Very early morning of Wednesday, July 31, I called the hospital to check my arrival time. They said to come in at 9:45am. We had just said goodbye to P (staying with Nonno and Nonna) and were about to leave the house, when the hospital called and said they needed to bump me later and would call back. I was frustrated because it meant more time to get nervous. We decided to meet Drew and Maggie for a quick coffee near the hospital to wait, and the hospital called back with my new arrival time of 11am.
Luckily, most paperwork is filled out in advance these days so we didn't have much to do admin wise besides sign some forms. Lauren arrived the same time we were checking in and walked right into our assigned delivery room with us to unpack our stuff and settle in for the day.
Around 12 they did standard blood-work and started me on an IV of fluids for hydration. My friend Caitlin also arrived at this point to help. The friends all cycled out throughout the day between the waiting room and delivery room, but sometimes, everyone was in the delivery room at the same time talking and laughing with me!
At 1 they started me on a low dose of Pitocin (Satan's drug) to get contractions going. I was still hovering around 5cm dilated and 80% effaced at this point. Not much different than the last two weeks of pregnancy.
By 4 in the afternoon, I was having regular contractions, but at a low pain threshold. I was still able to walk around and have conversations. They tried to break my water (giant metal needle), but couldn't easily, so decided to wait longer. So they upped the Pitocin dose.
Around 5pm, Pietra and my parents arrived for a visit. She expected to see the baby and was disappointed, as well as concerned about why Mommy was in a hospital bed with lots of wires and machines. She made a few more brief visits with Rob before things progressed too much and she shouldn't be around anymore.
Around 6, I tried using a birthing ball to bounce, stretch, and open up my hips. I had to come off the ball after just a few short minutes because they couldn't monitor the baby well and my contractions were not getting strong or frequent enough for labor to progress.
Once laying in bed, the contractions got much stronger as the Pitocin level was pretty high and I wasn't able to move around which previously had been helping to manage my pain.
Around 7:30, they successfully broke my water. At this point, the pain got much stronger and intense with heavier breathing, clenching teeth, and yelling. The contractions really hurt, but felt less scary mentally (than last my last delivery experience) because I knew what to expect. At this point I had to make a choice on how to proceed. I could get an epidural or I could try the the water birth in the tub. But I couldn't go back on my choice once it was made because of how far along I was in the process and all the machine hookups.
The epidural was the "known evil" while the water method was something I've always wanted to try, but unknown. I consulted with Rob and we decided the epidural was best which I received around 8pm. That part was just as scary as last time because they had little time to insert the needle in my spine between very short breaks between painful contractions. I remember wanting to pull away from the needle but being instructed to lean into it, which was intuitively difficult.
Within minutes, the pain went from a 9 back down to a 3. I could still feel things happening, but it was manageable. Pietra came in one last time to say goodbye as it was already past her bedtime. She went back to our place with Nonna and Nonno, and would not be meeting her new sibling that night after all. Within an hour, I was ready to go dilation and effacement wise, but they wanted to wait until I felt more lower pressure and the sensation to push.
At 10, I felt ready and the nurse agreed. I had to make a quick decision about if only Rob should be there, or if Caitlin and Lauren (who were currently in the room) should stay. I decided they should stay. They helped hold my legs and other support (cheer squad). I'm really glad they did as it's a memory and bond we'll always share together.
My OB was tied up in another delivery next door, so the nurse wanted to get me pushing while we waited for her. I pushed once and she had me stop before proceeding because with another strong push, the baby would be out!
The OB came running in and had me push a few more times. I heard someone say "he" before Rob saw the baby or could announce the gender, so I already knew a few seconds prior that it was a boy. At 10:14pm my baby boy was born! I remember my eyes filling with tears as soon as I saw him as they laid him on my chest crying. When he was born, "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright was playing (the music was randomly cycling through my birthing playlist). They finished the delivery process while I held him there against me.
They took him away to get cleaned up and run some quick tests while I caught my breath. When he returned a few minutes later, we were asked the name. It wasn't any easier to decide, even though we now knew the gender and could see him. We went back and forth for a good ten minutes with our index cards of names before deciding on a combination. Then Rob went out to the waiting room to tell those still waiting the news (Grandma, Grandpa, Maggie, and Drew). We named him Giovanni (for Rob's grandfather John and my Uncle Gio) and Robert (for both Rob and his father). We also just like the nickname Gio!
At this point, the friends began to file in for a quick welcome to Gio and to say goodbye to us. Once it was quieter, I got Giovanni to latch and we began our breastfeeding journey together. I immediately ate a protein box of cheese, egg, fruit, and peanut butter as a snack after a long day of little food. Starving is an understatement.
ROB: [At this point, we needed to get the overnight bag from the Jeep, but the valet (that Jackie demanded we use early that day) had closed, leaving us without access. Drew ventured off to find the Jeep with Jackie's keys, but spent an hour searching the wrong parking lot before finding a security guard and getting some help. After retrieving the bag, Drew returned with both sets of Jeep keys and the Valet ticket, which made for some interesting problems in the morning. Seeing that we stole our own car from the valet and they had no idea.]
Now midnight, it was just the three of us. It was time to move into a recovery room where I would spend the next two nights. When I was ready to move, I ended up fainting from a drop in blood pressure when I stood up. They had to put me back in the bed and wait until I was stable again before moving. By the time we got to our room and got ready for bed, it was already 2am, after a very long day. We shared some reheated mac n' cheese delivery ordered a few hours back (smart move).
The first night was a blur of every hour feedings between minutes of sleep. I had to wake Rob up to move him and back and forth to the bassinet as I wasn't allowed to fall asleep nursing/holding him, and it was difficult for me to get up anyway with all the pain. It was this same song and dance both nights in the hospital.
The next day (Thursday) was August and full of visitors! Nonna, Nonno, and Pietra came to meet Giovanni for the first time. And Rob's parents came again to spend some time with us. Pietra brought her new brother her old monkey (from when she came home from the hospital) and a new blue bear with the hospital's name on it. Rob and Drew went out to get us an evening ice cream snack that we all shared together (pints of ice cream were passed around).
We requested to be discharged early as it was difficult to rest in the hospital. So we left Friday by noon and the real adventure began as our new family of four at home in Waltham.
HEALTH & FITNESS UPDATE:
My last weigh-in before July 31st was 180 lbs. I was up 30 lbs total from my pre-pregnancy weight (150). Though I had gained a little weight in the winter and my ideal weight is closer to 140, which is what I'm going to work towards moving forward. At almost 3 weeks postpartum, I currently weigh 160. But as I've discussed before, the numbers do not mean much. It's much more about building your body and strength (and shape).
I haven't been able to do much more than walking and toddler lifting right now. But hoping to get back to my routine (slowly and scaled) in the coming weeks!
