Thomas' Birth Story

Thomas is finally here! How's how everything went:

May 19, 2010

7 pm: As instructed by my doctor, I called Labor and Delivery at our hospital to see if they were ready for me to come in to be induced. Apparently they were very busy that night and asked me to call back at 9 pm.

9 pm: We call again. They are still crowded and tell me to call back in another hour. At this point, I'm starting to think I am never going to have this baby!

10 pm: We call again. They are finally starting to move some of the new moms to Mother/Baby and we are told to report at 11 pm!

11 pm: We check in, I'm given a (not-so) beautiful hospital gown and the nurse hooks me up to two different monitors--one to check Thomas' heart rate, the other to check my contractions.

May 20, 2010

Midnight: Dr. Bonk comes in to check me. I am not dilated at all, but I am having very small contractions.

1 am: I am given my first dose of Cytotec which will ripen my cervix to begin labor.

5 am: The nurse checks me again. Not dilated, but contractions are getting stronger. Given another dose of Cytotec.

7 am: Dr. Entrekin comes in to check on me. I was told not to eat anything after lunch the previous day, but Dr. Entrekin orders a breakfast plate for me. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

9 am: Checked again. Still not dilated. Given another dose of Cytotec.

11 am: Checked AGAIN. Dilated 1 cm!! Dr. Entrekin breaks my water and the contractions become incredibly intense! Epidural is ordered.

11:30 am: Contractions are coming every minute, practically right on top of one another. Other nurses (who are tracking my contractions in other rooms/at the front desk) come into my room tell my nurse to back off on my Pitocin. She promptly tells them I'm not on any Pitocin. Their response: "Are you serious?"

12:15 pm: I finally get my epidural. It is by far the best relief I have ever had in my life. I'm finally able to relax so Josh, Mom, Bill and the Henleys go grab some lunch.

1 pm: My blood sugar gets really low so I am asked to unhook my insulin pump and I'm hooked up to glucose.

2 pm: Nurse checks me, and I'm at 4 cm! She also informs me that she can feel lots of hair on our little man's head.

4 pm: Checked again; 6 cm. Since labor isn't moving as fast as they like, I'm given Pitocin.

6 pm: I start running a low grade fever and an anti-biotoic is administered. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to save Thomas' cord blood, which I was very adamant about. Also, every time I have a contraction Thomas' heart rate goes up so I am given an oxygen mask to wear to make sure he is getting enough air.

7 pm: Checked again; 9 cm. Dr. Entrekin has me push to try to stretch out the last centimeter. She also notices that my epidural is running low. This would explain why my contractions are actually starting to hurt like crazy.

7:30 pm: I can feel the contractions nice and strong now!! They aren't as close together as the ones earlier, but much stronger at around 2-3 minutes apart.

8 pm I finally get the re-dose of my epidural. Funny side story--the nurse came out of my room and told my family that she was going to get a "redose." Because of her very thick Jamaican accent, my dad heard "Doritos." He was sitting there like, "What does she need Doritos for? She's in labor!"

8:15 pm I start pushing.

8:45 pm Dr. Entrekin decides to use the vacuum to speed things up since Thomas' heart rate is continuing to drop.

8:59 pm Thomas Walker Henley joins the world at 6 pounds 12 oz. :)

After 38 long weeks of waiting for my little man, he was finally with us. I cried as I heard him cry and waited to hear that he was okay from Josh and the nurses. Then my tears of fear and worry became tears of pure joy. The most awesome part was when I said, "Hi Thomas," as he was being cleaned up and checked out and his crying immediately stopped. It was as though someone turned the off switch on his tears. He heard Momma. :)

He was greeted by me, Josh, Mom, Dad, Bill, Mr. and Mrs. Henley and my fabulous doctor, Kay Entrekin, who is also the mom of two of my youth. :) We each greeted him and welcomed him in our own special way and then the nurses took him to the nursery to bathe him and check his blood sugar.

We were reunited in Mother/Baby and I spent the night holding him and rocking him. The next day, Dad visited with us. Some of my coworkers came by as did some of Josh's classmates. We were so blessed to
have so many people around us during this special time!

That night, after I sent Josh home, we got word that Thomas had jaundice, which is very common for babies with AB blood, mommies with diabetes and babies who are breastfeeding--all of which Thomas is. So we had to put him on a bilibed all night long. He hated it. I hated seeing him on it. It was a rough night.

We wound up having to bring a bilibed home with us and he has to have more blood work done tomorrow. He dropped about half a pound, which is pretty normal. We got him home and EVERYONE was there to greet him: both of my grandparents, Aunt Melissa and Dana, our parents and Josh's sister, Val. It was a great family moment.