Up until Wednesday, Jan 15th, I had been to work with no issues. This day however, I wasn't feeling great. The pregnancy insomnia was at an all time high, allowing me to sleep for only 3-4 interrupted hours a night. I worked from home for half the day and tried to nap the rest of the day. The sleepless night continued into Thursday, when I called my mom to come over. I was really nervous about having to take Gavin to the hospital with us. She came over in the middle of the night and spent the night here. On Thursday, we headed into the hospital with contractions 2-3 minutes apart. Several hours of fetal monitoring and walking the halls, we were sent back home. This happened again one more time before the real deal.
Friday, Jan 17th, I slept for a few hours, but was otherwise woken up from full blown labor at 3:30am. Around 4:30am, I called the midwife. She was sure that I wasn't in labor, and that I should stay home. She said to wait it out another hour and she'd give me a call back. Before we hung up, she threw in there, that the hospital that I was to deliver at was full. About a half hour later, I gave her a call back to ask about our options. My labor with Gavin was fairly quick, so we didn't want to sit around for too long. She mentioned again that she was sure I wasn't in labor, and that my only other options were to find a different hospital to go to. She was less than pleased with my desire to go to the hospital, and suggested that I would have interventions, leading to a potential c-section (not what a laboring mom wants to hear). Mark and I talked and felt that we had no other choice, but to find another hospital to birth at (at 5am no less). This thought hadn't crossed my mind at all. I was supposed to have this wonderful water birth, with supportive midwives by my side, at the birth center that i'd toured and had Gavin at. The only hospitals that I could even think of were Fairview Riverside (where i'd previously worked), and Maple Grove Hospital, where a friend had recently delivered. Maple Grove seemed too far and Riverside didn't seem overly desirable. I then remembered that my sister had her girls at Fairview Southdale (which I later learned has a high c-section rate and bad birth place reviews).
Mark got on the phone with the hospital before we left to make sure we wouldn't be turned away from another hospital. "Can we come have a baby there?" he asked. Hehe. We headed to Fairview Southdale around 5-something in the morning. Fairview doesn't have waterbirth tubs, had none of my information and my midwife that I was so excited to have, didn't birth anywhere but Abbott. So much for a birth plan.
Thankfully, my two wonderful doulas met us there after I had been admitted. (I was indeed in labor, regardless of what my midwife thought). With great support from my doulas and my husband, we welcomed Hudson Christian Pound into our family at 12:28pm. (Abbott didn't end up having openings until 10am...so we wouldn't have been able to make it there regardless.) Labor was very smooth and besides the doctor suggesting no less than 5 times to break my water and start pitocin, everything went well (and she didn't get her wish to speed up my delivery). I do remember asking her if she had somewhere to be, since she was rushing us along. I think that threw her off enough to just go with the flow. Our parents showed up right before his arrival and were able to come see us an hour or so after delivery.
While plans changed drastically, I was able to have a birth that I wasn't dissapointed with. It wasn't what I was expecting, but the doulas helped be my voice to the rest of the medical team and they were as hands off as they could be. Oddly enough, I didn't have my midwife with Gavin either...instead I had an on call doctor from the same clinic. It goes to show, no matter how much you plan, not much is actually in your control.
Gavin came to the hospital the next day to meet his brother. The visit didn't go well at all, but he's since come around and accepted that his brother is here to stay. He's been great about giving him his pacifier, "helping" with diaper changes and rocking him if we're busy. He's also taken to sharing his toys, which results in Hudson being buried underneath Gavin's trucks. We can't leave them alone in the same room yet, but maybe in another year or so.
38-ish weeks
I love these pictures ...we have a similar one from Gavin's birthday
Heading up to our room
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Hudson 6lb 13oz, 19inches (no hat), Gavin 6lb 9oz, 19 inches (hat)
Our great nurses
Since day 1, the only way he'll sleep is with me
Baby burrito hearing test
The hospital gave us a birthday cake for Hudson!
Gavin opening his big brother gifts from Hudson
Baby's first bath at home
Thank you to everyone who helped and continues to help make this a smooth transition!!
~The Pounds
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