We arrived to the hospital around 8:58- We had to circle the parking lot as we listened to the Seahawks ALMOST win. It was such a close game. 1 yard and we would have had it, thats alright Nolan will rock his Seahawks gear proudly. We arrived to the admissions desk around 9:10, filled out paperwork and got sent back to our room. Right away I put on my beautiful gown, and got situated. My mom was here to hang out for a while and help set up Justins bed...it proved to be more difficult then it looked. I got my IV placed and blood drawn. They told us at midnight they would start pitocin and to just "hang out". We assumed this is the best time to rest, my mom decided to go home, get a full nights rest, Justin fell asleep for a few hours off and on and I fell asleep for about an hour. Pitocin started right at 12:00 am and "go time" was initiated. She said the "plan", depending on hour my body responds will be to start contractions and by 7am Dr. Taylor should be in to break my water. When we started the pitocin she checked me and I was still 3CM, my cervix was very high and thick she said.
Around 230am I woke up, started to blog through some contractions, not HORRIBLE pain, but definitely noticeable. Justin and I continue to "rest" but not really sleep.
Dr Taylor came in at 7 am to break my water. I was able to sleep from 6-7.
Everything was great, and still at 4cm. Dr Taylor suggested having an epidural so we went ahead and got one. It went very smoothly. Shortly after the epidural was placed I began getting the strangest smell like a skunk, they said it was possibly a side effect but we are keeping an eye on it
Around 8:30 our nurse started to notice Nolans heart rate fluctuating and got me on oxygen.
Around 9:00 they decided that he is still acting up and decided to put internal monitors on the baby and slow the pitocin.
At 9:30 they tried to put more water back in to see if it would give him more room, still no luck.
9:45 they turned pitocin up, flipped me on my side since he had been acting "okay". Two minutes in we turned it off because he started acting up again.
10:15 my contractions were looking okay so they turned my petocin back on. Wowser.
Nana, grandma,grandpa, and Ava are all here. I don't want Ava to see me hooked up with an oxygen mask so grandpa is running around with her while we all relax and try to get Nolan to behave.
10:45 Nolan started to cooperate with the medicine so progress is being made. This was solidified by creepy doctor checking me and now we are at 6 cm yay!!! So still waiting.
After about two hours of dancing back and forth with the pitocin up and down the Dr. came to check me while she was on her 'lunch break'. She said, while she was there we might as well do some 'practice pushes'. HMMMMM....
Well apparently I am really good at practice pushing because a few minutes in they started breaking down the bed and calling in all the nurses to help with delivery. Nolan was on the way! Camera was ready and now all the family was anxiously awaiting in the waiting room.
I do not think I need to go into all the details of pushing a baby out, but it did only take 30 minutes. Justin was so amazing during the process, encouraging me and telling me how close Nolan was. When Nolan arrived we confirmed he was indeed a boy :) noticed he was soooo tiny, only using newborn Ava as a comparison. He was finally weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz. Good healthy boy! He only had a little bruising on his head and arms because he came out face up, which they were not worried about. He had short dark peach fuzz hair and dark eyes (like his daddy). Mommy was also in great shape, making babies like a professional.
After we were all presentable we brought the family back to see the newest Kautz addition. I was all ready for Ava to meet her baby brother, but she was asleep! Which was a good thing, she needs her naps. So, everyone got to meet him and then after some time, Ava did wake up and was shocked as to where she was. She was very surprised by the fact that mommy was holding a baby doll that had so many moving and active parts. She even touched him, but was hesitant at first. It was cute! Finally our family was complete.
After some time visiting everyone was kicked out again as we were prepping to move to our real room that we would stay in for the next few nights. In the new room, I would get more treatment along with further checks on Nolan and we could visit more freely than we were in the delivery room.
Overall I felt amazing. I had MINIMAL tears, no stitches, my epidural was completely worn off, I was snuggling my new bundle of joy, and surrounded by family. All the sudden I started noticing that I was bleeding ALOT, and when I say a lot that's an understatement. Nurses were changing my bed sheet often which means I was soaking through ginormous pads( if you've had a baby you know what I'm talking about... They are huge and wonderful). I told my nurse I wanted to try to go to the bathroom. They told me to go ahead, I knew I was in no shape for that so I called a nurse in. She said " get up slowly, stand up, wait, and no matter what happens just stand for a minute". Okay? What the heck could happen. Thinking maybe the worst could happen is id get dizzy, I slowly and painfully stood up and OH MY GOD!!! I began to bleed uncontrollably and that too is an understatement. It was everywhere. The nurse held my hand as we slip and slid to the bathroom. I was passing clots bigger than imaginable and the nurse says "good thing you called me". YA THINk!! I was in such shock and scared I remember just sitting on the toilet shaking trying not to pass out.
After this the nurse called the dr. They put me on pitocin, yes pitocin is I started having contractions. Joyous. It was to help my bleeding. The plan was to be on it for 10 hours, that then turned to 24 hours. After many checks and blood draws I started to slow down.
Other than that recovery went well, room service was delivered, tons of cuddles, and family surrounded us.
Breastfeeding was what I knew it would be PAINFUL!!!!!! We tried a lot of different holds, both shed many tears, but we powered through. My milk hadn't come in yet but he was getting what he needed.
The hospital offered a nursery so parents could get sleep. At first I was very hesitant but after 2 days of no sleep justin and I decided it'd be best that Nolan went to the nursery. He went for 3 hours so we could sleep, and it was heavenly.
labor and delivery was more than i could have asked for, scary at times yes, but an amazing experience. I would do it 100 more times if I could. :)
I'm excited to see what the coming days brings for our family of four
