The Birth Story of Gavin Duane

Back in November, when I learned I was pregnant with our second child and I tried to calculate my due date, I decided I wanted this baby to arrive on July 28th.

There were many reasons for this. First, I didn't want the baby to go past the due date of July 31st. Rachel was 4 days late, and it is just frustrating to be waiting around at the end of your pregnancy. Second, and most importantly, I thought the numbers would be perfect. Rachel's birthday is June 23rd, mine is August 23rd, and Duane's is April 28th. How perfect would it be to have a baby with July 28th as a birthday? We would all be perfectly linked together! Finally, my cousin/little brother Mark's birthday is July 28th, which would be just icing on the proverbial birthday cake.

So when I went to the doctor on July 25th, and she told me I was still only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced, and we scheduled my induction for August 4th, I was discouraged. It isn't that I find anything wrong with being induced per se. I know a lot of people who have had to be induced, and everything turned out fine. But I know a lot of people who have had complications from being induced (e.g., longer labors, problems dilating, painful contractions, stress on the baby, emergency C sections, etc.), so I just really didn't want to be induced if I could help it. I was technically induced with Rachel, because I wasn't having contractions on my own when my water broke, so I knew everything would work out okay no matter how baby arrived. Still, I was hopeful...

So when my sister and mom invited me to join them at the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday, July 27th, I asked my boss if it would be okay for me to leave a little early. My boss is just awesome, and he agreed easily. I left work at 1:30, and I made it to the fair at 2 p.m. I spent about 5 hours walking around in the 90-degree heat with Rachel, my nephews, and my mom and sister. Rachel and I got home around 8 p.m. Duane was working late (luckily in Columbus as opposed to Indianapolis, where he usually spends Tuesday and Wednesday nights).

After I got Rachel to bed, I was laying on the couch, watching Big Brother on DVR. My abdomen was definitely sore from walking so much. Suddenly, I felt a bit of a trickle...

My first thought: "Oh man...did I just pee myself?" Then, I realized that I hadn't felt any urge to pee whatsoever. So as I debated about whether my water had broken and whether I should call the doctor, I was changing my pants, and the question was answered for me...because the small trickle turned into a much larger trickle, and it was pretty evident that baby was ready to come out!

At this point, it was about 10 p.m. I called Duane, but he didn't answer, so I sent him a text and then called my parents.

Around that time, I started having contractions. I had never had any contractions when my water broke with Rachel. Duane finally called back, and I told him what happened and he said he was on his way home. My contractions were about 10-15 minutes apart, lasting only about 20 seconds. When I got to the hospital, I was dilated to 3 cm. My contractions started coming much faster, but I was only feeling about 20 seconds of them. I asked that I be allowed to walk around to move things along, and in no time I was at 5 cm. Then, the baby's heart rate dropped. My contractions started coming 1 minute apart, right on top of one another. So no more walking, said the nurse. I decided it was a good time for an epidural.

The epidural with Rachel was easy and quick. So when it took several numbings and I started having pressure in my head, I was worried. I asked what was going on, and the anesthesiologist said there was a problem. Basically, he put the catheter in too far on the first attempt, which is called a wet tap. I began leaking cerebrospinal fluid, which caused the pressure in my head. He explained this leaking could cause severe headaches that would last 5-8 days, so I should monitor the headaches and he would check in on me the next day (Friday). He apologized profusely.

The pressure in my head moved to my neck and began causing severe spasms. I didn't know how I would be able to push when it was time. I couldn't feel any pain with the contractions anymore, but I could feel pressure. My contractions also slowed waaaaaaayyy down. So after 3 hours with virtually no progress, they started me on Pitocin to move things along.

I went from 6 cm to fully dilated in 90 minutes, and the nurse said she didn't think it would take much more than 1 push. The doctor peeked in and asked if she had time to change into scrubs and the nurse told her to hurry! Ten minutes after I started pushing, our baby was born, and I knew almost instantly that we had a son!

The cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and he was a little stunned and slow to become alert. But he got things moving and I heard him cry for about 5 minutes as they cleaned him up.

Gavin Duane was born at 10:38 a.m. on July 28th and weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long.

Because he was stunned in the beginning, Gavin's blood sugar was a little bit low, and they ended up taking him to the NICU overnight for a glucose IV. Until he could test consistently higher and feeding regularly, he would need to stay in the NICU. I went down to nurse him every 3 hours, but my neck spasms were still bad, so I had trouble making it down there once. I was terribly upset, but my nurses were amazing!!! Gavin's NICU nurse sat with me and kept me calm, and my nurse on Friday tracked down several doctors in an attempt to get me some relief for my neck pain.

Gavin returned from the NICU Friday afternoon, and we were discharged from the hospital on Saturday. The anesthesiologists couldn't figure out the neck spasms, but they didn't feel they were related to the botched epidural (despite the fact that they started right after).

I started having headaches Saturday, but they weren't terrible. But by the afternoon on Sunday, they were so bad that I couldn't see straight. So I called my doctor and she sent me to the ER at St. Anns. I was in extreme pain, and the ER doctor was not encouraging about the availability of an anesthesiologist to do a blood patch. However, in about a half-hour, the original anesthesiologist returned to do my blood patch, which clots the hole that is leaking fluid with blood. The headaches disappeared instantly, but I had to wait until the IV was done before I could leave. I was thankful that the anesthesiologist prioritize my case, because I was spent emotionally, I didn't want to be away from my little girl and my baby boy anymore!

I was sent home on bedrest for 1-2 days, which was rough with a newborn. But after a day, I was fully recovered.

The recovery since then has been smooth and easy compared to what it was with Rachel. Other than the low blood sugar and the wet tap problem, I have had no issues! Gavin is already up to 8 lbs and sleeping and eating well. I have been able to get out of the house a couple of times, and I am slowly learning to balance 2 kids. My mom helped all week, and Duane was even able to take some time off of work to help too. My back is still a bit sore, and I am not 100%, but I can't believe how quickly I am bouncing back this time.

So that is the long story of how we became a family of 4!!