Introducing...

Meet our perfectly handsome little Lane Enniss, born at 2:02 pm on September 17. He weighed in at seven pounds six ounces and was eighteen inches long.

Everything went well, but I’m glad it’s over with. Not having an epidural had its pros and cons and I’m not quite sure which way I prefer now. In the thick of it all I was definitely wishing for an epidural though. J

We showed up at the hospital at 7:30 Friday morning. They broke my water and started me on pitocin around 8:15; the waiting game had officially begun. Every half hour they increased my dose of pitocin and consequently my contractions became more and more uncomfortable. I was doing everything I could to relieve the pain and try to take my mind off of it, but the contractions got to a point where I had no other option but suffer through them. And suffer I did.

At this point in the story I guess I should divert back to my last doctor appointment on Tuesday. He told me he had done some research and according to everything he had read I should be able to safely have an epidural if I wanted one since I was going to be off of the blood thinner for twenty four hours before my delivery. I didn’t know what to think because I still didn’t feel like it was worth the risk, but now suddenly I had the option. I didn’t want to chicken out just because the option for an epidural was there. A few hours of excruciating pain is better than a lifetime of paralysis, right? I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to think that clearly when I was in the middle of my contractions.

Now back to the hospital. I was to the point where I needed some type of relief. I had the nurse add some pain reliever to my I.V. I’m not sure it did anything except make me feel weak. I think it was supposed to make me feel more relaxed, but I was feeling really weak and shaky after each contraction.

I had mentioned to my nurse earlier that I didn’t feel comfortable getting an epidural because I had been on blood thinner, but I would consider one if there was a way to know that I really was in the clear. She called the anesthesiologist to find out what the protocol for an epidural was, just in case I changed my mind and decided to get one. She told me they just needed to pull some blood and also do a bleeding test on me to determine if I could have an epidural. If my blood was clear and it clotted in a certain time frame then it was safe for me to get an epidural.

It was now 1:00 and I was writhing in pain. I was still able to relax a little between contractions, but they were borderline unbearable and the break between each contraction was shrinking drastically. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a five, maybe six. Half an hour of eternity passed and my doctor came in to check on me. I felt like I had been progressing and getting much closer, so when the doctor checked me and told me I was at a six still I felt pretty hopeless. I asked the nurse to order the blood test and if I passed I would get an epidural. About ten minutes later, the phlebotomist showed up and pulled some blood and brought it back to the lab. A few minutes later another lab guy showed up, made a tiny incision in my arm, and began to time the clotting of my blood. The test results would take ten minutes; ten minutes until I could possibly get some relief. Little did I know that relief was coming in ten minutes, but not from an epidural.

I was so curled up in my bed I had no idea who was in my room at that point, except for Jonathan holding my hand and the lab guy holding my other arm where it was bleeding. He had been timing my blood for just a few short minutes when all of a sudden, beyond my control, I had the intense urge to push. I was a little freaked out because I thought I was only at a six and shouldn’t be pushing yet. I started yelling, “Get the nurse, get the nurse! I’m pushing, get the nurse!”

Jonathan calmly told me she was right there by me. She checked me and immediately told the lab guy that he was no longer needed. He was out of there pretty darn quick! Then she said, “I’m not sure the doctor’s going get here in time. Let’s get ready to have this baby!” It was now about 1:50. My doctor walked through the door at 1:55 and was looking around assessing the situation. The nurse yelled at him, “We’re having this baby, get your gloves on!”

There was such a rush of commotion in my room that I really have no idea what all was happening. I only remember bits and pieces of conversations. The nurses were happy my doctor made it in time and joked about their worries of him not getting there in time. He told them he had to drive through the parade to get there so he was slowed down a bit. I asked why there was a parade, but all I ever heard was “because you’re having a baby.” The rest of the time all I could focus on was why the heck there was a parade. Apparently it was homecoming for the high school, so they were having a parade on my doctor’s route to the hospital. How convenient.

The doctor was finally ready. On the first push I thought everyone was being a little too optimistic by telling me I was almost there, so I didn’t give it very much effort. By push two I realized I really was almost there, but I didn’t know exactly what I was doing and quit halfway through the contraction to rest. Baby Lane arrived fairly easily on push three. He came with a set of lungs, dark brown hair, and a perfect little body. My doctor had been in the room for a mere six and a half minutes.

I’ve heard that raising a baby boy is no day at the beach, but you will get wet. That’s true. Lane squirted the doctor on his arrival, then the nurses when they took him, and he has even got the two of us a few times.

All in all everything went well and all of the pain was worth it. Jonathan had given me a blessing the night before and it definitely helped a lot. He blessed me that I would have the strength I needed. It’s not ironic that at the moment I felt I could no longer take the pain, Lane was ready to make his arrival. He failed his hearing test in his left ear, so we have to bring him to an audiologist. I’m not very concerned about it though because he reacts to noises. I’m betting his ears still had fluid in them when they tested him because he failed both ears on his first test.

My recovery has gone well so far. I had a lot of back labor so my back was really sore for a few days after. My left (clot) leg was hurting a lot the following day after we got home from the hospital and it had me pretty concerned. After a call to the doctor, he told me that the nerves around my vein had sustained enough damage from the clot that I was feeling them react as part of my after pains. I also have a cold and some sort of pink-eye-like infection which is beyond annoying. I’ve completely lost my voice. I’m sure I strained my throat while I was in labor, so that doesn’t help.

Maggie’s done fairly well with the transition. The first time she came to my hospital room, she wasn’t at all interested in Lane. She just wanted to explore my room. The next time she gave him kisses and was a little more interested. My mom was watching Maggie at home while Jonathan and I went through the process to get released from the hospital. When we walked through the door and Maggie saw Lane, she said, “Uh oh!” As if she was thinking, “They brought him home with them? I thought he was going to stay at the hospital.” Now that we’re home she likes to give him kisses and she is very concerned when he cries. The only real struggle we’ve had with her is getting her to lay down for a nap and getting her to stay in her bed when we lay her down at night, but she's sick too so that might have to do with it.

We’re a happy family though and we’re thrilled to have Lane with us. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers; we feel very blessed.