Felix's Birthday

     On Wednesday April 17th, 4 days before my due date on the 21st, I'd been uncomfortable all day. I was feeling a bit crampy, but nothing too serious. Richard came home from work and we left to go eat dinner at Zaxby's. On the way there, I started to time my crampy discomforts and was surprised that they were 3 minutes apart. They didn't hurt too badly, and I wasn't really sure if they were contractions so we went on to dinner, but got it to-go.

     While eating at home, I called the on-call doctor and was told someone would call me back. I decided not to wait and we went ahead and grabbed our hospital bag, fed the cats and dog, and headed to the hospital. It took 30 minutes for the doctor to call me back and she did so as we pulled into the hospital. She was already there delivering a baby, which explained the long call back time. 

     We arrived at about 7:45pm. They hooked me up to monitors and since I was just 4cm dilated and my contractions weren't strong enough, they made me walk the ward for a whole hour in a big loop. At the beginning of the hour Richard and I were joking and upbeat, feeling kind of silly walking past the same nurses at their station over and over again. By the end of the hour, I was not happy anymore and was having to stop where I stood when I had a contraction as they grew to be pretty painful.

     

     I was officially admitted around 11:30pm and was moved to my labor and delivery room. I called my mom and told her what was happening. I didn't really want her to drive 45 minutes to the hospital and have to sit around and wait for who knows how long for the baby to arrive, so I told her not to come yet. Around 1am I was getting scared and wanted my mom. When Richard called her, she was almost to the hospital. She had left anyway and I was happy. Only now Richard and her had to take turns lying on the one guest bed in the room.

    I got an epidural which worked great. The nurses had to tell me when I was having a contraction. However, around 5am, my epidural wore off completely and I was in an incredible amount of pain that made me shake and cry. After two attempts, the anesthesiologist finally fixed it and once again I felt relief after an hour of feeling severe transition contractions.

     I could tell when I was ready to push. While I felt no pain, I could feel the pressure of the baby's head trying to push out with each contraction. The room went from a couple people to many and after a short while, baby Felix was here. 

     He was big and purple. They asked me if I wanted him on my bare chest and I agreed, so right after he came out they laid him on my skin and I began to cry. I was surprised with how big and squishy he was. Richard cut the cord and they cleaned him up. He was 8lbs 13oz and 21.25in long. He was perfect. 

     Richard was amazing through the whole thing, getting me everything i needed and encouraging me. I wasn't sure I wanted my mom in the room during the delivery but I was glad to have her, especially since she took lots of pictures... though some of them will never see the light of day!