The Martin Family: birth story

It has taken me a while to get this posted because it has been a crazy couple weeks at the martin house! But here it is as promised.
At my 39 week visit my doctor and I discussed induction dates after she checked me and I was only 1cm and 50% effaced. So being 'not so favorable' meant the little dude got to keep cooking away for another week. We set induction for the 6th or july but also wait listed me for the 5th. My wonderful doctor was moving to chicago the 10th, so we wanted to make sure she got to deliver our little one.
The 4th of july rolled around and I thought for sure we would go into labor on our own after long walks, and accupressure! But no such luck.
On the 5th, we had our bags packed and every couple hours the labor and delivery unit would call and say they were too full for us. At 6 pm (after deciding it wasn't happening today and beng ok with it), they called and said to be there by 8 pm! Ah! I was so nervous and excited!
Brandon and I drove up to the hospital after leaving emma with my mom and sis at our house. It took awhile to get situated in the hospital room and get all hooked up to my iv. The good news was that the nurse started my iv in one attempt this time (instead of 4, like with emma). I took that as a good omen and tried to relax.

The didn't get pitocin started until about 11 pm. They had checked me first and surprisingly, I was dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced. So they started the pitocin and I opted to wait as long as possible before the epidural because I felt so crappy with it when I had emma. Brandon picked out some movies for us from the L&D units locked VHS movie closet..haha...he picked stargate and happy gilmore...

We watched both movies and in between we took walks in the hallways to try and tough out the contractions. Eventually we had to stop watching movies because they had turned the pitocin up all the way and I still hadnt had any pain meds. Brandon was awesome and was doing counter pressure on my lower back to help ease the contractions. But, by about 730 am, I was dilated to a 4, and they had broken my water so the contractions were pretty intense...so I decided to have the epidural

Well, just like with emma, only the right side of my body was numb...I could feel everything on the left side and even the right side wasnt fully numb. But my right leg was totally dead, so i couldnt move it or position myself very well. And just like with emma, Eli's heart rate started dropping so I had to lay on my side and wear oxygen. After I got as comfortable as i could, I let Brandon get some sleep because I thought we had a long day of laboring ahead of us. Around 11 am the babies heart rate kept dropping pretty low and the nurse came in to try and position me to help him get more oxygen. I was in lots and lots of pain and felt tons of pressure. she checked me and i was at a 5. She had the anesthesiologist come in and put more medicine in my epidural, but even after that I felt tons and tons of pain that was constant....so she checked me again (this was about 5 min after the first check) and i was a 7 and then went to an 8 while she was checking. The babies heart rate was in the 70's at this point so she yelled for some doctors, (my doctor was on her way but not there yet), so the anesthesiologist and 3 docs and 2 nurses are in the room. They were all scrambling around, putting the internal monitor on Eli's scalp and prepping the room. They started talking c section cuz his HR was so low and maybe needing a pediatrician to check him as soon as he was born. I started to get really nervous, and just wanted him out. Well my body must have listened to me cuz I felt the urge to push and told the nurse. Sure enough, they checked me and i was 10! I pushed 2 contractions and our little man was out! He looked a little pale but overall just great. His apgar scores were 8 and 9! Just like his big sister! He weighed in at 7lbs and 7 oz, 20 inches long. I got to hold him right away and he started nursing like a champ. My doctor managed to walk in the room right after he was born and she helped the other doctor stitch me up after (only 2 stitches, awesome). So, I went from 5 cm to 10 cm in about 10 minutes. haha, crazy!

Anyway, Brandon and I both fell in love with our little Eli right away. He was (and is) such a good little baby and we can't imagine our family without him!! I'd have to say that except for the small scare at the end of my delivery, the overall experience was very pleasant. I felt great after and the recovery so far has been awesome.

Welcome to the world Eli Ezra Martin!! We can't wait to see what the future has in store for you!!