Welcome Palmer Mitchell Hahn

So in love with our little man!

Labor and Delivery

I've been meaning to hop on here and get some updates of our little one's arrival in the blogosphere. He's napping now, so I'll give it my best.

Last Monday, October 26th, I had a routine doctor's appointment for my 39 week check up. The doctor stripped my membranes again and stretched me to 3 cm and I was about 75% effaced. The doctor said he would call the hospital to get a date for inducing me that week, if I didnt go on my own. Andy and I were so excited to hear that one way or another, we would have a baby within the week! I think it was exactly what I needed...a light at the end of the tunnel!

I called the doctor twice on Monday to see if they had a date set for induction, but I never got a solid response, just that they were working on it. I went to bed Monday so excited and anxious. I slept in a little on Tuesday and stayed busy around the house. When I finally checked my phone at about 11:15am or so, there was a message from the doctor telling me to call them as they had set a date and time for my induction. I called right away and was told they wanted me at the hospital THAT NIGHT! I was to check in at 6:00pm! I hung up the phone and told Andy the news. Anxiety, nerves, excitement, happiness...all hit at once.

We went to the hospital that Tuesday evening, October 27th, to start a drug called Cytotech. This made my contractions come every minute to a minute and a half all night long. It was miserable. I didnt get any sleep and was in a lot of pain for over 9 hours. By 6:00am on Wednesday, I was defeated, ready to talk pain meds, but scared to deviate from my initial plan of a natural birth. The nurse gave me the pros and cons of Nubane and I decided to give it a try to buy me some time to decide if I wanted to take the epidural. She told me Nubane would give me a couple of hours to get some rest and decide, but for me, it only gave me 45 minutes. I was done...exhausted beyond belief and ready for some help.

The doctor came in to do the epidural and I knew what the procedure entailed so I wasnt too scared. My blood pressure dropped really fast though so they had to check the dosage, push some extra drug to regulate me and lay me down with my feet elevated. Let the scares begin! Once the dosage was right and everything was in place, I felt pretty good. I was able to relax, accept some visitors and let labor progress more easily. They began the Pitocin at this point to kick labor into high gear.

About mid-day the epidural wasnt working anymore and I was in extreme pain. Andy called on our nurse and the doctor came in to increase the dosage in my epidural. Long story short, the dose was too high. I went numb up to my collar bone, felt like I couldnt breathe, couldnt move at all from my ribs down and ended up vomiting multiple times. They pushed Finnergan, an antinausea drug to help the vomiting and from that point on, I was a zombie. I dont remember a ton after that and have had to rely on Andy to put the pieces together for me.

Luckily, I remember the actual delivery part. I think adrenaline must have kicked in, praise the Lord. They had shut my epidural off prior to delivery, as it just wasnt working out, so I could feel the contractions and knew when to push on my own. I was actually glad for that, as I was still able to do a vaginal birth, which was the ultimate plan. I lost a lot of blood and had a rough and scary delivery, but I'm so thankful for our baby boy and would endure it all over again if I had to.

Palmer Mitchell Hahn came into the world on October 28, 2009 at 8:04pm, weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz, 21 1/4 inches long.

The Little Big One

I had an ultrasound yesterday where it was estimated that the baby is 8 pounds and 6 ounces...looking more like a 40 week 5 day baby than the 38 week baby that the calendar predicts.

I've spent my first week of maternity leave trying to naturally induce labor. Walking, eating spicey foods, cleaning, and all the other unmentionables...I've done them all! This baby seems to be comfortable where it is. I'm so anxious and excited to meet him/her that I can hardly stand it. I really dont want to be induced at the hospital as I have heard how much more painful and abrupt labor is with Pitocin. I'll keep trying my methods and pray that this baby comes before the doctor insists on hitting eject :).

Here's the latest ultrasound!

Tick-Tock

Well, I'm 36 weeks down with just a few more to go. Time is flying, but also dragging on. I am so anxious for this baby to begin its arrival. I've started to really think through the actual delivery process and I'm getting nervous about that part. It'll all be well worth it once Baby Hahn finally arrives!

Here are some pictures of my 36 week belly:

As a belated post, my work girls threw me a shower a couple of weeks ago and I never put up the pictures. Take a look at some of the fun I had :). The girls started a pool on when Baby Hahn would make his/her big debut. They based their predictions on the size of the baby, thus the October 18th due date they hovered around. You'll also see a fabulous picture of me scarfing down a piece of pizza. My boss, Sarah, brought me a couple of slices from one of my favorite pizza places on the Circle. I dont eat "girly food" like chicken salad and veggies, so Sarah brought me pizza so I wouldnt starve. Oh how they know me well!

34 or 36...Hmmm...

I had my 34 week check up this morning. The doctor reviewed the ultrasound I had last week and told me the baby is still measuring a little over 2 weeks ahead of schedule, looking more like 36 weeks. The ultrasound tech put my due date at October 18th, but my doctor said he's not going to change my due date. So, I'm working with a window of 2 weeks here. Not good for a planner like me! The doc thinks/says I am just growing a big baby...duh, tell me something I dont know! Either way, the countdown is on: one month...and then some :).

I'll get some new pics up here soon.

Almost 32 weeks!

Here's my 31+ week belly shot. I'm just shy of the 32 week mark and this baby does NOT need any help in the weekly countdown :).

Baby's Room

Here are some pictures of the baby's room in progress. The bedding we have picked out is a jungle theme (as you can tell by the valence I hung above one of the windows). My mom looked at the bedding and turned the baby's room into the cutest little jungle fantasy. I am so amazed at her talent!! I got the crafty gene but not the artistic and downright talented one.

My sisters are having a shower for us next weekend, so I'm sure I'll have lots of cute stuff to add to the room after that. I love seeing all this baby stuff start coming into the house and cant wait to welcome our little one home. I'm just about 32 weeks...and counting!