A Look Back (really long post)

Roman is almost 12 months, more on him later. But I just wanted get in writing the details of him being born, almost one year ago! I absolutely am stunned how quickly the time has gone, and I don't want to feel like I can't remember it all.

On April 2nd, I felt 100%, I had only been on maternity leave for a couple of days, and was looking forward to the next few weeks of resting up and getting ready for the baby.  Earlier that day Thom and I had taken a walk as we had been doing, the weather was getting really nice. That night Thom and I decided to finish putting the crib together, it was later in the evening and we realized we were missing some hardware. So we made a last minute trip to Lowes just as it was closing and bought a few screws that we needed, I wore my pajamas to the store, something I would normally never do. We finished putting the crib together late that night and I took a picture of the finished product.

April 3rd, the next day, was my standard weekly OB appointment. I begged Thom to come with me, which was unusual because he didn't usually come to my appointment unless there was some special reason or there was a sonogram or something. He waited out in the waiting room. First thing they did, before anything was schedule an induction in case I went a little over my due date. That made me nervous, that there was a date that the baby would definitely be born by. I still wasn't due for another 11 days. It was a Friday. Then they measured and examined me and informed me that I was about 4cm along. My doctor asked me if I would like her to call the Hospital and let them know that I was coming over. I said NO. I was not mentally prepared to be this far along. She also assured me that I would go into labor by the time the weekend was up whether I was ready to go or not.

As we walked out of the office into the hallway together, Iwas very nervous and excited. I told Thom who reacted the same way. We went straight home and cleaned the house all the while Thom was trying to convince me that we should just go in and get it over with, so to speak. He argued, how many women actually have this much control in their circumstances. By that time I was feeling what may have been the beginning of labor, but really didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. Everyone said I would "just know". I didn't.

Finally I gave in and we called my OB doctor who informed the Hospital that I was on my way.We stopped at the Supermarket for a lunch, we split a turkey sub, and went on our way to the hospital. My sis came up that night.

I will spare you the gory details, even though it all was not that bad. The contractions would get regular then space out again, they were close and regular then weak and sparadic and I was not progressing very quickly. Thom and Alyssa took many runs to get me apple juice and bowls of jello, since that was all I was allowed to eat. I went through three shifts of nurses/doctors and didn't sleep at all that night. Thom slept in a fold out chair in the delivery room, and Alyssa slept on my hospital bed, while I watched re-runs of Full House and The Justice League all night.

The next mornign, the doctor informed me that I could go home and wait it out longer, or they could speed things up. I wasn't planning on going home at this point, not without our little guy. So they broke my water, contractions came fast. I was assured by the nurse that the anesthesiologist would be in within 10 minutes for the epidural. 40 minutes into bad contraction, Lyss went to find the nurse who informed me the anesthesiologist was called into emergency surgery and they didn't know when he would be back. Contractions were getting really bad. They had done a bedside sono that showed that Roman's head was in the right position, but he was face up, supposed to be face down. They had mean leaning on the bed trying to turn him. He never turned. The contractions were forcing his spine against mine and creating horrible back labor. Alyssa and Thom got into a system of wetting cold cloths to alternate on my back and the back of my neck, which was the only thing making me feel better. Finally I got my epidural which took two tries, the first did not take.

The rest was a blur until labor, I had not slept in about 30hours+ and was exhausted and tired. They allowed me to have a bowl of rice crispies because I was starving, the sweetest bowl of cereal I ever had. I slept for about 2 hours right after they gave me the epi, and the contractions slowed down, they kept upping the meds that brought on contractions and I woke up and was literally ready to push. The doctor and the nurse were amazing, the nurse prepped and had the doctor in within 5 minutes. They asked me if I wanted a mirror. NO.

I pushed for 20 minutes and he was out, I was never more exhausted in my life. He was blue and had a conehead and swollen face from being born the wrong way. They put him on my chest and I tried to get him to grasp my hand by holding his tiny hand. He weighed 7lb 10oz. After they cleaned him up and gave hiThom to hold, they kept asking us to make him cry even though he stopped quickly, so that they would know he was ok.

The doctor informed me that most first time moms can not deliver posterior and I was so happy she waited till after he was born to deliver. While he was being born, the heart monitor for me and the baby were overlapping as mine would spike and his would drop, so they kept me in the delivery room just a little longer to make sure everyone was alright. We were. We were all wonderful and happy. Roman had dark wavy hair with blond tips. Thom made the final decision on the name, in the delivery room: Roman Elliot. Later that day his features returned to normal, his head mostly reshaped, and he was the cutest most beautiful thing we had ever seen.

He slept so much the coming days and weeks. The nurses had to wake him just to feed. When Thom would go get him from the nursery they called him "The Quiet One". That made us happy and hopeful that we would have an easy baby. I would definitely not call him that now :-)