Asher was late.
40 weeks came and went. Not much excitement and lots of waiting.
I was 40 weeks to the day and I clearly remember going to the gym in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. No swimming as a precaution in case my water broke. It was a Sunday. We had a pretty laid back day which was good because by the afternoon I was feeling quite icky. Contractions started around 6 PM. Nothing consistent, however they were timeable and about 4-6 minutes apart. Around 11 PM I finally went to sleep and my head was swirling with emotions. I feared work the next morning. Actually I dreaded it. I mentally already convinced myself I was going to take 1/2 days all week just to get by.
I slept well.
I woke up Monday morning around 4:45am STARVING. I resisted the temptation to run downstairs and eat something and just lay there in bed. By 6 AM I felt like I had been hit by a bus. My entire body ached. I knew something was about to happen and took each moment in stride. The bathroom became my best friend....as you can imagine. Very light contractions began around 7 AM as I sat myself down in front of my work computer at the kitchen table (which had become my desk in the final weeks of my pregnancy due to extreme hip pain). I couldn’t stop focusing on the contractions and checking to see if I had lost any of my Mucous Plug. I opened up contractionmaster.com and started timing my contractions. I figured if I was going to be sitting at my computer I might as well start timing them. I had a 9 AM one-on-one meeting with my team lead and I decided that I was going to wrap up my day after our meeting and begin my maternity leave! I needed to focus on what mattered the most... myself and the baby. The contractions continued to progress and intensify. Philip planned to stay home that day and work since he only had a few local onsite client visits scheduled, however he quickly realized that the outlook didn’t look so good for those client meetings and cancelled. Around 12 noon the contractions were fairly intense and anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart lasting 45 seconds to 90 seconds long. I had also lost several pieces of my mucous plug. I started working on my breathing and relaxation techniques. Philip ran out real quick to pick us up lunch because I was in no mood to think about preparing something and we didn’t have anything sitting around. I REALLY wanted a Bojangles Fried Chicken Salad with one honey mustard and one ranch dressing. Yeah... I was that specific. However... Bojangles was NOT nearby and NOT practical so I compromised on Chick-fil-A fried chicken salad.... which CAN NOT COMPARE! While Philip was gone I decided to get into our Jacuzzi tub to see if I could ease the pain and to confirm these were real labor contractions. I also shaved :) After the bath I laid down and the contractions were quickly intensifying. I took a short power nap and kept waking up by the strength of the contractions. Philip finally came home with the food and we ate. After our late lunch I decided to try to nap again since I knew it would be a long day/night. I also called the OB's office to update them on my progress since I planned on laboring at home as long as possible. They said I could hold out coming to the hospital until my water had broken, my contractions were unbearable or they were closer than 2 minutes apart consistently. Around 5 PM I realized walking through contractions was a lot more comfortable than laying so I decided to walk up the street to my parents (3/10 of a mile). We decided on our walk (in the blazing heat) that it was time to drop Bella at their house. It was 96 degrees earlier in the day so we decided it would be better if I walked Carolina Place Mall which is located near the hospital. My in laws met us over there and we walked the mall for about hour and the contractions were stopping me in my tracks. We ate dinner at McCallisters and I enjoyed a very bland baked potato with butter and an unsweet tea (which I regretted later because I couldn’t sleep from all of the caffeine).
After dinner we walked a tiny bit more but it was getting tough to even walk so we headed over to the hospital (CMC-Pineville) with my in laws to meet my parents who were wrapping things up with the dogs at home.
The maternity ward was quite full that evening. We arrived at 8:30 PM and my contractions were intense. I had made it through approx 13 hours of contractions so far and couldnt wait to hear how I had progressed. They put me in a room but asked us not to bring in our stuff yet (The thought of them sending me home was my biggest fear). They started monitoring Asher's heart rate and Dr. Goldman (the OB on call) performed my first real internal to determine how far dilated I was. The nurse had attempted an internal earlier but was not successful due to my extremely low lying cervix. Dr. Goldman estimated 1-2 cm although due to the position of the cervix this was very had to determine, and the baby's head was all the way down. The baby's heart rate kept dropping so they wanted to keep me there to monitor it. We originally didnt want to be hooked up to the monitors but when I knew there was an issue I wanted that monitor to stay attached as long as they needed it to be. They gave me 3 OJ's to drink to kick Asher into high gear. SUGAR RUSH! My contractions were extremely painful at this point and I became very nauseated. My entire body was shaking and I kept having to go to the bathroom #1 and #2. By this point I had over 10 BM's that day....Yikes!
Dr. Goldman came back to check me after 3 hours and I had only progressed to 2 or 3 cm's. Not much movement for the amount of pain I was in. My contractions were peaking but there were no valley's on the monitor and I was not getting any relief in between contractions no matter what we tried. I finally was able to walk around but I felt so sick and weak from laboring for so long that I didn't want to walk. Asher's heart rate was still irregular and I wasnt progressing. I kept thinking, "this could be a long night!". Philip didn't like seeing me in pain and at one point I caught a tear dripping down his cheek as he watched me wince in agony. After a lot of discussion together (we had a lot of alone time during this time) we decided that it was not in my best interest to continue without an epidural. We were concerned about my low lying cervix and the time it would take for it to lift and how that would affect my delivery. They were concerned about his fluctuating heart rate and they were concerned about me. They were concerned about the amount of pain I was having with my underlying back/hip issues. We consented to the epidural and in less than 15 minutes I had been filled with fluids and Dr. Keith had administered the epidural. Initially I only felt it on my right side but he tweaked it and it allowed for relief on both sides. I chalk this up to the hip problems I have. The nurse put in the catheter and I closed my legs to feel something go down my leg. I thought the catheter had fallen out but it turned out my water broke on my own. Asher's head was so low down it was acting as a cork so barely any water came out! My right leg was completely numb and felt like it weighed 100 lbs. The skin felt real leathery. My left leg felt normal and I had enough feeling in it to move parts of it unassisted. By this time it was almost 2 AM. The mom's had pulled out the Murphy bed and were laying side by side in it. Philip was in the reclining chair and the dad's were out in the waiting room busy building forts to sleep in. The waiting room was ice cold. Poor Dad’s! It was going to be a long night, but we were all at peace knowing that everything was going to be ok. They kept monitoring Asher's heart rate which continued to drop randomly. I couldnt rest knowing that the alarm would go off at any minute and the nurse could come in to move me because his heart rate was dropping. I also was still full of caffeine from earlier and adrenaline. I wanted to talk to everyone and anyone and was quite the chatter box. Around 4 AM Dr. Goldman came to check on me and the baby. My contractions were 6 minutes apart and he wanted to start talking pitocin, but said he would exam me first. This exam was a lot less painful the two prior thanks to the epidural. I had progressed to 8 cm's! No need for pitocin for this momma! I was so relieved. The doctor came back around 5:15 and determined I was dilated to 10 cm's and ready to start pushing. They turned down the epidural so I could feel myself pushing. After a few practice pushes we started the real thing. The doctor noticed that Asher's heart rate was dropping when I pushed (which is normal) but wasn't going back up as quickly as it should’ve when I stopped pushing. This went on for about 30 minutes. He was very concerned because the baby was in fetal distress. It could’ve been nothing, and worst case it could’ve been the cord wrapped around his neck. At this point the doctor looked at me and gave me two options: Forceps or Vacuum. These two procedures I dreaded more than anything else related to delivery. I looked him dead in the eye and said, "C-section?" Unfortunately it was too late for a C-section. They could see the top of Asher's head and they needed to get him out. This is when the room started filling with many nurses and lots of equipment. According to our mom's who were in the delivery room this was when I went into somewhat of a state of shock and froze up. My heart was melting inside. I was scared. I had heard many horror stories about both forceps and vacuum deliveries and didn't know what would be the best option when none of them were options I wanted for me. After asking many questions we all concluded that forceps would be the best since he really only needed minor assistance in guiding Asher out and he was already so far down. Forceps have a reputation of doing some damage to the mother and I knew in no time I would find out where I stood in regards to tearing. After 2 pushes with the forceps Asher Davis Schreibman came out screaming at the top of his lungs (just like his mom did 28 years ago at her birth). It was 6:17 AM. He immediately was laid on my chest until the cord stopped pulsing and it was then that Philip cut it. My cord was fairly short so I was not able to reach him to start feeding immediately but we got skin to skin as quickly as possible. He scored a 9 & 10 on his Apgar and he weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz, 19 1/2 inches.
We are so very blessed that nothing was wrong with him upon delivery and were able to begin feeding shortly thereafter. His head was slightly cone shaped from the birth canal but by that afternoon is was back to normal. He was also very swollen both in his cheeks, lips and eyes but also down there. Yes, you know where. While I was feeding Dr. Goldman spent the next hour repairing my 3rd degree tear. BRUTAL. Unfortunately my tear got infected somewhere around Day 5 post delivery and two of my stitches were pulling and too tight. Nothing a little snip of the stitch and antibiotics couldn't cure.
Asher was a little jaundiced and had a little bit of trouble gaining weight upon discharge from the hospital. He left the hospital weighing 6 lbs 12 oz and the following day weighed 6 lbs 6 oz, He wasn't urinating enough after he was discharged from the hospital so our pediatrician advised us to continue breast feeding, pumping and feeding him breast milk and when he still seems hungry supplementing with .5-2 oz of formula. We had to supplement with formula twice. As of day 6 he was doing fantastic weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and no longer needing anything but the breast!
He has an extremely strong latch as well as very long and strong legs/arms and fingers. He can kick or wiggle out of any swaddle blanket including the Miracle Blanket and he escaped the stirrups several times during his Bris (circumcision). The Moyle (performs the actual circumcision) said that in all of the years he has been performing circumcisions he has only had 2 newborns break loose of the stirrups. He also likes to springboard off whoever is holding him so we keep a firm grip on him at all times. Must have been all that fighting for his life in the womb during my work outs!
I want to note: I do not regret for one minute getting the epidural. My biggest fear was that in the event I needed or decided to get one that I would regret it but I felt very confident in my decision. I am so thankful for the education that my Bradley classes provided for me about child birth and I still truly believe that natural birth is the way to go...had it been under different circumstances.
After he peed...
Pizza 1: Jason also prepared two pizza's from scratch using white and whole wheat hand rolled crust. One pizza had goat cheese, arugula and grilled onions drizzled with a balsamic glaze. 
We all swore there was no way we could polish off all the pizza but we somehow did except for 4 slices. The pizza is really light and the crust is very thin. It was delcious! For dessert Jen baked yellow cake with chocolate icing (Philip's favorite) and fresh fruit that had the largest blackberry any of us had ever seen in it.
He is constantly changing as his swelling goes down....but one thing has remained constant.
