Duke Anthony Felecos- The Birth Story Part 2

So we left off with an epidural...ah sweet relief!  It was 3:30 a.m. and I was finally able to take a deep breath, smile at my husband, and FREAK OUT about the fact that we were about to have a baby!  My sister and mother in law had been waiting out in the lobby during the epidural so once I was sufficiently numbed, we let them come in the room to share in our excitement.  We chatted for awhile and decided it would be a good idea to try and get some rest before the big event.  Dennis hadn't gone to bed yet that night so he especially needed some sort of shut eye to avoid passing out on the job.  I wasn't able to actually sleep but I tried to completely relax and close my eyes until the nurse came back in to check on me at 5 a.m. 

By 5 a.m. I was at 7 centimeters!  4 centimeters of progress in 2 hours...I was a happy camper!  We updated my parents and unfortunately realized that my mom would likely not make it in time due to the 9 hour drive she was on.  None of us thought it would go so quickly but we were obviously super excited everything was going so well.  We continued to rest a bit until I had to wake Dennis up because I was slowly but surely realizing these were our last hours as just us.  I needed and wanted to soak up that time with him even though he was ridiculously exhausted and not riding the adrenaline high that I was on.   I was about to push our child out of my body, so he was a trooper. ;)

Give me all the orange popsicles!

At 7 a.m. the nurses came in to let us know about the shift change- a new nurse and new midwife would be assisting us for the rest of our labor/delivery journey.  I was really sad to see our nurse go but her replacement was great as well and I was thrilled that my favorite midwife was the one taking over!  The nurse checked me again and said that I was COMPLETE!  10 centimeters!  Because Duke and I were doing so well, we decided to let my body do it's thing for awhile longer and not start pushing yet.  I didn't know this was an option- I thought 10 meant GO TIME so I was a little surprised.  This was also the time we were able to get in touch with my brother in law and sister in South Dakota.  We didn't want to wake them up in the middle of the night but I was so excited to get some words of advice from someone who had gone through this a couple of times.

The nurse also thought that Duke was face-up which was really surprising because it felt like he had been trying to break out of my stomach back-first for weeks.  So we put a giant blow up 'peanut' ball that looked just like Mr. Peanut between my legs and had me lie on one side and then the other.  Around this time I asked my sister if she would stay in the room with us since we knew my mom wasn't going to make it.  I wanted someone else there to support us and to take pictures of our boy entering the world and I certainly didn't want Dennis to be seeing his birth through the screen on a camera.  She was very excited and told me the last time she had been at a hospital for a birth was for mine so I was so happy she was going to be able to be right by my side as I welcomed my son into the world. 

Around 9 a.m. I felt like the pressure was getting pretty strong with each contraction and I was really getting anxious to start pushing.  The nurse said I could start whenever I felt comfortable and so I started pushing.  It was very anti-climactic to be honest.  I knew the whole process could take awhile, but I didn't realize I'd be pushing for an hour before we even considered calling in my midwife.  Why am I pushing so hard if he's clearly not coming out!? 

I knew my sister had to leave to get home and pack so she could catch her afternoon flight to South Dakota, so I knew this baby needed to come out before 11 a.m.  A little after 10 my midwife came in and they assured me we were close and I was doing great.  I was starting to lose my patience a bit and more than once pleaded that they JUST GET HIM OUT PLEASE! Pushing was hard and I seriously don't know how people do it after a long, painful labor.  I knew how lucky I was to have had such a quick labor but I was still exhausted and frustrated.  Everyone continued to encourage me, I felt Duke's head full of hair so ridiculously close to coming out, and at 10:31 a.m. my sweet boy made his way into this world!  He was completely blue and the midwife was unwrapping the cord around his neck so I was initially terrified and asking if he was okay until I finally heard his beautiful cry.  To be honest, he sounded like a screeching pterodactyl but it was the most perfect sound I'd ever heard.

Duke Anthony Felecos- Born 10.24.2015 10:31 a.m.- 8lbs 1oz, 21.75in

 

 

My sweet baby Duke was immediately placed on me for skin to skin time and the nurse eventually rubbed him long enough for the blue to turn into a perfect shade of pink.  We talked to him, we saw his sweet eyes open and saw the recognition in his eyes of our voices.  We kissed his sweet face and admired his little body.  He was briefly taken by the nurses to get a diaper on and be weighed and then brought right back to try breastfeeding.  He latched on immediately and did such a good job and I was thrilled because it was so important to me that breastfeeding be enjoyable for both of us.  My hospital {and maybe yours} calls the first hour after birth The Golden Hour.  They gave us the option to be alone bonding with our sweet boy for 1-2 hours before letting anyone else into the room and before moving us to recovery.  It was the best hour.  We were officially a family of three + Capone.

 

Auntie Jen was able to come back for a quick snuggle before the airport!

Welcome to the world Duke!  You have no idea how much you mean to us, how much we prayed for you and how stupid excited we are to have you in our family.  We love you more than anything in the universe and we hope you forgive us as we stumble along this journey as your parents, but know that we are giving you everything we've got and trying our best every single day.    

-T-