Im Not Pregnant Anymore (Part 2) Birth Story

              Read post under this one to start from the beginning.... it's a long birth story!
August 23rd- 37 Weeks 4 Days
The day started off normal as any day had been recently. I didn't go to work. I decided to do a little cleaning around the house. Nothing too heavy or to make me think that I was nesting. I did dishes and vacuumed the living room and my bedroom. During the vacuuming I was getting quite a few contractions but I had been all week so I didn't think anything of them and I was tired of going to Labor and Delivery just to be pumped full of IV fluid and sent home since I wasn't far enough along to admit. I had bought a fresh pineapple that week and decided to cut it up and have a few pieces. I had heard that pineapple was a way to kick start labor and its conveniently one of my favorite fruits. I had a few pieces but it didn't taste ripe enough so I put it in the fridge. I had text John that I was having a ton of contractions but to not come home because they weren't painful. I rested most of the rest of the day. That night I made Cajun Chicken Pasta. Its a spicy linguini and kielbasa meal with Cajun seasonings that I make. I had also heard that spicy foods can induce labor. I wasn't trying to induce myself though. Pineapple and spicy pasta just sounded good. I wanted to go to my doctors appointment the next day to see if I had progressed anymore actually. I think part of me knew that labor was coming soon though because I decided that we needed to go try the new frozen yogurt place that opened up the street from us that night. I felt that it was gonna be our last outing as a family of 3.

 That night I laid in bed watching TV while John and Cullen watched TV in the living room. Cullen wasn't ready to go to sleep yet but I was pretty tired so I left it to John to get him to sleep. I hear John sleeping on the couch so I knew Cullen was probably passed out too. While laying in bed I felt like something was trying to come out of my nether regions. I know its probably TMI but it felt like an air bubble so I gave a little push and then I realized my bottoms were a little wet. I wasn't sure if it was my water or if I had peed myself which I heard can happen. So I went to the bathroom and sat there a few minutes trying to figure out if it was amniotic fluid or urine. After my bladder was emptied I sat there and a few minutes later I felt another trickle but knew it wasn't urine! So I went to get John off the couch. I gave him a little shake and told him that I thought my water broke. He jumped up and was a little disoriented. We were not expecting this. I called my doctor who told me to go in and be checked to make sure it wasn't urine which I knew it wasn't since it kept coming out of me. We took Cullen to my awesome neighbors house

Here I am after getting admitted at 11:30pm. I had to wait in the family waiting room for a while because they had no rooms available or me. Florida was expecting a hurricane to hit that weekend and so I guess the drop in pressure caused a lot of labors that weekend.

Friday August 24th- 37 Weeks 5 Days
 After getting settled in I was checked at 12:15am and I was still at a 3! So irritating. Contractions all day and no progress. And no change from my doctors appointment the week before. But I was optimistic since my water had broke so I was hoping that would get things moving. I asked to wait on the Pitocin so I could walk and use gravity to get the baby down farther. I walked from 1-1:45 am. Was monitored for 15 minutes and started walking again at 2am. Only this time John was asleep on the chair/bed they provide. I walked from 2-2:45am and was monitored for another 15 minutes. They didn't check me again because once your water breaks there is a higher chance of infection. I was then given Pitocin to speed things up a little. At 7:45am my awesome doctor came in and checked me and I was 5/6cm dilated. They checked me again at 9:35am they checked me again because it didn't look like my contractions were very strong and I was still at 5/6. Up until this point I hadn't had asked for my epidural because I really wasn't in pain.They told me that they needed to crank up the Pitocin to 19 so I asked for the epidural and told them they could crank it as high as they wanted when I was numb. So around 10 or 11 I got my epidural put in. My boss was visiting just after they had finished placing it and we were talking and i had a contraction and then a minute or so later my nurse says something like "you had a contraction just now did you feel it?" I didn't feel anything but the one before so I said "No" thinking she meant I had one right then. She didn't. The monitor that shows contractions has a delay so she didn't see my contraction until after it was over for a while. I felt lots of contractions after that. They were mostly just annoying but they were getting more intense. They had left me alone for a while and then came in and said they needed to put in an internal monitor to gauge the intensity of the contractions because they weren't doing what they were supposed to apparently. John mentioned that he thought the external monitor wasn't placed right and that's why they weren't picking up the contractions. So she tried to put the internal monitor in which hurt because my epidural didn't work. The nurse said that since I didn't feel the contraction she mentioned earlier that it did work and that all epidurals are different and that I may not feel numb with this one.... I didn't believe her. Epidurals make you feel numb! While she is trying to get the internal placed she noticed another bag of water and said that my doctor would have to come and break that. She gave me some fentnol ease some of the pain but it didn't do much. The anesthetist came in and I told him I was in pain and he asked what it felt like and I replied, "like my ovaries are being twisted off". He then decided to give me an anatomy lesson and tell me where my ovaries are located! I didn't care, I was in pain! He said he could give me a strong medicine in my epidural but that it could make me sleepy and that they don't like giving it. But I had to wait til anesthesia got out of the C-section they were in.

My Doctor came in at 1pm and broke the little bag of water still remaining and he tried to replace the internal monitor which wouldn't go around babies head like it should have. It hurt so bad while he wad fiddling with the monitor. I should mention my doctor is boss of mine so he knows me better than his other patients. while I was crying loudly from pain, John said the doctor kept looking at him like "I don't want to do this". He tried twice to get the monitor in and I was so uncomfortable that he stopped and decided to see what my body did now that the 2nd bag of water was broke. He also mentioned that I was 8/9 cm dilated at that point! I was grateful for the break but it was very short lived because once everyone got away from me, the contractions really hit hard. I started by gripping Johns hand but that only worked for a few contractions. Then I was gripping the side of the bed and turning on my right side. The babies heart rate dropped and so the nurse came rushing in to flip me to my other side. John doesn't watch A Baby Story and so he didn't know that is what has to happen if the heart rate drops really low. He knew I was in pain and didn't want me to have to move but I assured him I had to and I somehow managed to roll over during a contraction. Babies heart rate went back up and I was left alone again. The anesthetist came back in and noticed me gripping the side of the bed and trying to breath through the contractions and he offered the drug and I said to do it. And he administered it and stood there for a couple minutes and said "yeah that should have worked by now, we are gonna have to re-do your epidural!" DUH. So I waited for anesthesia to get out of the C-section and the male who gave me the drug did my epidural and he got it placed right the first try. He looked at the catheter he removed and said " Yeah there was something wrong with that one" Again DUH! As soon as he was done cleaning up my back and I laid back down the nurse asked if I was in any pain and I said no I just feel some pressure. She said that was good as long as I wasn't in any pain and they she let me rest for a bit. I thought that was odd because I was always told that if you feel pressure than its time to push. But again I was grateful for the break after enduring those hard contractions. After about 5 minutes my body started pushing for me and I told John to get the nurse because the baby was coming.
    She checked me and I has just a tiny bit of cervix left and she had me do a practice push. Well in 1 push I got rid of that little bit of cervix and pushed myself from 0 station to +1 Station. So she called my doctor back and he headed back over, got dressed, and I began to push. Started pushing at 2:30pm and 4 contractions, 12 pushes, 24 minutes later I met my sweet baby boy SHANE PRESTON HOOVER!

(Funny story... see the gloved hand in the above picture? Its not mine or my husbands, its the nurses. after John cut the cord and I was being stitched up she let go of my leg. I was numb at this point from the wonderful epidural and  so my leg flopped off the stirrup and I kicked my doctor! John said the doctor looked at the nurse like " what are you doing? Hold her leg!" I'll have to apologize at my 6 week appt.)
7lbs 13oz of Adorableness! 20.5 inches long born at 2:54pm! Shane is an Irish name meaning Easy Going. And that he is! Preston was just a name we liked and thought that it flowed pretty well with Shane. We thought it was too preppy for a first name. Shane looked just like his big brother when he came out but also looks like me. Its interesting that he is so much more brown than Cullen was or is for that matter.

His first bath and looking really tan.

Our family of 4! We still cant believe that we have 2 children! Cullen came to the hospital with his grandma who was watching him at this point. At first he didn't know what was going on but eventually he warmed up and all he wanted to do was hold Shane the whole time he was there. We are so grateful that Heavenly Father send such a sweet boy into our lives. Shane is such a good baby. He hardly every cries and when he does, it is only after a lot of grunts and snorts which warn us that he is about to unleash his fury. We love our little family!