket on or something?" and the next thing I knew my legs were on FIRE. It was so painful - I felt like my legs were literally on fire, I also thought my calves might have been cramping but I couldn't feel them. The anesthesiologist said he didn't know why my legs would feel hot. Rob said when I felt that feeling, I was having a contraction but it was the weirdest thing. Needless to say, I was getting a little nervous/tired of this whole laboring thing with the drugs not totally working and my baby in distress.

Since they turned off my pitocin and the contractions had cooled down a bit, they decided to see how far I was dilated. The last time they checked me, I was 7 cm dilated. Now, I was 5 cm dilated. They said my cervix was swelling and it appeared Charlie was pressing up against my cervix. They called my dr. to talk about other options I said "you mean, other option" and the nurse said "yes, a c-section." So when they were gone, Rob and I talked about how we felt about having a c-section. I think we were both wanting this process to be over and meet our little guy and make sure myself and Charlie were healthy. The nurse came back and said the dr. will be here soon and we need to get prepped for surgery.

They pumped me with a cocktail of other drugs and things were even more fuzzy from here on out. I remember them wheeling me over there and having the shakes really bad. The anesthesiologist gave me some drugs for the shaking. He kept hooking me up. :) I didn't really feel any pain but I felt a ton of pressure. It was a weird feeling feeling things getting tugged around in my stomach. I thought he would be pulled out in a few minutes but it felt longer than that. The other weird feeling was the feeling of being stitched up. I didn't feel it but I could feel the pulling sensation. Once he was born, a nurse held him and walked him to get checked out and bathed. Rob went with them and video taped the process so I can see it later. Hearing Charlie's cry for the first time was one of the best sounds I've ever heard.





After the surgery, we had to stay in the room for 2 hours for observation. We didn't get into our room until after 5:00 am on Tuesday.

While in the hospital, Charlie got lots of visitors. We unfortunately forgot to take pictures of everyone but here are the ones we have:

Mimi and Poppy



Jen



Stephanie and Jason



Auntie Ashley and Uncle Jimmy



Sarah and Mike



Nonni



Dorothy



Our home for 4 nights




Going home!

The Happiest Baby on the Block

I believe it was Kathy, Rob's sister, who gave us this book. We got through most of it in Hawaii but never started reading it again once we got back. We both really liked the book and thought the Dr.'s baby calming tricks made sense.

Since Bob is due any day now, we decided to go to the library and rent the movie (our friends Paul and Amy recommended the movie as well). To anyone who has a fussy baby or is pregnant, I'd recommend checking it out. The movie had the basic concepts that were in the book it served as a good refresher course for us. The bonus is we can have the movie for 3 weeks so we're going to hold on to it after Bob gets here in case we need to watch it again.

I wanted to practice swaddling on something other than a baby (and Buddy), so we paused the movie and swaddled Bob's bear. I figured the bear would be more patient with me than Bob will be. Doesn't the bear look happy?

Update

We had our 39 week dr.'s appointment today and I'm still not dilated at all. We are on the calendar to be induced on Wednesday 12/30 at 10:30 am.

I have a feeling our little guy will be born on 12/31. I called my friend Dorothy who specifically requested (months ago) not to share her 12/31 birthday with the baby and I broke the news that she may have to share the day. She told me as long as he is cute, it's ok (you have to be super cute to have a birtday on 12/31). I will let the baby know not to steal Dorothy's thunder and let her have her day. :)

Here is a picture from Sunday, 38 weeks 6 days.



And more items taken care of:

15.) Assemble pack n play
25.) Get highlights (?) - not sure if I'll need to but not sure when I'll every get back to the salon

We also packed our diaper bags. It wasn't on the list but it had to be done. His and hers diaper bags:

Dear H1N1,

You are kind of annoying. Because of you, our hospital (and many others) are changing their visitor policies so you don't harm the newborn babies. Not only does my hospital now require visitors to be 15 years old or older, we can only have 1 visitor after Baby Wagner is born at a time (we can have 2, but Rob is considered a visitor - basically its 2 people in addition to mom and baby).

Love,
A frustrated mom to be

P.s. If anyone wants to wait to visit us until we get home, our feelings won't be hurt, but you are more than welcome to come visit in the hospital.

Making Progress on the List

5.) Pack Alyssa's bag for hospital (I decided against packing a baby bag - I think his stuff will fit in my bag)
6.) Pack Rob's bag for hospital
8.) Get all the wall decor up in the baby's room (can't start until #2 and #3 are done)
10.) Have carseat inspected by fire department or police department to make sure its installed properly (had it inspected by friend’s husband who is a police officer)
11.) Get a good supply of wipes from costco and detergent (from Target)
19.) Make or buy wall letters (I want to put up letters that spell out his name, I think I might try to make them)
24.) Go to Christmas in the Park with friends
28.) At least 1 more date night with Jen and Brad
35.) Get toilet fixed


Pictures from #24 - Christmas in the Park with Maryanne and Brian and Jesslie (Jess and Les). Dorothy and Keith couldn't go because Keith's company's Christmas party was that night. The party was right by Christmas in the Park (the Fairmont) and we were thinking of crashing the party but we luckily didn't have to embarass them and ran into them at the hotel.










*Thanks for the pics, Maryanne!

Nursery is Done! (Pretty Much)

The nursery is pretty much done. I made wall letters to hang above the crib but since the name is a secret, we can't hang them up until he is here. Rob "allowed" me to show you 1 letter. I chose A because believe it or not, the top five boy names we liked all had an A in them, so I feel like I'm not giving anything away here. I figured they cost me about $7 a letter, but I bought way too much ribbon and paint which I'll return, so my guess right now is the cost is about $5 a letter. My inspiration from etsy was by someone who charged $20 a letter - I got vetoed.

My letter:



I'm going to glue the button to a push pin and somehow attach the light blue ribbon to it.

Etsy's letter (my inspiration):



Mine aren't totally professional, but I think they turned out pretty cute. I'll have to post a pic when they are all together.

Here is the Before nursery picture:



And the completed nursery:

Pregnancy Quiz

How far along? 38 weeks, 1 day

Total weight gain/loss: +41 lbs. Yes, I surpassed my 40 lb gain goal but apparently it's normal to lose weight towards the very end. It aint over 'til it's over! I do realize if history repeats itself, I'll be going in the upwards direction.

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? Not yet.

Sleep: Not great.

Best moment this week: Seeing Buddy and Rob play together. They do this often but Rob has been a bit stressed since last Friday with house drama (soft water/pipe drama, mold/leaky water drama, neighbor's fence falling over drama, blowing circuits drama) and now he is in all day training classes this week. Buddy is a big stress reliever so it was nice to see him de-stress with Buddy.

Movement: Yes.

Food cravings: Not really.

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's on its way to an outie I think. It's about 33% there.

What I miss: Wearing my wedding rings.

What I am looking forward to: Dinner with friends on Friday.

Other Updates: At my dr.'s appointment today they told me I am still not dilated but my cervix is softer than it was last week. She also told me my pelvis is small and I won't be a "2 pusher" - I'm going to have to work at getting this guy out. :( I also asked her if she could guess how big he is now without doing an ultrasound. She felt around my stomach and said she thinks he is in the high 7 lb range. He'll gain .50 lbs each week so that would put him around the high 8 lb range when he is born. She said hopefully he will be born by my due date. I know her estimate can be off, but something tells me he is going to be a big boy.

Bob is now as long as a leek, weighs nearly 7 pounds. (Length: more than 19 1/2 inches, head to heel.)