The Birth of the Baby Formerly Known as Bob

Well I think the few who read this blog are already aware that Bob the Baby was born a couple weeks ago, but I feel his birth warrants some sort of post nonetheless. So here's how it all went down! It's very long so read if you're interested otherwise just look at the pictures and scroll to the end for the Cliff Notes version....

William Mark Skidmore

May 26th 2012 - 3:43pm

8 lbs 15 oz - 22 1/2 inches

Saturday, May 26th I woke up around 5:30am with what I thought might be a contraction. I decided to get up, move downstairs and see if they continued. Eventually another one came....and another....sometime around 8am I decided that this was probably it and decided to hop in the shower before Greg and my mom got up. After showering the contractions continued to get closer together and by 10am they were less than 5 minutes apart. The contractions weren't terribly strong, but they kept getting closer together so we started talking about when we wanted to head into the hospital. I knew I wanted to stay at home as long as possible, but when my contractions got to be 2 minutes apart I called my doctors office and told them I was heading in to the hospital soon. We packed up our bags, loaded up the car and headed for the hospital. 

When we got there and checked in they hooked me up to the monitors (contraction, baby heart rate and blood pressure) then started drawing blood and putting in my IV....which didn't go well. The first try was a miss. The second try was successful but by then my blood pressure had dropped which caused William's heart rate to drop. After things settled a bit the doctor check me and I was only dilated to 4cm. She then told me that she'd be back in 3 hours to check me again and I needed to dilate 1cm/hour to stay on track. Sadly, because of my physical freak out she wouldn't let me off the monitors so I was confined to the bed.

Fast forward 3 hours and I was much more uncomfortable and going mad because I felt so trapped in that bed. I just wanted to be able to get up, walk around, go to the bathroom, just get out of that bed. The doctor came back in to check me and luckily I had dilated to 7cm but William was still very high. When she checked me my water broke (a freaky feeling....) and my mom and nurse kindly warned me that the contractions would be picking up in frequency and intensity....goodness were they right. Thankfully the doctor said I could finally get out of bed, I just had to stay right next to the machines...not ideal but at that point I was just happy to be able to get out of bed. My awesome nurse brought over a chair so I could sit down in between contractions and again the doctor pretty much said see you in 3 hours....

Thankfully it was not 3 more hours before we saw the doctor. As predicted my contractions picked up majorly and oh my goodness. I don't think anything could have prepared me for that last hour and a half of labor. Intense doesn't even begin to describe it. I was handling the contractions fairly well but once they were  back to back with no break in between it was all I could do to just breathe in and out. My mom and Greg were such an amazing support. My mom helped to keep me breathing and calm. Greg was just there for me. Standing tall so that I could lean on him and use him for support during the contractions. I can't imagine surviving that last part without them both.

At some point William's heart rate dropped again so the doctor and nurse came in and basically told me that they needed to get him out. The doctor checked me and thankfully I was at 10cm and William had dropped down so he ready to go. The doctor told me we'd see if I could push him out or she'd use the vacuum and get him out. All the sudden there were like a dozen people bustling about in the room when for so long it had just been Greg, Mom and I. Before I knew it the doctor was telling people to hold my legs and me to push. So I pushed 3 or 4 times, and he was here. All the sudden the contractions stopped (hallelujah!!!), my stomach collapsed and it was over. Again, such a strange feeling.

I went into shock, shaking uncontrollably, and William was whisked to the in-room baby unit. The strange part was no one told us that he was okay. There was a huddle of people around him, but no one ever told us what was going on so we were just waiting. He hadn't cried or made any noise yet so it felt like forever that we were just waiting to here that he was okay. Then all the sudden the pediatrician looked around the room and said "Isn't anyone going to take a picture of this baby?". Oh my goodness. All I could think was, really!?!?! You couldn't have told us he was okay sooner? Of course we weren't snapping pictures when we didn't know if he was okay!

From there on out things were much calmer. I finished getting stitched up, we enjoyed a couple minutes catching out breath and admiring William, then my awesome nurse helped me get cleaned up (so I looked and felt semi-human again) and we moved to the recovery room. 

Saturday night and Sunday we just rested in our room. We were hoping to bust out of the hospital Sunday evening, but ended up staying until Monday afternoon waiting for all William's newborn procedures (read circumcision) to be done. By the time we finally got discharged Monday afternoon we were so ready to get out of there. All the nurses/staff were very nice, I just wanted to be home away from the poking, prodding and constant monitoring. We're loving having this little guy in our home and feel so blessed that everything went so smoothly at his birth. 

Cliff Notes Version - 

I woke up early Saturday morning with contractions, we decided to go in to hospital around 11am. I was dilated to 4cm, William and I had a minor freak out when they put in my IV. I was stuck in bed with lots of monitors on me. Doctor came back after 2pm, I was dilated to 7cm, my water broke. Finally they let me out of bed. Contractions got longer, stronger and more frequent. Ouch. Greg and Mom were amazing support. William's heart rate dropped again so the doctor was worried. I was dilated to 10cm and William was in position. Tons of people rushed into the room. Doctor said push, I pushed 3 or 4 times and he was born. William was whisked away to be checked out and I got stitched up. Both of us were just fine and after a couple days in the hospital we got to go home on Monday afternoon. 

And there you have it. That's the story of how the baby formerly known as Bob was born.