Friday, April 22
On Friday night, we went to the premier of Tanner Gudauskas' new surf
movie, Mental Paradise. Ian was the MC, Kevin helped organize the event,
and hundreds of surf fans came to support Tanner. Daviel Aguilar from
Scorpion Bay was in town, and Cory brought him to the event. We chatted
with Nancy and Tom Gudauskas about Pat and Dane's birth story, and they
were very excited for us. We were relaxed and really enjoyed spending
time with our close friends. We went to dinner afterwards with Mike,
Chanell, Davo and Lisa to Brick Pizza.
Saturday, April 23
We woke up and Uncle E called to take us surfing. We loaded up in his
new truck, and we went down to Riviera. I wore one of Brandon's old
wetsuits that he didn't mind if my pregnant belly stretched out. I body
surfed while E, Brandon, Mike, Kevin, Davo and Danny Franks surfed.
Eric rode a board that he shaped by himself, and he got barreled and
did an air. Brandon rode his single fin that he team shaped with Donald
Brink, and he got a little head dip barrel. I was body surfing and got
a fun little barrel too. It was great to be out in the water with
friends and family!
When we got home after surfing,
Brandon insisted that we spend the day packing the hospital bag. I said
that I wasn't worried about it because my due date wasn't for two and a
half weeks, and the baby would probably be late anyways. Brandon said
no, we needed to pack today and get ready. It was a lovely day and we
felt happy and relaxed around the house. The bags were packed and the
car seat was prepped for the car.
Mike invited us over
for dinner with the tribe. Mike made fish, rice and salad while Chanell
made brownies with Rollos and Reeces. Rosie just got back into town
from a long stint on the road, and we were all happy to see her. We
shared dinner with Mike, Chanell, Ian, Rosie, Lisa, Davo, Eric and Tine.
It was great to relax and have dinner with our close friends.
Sunday, April 24
Brandon and I went to the Farmer's Market on Del Mar and bought
succulents for the big blue pots on the front patio. When we were
walking back to the car around 10am, I told Brandon that I was having
cramps that weren't horrible, but they were annoying. We went to Plant
Depot and bought more plants for the patio. When we got home, Chanell
picked me up and we went to her parents house. We went shopping and
picked up fabric for the baby's crib. We had lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe
in the mall and talked about Mike and Chanell's upcoming wedding. My
cramps were coming and going all day, but they didn't hurt too bad, and I
figured they were Braxton Hick's contractions.
When we
got home from shopping, I laid down and tried to take a nap after all
the previous activities from the day. After about 20 minutes, I
realized that I couldn't sleep through the contractions. I downloaded an
app on my iPhone to time the contractions. After about 1 hour, I
realized the contractions were about 8 to 10 minutes apart. I gave up
on the nap and went outside to tell Brandon my contractions were keeping
me from sleeping. Brandon was finishing up the succulent pots in the
front yard. Brandon looked at me funny, and said "are you sure they are
just Braxton Hick's?" I texted Kalli and told her that my Braxton
Hick's contractions were really bothering me all day. Kalli texted back
and said that Braxton Hick's usually don't last all day; they usually go
away pretty quickly. Kalli said to keep watching things, but warned me
that the contractions may be the real thing.
Mom came over and
took Reef for a walk. I told Brandon what Kalli said, and he knew that
we should get ready for labor. He took a shower and we drove to Target
together. The contractions got worse along the way. Brandon bought a
exercise ball because we learned in our birthing class that sitting on
the ball can help alleviate the pain of contractions. We only made it
to one of our two birthing classes, so I'm not sure what other tips we
missed! While we were at Target, Mom came home with Reef and she thought
we had left for the hospital without telling her! She was really
freaked out! I talked to her on the phone and said we were coming home
and we wouldn't leave without giving the family an update.
We
labored at home until about 8pm. The contractions got worse and worse,
and we were timing them about 3 to 4 minutes apart. I called the doctor
and let them know we were coming to the hospital. My OB wasn't on call
that night, it was Dr. Cough from her practice instead. Brandon packed
the car with our bag and the car seat, and we were off.
When
we left for the hospital, of course we hit traffic! It took us about
30 minutes to drive to Saddleback Hospital in Laguna Hills. Having
contractions in the car really hurt because I couldn't get into a better
position. When we finally arrived around 8:30, the Women's Clinic was
closed so we had to enter the hospital through the ER. There was a line
of cars at the ER, so we parked illegally in front of the Main Hospital
entrance and walked over. There were 2 other women in labor when we got
to the ER. The checked us in and a group of labor and delivery nurses
came down and took us in wheel chairs up to the Labor and Delivery ward
of the hospital. We got checked in with L&D and waited in the
Admittance Office. Contractions were really painful, and this process
took a long time. I was not stoked.
Our nurse finally
checked my progress and I was only 2cm dilated! I yelled "How is that
possible!" I was in so much pain. They hooked me up to all the monitors
and said we needed to wait to see how my labor progressed. I labored in
the Admittance Office for about an hour and a half. Brandon moved the
car to a legal parking spot. Around 10:30pm the nurse checked on me
again, and told me I was only 2.5 to 3cm dilated. I was so upset. I
thought they were going to send us home because I wasn't 4cm dilated. I
couldn't bare the thought of getting sent home because I was in so much
pain. To my surprise, the nurse said they were prepping a room for me
because the contractions we so close together, intense, and because the
baby's heart rate was dropping when I had contractions. I was SO
RELIEVED to get a room.
When it was ready, the nurse
came and said we would walk to our L&D room. We started the walk
over around 11pm, and within about 100 feet I had another contraction.
It was so painful I grabbed the wall for support, but ended up sitting
on the floor in the middle of the hall because I was afraid I was going
to faint. Once the contraction ended, we hightailed it for the room.
The
bed in the L&D room was more comfortable for the contractions, but I
was still in a lot of pain. I cried to Brandon "I can't do this. This
is too hard." Brandon said "You can do this. You are doing this. You
have to do this." He was right. There was nothing I could do. I had to
do this.
The nurse started getting me hooked up to all
the monitors. In the weeks prior, I was petrified of getting the IV and
epidural because I'm extremely afraid of needles. The nurse started
putting the IV in my arm, but poked around unsuccessfully for a while.
This was my worst nightmare. She eventually got the IV connected in my
hand. Honestly, the pain of the contractions was so bad, that I hardly
noticed the whole ordeal with the IV; I was just concentrating on
getting through the contractions. My worst nightmare wasn't so bad!
When
the IV was in, the nurse said that the doctor was called for the
epidural. I was so stoked because I thought they would make me labor
longer because I was still only 4cm dilated. The doctor came around
11:30pm and got the epidural set up. It took a little while because the
needle was sending shocks down my left and right leg. Again, because I
was in so much pain from the contractions and I was trying to stay still
through them, I hardly noticed the needle. I think getting the epidural
was harder for Brandon, because he was watching everything and worried
about me.
Once the epidural was set and running. I felt
almost instant relief. I hadn't expected the epidural to be that
amazing. I thought it would be like taking Tylenol for a migraine. Yeah,
it would help, but I thought I would still be in a lot of pain. Instead
the epidural made almost all of the pain go away. I could feel pressure
in my cervix when I was having a contraction, but it no longer hurt. I
was SO STOKED. I could finally talk for the first time in hours. I
immediately felt so much better. I can't describe the sense of relief I
felt when the epidural kicked in. Wow, modern medicine is amazing!
I
was finally able to talk and I thanked our L&D nurse. I said that
we were friends with Kalli Fowler, who used to work as an L&D nurse
at Saddleback. The nurse said "She speaks! You haven't said a word this
whole time!" We laughed because it was true. I hadn't talked since we
got there 3 hours earlier. The nurse then said "I can't believe you're
friends with Kalli. That is so cool. Kalli is a good friend of mine. We
worked together when she was here, and our kids still play together. I
was going to be nice and take good care of you anyways, but now that I
know you're friends with Kalli, I'm really going to take care of you,"
she said with a smile.
Monday, April 25
Once
the epidural kicked in, the nurse said we should try to rest while the
labor progressed. We took her advice and tried to rest, even though we
were feeling all the anxiety in the world as we were ready to meet our
baby. Brandon was there every step of the way, saying encouraging and
loving words to me through it all. We were both pretty exhausted and
rested until the doctor came in.
Dr. Cough came in at
3am and introduced herself. She seemed like a great doctor and we were
happy to have her. She checked and I was 5cm dilated. She asked and
then broke my water to encourage my labor to progress. The nurse and
doctor left and said they would be back in a few hours. We rested again,
and actually fell asleep for about an hour.
The nurse
came in at 5am and checked on us. She said that I was 8cm dilated. She
started getting the room set up for delivery. Lights came out of the
ceiling, and medical kits and tables came out of the closets and
furniture.
At 6am I was fully dilated and ready to start
pushing. The nurse said "My shift ends at 7:30am, lets get this baby
out before I leave. I want to see if it's a boy or girl!" I laughed and
said ok. I knew that delivery takes about 3 hours on average, but now I
had a 1.5 hour goal.
I started pushing and the nurse
and Brandon held by legs. They were surprised at the strength of my
pushes because the epidural can take away the feeling and control of
your muscles. I felt like I was still in good shape from going to our
Foundation Fitness workouts until about 2 weeks prior to delivery. I
pushed as hard as I could when a contraction hit, as the nurse counted
down from 10 in sets of 3. By the third push I was exhausted each time
and Brandon talked me though it and kept me hydrated. I was getting
tired, but knew the baby was really close so I kept pushing as hard as I
could.
Within about a 30 minutes, the nurse called
and the doctor came into the room. By now there were a few nurses in the
room and they were all encouraging me through the pushes. I didn't
realize it, but our baby was so close. After a few more pushes, our baby
was born. It was 6:47am.
When the baby came out, it
was head down and all Brandon could see was his butt. Dr. Cough flipped
him over and Brandon yelled "It's a boy!" The room cheered. The baby
made a small cry. I cried out of exhaustion, relief and happiness.
Brandon cut the umbilical cord and they placed our baby on my chest. I
held him and we cried together. We were so happy!
They
took the baby after a few minutes and cleaned and weighed him. He was
5lbs 15.9oz, so they rounded it up to 6lbs. He was 18.75 inches long.
They placed him under a warming light and he was so happy and relaxed.
They wanted him to cry harder so that he could clear his lungs, but he
seemed too content. It took the nurses a few minutes, but they got him
cold and he finally cried a deeper wail like they wanted. The nurse was
happy she got to meet our baby boy before her shift ended. It felt like
we had gone through so much together, I was also really happy she got
to meet him.
After
he was cleaned up, they placed him back on my chest. The doctors and
nurses finished everything they needed and we got to spend an hour
holding our new baby together. It all happened so fast, and it was great
to take the hour to process everything that had happened, and to bond
with our little man. Brandon texted the news to our family, and let them
know they could come to the hospital a little later. We took photos and
just relaxed after all that had just happened.
Grandma
and Grandpa Mehlberg were the first to arrive. The first thing I said
as they entered the room was "Mom, I have no idea how you did that
without an epidural!" I had an all new respect for my mom after
delivering Eric and I without an epidural. When they saw the baby they
were immediately in love. They brought us breakfast and we we talked
about how everything went. Grandma Mehlberg got to hold him and
everything was great.
Grandma Annette, Aunt Brooke,
Uncle Eric and Aunt Christine all arrived soon after. The room was busy
and everyone was so excited to meet the little guy. Soon after they
arrived, we were moved downstairs to a smaller postpardum room to make
space for the next patients. Everyone helped us get our things down to
our new room. The room was smaller, but we were happy because we didn't
have to share it with another couple. The room was very small and
couldn't accommodate our entire entourage of family. We asked everyone
to wait while we got settled into our new room and I tried to nurse the
baby.
Everyone got to see the baby again and we
thanked everyone for coming. Annette and Brooke brought flowers and the
room looked nice. After visiting for a little while, everyone left and
we spent more time together as a family. We didn't have a name for the
baby yet, and everyone was asking!
Throughout the
day, people came and went and we did our best to catch up on rest.
Brandon ate dinner at BJ's across the street. Kalli came that evening
and all the nurses were happy to see her. She was a total rock star when
she came into the hospital! We didn't sleep much that night because the
baby was loud, we were anxious about him being ok, and nurses came in
to check on us throughout the night.
Tuesday, April 26
The
nurses checked on us in the morning, then the pediatrician came. We
went to the nursery and we got to watch our baby boy get circumcised.
The pediatrician did a great job. The baby slept the whole time until
we got back to our room about a half hour later. He was upset, but he
calmed down fairly quickly after resting on my chest.
Our
baby slept most of the day on Tuesday. Grandma and Grandpa Mehlberg
came in the afternoon, and Grandpa held you for the first time. Then
Grandma came back in the evening, and Uncle E came by to hold you too.
Kalli came again in the evening, and brought gifts for the nurses for
taking care of us. She had great advice on helping us breastfeed and how
to take care of the baby.
After
Kalli left, Chanell and Kevin came and brought In and Out for dinner.
Brandon was really happy! Kevin took some great photos of us in the
hospital. We are so lucky to be friends with a photographer! Chanell
braided my hair which was super helpful after being in the hospital bed.
Kevin and Chanell got to hold the baby, and after a little while he got
hungry. Kevin and Chanell hung out while we nursed, but then more
nurses came to check on us and things got hectic in the little room.
There was a lot going on, so Kevin and Chanell headed home. It was great
to see them!
Wednesday, April 27
In
the middle of the night, the nurses came and checked on the baby's
hearing. He passed the hearing test on both sides! His weight dropped
down to 5 lbs 12 oz, which was typical for the first few days of being
in the hospital and learning to breastfeed. Everything was going great.
Around 5am the nurse came and did a check for jaundice, and his test
result came back as "high risk". Another nurse then came later in the
morning and took a blood sample. Uncle E came in the morning and held
the baby while we packed our things, hoping we would be released from
the hospital that afternoon. We were worried about the baby's health,
and then the pediatrician came in the late morning and gave us advice on
how to take care of the jaundice. She said if he ate enough, he would
pee and poop the jaundice through his system. She stressed the
importance of feeding, and said we would need to see our pediatrician
the next day for a weight check and another blood sample.
The
jaundice wasn't bad enough to keep him in the hospital, so they let us
leave that afternoon. We finished the paperwork and paid the only
co-pay we had during the entire pregnancy and birth: $350. Insurance
through the federal government is amazing! When we were packed and
leaving the hospital, the nurses all came by and said "See you in 2
years!". This was a crazy thought. We were just learning how to take
care of this one!
We
got the baby in the truck, and drove home that afternoon. When we got
home, Grandma and Grandpa Mehlberg were waiting to say hello. We got
out of the car and walked up to the front door. We said, "Welcome Home,
Owen Foster!"
