Our son, Charlie Nicolson, was born on February 18th at 1:29am. He arrived 2 weeks early, and weighed in at 7lbs 4oz and is 20 in long. His entrance into the world was a swift one! On Thursday Feb 17th at 3:30am I had my "show", I won't go into detail about this you can google it if you aren't sure what that means. In the morning I called my doctor and made an appointment to be checked as all my baby books said the "show" was a sign that labor was imminent or I was already in the early stages of labor. When the doctor checked me at 1pm I was 3cm dilated and she said I would definitely be having the baby this weekend. She said to just go about my life like normal but expect to go into labor at any time.
I wasn't having any contractions during the day and felt completely normal. I hung out at home for a while before Justin came home from work. We went on a half hour walk and went to the movies. We saw the King's Speech, which completely off topic was a great movie and I would totally recommend it. But back to the story! We got home from the movies at about 9:30pm, still no contractions. I was sitting on the couch and felt my water break around 10pm. I called my doctor and she said to just wait at home until contractions started and if they hadn't started by about 6am that I needed to head to hospital regardless. Justin and I were laughing and giggling, getting excited that it was going to happen in the next 24 hours. I sent a few emails to girlfriends and called my mom and sister to tell them my water broke. I told Justin we should pack a bag, and contractions must have started around then.
The first contractions, I was just thinking ok this must be what they feel like. It was painful, and a very low pain. I felt a lot of pain in my lower back during them as well. For about the first half hour I could still function and walk around during the contractions. We were tracking the times between contractions on our Ipad. There is an amazing app that you just press start and stop during each contractions and it logs the history and times. Apple is seriously amazing to come up with things like this, but again I digress. I was slowly packing my bag, going through a check list that I was given in our prenatal classes. And after about a half hour of contractions I had to lay down on the bed and basically couldn't move anymore. I was in pain even between contractions at that point. Justin helped get everything else together and packed the bag while I moaned on the bed. At this point even though I was in a lot of pain the contractions were not regular. 8 mins apart, then 4, then 7, 6 etc etc. During our appointment with the doctor that afternoon, she had said once contractions were 5 mins apart consistently for an hour that that was time to go to the hospital. In all the baby books and in our prenatal classes they encourage you to labor at home for as long as you can because you are more free to move around and comfortable in your surroundings. So, Justin was just trying to be really encouraging and telling me we should stay home a bit longer. I think it must have been about 2 hours we were at home with my contractions, they were still not regular but closer together and I said to Justin I have to go to the hospital now I can not handle the pain anymore. Even though the contractions were only a minute in a half long at the most they were unbearable to me.
I struggled even walking to the car and Justin got us to the hospital in about 5 mins. It must have been about 12:45 am or so when we arrived at the hospital. I was really struggling to talk or walk or function once we arrived I was in just so much pain. They brought me straight to a delivery suite and I said I want the epidural now. The nurse said ok, and tried to calm me and said she needed to check me first. I was grunting in pain when she examined me, and to everyone's surprise she announced its too late for an epidural because I was 10cm dilated and it was time to push. I don't even think I digested that information. I had even said to Justin at home, well at least I'll get a nap once I get the epidural from the hospital. Oh how wrong I was. I didn't care if the babies head was already out at that point, all I knew was I needed some pain medicine and asap! The nurse called my doctor to tell her my progress and asked if I could have the epidural. She thankfully said if I could get it right then I could have the epidural, and the anesthesiologist was in the room in 30 sec and had the epidural in me within 5 mins. The thing was I was still in so much pain though, and most everything after that is a bit fuzzy for me to remember! He was administering the IV when my doctor walked in. I was not in a good state at this point, but was so relieved she was there. I love my doctor, LOVE! She just makes me feel like everything will be ok, and I trust her 100%. I said to her I am so glad you are here, and in the same breath asked why I was still in so much pain. The epidural takes some time to kick in, but there was no waiting. She got me into the pushing position and had me pushing with all my mite right away. She made Justin hold laughing gas over my mouth to help with the pain while he and another nurse held my legs up and I was pushing like I never thought possible. The laughing gas makes you a bit loopy, but I remember hearing my doctor's voice very clearly. I guess I pushed for a total of 20 mins, from what I remember I was pushing that entire time. I kept saying I need a break, because the doctor just kept saying push! The next thing I knew they were saying look at your baby, I took the laughing gas off and was just in shock. It seriously all happened so fast. It took me a few minutes to come back to normal from the gas, and I just sat there with Charlie on my chest and looked at Justin and said "Oh my god what just happened!" It was the most out of body experience.
Justin was seriously such a trooper. He must have been so panicked when everything happened so fast and I was in so much pain but I would not have known. I don't know that I had expectations for what giving birth would be like, but I can say I never thought it would be so fast and so chaotic. Even though it was a quick delivery, it was pretty scary and painful. But, I will say I am thankful it happened fast. There was never a chance to think too much about what was happening, which I think was probably a good thing.
My recovery has been good so far. In Singapore they have you stay in the hospital for 4 days, so I will be here until Monday. Justin stayed in the hospital with me the first night but stayed at home last night. He has stayed with us all day. We take turns holding and talking to Charlie and just relishing every moment with him. Breast feeding has not been very straight forward for either of us yet, but we are getting better with each feed!
I think that just about sums up Charlie's arrival. :)
Our first family photo, still in the delivery suite.
I wasn't having any contractions during the day and felt completely normal. I hung out at home for a while before Justin came home from work. We went on a half hour walk and went to the movies. We saw the King's Speech, which completely off topic was a great movie and I would totally recommend it. But back to the story! We got home from the movies at about 9:30pm, still no contractions. I was sitting on the couch and felt my water break around 10pm. I called my doctor and she said to just wait at home until contractions started and if they hadn't started by about 6am that I needed to head to hospital regardless. Justin and I were laughing and giggling, getting excited that it was going to happen in the next 24 hours. I sent a few emails to girlfriends and called my mom and sister to tell them my water broke. I told Justin we should pack a bag, and contractions must have started around then.
The first contractions, I was just thinking ok this must be what they feel like. It was painful, and a very low pain. I felt a lot of pain in my lower back during them as well. For about the first half hour I could still function and walk around during the contractions. We were tracking the times between contractions on our Ipad. There is an amazing app that you just press start and stop during each contractions and it logs the history and times. Apple is seriously amazing to come up with things like this, but again I digress. I was slowly packing my bag, going through a check list that I was given in our prenatal classes. And after about a half hour of contractions I had to lay down on the bed and basically couldn't move anymore. I was in pain even between contractions at that point. Justin helped get everything else together and packed the bag while I moaned on the bed. At this point even though I was in a lot of pain the contractions were not regular. 8 mins apart, then 4, then 7, 6 etc etc. During our appointment with the doctor that afternoon, she had said once contractions were 5 mins apart consistently for an hour that that was time to go to the hospital. In all the baby books and in our prenatal classes they encourage you to labor at home for as long as you can because you are more free to move around and comfortable in your surroundings. So, Justin was just trying to be really encouraging and telling me we should stay home a bit longer. I think it must have been about 2 hours we were at home with my contractions, they were still not regular but closer together and I said to Justin I have to go to the hospital now I can not handle the pain anymore. Even though the contractions were only a minute in a half long at the most they were unbearable to me.
I struggled even walking to the car and Justin got us to the hospital in about 5 mins. It must have been about 12:45 am or so when we arrived at the hospital. I was really struggling to talk or walk or function once we arrived I was in just so much pain. They brought me straight to a delivery suite and I said I want the epidural now. The nurse said ok, and tried to calm me and said she needed to check me first. I was grunting in pain when she examined me, and to everyone's surprise she announced its too late for an epidural because I was 10cm dilated and it was time to push. I don't even think I digested that information. I had even said to Justin at home, well at least I'll get a nap once I get the epidural from the hospital. Oh how wrong I was. I didn't care if the babies head was already out at that point, all I knew was I needed some pain medicine and asap! The nurse called my doctor to tell her my progress and asked if I could have the epidural. She thankfully said if I could get it right then I could have the epidural, and the anesthesiologist was in the room in 30 sec and had the epidural in me within 5 mins. The thing was I was still in so much pain though, and most everything after that is a bit fuzzy for me to remember! He was administering the IV when my doctor walked in. I was not in a good state at this point, but was so relieved she was there. I love my doctor, LOVE! She just makes me feel like everything will be ok, and I trust her 100%. I said to her I am so glad you are here, and in the same breath asked why I was still in so much pain. The epidural takes some time to kick in, but there was no waiting. She got me into the pushing position and had me pushing with all my mite right away. She made Justin hold laughing gas over my mouth to help with the pain while he and another nurse held my legs up and I was pushing like I never thought possible. The laughing gas makes you a bit loopy, but I remember hearing my doctor's voice very clearly. I guess I pushed for a total of 20 mins, from what I remember I was pushing that entire time. I kept saying I need a break, because the doctor just kept saying push! The next thing I knew they were saying look at your baby, I took the laughing gas off and was just in shock. It seriously all happened so fast. It took me a few minutes to come back to normal from the gas, and I just sat there with Charlie on my chest and looked at Justin and said "Oh my god what just happened!" It was the most out of body experience.
Justin was seriously such a trooper. He must have been so panicked when everything happened so fast and I was in so much pain but I would not have known. I don't know that I had expectations for what giving birth would be like, but I can say I never thought it would be so fast and so chaotic. Even though it was a quick delivery, it was pretty scary and painful. But, I will say I am thankful it happened fast. There was never a chance to think too much about what was happening, which I think was probably a good thing.
My recovery has been good so far. In Singapore they have you stay in the hospital for 4 days, so I will be here until Monday. Justin stayed in the hospital with me the first night but stayed at home last night. He has stayed with us all day. We take turns holding and talking to Charlie and just relishing every moment with him. Breast feeding has not been very straight forward for either of us yet, but we are getting better with each feed!
I think that just about sums up Charlie's arrival. :)
Our first family photo, still in the delivery suite.
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