The Birthsplosion of the Mighty Odin Thomas

Two weeks ago, on November 10th, 2011, Scott and I woke up at 5am and headed to the hospital to get induced. It was weird leaving the apartment with an empty baby carrier, knowing when we came back that carrier would have a tiny baby in it and our lives would never be the same again. We packed up the car and then noticed it had a completely flat tire, so we had to unpack the car, get the other car, and pack that one up. I hoped the flat wasn't a bad sign for the day ahead, but we still made it to the hospital on time so I took that as an even better sign.

Odin was past his due date and I had been stuck at 2cm for over a month, which is the reason I was induced. Two days before we went to the hospital I had my final OB appointment and my doctor stripped my membranes to try to speed things up naturally. Although it didn't put me in labor, it did cause me to dilate another half centimeter over the next 48 hours. Only 7.5 more to go! We were so ready to meet this baby!

Let's do this

They started me on pitocin at 8:30am and the contractions weren't any worse than what I was feeling at home, even when they jacked it up to a 10. At 11:30am a resident came to check on me and I was at 4cm. She had orders from my OB to break my water to get things rolling, which made me nervous because as soon as your water breaks, all hell breaks loose. This is where my nurse became my biggest advocate and hero of the day.

I knew I wanted an epidural, so my nurse started going over the risks with me when the residents came in to break my water. My nurse told them politely to go the F away because she wasn't done, and knew I wouldn't be able to pay attention after my water was broken. So they left, and we finished going over the risks and my questions. I then said I wanted to poop before they did anything, since I wouldn't have any control after the epidural was in place. That was when the residents came back in, all in a hurry and on a mission to break my water. My nurse pretty much snapped at them and said I was going to use the bathroom first and to come back later. She seriously rocked so much.

So I did my business and then at 11:30am they broke my water, which I was super nervous about. I kept asking if it was going to hurt. I think it's funny now, that with all of the pain of labor and delivery I was so nervous about having my water broken, and it turned out to be no big deal. But it was true that after that the shit hit the fan and the real pain started. I had let Scott's brother Erik in the room to keep Scott company since things were so boring in there, but they kept making jokes and it hurt so bad to laugh. Also I was in a lot of pain and had to kick that guy out.

Scott was watching my contractions on the monitor and kept telling me when one was coming on, but there was a 3 second delay, so I was already experiencing the contractions before he could see them. I ended up snapping at him and telling him I knew when I was having one, and to tell me when they were ending, not starting! I only lasted for 2 hours in hard labor without meds, and I have to say, women who go the natural unmedicated route are either saints or insane.

I was rolling around and on the verge of tears when the anesthesiologist finally arrived around 1:30pm. It wasn't the easiest procedure because I have scoliosis, and it took three tries to get it in correctly. She hit the nerve on the left, and then the one on the right, before she finally got it in right. I think that part was the worst part of my entire labor and delivery. I had to sit on the edge of the bed, hunched over, with my awesome nurse holding my shoulders down. She had me squeeze her waist and I swear I must have dug my nails into her so hard but she didn't say a word. Then I'd have hard contractions and the anesthesiologist would stop for a minute and I'd put my hands on my knees and just squeeze them. Scott said there was sweat dripping down my legs from my hands, but I didn't even notice. All I remember is crying harder than I've ever cried before, and trying to breathe and relax and stay still. But after it was in place everything was all sunshine and rainbows. It was a terrible experience but WORTH IT in the end! And kudos to my nurse who pulled some strings to get the good anesthesiologist!

Epidural is in, live blogging on facebook

Around 4pm the residents returned with the intention of putting in some sort of monitor between my placenta and uterus to better gauge my contractions. The one on my belly just measured surface tension, and they wanted a better idea of what was going on. That was when they discovered I was at 10 centimeters and threw the wire aside and said they were going to page my OB and to press the Call button if I felt the urge to push. I was all chill like, Whatever, I feel fine! I didn't know why they were freaking out like that, haha. Residents, psh. The baby still had to move down the birth canal a bit, so they sat me up in bed and all four of our parents came in to say Hi, since they all drove in from Michigan that day.

There was a lot of waiting around involved

Then about 5:15pm my OB arrived and we kicked the parents out and it was time to start pushing! I have to say, I had a really good epidural, because I did not feel a lot of pain but I definitely felt a lot of pressure and I felt the urges to push and how to do it different ways. I didn't know this until later, but Odin was coming out at an angle and got stuck on my pelvic bone, which is why it took over 2 hours to push him out. I remember asking my OB what's the longest anyone's ever pushed for and she said they only let patients go for 3 hours, which freaked me out and made me kick it into over drive. I wasn't going to do all that work only to end up with a C-section! I found out later she just tells patients that so that they push harder, and I have to say, it definitely worked!

Then with the last contraction, my doctor said to push 4 times, not 3, and during that minute everything changed. Half of my bed dropped away, my feet went up in stirrups, the bright light came down, everyone put on hair nets and booties, the surgical tools were rolled out, and the baby incubator area was set up and turned on. It was so surreal how everything changed while I had my eyes closed for just a few moments!

I won't go into all the gory details, but it was the hardest, most painful, most amazing and wonderful thing I've done, and worth every moment. I started crying the minute he came out and I saw his tiny perfect face. I couldn't believe I did it, that it was over, that we had a baby to love and keep forever. They put him on my chest and he stopped crying and just stared at me with the sweetest little face ever. It was definitely love at first sight.

So welcome to the world, baby Odin Thomas Bailey Rakoczy (no hyphen, he'll just go by Odin Rakoczy)! Born Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 7:33pm after 11 hours and 3 minutes of labor. He weighed 6 lb 15.9 oz -seriously, they did not round that tenth of an ounce to make it an even 7 lb. He was 20" long with a cone head, 19" long a few days later at his first doctor's appointment after his head rounded out. He scored a 9 and 9 on the APGAR, loved having his hair brushed after they gave him a bath, and hated having his foot prints taken.

Poor little conehead =(

Healthy lungs!

Getting footprints for the baby book

First family photo

First moments

We had 30 minutes left of visiting hours, so the grandparents hurried in to say Hi

Grandma Rakoczy

Grandpa Rakoczy

Busia

Papa (I like "Papa" better than Grandpa Bailey)

First night outside the womb

Getting some vitamin D

Proud daddy

Loving on my sweet little man

Little snuggle bear

Love his long eyelashes!

Safe and sound in Grandma Rakoczy's hands

Sleeping like an angel

Our new family of 3

Getting ready to go home

In the "bunny suit"

So that concludes the epic birth of Odin Thomas, the new love of our lives. Much thanks to Amber, Deniese, and my mom Diane for taking and sharing some of these pictures. We won't be posting any photos on facebook because when you upload a photo you lose ownership of it. So we are going to have a flickr group to share our photos, and of course I'll still have this blog. Also, big thanks to Deniese for watching Odin so that I could finally post this update! Now I'm only two weeks behind, haha. xoxo