Confessions of a Starbucks addict

I call him Quin. :)

Quin never came on his own, so as planned, I went in to the hospital to be induced on Wednesday the 24th. Troy, Chris, Tani and I arrived at around 9AM and at around 10AM Troy went back home to pick up my mom and Kaycee to bring them to the hospital.

Around 11AM my OB came into the room to start the induction. I'd been hoping to have a waterbirth but then some old birth fears overcame me... I'd been vacillating between the waterbirth experience and just getting an epidural for awhile, so when I asked my nurse about getting an epidural *before* the induction was started, I was shocked to learn that they do that all the time at this hospital! So, I quickly decided that I wanted a pain-free birth experience and asked for the epidural post-haste. (Yes, I know, not a popular decision around here...not one that I thought that I would make, at least.) My OB was fine with the epidural and my reasoning, she was also very willing to do the induction the way that I wanted, starting pitocin and breaking my water *after* the epidural was in place.

Unfortunately, the epidural took THREE tries before it started working. The anesthesiologist was great and apologized for having to stick me like crazy. Once the epidural was working, it was quite funny having no way to actually move my own legs. Since I'd never experienced an epidural, it was not what I'd expected. That heaviness was intense.

By the time my OB came back from her office hours around 6PM, I'd dilated to 4cm. This induction was something unexpected for sure. All of my previous labors were intensely quick, so the slowness of the induction was frustrating. It was also maddening since Troy, my mom and three of my kids were there, and were all looking quite bored.

Around 10PM started the craziness. Quin's heart started to decelerate severely during contractions. His head wasn't placed properly on my cervix and so I wasn't dilating well. His heart kept decelerating and though it was only deceling during contractions, it was worrying. At one point, around 10:30PM, his heart deceled so much that the nurse tried to get a better monitor placement on me...and then she couldn't find his heart beat. Quin was then placed on an internal scalp monitor. They noted that I was still 4cm, maybe stretchy to 6cm, but that even then his heart was deceling too much for my liking. Even at 6cm, the way this induction was going, I was worried that Quin wasn't going to tolerate labor for much longer.

I asked for a c-section. I knew it was something that I didn't ever want to do, especially after having had 5 kids, all naturally. However, I'd been having a running nightmare that basically showed me that he wasn't going to make it through labor. It's a dream that I hadn't had in awhile, but it was still there and recurrent. I had all the nurses and my OB flitting in and out of my room then, getting prepped for the surgery. I also asked my OB if since she was already going to be in there, could she please do a tubal ligation while she was at it. Luckily we'd discussed this before, otherwise it'd have been an immediate "no", but since we had it was no problem.

They wheeled me into the OR, got Troy dressed in scrubs, my camera batteries died so I borrowed my mom's. Troy grabbed the video camera and off we went. The anesthesiologist took pics while Troy recorded.

When they finally got into me, they found that Quin's cord was wrapped twice, tightly, around his neck. It was also wrapped down around his legs and around his right knee. No wonder the poor kid wasn't coming out on his own! I'm glad I made the decision for the section since I don't think he'd have tolerated much more labor the way he was tangled up... After his cord was clamped and cut, he started crying right away and they whisked him and Troy back to my labor room to measure, weigh, and do all the other newborn procedures they'd have normally delayed but since I was still in the OR they went ahead and did with my okay.

I don't really remember much after the section. I think I was so exhausted that they let me sleep for quite some time. I remember Troy taking the older kids home and leaving my mom and Kaycee with me until he came back to get them. Kaycee fell asleep on the labor bed with me and Quin, my mom fell asleep on one of the uncomfortable chairs. After they left, I was at some point taken to the post-partum room. I kind of remember being shown where the bathroom was and where the diapers were for Quin...I'm kind of stuck on what else happened, it's a blur. I was exhausted still.

We stayed in the hospital until Friday afternoon. On Thursday they had me drugged up pretty well and I know I wasn't quite coherent, especially when I was on the phone with Troy. I kept falling asleep while talking to him, and I'd have these weird dreams, then wake up telling him whatever I was telling him in the dreams...ugh. I think he was really worried about me, so he called the nurse and had her check on me. Sweetheart. I did finally get some real sleep when Quin slept for 4 hours straight. He then went back to sleep after nursing and slept for another 4 hours. What a good baby!

Tomorrow I will be heading to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Tacoma, WA, to have labor induced. I honestly didn't think that the baby would stay in past his due date, but what the heck do I know? LOL.

My mom and her younger sister, my aunt Diane, flew up last night from California. I was still furiously cleaning when Troy went to pick them up from the airport... My mom is one of those people who has to have a clean house, whereas mine is more of a "lived-in, well-worn shoe", IYKWIM. So yeah cleaning all day, all week really, to get ready for them to arrive. It's funny though. I wasn't quite done and my mom didn't say much other than I hadn't gotten to the little kitten shits that were under the table where I couldn't reach them (we've since moved the kittens and am having Tani litter train them, albeit a little early but so much the better).

I'm trying to figure out what to pack for the hospital. I'd planned all along for a homebirth, so I haven't a thing packed. Obviously some toiletries, clothes to wear home (I don't mind wearing the hospital garb), the Boppy pillow, my laptop (duh!), camera, baby clothes, baby carseat, cell phone...ugh. The list is already too long...

Because inductions are extremely painful for me, I may consider asking for the epidural instead of doing the waterbirth. I don't know yet. I'd like a waterbirth experience, but I really would rather not do the pain thing again! Never having had an epidural, I might like to experience a pain-free (ha ha) childbirth. :P

In other news, the brakes on my Saab went out. Apparently they went out *badly*. Like $1800 worth of *badly*. I knew they were grinding for the last week, but sheesh, that much?!? So we're having them save the parts for us so that we can see for sure that the work really needs to be done. Not only were the pads worn, but all four wheels need new rotors (which can be machined in Saabs) *and* new calipers... I *do not* need this kind of stress! No wonder the baby hasn't made his appearance yet, he knows mama's too stressed out!

Okay, baby's poking me in the cervix now. That hurts, so I'm gonna sign off. :) Obviously there will be an update tomorrow!

...and I'm *still* pregnant! Sheesh.

At least I am getting time to get a lot accomplished. Last night I cleaned up the kitchen and put some things away. Chris's girlfriend's parents were here and put in the living room floor...it looks *so* nice. :)

Today I've been doing laundry, running errands, and cleaning up Shayna and PJ's room (which I didn't do most of, the above mentioned parent (the mom) did most of it). Now she and Chris are disassembling Chris's bed so it can go to PJ and become a bunk bed again. Our neighbors remodeled their house over the last year and gave us their old full-size bed, so that's going to Chris now. Shayna and PJ will have a bunk bed and I'm washing the sheets for the bottom bunk as I type.

Tomorrow I need to Swiffer Wet Jet the kitchen floor and set up a litter box for the new kittens. They are starting to think that the bathroom floor is the ideal place to do their business and I'm getting irritated over that! I'm also running up to Bellevue since they just got The Container Store. When I lived in GA that was one of my favorite stores, so I have to go see it. I'm going to pick up some containers for cereal and probably find something useless but cool to buy too. :P

Troy and Marc (Chris's g/f's dad) put the cabinet doors and handles on today. The kitchen looks much nicer with the doors on the cabinets. :)

I'm really hoping that something will happen tonight with this baby. I'm so done being pregnant!

Everything's fine. Moving slowly. :( I'm only a fingertip dilated and the cervical position is anterior, hiding behind my pubic bone. Oh yay.

Now, how do I know this? Well my lovely OB went and pushed on the top of my uterus, from the outside - duh!, and as she did that she was checking the cervical placement... and OUCH!!! she rebroke my pubic bone. Anyone who knows about my pregnancies with Kaycee and Shayna knows about my pubic bone breaking. PAIN!

So I actually called the office after I got home and asked if I could be induced this Friday, since my OB's on call that day. If I go when she's on call I can definitely have my waterbirth. Unfortunately though my OB was fine with that, the hospital is booked solid! Damn.

I have some percocet, but it's not touching the pain at all. I'm now, officially, miserable. :( I haven't been miserable, except for our weather, the entire pregnancy!

In other news, my mom and her younger sister are coming up on Monday night. Yet another reason to try and get this baby out before they get here! I don't want to have to wait until Wednesday now since they only have a limited time here, but oh well, can't rush the baby too much!

We're getting a lot of work done around the house too... New floors are going in and I'm doing laundry like a madwoman. I never realized how many pieces of clothing we have in this house. It's quite insane!

That's it for now. More updating later. :)

Since Troy and one other guy work for GraphOn from WA, he and his wife and Troy and I try to get together for dinner around Christmastime. Last year we didn't end up getting together and I was sad about that. I look forward to going out with Rob and TJ, they're way cool people. :)

Last night we met up at the Snoqualmie Casino. We ate at the buffet, which was good, but not worth the price in my opinion. Though Friday nights are crab legs nights, I can't eat seafood so the choices were limited for me. Maybe it's worth the price for seafood lovers... Afterward we sat in the lounge and talked abuot quite a lot of different things. Troy got to play with TJ's iPhone, Rob and I talked properties.

Troy and I decided to split from the Currey's and go play some slots while they played blackjack. After two hours, we came home with $53 more than we came with. Not bad for just playing slots!

Happy New Year!