Early Arrival

On May 16, with over a week left till my due date, we thought our weekly appointment would be in and out, shorter than the 1.5 hour drive it takes to get there. We were wrong. Because I said that baby wasn't moving as much, they hooked me up to the monitors and did an ultrasound. He started moving around and doing things that they were watching for, except practice his breathing for more than 30 seconds within a timed period. The doctor was very close to admitting me into the hospital but decided to try and do the test in 24hrs. My head was spinning. I might not be able to have a natural birth. 

The next day we went to get another ultrasound, this time in Hilo. The technician made a comment on how active he was, but still wasn't practicing his breathing. So after my doctor in Waimea got the results, I was told to head out to the hospital. 

We had to stop at home first and grab our bags and the carseat. Luckily we had just finished packing our hospital things. Then we headed out. I was practically crying the whole way there. 

We checked in and I was hooked up to the monitors. And after monitoring for a while, the doctor said baby wasn't hitting all the points they wanted and we had two options, to induce, or have a c-section. These are the two things that I have been trying to avoid. But we had no choice. They made it clear that we weren't leaving without a baby. 

Monitoring baby.

After crying for what felt like hours, and after discussing it with our nurse, we decided to induce. But then they noticed that I was having contractions and maybe I wouldn't need to induce. I was relieved. There was hope that I could still give birth naturally. BUT, after watching for a while, they noticed that his heart rate would go down every time I had a contraction so he would not be able to handle labor. So we had no choice, we had to do a c-section. DARN!!! I didn't want one of those pictures with my head poking out from the blue curtain and someone holding the baby up to my face. I kept regretting telling that nurse that he wasn't moving as much. If only I had kept my mouth shut. But too late to take it back.

It's funny the things I think about. I was hoping that he was gonna be born on his due date. He would share his birthday with his Uncle Reid. And with 8 weeks of maternity leave, that would be just enough to cover from his due date till planned visits from family. I also thought about trying to wait out the c-section till the next day, which was only a few hours away. This was because I thought the number 18 was better than 17 for his birthday. I have a thing for even numbers. Hahaha. I'm so weird.

Anyway, the c-section wasn't that bad. The needle they used to numb me was the worst thing, but after that I really didn't feel anything. The only thing that was scary was all the shaking. My body just started shaking from the drugs. But other than that, I was all good. And in no time, he was out. And the little bugger peed on me. 

They checked him and everything was good. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs and 9.2 oz. And he measured 21 in. WOW!!! 

I can't believe he fit in my belly.

We have been waiting a very long time for this. I didn't give birth naturally, that's okay. And I have one of those c-section pictures, so what. And he was born on an odd numbered day, big deal. He has arrived, safe and healthy. That is all that matters. We are a family now.