We arrived at 7:30 and got settled into a room right away. I had been dilated to 3-4cm for over a week and hadn't made any further progress. Pitocin was started at 8:00, and my OB broke my water at 9:20. Brad and I spent the next couple hours reading and watching TV. My contractions strengthened, and I requested an epidural at 11:30.
The anesthesiologist was a very nice guy, but he made me a little nervous when he broke two glass bottles/vials while getting everything ready. I had to trust this person to precisely place a catheter in my spine, and he just clumsily broke two bottles?! Hmmm. Fortunately, he did just fine with my epidural and the medicine started working its magic by 11:40. Brad and I didn't have any visitors right then, so I took advantage of the quiet time and closed my eyes for a much-needed nap. The nurse woke me up at 12:20 because she could somehow tell on the monitors that I was progressing. She checked me, and I was 7cm dilated. She predicted that I'd probably deliver in a couple hours. No more nap... things were starting to get exciting! She checked me again at 1:00, and I was at 8cm. And at about 1:30, I started feeling some pressure. The nurse checked another time, and I was at 9.5cm. Almost there! Nurses and techs came in to get things set up, and I started pushing at 2:10. Brad and the nurse kept telling me "so close", "he's almost here", and "you're doing great", but I kept thinking that they must be lying. If Tyler really was "so close" and "almost here", my doctor would have been down where the nurse was standing rather than off to the side making small talk with me between contractions. Once she traded places with the nurse, I knew it really was time. And after just a few more pushes, Tyler Cole arrived at 2:38pm!
He was immediately put onto my chest, and I held him while the nurses clamped his cord, cleaned him, and checked his vitals. Then they took him to the warmer set up across the room to weigh, measure and finish cleaning. Tyler weighed 8lb, 1oz. My doctor had predicted 7lbs, and I thought 7lbs, 8oz, so we were both surprised that he topped 8lbs! Tyler was 21" long! Everything about him is long and skinny... torso, legs, toes, arms, fingers, etc.
For the next hour, I held Tyler skin-to-skin and fed him. And then Brad took some time to hold him before we invited family in.
We spent the rest of the day bonding with Tyler, taking photos and visiting with family. It was a "perfect" birth day, aside from one thing...
The night before, we had plans to go out to one last dinner as a family of three, and then Caleb was going to spend the night with his grandparents. Caleb started running a fever though. We decided to get takeout for dinner rather than going out to eat. We still had to send Caleb to the grandparents' for the the night, since we needed to be at the hospital fairly early the next morning. Brad's parents kept us informed of Caleb's condition on Friday morning, and by late morning, we decided that he needed to see his pediatrician. Since Brad and I were obviously not available, Brad's mom took Caleb to his appointment. Afterward, Brad's mom called and told us that Caleb had tested positive for the flu. So rather than coming up to the hospital to meet his little brother, Caleb spent the next several days with his grandparents and his little friends, Pedialyte and Tamiflu.
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