For My Forgetful Mind

Three weeks ago we became a family of five. Here is the very eventful arrival of baby Abram.


Being ten days overdue I chose to induce on the 13th of the month. Thirteen is a lucky number for our family and I was looking forward to having this day be his birthday. My mom and sister along with her little boy Benjamin drove in on Wednesday night so they could stay with the boys since we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM. We made comments throughout the night of every little thing we did being "the last time" I would do such and such with only two boys. I couldn't sleep with everything I wanted to get done and was looking forward to meeting the newest member of the family. I woke up around 4:30 to take a shower, rubbing my big 'ol belly one last time and putting the final touches in my suitcase. As I was getting ready to go I got the call that I would need to wait to come in, they were full!? The whole day became a blur as I came to the realization that I would not be having my baby that day after all. Lots of crying on my part as all my beautiful, well thought out plans were thrown out the window. We would need to have a 'do over' tomorrow.


My mom and sister had to rearrange all their plans and were able to stay with me, which was a huge stress reliever. My friend graciously put her plans on hold and would take the boys for me on Friday. We were set to go . . . again.


Waking up on the 14th at 5:00 AM I felt refreshed from the stressful day before and took another shower, rubbing that big 'ol belly praying that this would be the. last. time. please! My suitcase was more than ready to go. I had decided if the phone rang I would not answer it I was having this baby, TODAY!


Arriving at the hospital parking lot the nerves began to set in as I starting throwing up outside. Thankfully it subsided rather quickly and we made our way to the maternity ward. I was hooked up to all the monitors so that they could tell me how high my blood pressure was. I tried to warn her how high it could go. I worry way to much and my anxiety goes out of whack any time I am stressed out. I don't want to hear the baby's heartbeat, my heartbeat or the alarm that keeps sounding every time my blood pressure sky rockets. I have an awesome nurse who is able to get me calmed down so we can move along with the induction. Petocin begins and we are on our way!


By 8:30 I am feeling some light contractions. He is still high in the birth canal so she gets out the ultrasound machine to reveal that he is not only high, but also sunnyside up. Yuck. My doctor arrives shortly after and is not able to break my water. Not good news to me because I realize he will not be arriving by noon as I had hoped. Off to the office she goes with promises of returning around lunchtime. The next four hours consisted of my mom and sister arriving, Brian leaving to get the laptop and missing me getting an epidural(I made it to a THREE this time) and me switching from side to side trying to get comfortable. It was quite uneventful.


Except when I was getting the epidural and I was leaning on my mom. She made the comment of me getting my tattoo fixed since it had been "stretched out." The nurse and I could not quit laughing as my mom wasn't trying to be mean, but makes comments without thinking them through. Love you mother!


Around one o'clock I called the nurse in to ask about the doctor. She didn't have good news as she didn't think she would be coming over to break my water. As she made the comment in walks my doctor. Yeah! Once the water was broke I knew it wouldn't be much longer.


I progressed very quickly and I wasn't pleased with the fact that I could still somewhat feel the contractions. With the boys I felt NOTHING and somehow was able to push fine. This time the nurse wanted me to feel the contractions and I wasn't happy. Finally around 2:00 I was at a 10 and ready to push. Push, Push, Push for about 30 minutes then told to sit back and relax awhile. What?! The next hour I was moved from position to position trying to get him to turn and come down already. At one point I was on my side when she had me push. That was when she had his head in her hand and called for the doctor. The moment I was moved to my back he slipped right back up. The doctor was not pleased when she arrived and he was not in position.


The next 90 minutes was spent pushing with all my might. It was the longest and most tiring point of my life. He would come down with each contraction but the moment it subsided he would move right back up. With each push I would think it was my last only to have to do it over and over again. Then I heard it, clanging. I briefly looked down to see that she had gotten the forceps. My eyes went right back to the ceiling as I focused all I had on getting this baby out of me. With the next push the entire room was blessed with a word which I shall not repeat. I remember my mom saying that could see him and just one more push. Those last two pushes were the most intense moment as everything hurt and I thought he would never come. At that last push he finally arrived and they placed him on me. I was bawling.


The whole moment was so overwhelming. It was the most dramatic of all my deliveries and all I wanted to do was rest. People must think I am an uncaring mom because I just wanted him off of me so they could clean him up and I could breathe. My mom, sister Amy and husband all had tears at what I had went though at the very end. It was a rough delivery to say the least. My doctor worked on me for the next hour as he was passed from my mom and Brian. He was such a BIG baby as he lifted his head off my mom's shoulder to look around. He was precious. I was still exhausted and out of it.


The doctor ordered morphine for the IV which completely made me feel awful. But painfree.


Abram weighed in at 9 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. I had thought of the name Abraham, but that was nixed by Brian. I then shortened it to Abram and Brian agreed saying that was the name of the biggest and toughest military tank in the Army. Fitting name for this baby boy of ours. Derrick was his middle name to keep with the tradition of all the boys having "D" middle names and because I liked it. It sounds tough;)


The boys were the first to visit. Abram was so thoughtful to bring presents for the boys, so they were able to open those up. They were very excited to see that Abram knew exactly what they liked. Here they are sitting on the couch enjoying the candy and the cars. Baby? What Baby? We got presents! They both also had on their "Big Brother" shirts. Too cute!



Mitzi and Jenn C. had the privilege of being the first visitors to hold Abram. What they weren't prepared for was how sick I was to get from the morphine. Here Mitzi is holding the sweet, precious baby and also running the trash can to my bed. Not fun throwing up in front of others, let me tell ya. I apparently do not do good with morphine for I was sick way into the night from the stuff. But feeling no pain.


We had lots of visitors and enjoyed our time in the hospital, as weird as that sounds. I had a great nurse and feel if it wasn't for her I would have had to have a C section. Looking back I probably should have had the C section, but am glad I didn't at the time. The first night Brian went home to stay with the boys so my Mom and sister could head back home. I utilized the nursery and had a peaceful night of sleep. My Mom returned the next day so Brian was able to stay with me the second night.

I was excited to be heading home and starting our 'new family.' Who knew the drama that would unfold five days later.