Announcing Micah Liam Bass...

Because the baby had been in a breech position for the last couple of weeks, I was pretty sure that having a c-section was inevitable, even though I really DIDN'T want one.  I kept having nightmares of all the things I had to go through when delivering Jesikah through c-section, and I just didn't know if I could handle that again, especially now that I would have 5 kids to keep up with at home with instead of 2.

  I went to the doctor less than a week before my scheduled induction day, and the baby was still breech.  Either way, my doctor had arranged for me to have the baby on Monday, February 11th whether it was to be a c-section or a VBAC induction.  Since she was the only doctor that was willing to give me that chance to have a VBAC, we had to schedule it both ways to be sure she would be on-call.  She said they would do a quick ultrasound and check the position before they started anything when I got there Monday morning. 

Well, Sunday night came, and I was pretty sure that he was still breech.  I was nearly positive I could still feel his head under my left rib where it had been the past 2 weeks.  Anyway, I had mostly given up hope of a VBAC and was trying to look for the positives in a c-section.  Eric always gives me a blessing before I have a baby, and so I asked if he would give me the blessing Sunday night.  It was a beautiful blessing and made me realize even more what a gift this child will be to our family.  In addition, he said I would have a smooth delivery and recovery.  In the blessing, he said that my recovery wouldn't be difficult.  I went to bed thinking on that.  About 4am, I woke up and felt the baby making some major movements.  I wondered if he may be turning to a head-down position.  After the big movement, I had contractions for about an hour, which made me even more curious if he had turned.  Then, I fell back to sleep.

We got to the hospital around 9:30am that morning.  By the time we checked in and all, it was about 10:00.  Then, they put me into a surgery room and began preparing for the C-section.  I told the nurse that my doctor had promised to do a quick ultrasound first to see if the baby was head-down.  Both Eric and the nurse thought it was just wishful thinking on my part, but I was really hopeful.  Anyway, they got the ultrasound machine but the didn't have a radiologist or tech available, so Eric did the ultrasound and sure enough, THE HEAD WAS DOWN!!  I couldn't have been happier at that moment.

Here I am before going into the hospital the morning of Feb 11

Just changed into my hospital gown

Playing on my phone while waiting for the ultrasound

Finally got moved out of the surgery room and into the labor and delivery room

Other side of the room where the baby things are

So once I got settled and the doctor got there, it was around 11:00am.  They put me on an IV and a low dose of Pitocin (level 2).  I was still only dilated to a 1, and his head was down but not low yet since he had just turned.  Shortly thereafter, she broke my water.  I knew it was going to be a LONG day!!

I was surprised that the contractions hurt quite bad for being only a dilated to a 1, but these are the joys of being induced.  The doctor and the nurse kept playing with the Pitocin drip to make the baby happy and my contractions not too intense since they didn't want to chance the uterine rupture (which is the main risk of a VBAC).  Baby started having decelerations with his heart rate during contractions, so they were constantly monitoring that, and kept having to turn down the Pitocin to make him happy.  Once his heart rate would stabilize, they would turn it up again.  We finally got to a 5 drip on Pitocin, which seemed to be his happy place.  It seemed like I progressed to a two fairly quickly, but they I stayed dilated to a 2 for what seemed like a VERY LONG TIME!  It must have been about 4 o'clock when I was finally dilated to a 4.  Finally, I was hopeful I might have him that night.  The contractions were starting to really hurt and the doctor suggested that if i wanted an epidural, I might want to do it soon.  I was really trying to hold out as long as possible because with both Jarem and Tessa, the epidural slowed down my labor considerably.  I didn't want that to happen again.  I was having a lot of back labor, so Eric was being very sweet and rubbing my back during every contraction and I was breathing through them which made them almost tolerable

Finally around 6pm, when I was dilated to probably a 5-6, I relented and ordered the epidural.  Afterwards, I was so glad that I did!  I felt 100% better, and it DIDN'T slow my labor!  Right after the epidural started working, the nurse asked me if I wanted a warm blanket.  I replied with an enthusiastic, "YES".  I had been freezing all day.  When she asked if I wanted the blanket, I didn't realize that the blanket would be WARMED in a warmer!  When she put that warm blanket over me right after the epidural had started working, I thought I was in heaven!  I could have just fallen asleep, and almost did, but things were starting to progress more quickly by then, and also the decelerations of Micah's heart were becoming more frequent as the contractions got harder, so the nurse and doctor were coming in to check things every few minutes.  They were getting quite anxious.  They started me on oxygen.

Finally, when I was dilated to a 9, they decided that they needed to get him out, so the doctor worked the lip of the cervix open and I started pushing.  They had me push hard for several times each contraction with few breaks to get him out as soon as possible.  With the decelerations, we could feel the tension and pressure to get him out quickly.  It didn't take long and he was out!  I pushed through maybe about 4-5 contractions, maybe a few more and he was born.  It was probably only about 10 minutes of pushing.  As we all suspected, the cord was wrapped around his neck which is what was causing the decelerations.  The same thing had happened with both Tessa and Jarem, so we figured that was what was going on.

I was SO happy that our little boy was finally born!  I tore just a little bit, and had to get one stitch.

Finally, relief from the pain with the epidural

Just got my epidural, YES!

And Micah is born at 9:38pm!!!

Our cute little boy!

Right after birth

First cries

Getting weighed

He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  You can see his little feet are still black from getting his first footprints done.

Holding him for the first time...so precious!

Meds in his eyes

Making a face

So happy to finally have him in my arms

Eric holding him for the first time

Proud Daddy

After holding him for a little while, I nursed him and then the nurses whisked him away for his first bath and to put him under the warmer.  Once he was gone, I realized how hungry I was.   I hadn't eaten since the night before, so it had been 24 hours plus laboring and pushing, I was famished!!  The cafeteria was closed, so Eric said he would go pick me up some fast food somewhere.  He left the hospital.  About 20 minutes later, I get a phone call from him saying that he left his wallet in the room and they wouldn't let him back in the hospital.  He went through all kinds of trouble trying to get through security to get back in the hospital.  After that, he didn't dare leave again.  The hospital cafeteria was open from 1-2:30am, so I decided to wait, but was so tired.  The kind nurse offered to bring me a cup-a-soup, some crackers and apple juice from the nurses lounge.  Cup-a-soup never tasted so good!!!  After delivery, I felt so great, but had forgotten it took a few hours for the epidural to wear off.

I really appreciated my doctor, Jennifer Johnston. She was the only doctor in Clarksville I found that was willing to take me as a patient because I wanted a VBAC. What I didn't realize was that she was not allowed to leave the hospital building while I was in labor because of hospital rules about VBAC's, so she hung out there all day with me. She was very kind and competent and I knew everything would be good in her capable hands. I have seen very few people that are always happy like her, but she always had a smile or was laughing. It's always refreshing to be around people like that.

After a mostly sleepless night due to nurses coming in and turning all the lights on to check on me and Micah every hour and waking up Micah in the process, it was a bit exhausting.  It seemed that every time Eric or I would get him to sleep someone would come in and the lights would wake him.  And who schedules a blood draw for 4am?  When she told me that she was coming to draw my blood, it was all I could do not to say, "You've got to be kidding me!?"  Anyway, while I am complaining, I have to admit that Micah and I did receive very good care while we were in the hospital.  I was very impressed with Gateway hospital and staff.

My mom flew into Nashville on Sunday so she could be here for the scheduled birth on Monday.  It gave Eric and I a lot of peace of mind to know that our kids were in good hands while we were away.  My mom is always great with them.  She was keeping them up-to-date on the progress with the labor and delivery.  They were all very excited when the baby came.  They wanted to come and see him, but it was too late, so they were very anxious to come the next day.  The next morning Eric went back home to get showered and he brought my mom and Jesikah back to see the baby.  Jesikah wanted him to check her out, so he went and got her for lunch and she ended up staying the afternoon with me and the baby.  She thought he was the cutest baby in the world.

After the other kids got home from school, Eric brought them all in to see Micah.  Micah was kind of fussy while they were there.  Alex had his 2nd night of soccer tryouts that night and he met them over at the hospital.  He was kind of crabby and wanting to talk because the coach had just told him that he wouldn't get much playing time this year.  At first I couldn't figure out why he was kind of removed from the whole situation and not wanting to hold the baby.  He had been very excited up to that point. They all liked him and took turns holding him.  Jarem brought his reading book to read a story to Micah, but Micah didn't really cooperate too well since he was kind of grumpy.  They didn't stay too long since they had to get back home to dinner and homework.

I stayed at the hospital one more kind of rough night, and then the following morning we got ready to check out.  The second night, Micah was having a lot of trouble eating because he had been sucking the pacifier that evening and was getting nipple confusion.  He had forgotten how to suck and didn't want to eat and secondly, I couldn't get him to wake up to eat.  He wanted to sleep a lot, but I felt pressure because they said he had to eat  right before 6:30am when they would take him for his circumcision, which wouldn't take place until 8:30 and then they would monitor him until 10am. I was panicked worrying that I wouldn't be able to wake him to eat and he would be traumatized during his circumcision because he was too hungry.  Anyway, I hadn't been able to wake him most of the night to eat, but I was finally able to wake him to eat around 5:45, so he got a meal before he left.  Whew!  After he left for the circumcision, I was able to sleep for a little bit, but not very soundly because I was worried about him.  Finally, at 10am, they brought him back, and I missed him SO much!!

Here he is ready to come home!  I was very ready too!!