Do I really have two kids?!
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| Evie Francis & Cohen Elway |
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| Cutest Big Sister and Little Brother |
Apparently.
Cohen Elway Boyer
April 16, 2012 3:08 p.m.
8 lbs. 14 oz. 22 ½ in.
Nearly every time I look down into this sweet boy’s face I
can’t help but think to myself, “you were in my belly not technically true,
but I rarely think the word “uterus” just days ago. Hours, really.” Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe what
this new world of mine feels like so far.
Nor does adjustment seem to be an adequate word to describe the spin all
of our lives on Team Boyer just took with the addition of one new little dude.
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| Team Awesome |
So…how did all of our lives change so dramatically? Here it is.
The birth story. In all its
infinite glory.
**Disclaimer: actual birth story may not be as dramatic as
I may have just made it seem.**
I actually have not even reached my due date yet. It is not until April 23, but at my last
couple of doc appointments my blood pressure started climbing ever so slightly
and the puffiness in my legs and feet was reaching super sexy proportions, so
Dr. Benham decided we could go ahead and schedule the arrival of the new kid
one week early. This swollen, carpal
tunnel ridden mama was more than inclined to agree.
At this point, I'm not fully decided on how I feel about
being induced. Don’t get me wrong. I am not opposed to the idea of using
medicine to get things rolling. I’m
talking about the actual idea of knowing
when you’re going to go into labor.
Definite pros and cons. Pro: you know when you’re going into labor. AKA you can shave your legs, have your bag
packed as well as all the last minute things you have to throw in there,
shower. Con: that last night is kind of tortuous. My induction was scheduled for Monday the 16th. So, I was told I would receive a call from
the hospital sometime on that day to tell me when to come in. That means I could theoretically receive a
call anytime between the hours of midnight and midnight. I knew I was first on the list of inductions
that day, so I was pretty confident I would get a call around 6 a.m. But you never know.
Needless to say, the anticipation of finally getting to meet
the baby boy growing inside of me coupled with not knowing exactly when I would get the call made for a
very restless night. And that was
probably the biggest con of all. Instead
of the last night being the last night I actually got to sleep, it turned into
a night of repeated wake ups and not just to pee.
I ended up getting a phone call from the hospital at 4:20
a.m. asking me if I could come in at 6 a.m.
Brant and I had already decided that I could go to the hospital alone
(sniff) so he could stay with Evie. We
figured that was an easier route than waking her to take her to my parent’s
house or asking my dad to come over so early in the morning. Not to mention that we knew the real action
wouldn’t start in my first few hours at the hospital anyway.
Everything was pretty routine once I reached the
hospital. I changed into my supa sexy hospital
issued nightgown and hung out in my bed.
I was given Pitocin at 6:50 a.m. to get things rolling, and my doctor
came to check on me soon after. At this
point I was dilated to a 2 and was 80% effaced.
He came back at about 8 a.m. to check on me again and to break my
water. Now there’s a sensation! I had to have my water broken manually when I
was in labor with Evie, too, but I had already had an epidural that time. This time I was able to feel it which was something
I had (oddly?) kind of hoped for. I just
wondered what exactly it felt
like. I’m told it’s different for every
woman and for every labor, but for me, this time, it was a HUGE gush of warm
liquid flowing out of me. It also
continued to flow out of me during my next three potty visits too. Wasn’t prepared for that. Clean up in room 317.
Brant dropped off our wee one with Grandpa and made it to
the hospital around 10:30 a.m. Just in
time to watch me get my epidural. Side
note: I don’t think it’s possible to
overstate the awesomeness that is an epidural.
For all you chicks who think it makes you more of a woman to give birth
without one I mock you. And it doesn’t. Modern medicine is here to take advantage
of. And I feel so absolutely fantastic
about doing just that. That’s enough of
that. Sorry to any offended (sort of).
My epidural was a totally different experience this time
around. Last delivery it was put in easy
peasy and I became absolute dead weight soon after. I didn’t really mind not being able to move
my legs at all, but I did feel sorry for the nurses who had to adjust my body
for me all night. This time, the
anesthesiologist had a hard time getting it in, but once it was, and had taken
effect I realized how different it felt from the previous time. I was numb much higher on my body. It was weird and slightly disconcerting
initially because it felt as though my belly was slightly numb (which I was NOT
prepared for). On the flip side, I never
lost complete use of my legs. I was able
to move them with relative ease, which made me feel like less of a slacker. Overall I would have to say that despite the
initial complications of this go
around I preferred the overall epidural experience more this second time.
When I was checked by the nurses at 11:30 a.m. I was dilated
to a 5, which I felt decent about. My
doc had told me that getting to a 5 would be the most difficult and time consuming
part. He was right cause after that, things
jumped up a notch and I went from a 5 to an 8 in and hour and a half with lots
of contractions getting me there. Not
that I noticed them. Seriously! Epidurals!
Amaze-balls!
Around 1 p.m. I was dilated to a 9+ but my cervix was still
slightly in the way. Brant had left
briefly to grab some lunch, so I called him to have him hurry back since we
were told it would probably be a matter of minutes before it was time for me to
start pushing. The nurse came back about
fifteen minutes later to check on my cervix.
Still in the way. She said she’d
come back in another twenty. She
did. She checked. Same thing.
And this continued on and on for the next hour and a half with Brant cursing
(not so quietly) my cervix in the background.
Close to 1:30 the nurse said she’d come back to check me in
a few minutes and whether my cervix had cooperated or not we were going to
start pushing. When she checked my again
around 1:45 nothing had changed so I was told I was just going to have to push
harder to make that pesky and obtrusive cervix of mine a non-factor. Harder?
Umm…ok. Awesome.
I started pushing with my two nurses (oh, and just for the
record, their names were Pam and Brianne), and felt some actual concern that I
was going to do some serious damage to myself.
I pushed so hard I felt dangerously close to popping something. Popping what?
I’m not sure. But I don’t think
popping of any kind during labor is highly favored.
Soon Dr. Benham arrived to take over, and I have to say that
this is where he became my favorite person in the room (sorry B). I was struggling so hard to get my little man
out of me, and Dr. Benham was so positive about my attempts at pushing that he
gave me a new-found sense of physical strength.
I desperately needed someone to tell me that I was, in fact, making
progress and that all my efforts weren’t all for naught. Yay for positive reinforcement!
After about 25 minutes of pushing, straining, grunting,
breathing, my beyond awesome baby Cohen entered the world at 3:08 p.m. He was immediately brought to my chest and I
immediately fell in love. He was then
taken to be cleaned up and measured. And
you know you’ve got a big one when one nurse announces his height (22 ½ in.)
and every other medical professional in the room simultaneously shout “seriously?!” I KNEW there was a reason I couldn’t breathe
for the last month and a half of my pregnancy.
Umm, and thank heavens he didn’t go full term. Sweet Moses, that would have been rough(er)!
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| Large and In Charge! |
So there it is. The
birth story. Are you bored? Don’t blame me. No one forced you to read this whole
thing. But if you did, and you’re
subsequently reading this, thanks for sharing in one of my most awesome and
special days with me.
