Here is a recap from last year at this time. (Click link below to view)
Before Josh was born Margaret and I needed to get a few things ready - putting the carseat in the car, packing things for the hospital, etc. We kept meaning to do it but it never got done until the weekend before he was born (good timing).
On Monday I went to work and Margaret was planning to go to work. She was going to go in for two days to finish an experiment and then be on leave as Josh was due on Friday. On Monday morning Margaret wasn't feeling well and decided to stay home. She didn't want to drive to Baltimore and go into labor while at work. It would have been convenient for the hospital (since her lab is across the street) but then we would have two cars in Baltimore.
I thought this was interesting that Margaret didn't feel well enough to go to work but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I knew even if Margaret started to have early signs of labor it could be hours or weeks before Josh was born. Margaret kept me up to date during the day about how she was feeling but I was trying to not get too excited. At around 2 Margaret asked me what time I was leaving work and I said around 3 or 4 (my usual time). I tried not to get too excited during the day but I did my best to wrap things up at work knowing I might not be back for a little while. At around 3 Margaret told me I should leave work now. I quickly packed my stuff and headed home still trying not to be too excited.
When I got home I went upstairs to find Margaret in bed and she said she might have been underestimating how much pain she was in. She said she was having contractions every five minutes and they were up to a minute long. This is when I started to get excited. We agreed we would wait at least until 7 to avoid traffic before going to the hospital. Besides avoiding traffic we really did not want to get to the hospital and not be admitted if Margaret was not far enough along.
Margaret decided to take a bath to try to relax and I tried to eat food and get everything together. While Margaret did her best to relax (not really possible) I franticly ran around getting everything we needed together. At around 7 I checked on Margaret (I had been checking on her periodically) and she was definitely ready to go. She had been getting nauseous and her contractions were less than 5 minutes apart and still lasting for around a minute.
I packed up the car with everything from our list for the hospital. I helped Margaret get into the car and we began the seemingly endless drive to Baltimore. We had planned the route to avoid potholes and roads under construction but the drive still felt very long and slow. Margaret started to feel nauseous as we got close to the hospital but we finally made it there at around 8.
We slowly walked into the hospital from the parking lot and made our way to the delivery area. They brought us into the triage room where they hooked Margaret up to monitors and then we waited. Margaret's contractions were occurring every few minutes and she was in extreme pain. At this point I thought there was no way Margaret would ever go through labor again and Josh would be an only child. The doctor finally came in and checked on Margaret. Unfortunately our fears came true and she was only 2 cm dilated, we believed they would not admit us unless she was at least 3 cm dilated.
The doctor said they would continue to monitor Margaret and Josh and see how things went. I sat with Margaret and tried to comfort her but really I wasn't able to do much. After a little while longer they came back and said that while Margaret was not very dilated they were concerned about the heart rate of the baby and we would be admitted. Margaret was still in extreme pain but we were glad she would be admitted and this meant one way or another Josh would be born in the next 24 hours. The doctor mentioned giving Margaret pitocin to speed up the labor. We were not in favor of that but it didn't need to be decided immediately.
They brought us to the labor and delivery room and we settled in. Margaret was not doing well, she was getting nauseous and started to lose feeling in her arms. The doctors said she was hyperventilating because she didn't have enough time to catch her breath between contractions. Margaret made the decision she wanted an epidural but we would have to wait for the anesthesiologist to be available. They inserted the IV and began giving Margaret fluids and monitoring Josh. They debated giving Margaret other pain medication when the anesthesiologist became available. When the anesthesiologist came into the room they told me to go to the other side of the room so I could not be able to see (a very good idea). I watched from the other side of the room as they worked to insert the epidural. They had some trouble because Margaret's back was too muscular.
While I was watching this I got a text message from my mom. The message just said to call her and I immediately knew what she was going to say. My mom doesn't normally text me late in the evening so I knew what the call was about. My grandmother had not ben doing well for the last few weeks and I knew this might happen. A few minutes later my mom called me which I did not answer. I didn't think Margaret would appreciate me being on the phone while she was in such pain. When the epidural was finally inserted and Margaret was starting to feel better I told her my mom called. She immediately knew what this meant and I went to talk to my mom.
I went to the hallway and called my mom. She told me the news that my grandmother had passed away that afternoon. I then told her we were at the hospital and her grandson would be born sometime in the next day. We were both filled with mixed emotions about the sadness about my grandmother passing away but the joy about Josh being born soon. I told her I would not be able to attend the funeral which she understood and she now anxiously awaited updates.
I went back into the room with Margaret and confirmed what we assumed. I then sent an email to our immediate family telling them where we were and what was going on. We had told everyone we would let them know when we got admitted to the hospital and then we would keep them up to date as things progressed.
By this point the epidural was taking full effect and Margaret was feeling much better. They checked her again and she had progressed to 3 cm. They decided that since she was making progress they would not administer the pitocin. We settled in for the evening (by now it was around midnight) and since Margaret was feeling much more relaxed we tried to get some sleep.
During the night the nurses and doctors periodically checked on us. At 5:30 am Margaret had made it to 8 cm. The doctors were very impressed that she was progressing so quickly with the eppidural. The entire time Margaret was wearing a sensor that monitored Josh's heartbeat. We could hear it on the monitor and it was comforting to us. At some point during the night we noticed the sound changed. Margaret and I looked at each other and wondered if everything was ok. 30 seconds later a group of doctors and nurses ran into the room and checked to be sure everything was ok. The problem was the sensor got out of place and everything was fine. It was comforting to us that they were keeping an eye on things even when nobody else was in the room.
By 8:30 in the morning Margaret had made it to 10 cm which got us very excited. This was close to the shift change so they let Margaret continue to progress on her own before she started to push. At 9:30 Margaret started to push with the help of a nurse. I was surprised only one nurse was helping us, I expected to have a dozen doctors in the room. The nurse instructed Margaret on when to push and help with her breathing. I didn't do much since the nurse was being far more useful than me.
Margaret did a great job and at 10:22 am Josh was born :-) I cut the umbilical cord and followed Josh to a warming station on the other side of the room as the nurses checked him out. Everything was where it was supposed to be. I was feeling overwhelmed and a bit in shock. I couldn't really believe this finally happened and our little boy was born. The nurse handed Josh to me and I held him for the first time.
I then handed him to Margaret and she got to see how all of her hard work paid off. They gave Josh a bath and then moved us into another room. We stayed in the hospital for two days working to get adjusted to being parents. Our parents and sisters visited us in the hospital to meet the new member of the family. The nurses helped teach us (me) how to put on a diaper and to swaddle Josh. We kept Josh in the room with us at night (rather than send him to the nursery). Any noise he made would wake me up but I appreciated being able to ask a nurse to make sure everything was ok.
On Thursday we took Josh home and began to adjust to our new life.
I really can't believe it has been a year since all of this happened. Some parts are crystal clear while others are a total blur (mornings waking up fully dressed). I'm still not sure I feel like a parent but taking care of Josh has been an amazing experience and I can't wait to see what the future brings as he grows up.
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