parker joel's birth story

so in honor of parker's birthday yesterday
 i'm going to take this opportunity

to tell (write out) his entrance into the world.

i can get wordy.

consider yourself warned.

i was 37 wks preggo.

and starting my weekly doctor visits
so d and i both worked all day and met at the hospital
on october 7th.

i got an ultrasound to make sure he was still head down

and to get an estimate of how big, or small, he was.

turns out i had slightly low amniotic fluid. (7.5cm)

not scary low, but low enough for my doc to send me to the perinatal unit

in the hospital for another ultrasound.

so d and i went down stairs and waited.

after my ultrasound, the tech tells us that my fluid level

was only 4.5cm.

i immediately knew this was not good because dr. t

told us he didn't want it to go below 5cm.

typical us...i freaked, danny calmly said nothing to worry about.

a nurse then hooked up for a non-stress test

to see how active he was and if i was contracting at all.

turns out i was having a couple contractions but didn't know it.

parker wasn't being quite as active as they would like

so i had to roll side to side, drink some sprite and get him moving.

still not acceptable.

my nurse said she was going to show my readings to the doc

but to prepare ourselves for an induction.

WHAT? TODAY?

we immediately called our parents to give a heads up.

i had to instruct my mom which shirt, in which drawer to pack

because i hadn't done that yet!

oops.

needless to say, she came back in like 1 min later and said i was to go directly

upstairs to labor and delivery.

holy smokes!

we were definitely not mentally prepared for that

but man i was so excited to not be preggo anymore and to meet my little man.

upstairs we met our amazing nurse reva.

i totally believe your delivery and birth experience

depends highly on your l & d nurse.

she was so awesome.

so i got my iv started.

hooked up to the monitor.

my parents, sister, d's dad, brother, sis-in-law

all came and met us at the hospital that thur evening.

since i was contracting some on my own

they tried to get labor going naturally and had me walk the halls for over an hour.

pretty funny feeling walking around with no underwear

and a hospital gown.

i prayed the entire time i didn't see any former employees.

no progress with the walking.

they were going to put in cervidil for 12hrs (overnight)

which is supposed to soften the cervix

and get things started.

so my parents decided to leave thinking i wasn't going to have him until at least the next morning

but since i was contracting their protocol isn't to use it and go straight to pitocin.

so around 11pm i was started on a low dose of pitocin.

contractions were very mild.

i think i rated them around a 4 or 5.

looking back though i would have rated them at zero compared to the real thing.

at midnight they decided to break my water.

i was only 1.5 to 2 cm

and apparently my cervix is angled weird (just what you wanted to hear)

so it was kinda tricky

and kinda painful

and there was kinda a little blood

that danny got a glimpse of and started to turn green.

and let the pain begin!

from midnight to 2am was the most painful part of my entire labor.

the contractions were barely a min apart.

everyone was having a party in my room

and i couldn't even participate in the conversations because they were hurting so bad

and just took my breath away.

reva checked me at 2am and i was 3cm.

she said i could get my epidural.

hallelujah!!

best invention every made.

didn't feel a thing as he did it,

and didn't feel a THING after it was in.

although i got a little too numb from pushing my button.

my blood pressure dropped kinda low so they gave me some meds to bring it up

and a little oxygen because parker's heart rate was dropping

during contractions.

reva kept having me roll side to side thinking he was laying on the umbilical cord

but that wasn't helping.

as a last ditch effort for me not to have a c-section

(which i begged her to do everything she could so i didn't have to get one)

she ran an internal monitor to measure the contractions and his hr better

along with a line of saline trying to put some more fluid

back into my uterus.

at around 3am i was 6cm.

totally stunned i had changed so much in an hour.

at this point danny called my parents to tell them

it was going to happen pretty soon to come back down.

his family stayed and were troopers the whole night!

at 4:30am she checked me again

(which david made everyone take bets in the waiting room how far i was)

10cm!

it's go time!

they called my doc who took 20 min to get there.

i started pushing around 5am

and the 'pushing' process was the most calm and enjoyable experience

of the entire labor.

the nurses and my doctor were so relaxed.

danny was right there holding my head and leg

watching the entire time.

(which he swore he wouldn't)

i could not have done it without him.

parker joel pracht

arrived at 5:25am

on friday, october 8th 2010

weighing in at 5lbs 3oz

and 18 inches long.

the most precious little thing i've ever laid my eyes on.

danny got to hold him first

while reva stayed late on her shift to capture our first family photo.

it was magical.

tears flowing.

and then all the family not so patiently waiting outside

got to meet him.

it's a day i'll never forget.

happy birthday little man.

mommy and daddy love you more and more every day.

and can't wait to see how much more joy

you can bring to our family.

carpe diem

SEP