Nearly two weeks later, as I watch this little baby asleep on my chest, I can hardly believe the story of how he got here. I'm writing it down so that I never forget that amazing morning.
Okay, back up to February 7th: At my 36 week appointment, Dr. Kyle checked me and announced that I was already 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced. For those of you that don't know, that meant that I was basically already through what's known as pre-labor and would quickly approach active labor. I had been having Braxton-Hicks and false labor contractions for a long time and apparently they were actually doing something. Dr. Kyle told me I could deliver at any time and gave me instructions on when to head to the hospital. At our first prepared childbirth class that night, we asked for the cliff's notes version. We weren't packed, we didn't have a crib and we had just bought our house the previous Friday and were getting ready to move. P-A-N-I-C set in and we got all of our ducks in a row that week.
The next week at my check up, I was a little more dilated and more effaced and got the same set of instructions from Dr. Kyle. He also mentioned that he thought my water would break at any time (which really only happens 10-15% of the time). The next week was the same story and Dr. Kyle told me he'd be on call that weekend or that he'd see me at my next appointment, but didn't think I'd last that long. Well, I proved him wrong again and at my last appointment on February 28th I was 4.5 cm dilated and 90% effaced- yet not in active labor..... So crazy..... I made appointment for my next check up which was to be on my due date- March 6th.
Friday, March 2nd, I went to work at the Nocona clinic and worked a crazy full day: 4 surgeries that morning, 10 appointments that afternoon, left work at 6 pm, went to Wal-Mart, came home and made 4 dozen muffins for Ladies Day at church the next morning, made a homemade pizza, and watched TV with Scott. I did have minor contractions all day and was pretty tired, but I'd been having contractions and I was carrying around nearly 40 extra pounds- who wouldn't be tired? We went to bed and didn't think anything of it.
At 4:30 am, my water broke and woke me up. I had a strong contraction almost immediately but it was gone by the time I made it to the bathroom to attempt to clean myself up. I woke Scott up and told him my water broke, "Did it really?" he said, and sprang out of bed. I took a lightening fast shower (my hair was just gross) and had one or two contractions in the shower. By the time we were loaded up and ready to leave, I was having contractions lasting about 30 seconds every 5 minutes, pretty typical. We called our parents and texted a few need-to-know people and told then to spread the word.
By the time we got to Bowie, I was having contractions every 3 minutes. By the time we got to Sunset, I was having very strong contractions every 2 minutes. The closer and stronger my contractions got, the faster Scott drove- flashers on. Apparently he reached 85-90 mph before we got to Decatur! When we pulled in the ER driveway at 5:37 am (Scott looked at the clock in the truck), my contractions were 1 minute apart and there was soooo much intense pressure. I checked in and Scott parked the truck and I was taken up to Labor & Delivery. They checked me and
then called the on-call OB, Dr. Edwards, and told him to head our way,
from Saginaw.... about 30 miles away.
So, by the time they checked me, I was fully dilated and effaced and he was already well into the birth canal. I was too far for any pain medication... yeah, something I never ever saw myself doing was going through natural childbirth. It took 3 attempts to get an IV catheter in my arm because they didn't have much time to establish it between contractions. I was made to "blow through" at least 10 contractions- meaning that I could have very easily pushed was wasn't allowed to until the doctor got there. Luckily, I had learned that technique in my childbirth classes the previous Tuesday. Anyhow, Dr. Edwards finally arrived and I pushed through 3 contractions and he was delivered. Because he came so quickly, I had to have an episiotomy but managed to tear anyway. While they were finishing up with me and checking our son over, Scott ran to the truck and got the camera. We missed the footprinting (oh man!) but had some great skin-to-skin time. After all of that, I finally got some pain meds that made me a little sleepy and Scott went with our son for his first bath.
When they came back to the room, we finally got down to the business of giving him his name: Coleman Scott Holloway. We had a short list of names that we like and decided that he just looked like a "Coleman" when he arrived. Bob Lively's father's name was JC
The rest of the day was a blur with so many friends and family coming to visit. And the past two weeks have been a blur as well with visitors, lost sleep, learning how to nurse, pediatricians appointments, lots of rain, and major surgery for Scott's grandad. It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. The biggest challenge has been lost sleep, combined with an overwhelming sense that I have no idea what I'm doing, and a healthy dose of whacked out hormones making everything sooo much harder. But so far, every tear has been worth it when this little boy relies on us for everything and it is our responsibility to raise him to be the God-fearing man that is his legacy. Wish us luck!
Photo album coming next!
