Flashback Friday!

Today I need to return to 3 weeks ago, Emerson's birth, and the truly amazing experience we had at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. I highly recommend this hospital for any mom-to-be out there. The staff was outstanding, the little things that they did for us were unforgettable, and I even opted to stay the second night because I was afraid to leave.

First, I need to thank the most outstanding nurses who helped me through everything.  Patricia was our delivery nurse (sharing my mom's full name!), and she was great help, always providing me encouragement and making sure to only share the positives with me when I was in labor, so that the experience itself lacked the gory or unpleasant details and only the best parts remained! She gave me the permission to take a nap before I had to push because I was too numb, and this was the best thing ever because I didn't sleep again for the next 2 days...

Then, our first nurse after labor was Diane, who made our room special with her unique touches. She was kind, courteous, experienced, and supportive when Emerson was in the nursery for his first 3 hours of life. She helped me figure out my own "bathroom routine" for recovery and helped get me set up with pillows for Emerson's first feeding. She made us this swan for our room:

(or maybe it is a cobra?)

My overnight nurse, Elaine, sat with me for hours until I could get Emerson to eat and not just sleep. We had to spoon feed him, but this did the trick, and gave him enough energy to get him to eat for more than one or two sucks. She shared stories from her years of experience, and really made it pleasant every time I was awakened in the middle of the night. She also changed Emerson's diaper for me a bunch while Kyle slept.

Then I had Dana, Robin, Lisa, and Launa in my last 12 hours (a lot of shift changes and subs!) Launa was so great, and our friends Lindsay and Jon told us she was their favorite nurse when they delivered at Mercy. She is enthusiastic, talkative, and answered all my embarrassing recovery-centered questions, like what brand of maxi pads is the best, since I hadn't used them since I was 13...

I just recently went through our hospital paperwork and found a card that all my nurses signed for Emerson welcoming him to the world. This brought me to tears because I am the one who should be sending THEM a card!

My overall favorite part of the entire experience, however, was the wonderful volunteers who came in every day around 2:00 for "tea time". These older ladies brought us a hand-crocheted hat for Emerson, tea cakes and truffles, and a hot cup of chai with 2 lumps of sugar every day. This helped both my sweet tooth and made my hospital experience feel like a retreat!

Overall, I am glad we had the option of staying 48 hours, I was so grateful for the help and support throughout our stay, and I actually look forward to delivering future babies there, again!

Family photo before leaving the hospital

Emerson in the "kangaroo" hold to help him bond/eat!

Still a bit of a cone head, but totally content

Got a good grip on his daddy... his daddy's heart! :)

Such a proud papa! Our little frog sure was/is precious!

Well, at least one Davis is early!

I know it has been 9 days since it all went down in a blaze of midnight glory, but I have to share the wonders of Blueberry's latest adventure- BIRTH!

Announcing our wonderful, adorable, lovable, and perfect little man-

Emerson Ryder Davis!

Born October 16, 2013 at 6:07 a.m.

Weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces

19 inches long

Here is the REST of the story! (It is rather long, but I really don't want to forget all these details!)

Having already planned to give birth at Mercy Gilbert Hospital, we had luckily toured, registered, and taken our classes (as you already read about), but other than that, we really weren't ready for our little bundle to decide to join us nearly 3 weeks early! I was at 37 weeks, 3 days, and had no indication of early labor at all throughout the pregnancy, much less the day he decided to arrive!

At about 11:00 p.m. on October 15, after returning to work following my 2-week fall break, I had just finished a really productive day after the best sleep I had had in days. I got most of my work done in a timely manner that Tuesday, feeling really confident in my ability to finish the rest of it in the following 2 weeks until my maternity leave was set to start. I always spend Tuesday nights on my own, since it is Kyle's guys' night out, and so I had attended prenatal yoga, had dinner on my own (a salad), talked to my mom about my last blog post and her concerns about my mental health after reading it, and settled in for the night. I was feeling restless, which is not uncommon for me on the night before going back to work. I sent Kyle a text and asked him when he was planning on heading home. He joked that he was going to the casino, but showed up about 11:30. By this point, I had a terrible back ache, and politely begged him for a tennis ball massage of my lower back. Again, this is not uncommon to me by this point, as my back has hurt more and more throughout the third trimester.

And then... I turned over in bed and felt the pop. That indescribable, but undeniable popping sound and sensation that told me things were about to change for the rest of my life! I remember just laying there, wondering when I'd feel the gush of my water breaking. Baby Blue was still moving about, but it took about 5 minutes before I felt the warm sensation like I had just peed. But I didn't pee. I started to call out Kyle's name. I called, and called, and then finally, I called. No, I mean, like picked up my cell phone and called him. He was just downstairs, in a zone of video games and TV. I feel the need to revisit one of my popular wedding blog post's genre at this point to depict the six hours that followed more accurately.

Kyle: Hello? What's up hon? (probably expecting me to whine about needing another back rub or some water.)
Erica: Honey, my water just broke. I need you to come up here and bring me a towel.
Kyle: Like, your water broke, like this is labor. Like this is the real thing?

[10 seconds later, Kyle arrives at the door, runs in the bathroom closet and grabs a grubby old towel, hands it to me]

Erica: Ok, I am going to head to the bathroom to check this out.
Kyle: (already beginning to get frantic) Ok, well, this is really happening, huh? Are you having contractions?
Erica: No, not really contracting, but feeling the adrenaline and now I'm wide awake.

[In the bathroom, I'll spare you the details, but the decision is made that my water has most definitely broken. 4 towels and some time later:]

Kyle: Should we call the doctor?
Erica: Yes, probably, who else can we call. Oh wait, it is 12:30, your brother is just getting home from work. Call him!
Kyle: (calling his brother) Casey, so lets just say someone's water just broke. What should we do now?
(not sure what happened at this point as I was distracted and only heard Kyle talking about getting stuff together).
Erica: I should probably call the doctor.

[Dials the doctor, pushes 0 to get the doctor on call, gets transferred to an answer service, waits to get transferred to doctor, doctor is not answering, gets answer service to leave doctor a message. 5 minutes later, the phone rings in a call back from the doctor. Doctor tells me it is ok to wait a little bit, to pack up and take a shower, but that once your water breaks, you should try to get to the hospital pretty quickly.]

And the rest of the play looks a little like one of those sketch comedy segments that they run in fast forward to emphasize the chaos of the situation. I get in the shower, while my water continues to "break", and Kyle runs around getting things together to bring to the hospital. The following list includes all that we did in that hour before getting in the car to head to the hospital:
-Packed clothes for Kyle, and some PJs and robe for me.
-I showered and then had to change about 3 times due to the mess. Finally settled on a tank, sweater, and sweats that I didn't care about, and grabbed an extra towel.
-Started laundry as we hadn't washed any of the baby's clothes.
-Called Casey and Karen and sent texts to the rest of the family that "It was time!"
-Called my mom (for the following 3 hours) until she finally realizes that a phone has been ringing and calls Kyle back
-Downloaded a contraction tracking app for our phones
-Started contractions that weren't too painful or frequent at first, for about 25 minutes, but progressed to 5 minutes apart by the time we got in the car

I know this is a lot of information by this time. Thank you if you are still reading.

We arrived at Mercy at about 2:00. By this point, I had 3-4 painful contractions. I wanted to be on all fours or standing, so the car ride was excruciating. In the ER, no one is at the check in desk. No one is in the waiting area. Kyle finally calls out to get an answer. As we are checked in, I am standing with my head down on the counter. Luckily Kyle thrusts my ID and insurance card at the clerk. A wheelchair arrives. My contractions are about 3 minutes apart by now. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I get to triage. They tell me to put on the robe and then leave a urine sample. I could have given them a sample of amniotic fluid, it was all over the floor (sorry for the over-share), but not urine as I was then in a lot of pain and contractions were pretty much constant. I was in triage for about 3 minutes and they moved to admit me into a labor room.

The nurse came in, all I remember is requesting an epidural. They made me lay down to get my IV and to draw my blood, which I don't even remember. I remember gripping onto the sides of the bed and pulling while I fought through the pain. I had some serious back labor, so laying down was the LAST thing I wanted to do. I got hooked up to the contraction and fetal heart monitors. Then the nurse checked my dilation.

8.5 centimeters!!! WHAT THE CRAP!? It was only 2 hours since my water broke and I was about ready to push out a baby?! This is my first pregnancy, right? The one where labor is supposed to last 24 hours and move at a snail's pace. My only concern was that I was too late to get the epidural. I almost panicked.

Then my best friend arrived. The anesthesiologist. I love him. Somehow, by some miracle, he was available, and arrived by 3:00 a.m. to administer my epidural. Even though watching a video of one had previously freaked me out, at that moment, I didn't care as all I wanted was the pain to stop. I somehow fought through one last strong contraction sitting perfectly still (most likely because Kyle whispered to me that it was the last one I had to feel), and then PURE HEAVEN! I felt nothing. I made the comment "Why doesn't everyone get one of these?!" I lay down, completely relaxed. This was the point where Kyle finally got a hold of my mom and she headed on her way to the hospital. I had also made Kyle log in to my computer and get a sub for the following school day for me. The nurse came back and told me I was too numb to push, but was at 9 centimeters. I took a nap.

Mom and Kyle were great to assist me during labor pushes, which I started sometime after 4:00 a.m. I think I only had to bear down about 7-8 times (sets of 3 pushes during contractions) and I had Emerson Ryder on my chest. Being a little early, he didn't want to take his big breaths, and he had to spend a little time in the nursery with some oxygen, but he was here, and I couldn't believe it was all over after only 6 hours.

So, in the grand scheme of labor stories, I had a pretty great one. The rest of the 48 hours in the hospital are for another post, but now you all know about Blueberry's latest adventure... his whirlwind appearance into this wonderful world.

And henceforth, Blueberry shall be referred to as Emerson!

Pictures:

Pre-birth, post epidural

Emerson's first photo- not too bad for a new, newborn!

Weighing the little man

The cutest little feet- he got his dad's!

First mother-son picture (his eyes are gunky from the solution they put in them at birth!)

Stats

First picture of father and son!

Our "professional" hospital shot

The Hospital Tour

I don't know about you, but this just got real.

This past Saturday was our hospital tour. Although I didn't really feel like I got a whole lot of new information out of the experience, I still feel like it was a good idea because I will feel much more comfortable in the chaos of labor knowing that I've been there before and have a plan of sorts.

Fun facts to note from our tour:
1. I am still trying to be cute as a pregnant woman, but apparently this is not the norm.  Not to be arrogant, but I mean, come on! Make up, ladies, has not suddenly become toxic due to pregnancy. And just because you are big doesn't mean your clothes have to come from the elephant-size rack.
2. Even with a yeti-length beard, my husband still looks cute, too! You aren't on the tour for a 12-24 hour long marathon of labor, so don't come in pjs, sweats, or anything of the like. Wait until the real deal to come in your comfy clothes, even if it is a Saturday!
3. There is no policy on whether or not I can eat during labor from the hospital, but I must first discuss this option with my Dr. I would love to hear that I am allowed more than ice chips in case I am in it for the long haul!
4. You can "rent" a birthing tub for labor, but then you can't have an epidural, because your legs won't work well enough to get in and out of the tub. You can also rent a birthing ball or a mirror. I am thinking of hosting a core class with ab focus while in labor. Who wants to sign up?
5. You can labor in the shower if you want.
6. Must pass ER before moving on to your next stop.
7.Check out time (without a C-section) is at MOST 48 hours after arrival. Yikes! That gives us 2 days or fewer to figure out what the heck this parenting thing is all about.
8. Don't steal the blankets or other hospital supplies that haven't been in baby's mouth or butt. 

Now, I knew SOME of this information before, but as the tour was quick and simple, only bits of information really stood out to me.  And I guess I didn't really worry about the size of the companion bed in the room, or the open-ended visiting hours policy, because I already knew that having visited friends and family in the hospital after babies were born.

I can't wait for baby classes to find out even more. (Maybe then I'll be less critical and sarcastic and will perhaps be a bit scared out of my mind for the impending birth instead...)

Hopefully I didn't offend anyone.

Mercy Gilbert Hospital- baby's first home! And me at 30 weeks.