My due date was April 11, but for a combination of reasons (one of which was a 1-hour drive to the Santa Fe hospital), we decided to schedule an induction 2 days early on the 9th. Normally I'm against a voluntary induction, but I felt at peace about this decision and the baby was in a decent enough position to be delivered. So off we went!
It felt weird to be going to a scheduled delivery, but quite relieving. We left the house at 5:30am and had arrangements for the girls for the day. At 6:30am we began the long paper work and 10,000 question routine in the room. I was between 2-3 centimeters dilated and the baby was slightly lowered.
At 8:00am they began the pitocin, soon broke my water, then I got the anticipated epidural by 10:00am. The pain wasn't all bad yet, but I knew with pit and my water broken, it could get nasty. (You've got to realize that when deciding to get an epidural you really can't wait until the last second when you know you need it immediately... when I first proposed being ready for the epidural, The anesthesiologist wanted me to first be pumped full of liquids for 20 minutes then she could begin her work which also takes about 15 minutes -especially if she has to do the procedure twice-, and factor in another 15 just for relaying messages and getting them going.)
My nurse, Cathleen, I knew personally and I was super glad she just happened to be working that day! She's big on doing things naturally and I like that perspective, even if inducing. She was able to get me into positions, even after the epidural, to reverse my posterior baby. Yay! I was very grateful for that.
The epidural worked fine, but I felt more of the 'pushing' pains than I anticipated. Regardless, it didn't last too long (maybe 45 minutes of pains and 15-20 minutes of pushing through those). Baby brother was born at 2:13pm, making it about a 6-hour labor. Not bad, considering we induced. He was a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz. (21" long) and that made me feel justified in inducing! I couldn't believe I had that whole body inside me! I only tore a little bit, and the experience, including recovery, has gone very well.
The next day, Brian brought back the girls and some Ben and Jerry's ice cream. We named him Tristan Brian Olsen (it was either that or Quinn William Olsen, but that one didn't seem right). We left the hospital by 4pm. The food there was excellent for hospital food! The hospital itself was very nice and so was the staff. I had a student 'shadow' during the whole thing and she was very nice.
We present you now our baby boy, Tristan Brian Olsen! The girls are sure happy to have him here and want to love him and help with him constantly.
