March 7, 2012

Everything changed today- we welcomed Asa Robert Mann to our family at 12:34pm. He weighed in at 8lb 2oz and was 21 in long. However, due to his cone head, he shrunk shortly after being measured. :) He had a head full of hair and from what I'm told, was the loudest baby in the nursery (he takes after his Mama who was also the loudest baby).
On Tuesday night, we had an appointment to be induced at Sky Ridge Hospital at 8pm. We were early, of course, and after checking in were taken to our L&D room. I was given a suppository to thin out my cervix and an Ambien to help me sleep. Tony, unfortunately, did not have the help of Ambien and had to sleep on an uncomfortable pull out couch. I was woken up by a nurse sometime during the night to get my second suppository and use the restroom. As I was attempting to get out of bed, my water broke! No need for the Pitocin (sp?)! I was about 4 cm and had an epidural around this time. (A lot of details are fuzzy due to all the meds...) The epidural was a piece of cake and I was able to go back to sleep. The next time I was checked, I had progressed to 9 cm and the plan was to start pushing around 10am! We called the grandparents to let them know the good news and tell them to hurry to the hospital. My pain increased (I definitely felt a lot of pain even though I had an epidural) and I became pretty uncomfortable. I was happy to start pushing when the time came- it was almost a relief from the contractions. However, when I pushed, Asa's heart rate declined which was alarming. We pushed for about 15 minutes and then took a break. My doctor then had me lay on my side and push hoping to help keep Asa's heart rate up. It didn't work and after a little bit more pushing, they made the call to deliver via a C-section. The C-section was successful (obviously) and my heart melted as soon as I heard my sweet baby cry. :) I couldn't take my eyes off of him. When Tony and Asa left me in the Operating room to go to the nursery, it was the longest 45 minutes of my life. They both came back to me in the recovery room and I attempted nursing. I honestly can't remember how that first attempt went.
Over the course of the next few days, we got the hang of things (as far as nursing goes) and my recovery was going well. We got to leave to go home on Friday, March 9th!