The Story of Little Ricky....

First and foremost I would like to say thank you to everyone who made this such an amazing journey. It has been the most extraordinary event in my life. Only now do I feel like a "grown up". We are all adults. We have all always functioned as adults. You know....the job thing, the financial stability thing and so on. But wow....being a Mom and having someone that needs me for every single thing in their life, there just aren't words to describe how truly incredible this feels.

Pookie and I woke up on Thursday morning after a fitful Wednesday evening, with little to no sleep due to nerves, to head to the hospital at 6am for my induction. Yes, I said induction. Remember the BP issues and the preeclampsia concerns? I talked about there here and here. So, in order to avoid anything like HELLP or other sorts of preeclampsia related concerns, we decided to induce. I was 38 weeks 5 days so the baby was perfectly fine. We arrived at the hospital, got all checked in and was settled into my labor & delivery suite. Doc arrived and administered the prostaglandin hoping to coerce my cervix into opening and kick contractions into occurring. We also repeated all of the preeclampsia labwork as well.

Well....after about 3 hours it was clear that Ricky needed a little coaxing to get moving and the prostaglandin wasn't working. Around noon we started the pitocin and contractions came soon therafter. I had a nice contraction pattern but after another 5 hours, they hadn't increased in intensity and it was clear I was at a plateau. Doc arrived, checked my cervix and said "I'm giving you One". One lousy freaking centimeter is all I was dilated! At this point, I would have normally been sent home as a failed induction (what an awful phrase!), but my labwork from that morning indicated that levels were still climbing, we didn't want to chance something bad happening and having an emergent situation. The epidural was administered and we kicked up the pitocin a notch or two (or several more) to see if we could get some stronger contractions. After about another 90 minutes, I was nearly maxed out on my pitocin dosage and still sitting at one freakin centimeter. It was pretty clear a cesarean was needed.

Have I also mentioned how awesome my OB is? Jessica was my second support person and photographer and we all know that people allowed in to surgery is very limited so I was afraid she wouldn't be able to come in. Well, since she has a L & D background, aside from just being an overall wickedly cool gal, my doc talked to the anesthesiologist and they agreed to allow her in. So not only did I have my Pookie - who is my ROCK - I also had Jessica as well. I will admit when they took me into the OR to prep for surgery and nobody was allowed in with me I was freaking out with a fear that I never knew existed. I thought I was going to shake off the operating table, but I guess these are all standard reactions to the anesthesia. It was what seemed like hours before I saw Pookie again. He was there, stroking my forehead, holding my hand and singing to calm me down. It was definitely not what any of us had planned for but I have always been flexible regarding any sort of intervention. Yes, I would have preferred to go in to labor naturally, but things don't always work out like you had planned. Which is why I was determined to stay flexible.....if that makes any sense.

After some trimming and cutting and pushing and pulling, we had our Little Ricky. He went straight to the warmer and Dad trimmed the cord. What was surely a few minutes felt like an eternity before I was able to actually see him. It was amazing, he is amazing. He is perfect.....just perfect.

So Ricky and Dad were off to the surgery recovery room to wait on me while they finished everything and there I was.....all alone. Well, a zillion doctors, but no Pookie, no baby. That freaked the crap out of me and I started shaking all over again. That is until Dr Feelgood kicked in with a great sedative that actually knocked me out. I slept through the majority of the stitching up. About five minutes later I was wheeled into recovery and there was Dad and Ricky.

Oh my heavens! This was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. My big, strong husband, gazing adoringly at his new son, our new son. It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. It was what I have been waiting for all these years. It was absolute perfection.

Ricky was brought to me and believe it or not, he latched on immediately. From what I hear, from the time he came out his lips were moving all over the place and he was rooting around with that little tongue of his. We are still working on the breastfeeding thing and there have been a couple challenges but overall things are staying positive.

I had no idea I could love someone so much and that one event could complete me in a way I never thought possible. This all consuming thing called motherhood is like no other experience. I highly recommend it to everyone. Yes indeed......Three IS a magic number!