Exactly one week ago at about exactly this time, our little man entered the world.
Mason Christopher Jones
born June 16, 2008
at 7:01 pm
Weight 7 lbs. 8 oz.
20 1/2 in. long
I actually started having contractions at about 4:30 am that morning and we were scheduled to be there for the induction at 7:30 am. So I just waited to leave as we had planned. In the car on the way the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. We arrived and my mom had already put balloons and goodies in my room. I was quickly asked to put on a gown and they would start my IV. After 5 attempts by 2 nurses and a CRNA, they called the anesthesiologist who on the 6th try was able to finally get it in. He put it in the bend of my elbow on my right arm, which come to find out is the worst place to have an IV. I suffered with that IV a little over 24 hours and it was awful. I couldn't bend my arm without the IV pump beeping...it sucked. They started the pitocin and at 1:30 pm I got my epidural. Wow...how incredible is the miracle of medicine. It was absolute heaven.
I progressed to only about 6 cm and Mason started having some decelerations of his heart rate. One of which was so significant that 4 nurses came running in the room and told me to put the oxygen on and turn over onto all fours. Besides being incredibly terrifying, it was not an easy task for someone who couldn't feel her legs and couldn't bend her right arm. At that point, they were rushing around, calling the doctor and rubbing my belly trying to stimulate the baby. It improved, but I was a complete mess at this point and so scared for my baby.
The doctor came in shortly after and basically said that since I had not progressed past 6 cm and he likely had cord around his neck causing the decel's, she wanted to go ahead with a c-section. Within 10 minutes I was lying on the OR table exposed to the world and having my belly cut open. It was a lot to take in within only minutes.
Chris was fascinated with actually watching the surgery and got to see his son be taken from my tummy. Mason cried almost immediately and the doctor commented on how blonde his hair was. She also said there was no cord wrapped anywhere, so that is still a mystery. They didn't show him to me immediately but he did great, and Chris took lots of pictures. In the recovery room my family took turns coming back to see us. So comments were:
"His hair is so blonde"
"His fingers are so long"
"He is so cute"
"He looks like Chris with blonde hair"
"He's got Randi's nose"
We stayed in the hospital until Thursday and overall I did pretty well. The surgery makes you very, very sore. Hurts to sit up, hurts get up, hurts to sit down, hurts to move in general, really hurts to laugh, hurts to cough, hurts to stand-up straight, hurts to walk. You get the idea...lots of hurting. Oh and breastfeeding = more hurting...just in a different area.
Today is really the first day I have felt somewhat normal and had some energy. My stomach has been very queasy and I have eaten very little since arriving home. Just trying to stay hydrated. Definitely very tired and very blah! They say it takes 4-6 weeks to recover from a c-section and I can see why. So the short of this incredibly long post is...it has been a long hard week but we have a beautiful healthy baby boy and we couldn't be happier!
