Good News! Brayden Arden (named after Justin's 101 year old Grandfather) Fletcher was born to us on November 1st at 11:01 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces, and is 21 inches long.
Caution: this blog post may get graphic. Reader discretion is advised.
I am writing this blog post as I lay in the bed in the nurses station at 3:30 a.m. after just waking up from the anesthesia. I'll get to that later...
I HAVE A NEW FOUND RESPECT FOR ALL YOU MOTHERS OUT THERE!
It all started when Mom wanted to walk to the clinic (about 2-3 miles) so I could do my maternity aerobics on Wednesday Morning. After my stellar aerobic session the doctor wanted to hook me up to the machine to see if I was having any contractions. To my surprise I was having many, but I just wasn't feeling them. So he sent me home. After lunch I was really starting to feel the contractions come on, so around 4 p.m. I called my translator and hero, Tomoko, to let her know that I was in labor. Justin and I packed our luggage and headed into what I would like to call the battle zone at 5:30 p.m. Doctor had me dilated to only a 2 (you need to be a 10 for delivery), so I knew I had my work cut out for me and a LONG LONG way to go!
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| In labor waiting to meet Brayden! |
They clinic hooked us up with the VIP suite. A room like no other...almost the same size as our apartment. I could not have been more thankful! Our Canadian pal, Dave, loaned us his hard drive and an HDMI cord, and we were back in business watching all kinds of American movies and TV. What a life saver Dave is since the clinic has no wireless and only Japanese Television! It sure made that night bearable.
I had consistent contractions every 4 minutes lasting a minute a piece all night long. I was thinking I was making some progress...at 8:00 I was only dilated to 5. The rest of the morning I had consistent contractions, however on the afternoon the contractions slowed way down to almost nonexistent .
By 6 p.m (a full 32 hours into labor ) I still was only an 8. The doctor did an ultrasound and it showed that he wasn't completely turned in the right direction. His face and body needed to turn about 90 degrees, and he still hadn't dropped into position at all. He was still very high up. Very frustrating news to say the least considering I really wasn't having any contractions. It felt as though my labor had come to a standstill.
Since I've arrived in Japan, the Doctor had always wanted to do an x-ray of my pelvis to see if the baby would fit out. This would mean that I basically would be having an x-ray right on the baby's head. I had fought him off all along saying that I didn't want it, and that my pelvic structure was perfectly capable of pushing out a baby. Well, last night desperate times called for desperate measures and since the labor had pretty much stopped 32 hours into it, I let him give me the x-ray.
It showed I had less than a 50% chance that the baby's head would fit through. So, we made a game plan at 6 p.m. They would start giving me patocin to kick my contractions into high gear, and if I hadn't had him by 10 p.m. they would do a cesarean.
And holy moly, hang on to your hats, does it ever get things moving! Not to mention my thick wristed loving midwife, Miss Abby, took it upon herself to break my water and rotate the baby "manually". By 8 p.m. I was at a 10 and started pushing, and pushing, and pushing.
After 2 hours of pushing with no success of progression of the baby's head, the decision was made for a cesarean at 10 p.m. But by that time all my body wanted to do was push, push, push. Very frustrating when you know that he won't be able to come on his own, and that I am basically hurting him.
Finally, at 10:15ish the surgeons and anesthesiologist arrived. Within seconds I was given a spinal tap, and I was put on cloud 9. To my relief, all that excruciating pain disappeared.
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| In surgery |
After being in labor for 37 hours, our little Angel was born at 11:01 p.m. on 11/01! We were finally officially parents!
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| Just minutes old |
It was amazing news! However, the anesthesiologist decided to put me under while they stitched me up since I hadn't slept in over 48 hours. This meant I didn't get to meet my baby until this morning at 6:00 a.m. All night I kept asking to see him, but the nurses said that it was doctor's orders that I should sleep and not be with him.
Pretty hard to sleep since I just spent the last 10 months making something that I was dying to meet! Since I kept asking the nurse to see Brayden, she gave me this little one to keep me company until Brayden could be with me. Kinda strange...
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| The doll that they gave me to keep me company until I could be with Brayden...not what I was hoping my baby to look like! |
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